[Stone Age Tribal Settlement, Late Morning, Sun High and Brutal]
Kael spent the next hour learning to walk in his new body. His legs were shorter, his center of gravity different, and the packed earth floor of the hut felt wrong against his bare feet—no cushioned sneakers, no hardwood floors, just dirt and dried grass that prickled his soles. Every movement reminded him this wasn't his body, wasn't his life, but the system pulsing in his mind made it impossible to pretend this was a dream.
Eira had left with Lyssa to gather water from the river, leaving him with Senna and Kira. The younger girl watched him with bright, curious eyes while Senna remained against the wall, arms crossed, her dark gaze tracking his every movement like she was waiting for him to do something wrong.
"You're walking weird," Kira said, tilting her head. "Like your legs don't work right."
"Still weak from the fever," Kael muttered, which was true enough. His muscles felt stringy, underdeveloped compared to the gym-rat body he'd maintained in his old life. This body was lean from necessity, not choice—wiry and functional, built for survival rather than aesthetics.
The scent of cooking fires drifted through the hide door, mixing with animal dung and tanned leather and something floral he couldn't place. Outside, voices called back and forth in that language he shouldn't understand but did, like the system had uploaded it directly into his brain.
[LINGUISTIC ADAPTATION COMPLETE]
[TRIBAL CUSTOMS DATABASE: LOADING...]
Images flooded his mind—memories that weren't his. This tribe, the River People, numbered forty-three souls. They lived in a valley carved by a river that ran cold and fast from the mountains. Summers were short and brutal. Winters killed the weak. Survival meant hunting, gathering, and protecting territory from rival tribes. His father—Kael's father—had been a hunter, killed by a cave bear two winters ago. Since then, Eira had kept the family alive through her knowledge of plants and her skill with curing hides.
"Come outside," Senna said suddenly, pushing off the wall. "You need to see the world you live in." There was something challenging in her tone, like she was testing him.
Kael followed her through the hide door, and the light hit him like a physical force. The sun hung overhead, relentless and white-hot, baking the settlement in waves of heat that made the air shimmer. He squinted, raising his hand to shade his eyes, and took in his new world.
The settlement sprawled along the riverbank—maybe twenty huts made from wooden frames covered in animal hides, arranged in a rough circle around a central fire pit where smoke rose in lazy spirals. Beyond the huts, the river cut through the valley, maybe thirty feet across, the water moving fast over smooth stones. Trees lined the far bank—thick and ancient, their branches heavy with summer leaves. In the distance, mountains rose like jagged teeth against a sky so blue it hurt to look at.
People moved between the huts—mostly women and children at this hour, the men likely out hunting. An older woman with gray-streaked hair scraped a hide stretched across a wooden frame, her movements rhythmic and practiced. Two children—maybe seven or eight years old—chased each other near the water, their laughter high and bright. A man with a scarred face sat sharpening a stone blade, his shoulders broad as tree trunks, his skin dark from sun exposure.
The smell was overwhelming—woodsmoke and river water and unwashed bodies and cooking meat and animal shit and sun-baked earth all mixing into something primal and alien. Kael's twenty-first-century sensibilities recoiled even as this body's instincts accepted it as normal.
[TRIBE MEMBER DETECTED: TORMUND, AGE 42]
[ROLE: TRIBAL ELDER, WEAPONS MASTER]
[RELATIONSHIP: NEUTRAL]
The scarred man looked up, his eyes—one milky white, the other dark as coal—fixing on Kael. "Boy's up," he called, his voice rough as gravel. "Thought you'd sleep through the day."
Kael felt Senna stiffen beside him. "He was sick, Tormund. Fever dreams all night."
Tormund grunted, returning to his blade. "Weak bodies die. Strong bodies survive. Which are you, boy?"
Before Kael could answer, another voice cut through the air—feminine, musical, and laced with amusement.
"Leave him alone, you old bear. He's barely awake."
Kael turned, and his breath caught.
She was maybe twenty-two or twenty-three, with hair the color of burnt honey falling in waves past her waist. Her face was heart-shaped, with full lips curved in a playful smirk, a small nose dusted with freckles, and eyes like liquid gold—light brown with flecks of green catching the sunlight. Her body was a study in contrast—broad shoulders and strong arms, but her waist narrowed dramatically before flaring into wide, child-bearing hips. Her breasts were large and heavy, straining against the leather strips that bound them, and her legs were thick and powerful, her thighs rubbing together as she walked. She wore hide clothes that covered less than they revealed, and her skin was bronzed from sun exposure, glistening with a sheen of sweat that caught the light.
[TRIBE MEMBER DETECTED: DESSA, AGE 23]
[ROLE: GATHERER, UNMARRIED]
[RELATIONSHIP: FRIENDLY]
[CONQUEST POTENTIAL: VERY HIGH]
Oh, the system really wants me to fuck everyone in this village.
Dessa approached with an easy confidence, her hips swaying, and stopped close enough that Kael could smell her—sweat and wildflowers and something musky underneath. "You're Eira's boy, right? The one who's been sick?" Her eyes traveled over him, lingering on his chest, his arms, his face, and there was something hungry in that gaze. "You look better than I expected."
Kira giggled behind him. "Dessa's been asking about you all morning."
"Hush, little one," Dessa said, but she was still smiling, still looking at Kael like he was something interesting. "I heard you fever-dreamed about strange things. Lights in your head. Voices." She stepped closer, her hand reaching out to touch his arm, her fingers warm against his skin. "My grandmother says fever dreams show you the spirit world. What did you see?"
Kael's mind raced. The system pulsed again, feeding him information.
[SOCIAL DYNAMICS: UNMARRIED WOMEN IN TRIBE ARE EXPECTED TO FIND MATES]
[DESSA HAS REJECTED THREE SUITORS IN PAST YEAR]
[REPUTATION: SELECTIVE, DESIRED BY MANY MALES]
"I saw..." Kael started, then stopped, choosing his words carefully. "I saw myself stronger. Faster. Like I could do things I couldn't before."
Dessa's eyes widened slightly, her fingers tightening on his arm. "The spirits blessed you." It wasn't a question. "That's good. We need strong men. Too many have died."
Tormund snorted from his seat. "Boy's still weak as a newborn deer. Spirits or not, he needs to prove himself."
"Then let him prove himself," Dessa shot back, her voice sharp. "Or are you too old to remember what it's like to be young?"
The tension crackled between them, and Kael realized he was watching tribal politics play out in real-time. Tormund was an elder, respected but clearly abrasive. Dessa had status—enough to challenge him publicly. And everyone was watching now, curious about the exchange, about him.
Senna's hand gripped his shoulder, pulling him back slightly. "Come on. You need to eat more." There was urgency in her voice, like she was trying to extract him from a situation he didn't fully understand yet.
But Dessa wasn't done. She leaned in, her breath warm against his ear, her lips almost brushing his skin. "Come find me later," she whispered, her voice dropping into something intimate, something promising. "I'll show you the gathering grounds. Teach you which plants heal, which plants..." she paused, her tongue darting out to wet her lips, "...which plants make you feel good."
Then she pulled back, winked, and walked away, her hips swaying deliberately, and Kael couldn't help but watch the movement of her ass beneath the hide skirt, the way her thighs flexed with each step.
[QUEST UPDATE: DESSA SHOWS INTEREST]
[OPPORTUNITY DETECTED: PURSUE RELATIONSHIP FOR CONQUEST]
[WARNING: TRIBAL CUSTOMS REQUIRE COURTSHIP BEFORE MATING]
Senna yanked him harder, practically dragging him back toward the hut. "You're an idiot," she hissed once they were out of earshot. "Dessa eats men alive. She's rejected everyone who's tried to claim her."
"Then why is she interested in me?" Kael asked, genuinely curious.
Senna's dark eyes flashed with something unreadable. "Because you're different now. Everyone can feel it. You came back from the fever changed." She shoved him toward the hut entrance. "Mother will be back soon. Stay inside until you're actually strong enough to walk without stumbling."
Kael ducked back into the dim interior, his mind spinning. The system fed him more information—tribal structures, mating customs, power dynamics. In this world, strength meant survival. Men who could hunt, fight, protect were valued. Women who could gather, cure, bear children were valued. But there was more—status, reputation, alliances forged through family connections.
And he had a system telling him to conquer women for power.
[TUTORIAL QUEST AVAILABLE]
[OBJECTIVE: UNDERSTAND YOUR ABILITIES]
[REWARD: BASIC SKILL UNLOCKED]
Kael sat on the hide bedding, staring at the translucent words hovering in his vision. "Okay," he muttered under his breath. "What the fuck are my abilities?"
The system responded immediately.
[CURRENT ABILITIES: NONE]
[POTENTIAL ABILITIES LOCKED UNTIL FIRST CONQUEST]
[CONQUEST DEFINED AS: CLAIMING A WOMAN THROUGH MUTUAL DESIRE AND PHYSICAL UNION]
[EACH CONQUEST GRANTS: +5 STRENGTH, +3 ENDURANCE, NEW ABILITY UNLOCK]
[SPECIAL BONUS: MULTIPLE CONQUESTS WITH SAME WOMAN INCREASE BOND LEVEL]
[HIGHER BOND LEVELS GRANT ADDITIONAL POWER]
So it was exactly what it sounded like—a fucked-up harem system that rewarded him for sleeping with women. And judging by the way the system flagged his mother and sisters, it didn't care about taboos or modern morality. This was survival of the fittest, and he'd been dropped into a world where those rules didn't exist.
Kael heard footsteps outside—multiple sets. Eira and Lyssa returning from the river, their voices low in conversation. He stood, steadying himself, and moved to the entrance.
When he pushed aside the hide, both women turned to look at him. Eira's expression was warm, maternal. But Lyssa's—Lyssa's eyes traveled over him slowly, lingering on his chest, his arms, his face, and there was something there he recognized from Dessa's gaze. Hunger. Interest.
The system pulsed.
[OPPORTUNITY DETECTED: FAMILY BONDS RUN DEEP]
[LYSSA'S AFFECTION LEVEL: MODERATE]
[EIRA'S PROTECTIVE INSTINCT: HIGH]
"Come help us with the water," Lyssa said, her voice soft but her eyes still locked on his. "You need to build your strength back."
Kael nodded and stepped outside into the brutal sun, the heat pressing down on him like a physical weight, and followed his sister toward the river where his new life—and whatever the fuck this system wanted from him—was waiting.