The obviously very old avatar looked at me with a sly smile, “You didn't know that this gal and myself have been a thing quite some time ago? You see, it was a strange time and I had to do some pretty harsh things to make the old gods look the other way when all went to shit.”

Tiria threw her arms around his neck and leaned against his chest, “What did you do? I was desperate after I lost contact with you and had to engage in some serious shit to make reparations for the war. The dungeons were my way of creating the lost resources for the winning races even if they had to offer some victims for my dungeons to grow the needed materials.”

That made some sense. A war like the one she had described must have cost an arm and a leg and dungeons could create any material as long as they had a sample and enough mana. The thought that all the dungeons were just some kind of payment for a lost war hadn't even registered before with me.

“So you had to become a goddess of dungeons as a kind of reparation for the war?” I asked Tiria.

She threw me a smile, “Yes, Marcus, and you were my first real creation without the pressure of the old gods to make amends for their lost power. At least some of them went down when Gaia and humanity fought against them. The next war may be their final one, at least I hope so. These bastards deserve nothing less.”

Then she gazed at Torben.

He seemed to get it, “Yeah, I know, the story. When I heard that Earth was attacked by the combined fleets and gods, I knew that everything was lost and I landed my ship and departed with all its crew. Then we destroyed the ship and any advanced systems, magic and whatever could have led suspicious eyes back to this backwater world. The only problem then was myself as I was much too powerful to be missed by their gaze.”

He drew a deep breath, “So I killed myself over and over until I was just back to a starting avatar. Since then I committed suicide whenever my power level rose too much. I grinded my skills as good as possible without using my advantages from being an avatar but I lost most of my knowledge anyhow as did the humans on this world. We had to if we wanted to escape the wrath of the victors.”

No shit he had it hard. If I'd been in his shoes I would have ended my life possibly a long time ago. Tiria nodded slightly and pressed him to her chest lightly. Small tears dropping from the eyes.

“Hey at least we're back together and we can advance again together now that Marcus has opened a new spawn point on this world. And the best about this whole thing is that as a system creature he is mostly protected from the messing of these old suckers. Even them would'nt want to battle it out with a system administrator. By the way, “ She caught my eyes, “Did you get a visitor from the system?”

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Now I was taken by surprise, “Nope, there wasn't any new guys around the block as far as I know.”

A new voice from left of me drew my attension as a guy in an immeculate suit like some kind of lawyer materialized right beside our small group, “Ahem, that would then be me, I think.”

Gazing shortly to Tiria and Torben with a slight nod he looked back to me, “Marcus, city core number one, first of your kind, I'm here to welcome you to the system and to give you some guidelines for your future development.”

Okay that could be interesting.

“As Tiria has given you a very powerful ability as her last action as a goddess I have to inform you that the system will offer you only somewhat weak new abilities until you reach your next tier as a metropolis core. Also you will have to reach a certain population to advance any further in your levels.”

He took in my domain and continued, “You have reached the town state but you only have less than 200 citizens in your domain. To reach any further you will need at least 1000 and then the same for every new level after that. After advancing to level 20 you will turn to the city status and then you'll need 10000 for every new level. In return you won't need special crystal materials for the growth of your core and have the protection of the system as the first of your kind.”

He showed a predatory smile now and his eyes seemed to glow somewhat, “All the gods who tried to force you to build a temple in your domain have been informed that any deals from Tiria's reign have been nullified and if they want to have a presence here they will have to negotiate with you directly and offer some help for your expenses and work. I heard they were very dissatisfied with the current dungeon god and his try to snatch your core. Nice stunt you pulled with him, I have to say.”

I liked this guy! Lawyers were dry and outright obsessive guys as far as I had to the displeasure to work with them but this guy was a real cookie. Come to the dark side for we have cookies, hahahaha.

“My name is Cris Estefelenapanis but you can just call me Cris. You can call me with the helpbutton in the menu. For now I will leave you alone to celebrate your victory.”

Looking to the avatar pair, “Have fun and enjoy the life now, Torben. You've been here far too long on reduced life support.”

Torben was taken completely by surprise now.

“Yeah the system knew all the time about you but we, the administrators, thought to conceal your existence from prying eyes, so be nice next time when one of us knocks on your door. You too, Tiria, regard your debt to the old gods as paid in full for the creation of the dungeons and especially the new city core.”

She nodded thankfully and smiled at Cris wholehearted. I liked her smile now much more than as a goddess. It wasn't as awe inspiring but more from the heart, making her eyes lighten up with youthful shine and mischief. No one would believe right now that she was at least 20000 years old.

With that said the administrator disappeared with a small lightshow and left us standing.

“Shit I wanted to ask him to give my memories back.”

'Forget it!' I heard his voice in my mind. Damn mindreaders.

I turned my attension back to Torben, “So I think that you will stay with your tribe for some time with us?”

He nodded slowly, “Only those who want to stay and some who have to, like most of the children whose parents want to settle down. You'll have to do some serious work to accommodate all the people in your town and provide them with enough food. At least we have still some knowledge about agriculture and some seeds to start with but the time will be a little tight for a good harvest before the autumn storms start.”

“Don't sweat it, I have some city buffs for making crops grow much faster than normal, thanks to your gal.”

Tiria pressed Torben's arm lightly and smiled at me, “We will help you as much as possible with our own magic. We have lost of our power and knowledge but the little we have left we'll help you with, little one.”

“Hah, would you please stop it! I'm not little!”

“Yes, you are somewhat.” said my guardians in my mind and Kalla who had watched the whole scene from a safe distance. Traitors all the same.