My level went up and I even got another skill in life magic. Now, that’s nice and really welcomed now that I have to grow a tree to its maximum size whatever that was. Perhaps I could modify it a bit by trying to harden its bark against fire and other kinds of attacks?

“Hey, Marcus! Do you mind to tell me a bit about yourself? You said something about being reincarnated into this world. Are you something like an old soul travelling around the universe?”

“Nope. As far as I know, that’s my first reincarnation. And I could retain my memories as far as I know. Wait for a moment, I have to check some things.”

And then I tried to remember how my computer worked, or some other rather high technology and remembered…..NOTHING! What the fuck is this. We never discussed something like this Tiria. And just as I was thinking, a thought from outside myself hit me.

`Did you think, I would leave you with all that knowledge? I left you with all your memories intact, but the understanding behind it is now missing. If you want it back, you will have to rediscover all that knowledge. Surprise me, little one!`

I almost heard her smirk when she said little one. I hate it!

Coming back to my crushing reality I looked to the girl on the ground.

“It seems, Tiria has taken all of my technological knowledge and I will have to rediscover it for myself. So I will have to learn from scratch and would really value any knowledge you can share with me here. For starters it would be good to know your name and how your people calls itself.”

She stood up and dusted her clothes off. Then she folded her arms under her chest and smirked at me.

“I was curious how long it would take for you to ask me about my name. It’s Kalla Andusien by the way, just call me Kalla. The rest will call me Princess but ignore it for now. My old kingdom has been shattered by our attackers and perhaps some other groups of elves out there have survived the onslaught and will come here when they hear about us. This world is called Nathos and holds 5 continents, plenty of smaller islands and different races. I know of at least 50 sapient races, whereat sapient is a word to be discussed in this matter. These plains are called the forsaken hills, because there was once an old civilization here that has been destroyed by a cataclysm nobody knows the cause for. Ever since the place has been forsaken.

The forest is just the old wood. It has stood since the beginning of the world and some trees in it are thousands of years old. My own people was called Driaden elves from the name of our old hearth tree but now we are nameless until our new tree has been given its own name by Alvera, the goddess of all elves.”

That was a long monologue from her and I soaked in all the knowledge like a sponge.. Her name was Kalla. Nice name. I had once a character named the same in a good old DnD campaign a friend of mine was the gamemaster of. Strange, this I could recall clearly. It was not a relevant issue it seems.

“The bad guys that chased you away from your old home, did they have a reason for it like being hunted by your people or are they just evil guys trying to level any competition in the neighbourhood?”

After this question she gave me the bad eye.

“They haven’t been hunted by my people only because they entered our domain. But almost always when they did, they attacked our outpost and smaller villages. They have to been united by a strong leader we haven’t heard of, because they amassed against us in never before seen numbers. And they even consisted out of two races that normally didn’t mingle much.”

Ok, so she said, that they have hunted them but for a good reason and now I had to deal with the attackers. But hey, I’m a nice guy and helping a beautiful damsel in distress made Me all shivery. There will be a price to pay, that’s for sure, but with the elves here I could have exactly what I wanted to strive forward in this world.

“Oh, by the way, how does your people think about humans?”

She was taken a bit aback by my questions.

“Humans? They are a people that roams the great plains and woods of the world without rest. Nomadic and barbaric are words I would describe them the most, but they have honour in the fight and are a force to be reckoned with when their tribes unite to fight a common foe. They have horses they train and breed all their life and I have to admit that they are really good in mounted combat, even better than anybody else I know.”

So the humans on this world hadn’t developed yet into farming communities and were more like the Mongols of old earth. Perhaps I could gather some of them and persuade them to stay with us and be the first real heavy cavalry this world had ever seen. Tiria didn’t have taken this knowledge from me and I valued it high. History on old earth can teach you many things if you know to learn from and not repeating it..

“I was once a human too, you know, but my people was very high developed in technology, not so much in social things. Perhaps we can work on it. If ever some humans come here, would you let them live here?”

Kalla thought for some time, in which her people came nearer that I could clearly recognize individual faces. My eyesight was never better, I had to say. They were easily 600 feet away and I could see their faces. Eyes like a hawk, my eye specialist would be proud of me.

“I think, there could be some advantages in a mixed city and if it’s your wish then I will bow to your wishes. We need you more than you need us, but please confer with me when you make any decisions that could change my people’s future.”

“Sure thing. I will get on your nerves more times that you will appreciate, believe me.”

She laughed a bit and smiled this ice melting way that any real man finds hard to resist. Damn this new body. In some of the books I read, there were dungeon lords, who could create their own bodies. Perhaps I can something similar for my own city. Even if I only could move in my sphere of influence.

Hm, thinking about it, the tree I raised, would be quite large so I will have to enlarge my place by quite some margin. I will need to convert some of the energy I gain into broadening my range.

“I will first let your tree grow to its maximum size if my mana allows it and make a home in its branches for your people. And then I will see what I can do to make it as resistant to fire, magic and weapons as possible. If this is alright with you?”

Surprise was clearly recognizable in her face.

“If you could do this, it would raise our chances of driving our foes back. But I think it would be more mana efficient if you made the changes as fast as possible, because later on you would need tremendous amounts of power for a full grown tree. Even if this means that growing the tree will cost you more power after the changes.”

I nooded inwardly and took a look back to the sapling, watching it closely.

The little thing had a strange kind of energy around it and seemed almost to have a kind of awareness, that watched me. I let a small margin of regenerated mana flow to the tree and watched its grow to determine where I could use fire mana to strengthen its structure.

But I almost at once realized that I would have to make some test with another tree first. I didn’t want to destroy this single sapling I had. They seemed to be a rarity I couldn’t waste easily.

“Ehm, Kalla, before I try anything with the hearth tree, I would rather experiment with other trees first. I don’t think, that it will take much time but I don’t want to stress my luck, if you mind?”

Strongly nodding Kalla looked at me and then went to welcome the first elves that made it to us, gazing disbelieving at the young hearth tree and my glorious existence shining behind it.

I tried to understand what they said, but Kalla and the others were outside of my range of influence and my mind speech didn’t seem to reach outside. And even if I could hear some words travelling to me with the small breeze coming from the woods, I had no understanding of the elven language.

The new elves regarded me with suspicious looks and had a heated discussion with Kalla. Some yelling and then some hard and loud words from Kalla later they followed her to my crystal. I immediately saw my mana reg rising. These guys seemed to have quite strong mana reserves and were leaking much of it into my influence.

“Marcus, please be friendly to them and assure them of your friendly intentions.”

For a moment I really to consider to allow myself a joke on Kalla’s behalf but then stopped myself because there would surely some repercussions for her.

“Hi there! My name is Marcus and I am a newly created city dungeon at your service. My first goal is to grow your hearth tree sufficiently big that you can consider him your new home. In exchange I want your help and a bit of your mana for growing a city to live in, if it’s not too much to ask for.”

My speech let them standing with their jaws down and it really looked ridiculous. I couldn’t stop myself from laughing out loud.

“Hahaha, you look super stumped. Never heard a crystal talk, eh? Even Kalla didn’t look so disbelieving like you bunch.”

Their jaws closed with an audible snatch and I could see some angered looks. Kalla threw a warning gaze at me.

“Sorry, sorry, didn’t mean to be unpolite. Please excuse my bad manners. I’m new on this world and didn’t think about my words clearly. I will do my best to ensure the survival of your people as long as you reside inside my influence.”

Now they thawed up to me. An older elf by the look of some dimples around his otherwise youthful appearance came only 3 feet to my body and watched me closely. He wore a mostly destroyed robe out of green linen with some golden marquetry on it. Blue eyes the color of the sky and brown shoulder long hair made a stunningly handsome looking guy out of him. I was sure, that he broke some hearts in his younger years.

“Now there you really did quite the catch, little Kalla. I’m Galen Niska Malloren, Mastermage and at your service, Marcus. Let’s build a city together.”

And then he laid his hands on my body and infused me with his mana. I was in a new world of pain!