We landed outside the city, behind the first tree line already on the goblin territory.
- Ok, now explain - Celestine said.
I started by sighing heavily.
- It's the time. To get to where I would want us to be, so everybody can start working without constantly taking each other crystals, I will need around a month, considering the respawn rate - I explained.
- We don't have supplies for that long - she pointed out, crossing her arms on her chest.
- I know. Otherwise, you would have to limit yourselves just to goblins, while I take the other spots, but it will slow me down, and you will all be packed in one place. Not to mention the crystals we need for getting those people in condition to actually be able to hunt relatively safely - I said.
- How many upgrades do you need to make? Was it two? - she asked.
I nodded in response.
- How about you just do one fast, and then we switch to doing it slower? - she proposed. - How long will that take?
- I have 1.7 million points, but I need ten million. If we are lucky I can get 1.5 a day, so it would be at least six more days - I calculated quickly.
I did it using my fingers, which probably looked quite funny.
- Even that will be hard. We don't have supplies for a whole week - she pointed out.
- I'm aware - I assured her. - There is a different way we could do this but...
- But?
- I have some crystals with me from Loistavadvaar, but those were very potent, and if I were to use them upgrading the device would be easy, but it would show everybody that there is an alternative source of crystals I know about. I'm actually worried about what it might lead to. You know how people can be, and I don't trust our lovely bunch - I explained.
She nodded.
- I would be worried about that too. Maybe we can supply them with a little bit of additional food, to somehow make it? We should just tell them that it might be hard for a few days, but it will be easier after - she proposed. - And you also should meet them properly. I know you didn't have the time yet, but since the hunting grounds are cleared...
- Yeah - I sighed.
Meeting new people wasn't my favorite thing in the world, since I found annoying most of them, but just because we were to live together for a while, I felt like there was no other choice.
- I'll do it. I think they will get the tough news better from me, than you. I already showed them that I'm not just somebody who says empty words by creating the whole city.
- Just explain it to them. I spoke with those people a lot, and they will understand if you tell them the truth. Just... Keep those additional crystals to yourself for now - she smiled briefly.
I nodded.
- Let's go back - I said.
- How about we take a walk? It's not that far, and I would really love to just walk with you - she offered.
I was down. After all that running around, any time spent with my wife sounded amazing.
We used this time to speak about this new world and the city that we've built here. About the future which was awaiting for is in this place. This led to a tough conversation about kids, as we both were worried about them.
The conclusions we both came to were the same. We needed to spend more time with them to put them all on the right track to becoming decent human beings. Make sure they would know that they can rely on us in any case.
As we reached the city center, we found that our disappearance caused a bit of a ruckus among our community, and everybody gathered in the city center waiting for our return to find out what was going on.
I took my time to explain it all to everybody, then I proposed the solution I came up with Celestine. After a bit more talking we agreed upon getting the next upgrade as fast as possible, then making the necessary preparation for the rest of the people in the city to begin their journey as hunters. They would still remain limited only to the goblin territory, while I would farm the rest to get the next upgrade, and then we would return to the previous plan.
It allowed me to meet a few people and put the names of the faces I already knew, but what was even more important, we, as a whole, came up with the name of the city. I wasn't happy about it, because of things you are about to learn in a moment, unfortunately, everybody else found it amazing.
Normally I would argue with them because I didn't really care about their opinions, but Celestine, Tihana, Leonel, and Cermalita seemed to like it very much as well. They formed a united front against me, so I found it hard to argue.
The infamous name was Petrograd. Yeah... I know...
But what was I supposed to do, when everybody kept insisting on it? The best thing I could come up with was just to ignore it, but it didn't really work as well, since they all knew already it was irritating me a lot and kept mentioning it all the time.
So yeah, to change the topic, a bit about the people whom I met...
There was the group of individuals whom Celestine picked to teach our kids, so they wouldn't fall off with their education. All of them used to work as teachers or focused on research, but had to stop since they all had severe health problems. Mostly cancer, but there was also a genetic disease, which had a too difficult name for me to remember.
I kept them in mind since I did care for the well-being of my children, but since their role in the rest of my story was marginal, I'm not gonna mention them.