I resumed my work after the talk with Kalla and then began to distribute the caltrops all around the place with some places left out for the elves to move through. Later that evening I was given enough mana to level up again and got a new city buff.

Healing aura

The core can cast an aura of healing that heals 10 HP/minute with a radius of 50 metres. The aura only heals allies and citizen of the core.

Usage: 1000 mana Upkeep:200/minute

Doubling the range increases the cost 4 times

That was a very nice buff for longer fights where I could call my wounded fighters back to get some healing and then send them back to kill my enemies. I had hoped for something like a summoning ritual to call forth some elementals to do my bidding but I was also happy with this buff.

When I have more time I will dissect the buff to discover its runes and then invent a healing spell for my citizens to use individually.

I had only one level to go now before I could make Gillian my new guardian and the curiosity was eating at me, so I stopped my mana use for some time to gather the necessary power, which only took me an hour and a half because some small works had to be done, like growing the vines around the walls.

When I had enough power for my next level I felt a sudden rush of excitement and used the accumulated energy to get my next level and sure as hell my next message awaited me.

You have reached level 15

You can designate a new city guardian to help with governing your city.

Although that was nice enough the next message blew me away.

New city spell!

Create Vessel!

The city core can create a golem-like being that can be possessed by a soul or when unpossessed do simple work when commanded by the core or its guardians.

Usage: 10000 mana Upkeep: 50 mana/hour or nothing when possessed

Vessel can be modified if the core has enough knowledge about golemancy and the necessary materials.

That's the good stuff! My own golems and I could possess them myself, gaining a body again even a crude one. I would have to test the possibilities with this new spell but if even a small part of my hopes could be done with it I got the biggest candy I could ever wish for.

'It's good, that you recognize this gift I gave you, Marcus. Come to your inner mind, we have something important to talk about and I don't want anybody else to hear about it.' Tiria's voice filled my mind and I felt a kind of sadness in it.

Although I wanted to test my new ability right now, I wasn't such a jerk to not listen to her when she wanted to have a serious talk.

Appearing in my inner mind I saw her sitting at the table, which had changed to a big round table with comfortable wooden chairs surrounding it.

"I have changed it to this after I saw a new movie from your homeworld and thought that you wouldn't mind if I did that." She waited for a comment from me but I only smiled and nodded.

The wood was a deep dark brown tone and shined with a stylish finish only seen when done by a master crafter. The chairs were made from the same wood and the padding was the most comfortable I've ever sat on.

"Thank you for the table and the chairs, they look awesome. If I understood your message correctly I have to thank you for my last city spell, right?"

Tiria nodded and smiled gently, hesitating for a moment before she answered me, "Yes, Marcus, but that will be my last gift to you, as I will set you free after our talk."

She must have seen my irritation from my look because she grinned sadly as she continued, "You must see, you are a first-born. That's a special title given to any creature that's the first of its kind and therefore has a special connection to its creator. That was the reason why I was able to limit you the way I did. I received massive pressure from all the other gods out there to limit your power and abilities and I'm unwilling to follow their wishes anymore. There's also the possibility that anyone of them might attack me to get access to you and use you for their own devices."

She stopped for a moment and let the meaning sink into my mind. Holy shit, she must have gone through a personal hell lately with my creation and the aftermath of it. On a cool and logical level I fully understood the consequences a city core like me could have on an underdeveloped planet and even on a civilized world like Earth for example, after all I was an avid reader of many fictions back on Earth concerning dungeons and magic.

What made me somewhat angry was her last sentence that she might get attacked and killed for the only reason to get access to me personally.

"Other gods would try to kill you just for being able to command me?"

She nodded, "You don't fully understand your power and what you are able to do, but as soon as you rediscover your scientific knowledge and the connections between it and magic, you will become more powerful than any other creature I ever created because of your access to the mana pools of your citizens. Sentient minds that are not created by dungeons create much more mana than dungeon-bound ones, therefore offering you a nearly limitless ability to create things."

"But I'm not able to create things only from mana like dungeons can."

Smiling she answered, "That's right at the moment, but as soon as you rediscover the knowledge from Earth and follow up on it a bit, you will get the same power all my dungeons possess. It's built in into them but you will be able to do it also with the correct knowledge. That's your biggest advantage over them. Knowledge makes you so much more able to do things. Use it to defeat anyone who goes against you, even if it's a god. I can't give you back your memories because releasing you will cost me dearly and the others will try to attack me almost immediately after that to save what's left of our connection."

I was shocked about that and wanted to tell her to stop her actions, but she raised her hand and continued, "I know, that you want to help me, and you can by worshipping me after I have released you from my fold. That will keep at least some part of me alive if I was defeated. As a first-born without any connection to his creator you will be connected to the system directly.

It's the ruler of the whole creation and even the gods cannot go against it. You might not get so much goodies from it as from me but you will become something like an avatar."

Big question mark above my head. What's an avatar?

She grinned as if she read my thoughts, "An avatar is an immortal being that's able to revive itself using stored soul power. Most of us gods have been mortals that died and been revived by the system as avatars and collected enough soul power to ascend to gods. There're some old gods that were created by the system itself and going against them has led to some of the most devastating wars in history. The last one has almost eradicated humanity from existence and threw them back to Earth and some small populations on unimportant worlds like this one."

She drew my gaze to her eyes and all mischief and funniness had vanished in them, "What I'm telling you now is kept secret since thousands of years, but you have to be prepared to protect yourself and the humans on this world. War is coming. The humans on Earth are on the rise and the same powers that smashed them down last time will try to finish them for good. Gaia, the consciousness of Earth itself is freeing herself from the shackles they have bound her and her chosen people, the humans, are once again reaching for the stars. As soon as they leave the lunar shell they will regain their magical abilities and then hell will break loose. Last time humanity was defeated by cutting their connection to magic by shackling Gaia. Humans adapted and developed their sciences to get around without magic. It made them stronger than ever and the avatars on Earth have done their best without knowing it, to make humanity stronger than ever. If humans are defeated again in the coming war and Earth is destroyed, you might have have some of the last of your kind on this world and the duty to protect them from harm."

That was a bomb drop on me. My mind almost shut down. Fuck, that's too much for me. I don't want to be the last hope of humanity.

"Don't despair, little one as some of humanity old foes have turned coat after discovering that they had it much better with the humans than with the old gods. They will help us, yes us, I was a human long ago too, and distract some of the strikes against Earth, and lastly Gaia is a very mighty one when she can use all of the suppressed power after humans have broken free and reached the stars again. She has created magical realms like in Earth's fantasy novels to create more space for her people, even as she was unconscious, and now she is more powerful than ever. As I said war is coming and we all have to play a part in it, especially you. Build you city, increase your influence and protect the good people on this world. Suppress humanity's desire to rule over the other peoples because that's the reason why all of them fought against Earth last time and unite them under your flag. And now I will release you and give you the freedom to do what you want. I have told you more than I should have and maybe I will get punished for that but it was worth it. Our connection will be broken and you won't be able to talk to me and the others as easy as before, so build the temple soon, so we may speak again. Live long and prosper!"

She grinned and vanished from my inner mind, and I felt pain like I'd never felt before, like somebody ripped my heart from my chest and put in a piece of lava instead. My goddess has forsaken me.