"Who are you?" I asked in a demanding tone.

"The Wild Guard!" the children yelled in a dissonant chorus.

"And what do you do?" I continued my inquiry.

"We fight for the Empire of Man! We are the shield that protects the realm of Man!" the kids shouted with joy. My own apprentices shouting even more enthusiastic than the new refugees.

"Good! Remember those words, forever. Now, back to your running!" I ordered and sent the kids to run the laps.

"It's not the Ice Court..." Anika whispered to herself, yet she was hanging on my arm, so I was meant to hear her.

I nodded wisely and shrugged, minutely. Maybe I was thinking ahead too far, training a bunch of orphans into an elite guerilla unit, or maybe a force recon regiment. Even with all my special gifts, I was not a real hunter, woodsman, pathfinder or any kind of wilderness expert. Not even a proper officer or guerilla fighter. I will need to recruit real specialists, some adventurers maybe, but most likely a number of wild hunters, woodsmen and rangers. Delegation was a superpower of its own.

Then I turned towards Anika. "Tell me five ways to save Kislev."

"Food?" she guessed, almost at random.

"Indeed, increased food production will save Kislev from starvation. What else?" I wondered in a soft voice.

My Ice Maiden frowned, already figuring out my motives. "Weapons, roads and..." she said in a confused tone.

"Don't simply infer from my actions in the Empire. The countries are not the same. But yes, both roads and weapons will help secure Kislev too." I advised my icy wife.

Anika elbowed me in the ribs, and instantly regretted it. "Just two more ways? Magic then. More Magic users...Ice Maidens or Storm Callers. And...Bears? Bears are strong!" she concluded with a nod towards the four bears running laps alongside the new Wild Guard.

The Ice Court of Kislev also trained Tempest Magic users, sometimes producing powerhouses that could indeed control weather and call for storms or lightning to fall on their enemies. Other times, they simply trained Navigators for their ships, able to direct sailing winds and avoid natural storms. And even better, some of these Tempest user could fly, using the True Flight spell.

I snorted at the thought of an army of bears, bearing down on their enemies and goring them with claw and teeth. Not really impossible, given the world I was living on, but highly impractical. Bears eat a lot, or they sleep a lot. Neither feat was conductive to an efficient army.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

"I think wealth would help much more than a thousand bears that hibernate when a chaos incursion ravages the land." I provided with a smile.

"Gold, huh?" Anika hummed gently, and eyed my small pile of gold in the open. What? It wasn't like gold was in danger of rusting.

"About 50000 gold coins for now, and a million gold in a century. If only there was a Warden of the East they could rely upon..." I mused in thoughtful voice.

Opening trade with Cathay and Ind would generate that gold eventually, as trade was bound to do. Which meant a few years of hard work in Araby, creating a navigable channel for trade ships, plus clearing the usual obstacles of undead, monsters and such.

"The Tsar will not accept your authority, my dear Pef." Anika said in a convinced voice, and a small snort.

"Not this Tsar. Your own atamans would depose him for even considering such a deal. And I would have to rip out their spines. And their children' too." I allowed with a careless shrug. Taking over an entire country by violence was possible, if one used enough violence. I could drop a few mountains on some Kislevite cities, and they would have to surrender.

But eh. I wasn't that much of a monster. Money would work as well, and wouldn't kill anyone.

Plus, this world had plenty of Gods and demi-gods, Divine Avatars and whatnot. It was better to work within the system, than try to upend it by myself, and find it dangerous or unproductive. Having the 4 Dark Gods as my enemy was quite enough, thank you. A few dozen more Gods, plus Dragons and Slaan and whatever else was here.

"Please don't do that, Amber Wizard. There should be five ways to convince Kislev peacefully, right?" Anika asked me in a pleading voice.

I sighed and went to check on my kid. The faint aura of Ghur around him made him beloved by bears and other animals already, while his mother's Ice gift kept him safe from the cold and hypothermia. Sadly, little Andrew wasn't a flying brick like me, despite my hopes. Just a Magical miracle, similar to the Grail Damsels with their dual Magic gifts.

Andrew slept with his fists holding bits of amber, seemingly at peace. The white-blond hair gave him an angelic appearance, which contrasted widely with his smelly underwear.

I sniffed a bit powerless. Anika rushed to change the child, and glared at me for some reason.

I know, I know. It was my fault too. But I was busing finding more gold and save the world. So I flew away, spending two minutes to appear 1000 kilometers to the South, next to the border of Sylvania. The place was far too dangerous for most people, even Witch Hunters or Wizards. It was infested with vampires and undead, plus a form of ambient magical corruption.

But it wasn't all that bad. Here I could let loose, and experiment with spells and combat styles. It wasn't like anyone alive would be in danger.

Plasma Fist style first. A pair of steel gloves, covered in copper plates. The gloves were covered by my Ghur field that kept my clothes intact (mostly), while the copper plates were not.

Which meant they would endure immense friction with the air, then melt and vaporize into plasma, when I was moving fast enough.

A vampire manor and a few thousand evaporated zombies later, I switched to Plasma Steps. Steel boots and copper plates.

It worked much the same, but even better due to greater range for my kicks, while I was flying about.

Then I found a nearly-dormant Lich with thousands of skeletons, and changed style again. Rapid fingers flicking through an iron bar and propelling slim shavings of iron at Mach 30, a hundred times per second. The Lich abandoned his damaged body and teleported his soul away, but his army was wasted.

Still not perfect, but much cheaper than wasting Imperial coinage as weapons.

Then, a giant flock of bats appeared in the sky, and descended upon me with vengeance. Shark style then. My bite was both fast and powerful. And even better, I did it with no hands!