My reach wasn't enough to watch the forest so I had to wait for the humans to come back to us for a report. I had another problem to solve first as almost all my guardians were killed in action, so I had to revive them. Having no clue how much mana that would need I checked for my mana reserves to find them almost depleted as my city spells were still active.

The fighters and mages on the walls had been hurt quite bad but the most serious wounds were closed so I had a bit leeway for recovering some energy. I dispelled the protection spell and watched my mana slowly climb higher meanwhile I began to gather the corpses of the fallen goblins and drakes.

I knew that the skin of the drakes was quite sturdy so I would keep them, but the goblins would be incinerated later on the edge of my domain. Training some fireballs wouldn't be bad and maybe also teach the humans not to mess with me.

Speaking of them I watched the scout I had seen last time emerge from the forest. His mount had some small wounds and he also looked a bit worse for wear but altogether he was still a badass of a ranger with his animal companion if I reverence back to my old dungeons and dragons times.

At his side rode a older woman on a tiger the size of an APC. Its golden and black fur stretched over powerful muscles and gave a very distinct feeling not to mess with it. Not that I would ever had any intention to get on its bad side after taking a closer look at the woman.

She seemed to be around 50 years old but all my instincts screamed at me to get the hell away from her. Power leaked from her like a river and her eyes looked right at me. I knew she had seen me as clearly as I had her and it terrified me to my core, literally.

Tiria had seen her also as I had created a kind of television screen for my guests to watch the outside world.

“So she came, huh. That's Kira Sunstrider, the dungeon horror. She killed almost every dungeon the humans got a hand on. Gave her quite the title and some power to make most dungeons piss themselves in fear.”

When I gave her an irritated look she shrugged, “Some knowledge is still around, so take my advice and don't mess with her. She alone is enough to level this place with ease. Had she been here when the goblins arrived they would have turned around the moment they laid eyes on her. Kira is a force of nature on this world. Her mana well is deeper than almost anyone on this planet and she's much older than she looks like.”

“Any further tips I could use for discussions with her?”

Tiria grinned, “She really likes sweet things and things to improve her mounts armor. As you lack any of these things you might be hard pressed for garnering any favours from her, so just try to be nice and polite and all will be good.”

The painful screams of dying goblins from the forest became lesser over the time the two humans needed to reach my walls. The elves watched them warily but didn't reach for the weapons as I ordered them to stand down and to not provoke the pair.

I had asked Tiria about how much mana I would need for my guardians to revive but she said that this knowledge was erased from her memory. I had my guesses about her memory lapses but didn't evolve it into an argument with her. Taking all her actions into count she was still deeply on my good side for all the sacrifices she made for me, the memory block for my scientific knowledge not counting.

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It had to suck losing her godly powers after this minor problem of creating my splendid core. I would have to ask her for the names of the other suckers who came after her to remove them from the temple. If they wanted to complain they had to come and get their noses get beaten bloody.

Tiria's enemies were still mine also as I was quite sure that they would still try to get their hands on my core for their selfish needs. Fuck them all. I was now a creature of the system and that had to count for something.

The place was littered with the remains of the battle. Everywhere you looked there lied severed limbs and battered bodies on the ground. My nightshade roses were mostly destroyed but they had served their purpose so I would just gather their seeds for later use and not regrow them in the following days.

The pitfall traps were full to the brim with broken bodies but the humans didn't throw a look at them. They strode over the battlefield like it was most normal thing one could do which made me somewhat wary of them. You had to be somewhat cold and emotionally blunted to ignore all the gore around you. I would have to be very careful with this Kira.

She had a tension in her body seeming always ready to spring into battle and her eyes thwarted from one to the next in the blink of a moment taking everything around her into account. Her short brown hair was cut like a soldier on Earth would have it and it reminded me somehow of Ripley from the alien movies. Her body was wiry with defined muscles and covered by a worn leather armor that had seen better days.

Hm, there was something in my inventory that might interest this woman. Maybe I could curry some favour from her by offering it but I would have to do some fast crafting.

“Can anyone of you skin the forest drakes real fast? I want to offer them to Kira.” I said to my guests in my inner mind, making the battered bodies appear between them.

“You have to work on your social skills, Marcus, real fast. That's no way to ask for a service from a lady.” said Tiria.

“Hah, I saw you slaughtering the goblins. You might be many things, Tiria, but a lady doesn't disembowel a body with a savage glint in her eyes and smile like a madman at the same time.” replied Galen with a snort.

“Hmph, let be said, that I'm a woman with many facets and just hope that you won't see all of them or you might change your opinion about your women.” She grinned seductively at him and like mothers protecting their pups Kitara and Nala went in front of Galen with a determined look and the mood in the room was suddenly loaded with tension.

I gave Tiria a slap on the back of her head, Gibb's style, “Stand down and get back in line, Lady! Get me these skins and I will build you a nice place in the town in the future if you are nice.”

She rubbed the place where I hit her and threw me a mischievous gaze, “That's a promise. I will hold you to your word, sweetheart.” and then she turned to the bodies, “Any help would be appreciated.”

I summoned some knives from my inventory. They may crude, taken from the goblins, but would do their job.

Kira and Darius had arrived at my wall and I went outside to welcome my guests.

“Welcome to Aegis. My name is Marcus and I am the city core building and protecting this place.”

Kira nodded shortly and showed me a predatory smile, “Hi there, little core. Darius mentioned you were a strange one and I just couldn't believe first what he was saying but now after laying my eyes on you I have to admit that I'm surprised and happy that he said the truth. No dungeon core ever welcomed me to its place.”

“I'm no dungeon core even if I'm somewhat related to them and even submitted one for my purposes lately.”

She frowned, “I haven't felt the creation of a new core in the region, so where did you get it?”

She emitted some bloodlust that made me and almost all elves on the walls cringe with fear.

“I was summoned by a trap of Tiria's successor to his temple and snatched it there after binding it with a contract.”

Kira squeezed her eyes, “So Tiria has indeed fallen? Are you still her creature or the new guy's one?”

“Neither hers' nor his'. I only belong to the system now and am free to do as I want. But that's a long story I will tell you later if you want. For now I want to thank you for helping with the destruction of the goblins and their allies.”

Kira nodded, “No problem there. They have messed with us enough times to spurn our wrath but I have to inform you that they might try to get back at you some other time. They seem to have got an avatar for their forces. The first of them I've seen for quite some time on this god forgotten world.”

“Yeah, I guessed something like that possible after seeing their surprising good organization and team tactics during the fight.”

The old fighter woman tore her eyes wide open, “You know about avatars?”

Oh my, I might have made a mistake there.