Chapter 823 T.D.O.N.B: A Time Skip

To not prolong this, because I bet my relationship building with Leonel isn't the most interesting thing for anybody who reads this, I'm just going to say we had a lot of fun. Our original conclusions survived a storm of crazy ideas, which started popping into our heads to change either the arsenal, or the whole build in general, but eventually, each one of them got overthrown, usually by a long argument.

In the end, we made the automaton, and it performed well.

You might be wondering why I put all this boring stuff, here, and only now I'm deciding to go with a time skip - because that's what this is. The answer is quite simple, and you will understand it very soon.

So to sum things up. The production of golems went full-on. I made more and more of them, covering all twelve hunting grounds. Eventually, I upgraded the device for the seventh time, which gave us access to more new places, and I build golems for them too. To tell you the truth, I made even more, slowly making my own army of something more useful than the shadows.

Shadows were good in terms of numbers, but the small ones were very weak, while the strong ones - moloch - were too big. So I needed something strong and more compact to perform better in a wider variety of tasks.

My approach changed, though. I stopped trying so hard, because with the hunting units out there, I had much more time, and the supply of crystals was kept at its fullest.

Years passed, people grew stronger, and we expanded. The desire to open a portal to the Arc or earth grew because they all felt like they had a good enough position. Not in the standings of Petrograd, because my family claimed the undisputed top, but rather in the overall society of human hunters out there.

Thankfully, I persuaded them to shut up and keep hunting, augmenting that people out there were working hard too, so they got stronger. As more time passed, It became less of an argument. I still could use force, but it just felt wrong, so I wanted to stick to reason as long as I could.

From other terrible news, something that could be seen already if one was to look for it, Tihana and John started dating. Yep. How did it happen? I don't know. I think she temporarily went insane. I wanted to kill the brat, but she and Celestine stopped me. The guy will probably never know how close he was to dying.

For a few days after I was really jumpy, and people would go to the opposite side of the city from where I was at any given moment. Especially John. I haven't seen him for a whole month, which probably was because of Tihana, who warned him.

With some more time passing, my anger slowly died down. The guy was behaving. Worked hard, which made me look at him not just through the lenses of our original meeting, but also acknowledge what he did after.

He tried to make up for his stupidity, even though it was something his father was pushing for, the kid was willing to do everything properly, and he even went to that homeless kitchen with Tihana. After coming here, he was very dependable too. Hunting every day with my daughter. Facing the toughest opponents with her. I guess that's why they grew so fond of one another.

Now maybe a word or two about Carmelita. She became, maybe not including me, the second most respected and popular person in the whole city. How? She never went for classes or skills which would allow her to fight at the frontlines, or maybe even fight at all.

She just focused on supporting abilities. She could heal, strengthen people, protect them with magic - not only their bodies but minds as well - and give them other abilities, which they normally didn't have, like flying.

Anybody wanted to have her in their group as they went hunting. And here I have to mention that with more places available, and people getting stronger, a bunch of smaller squads were created to clear multiple spots at once.

To submit, overall it was great, but the time for me to consume the fruit was approaching.

I finished 'Automaton perfectionist', 'Master artificer', and 'Blacksmith of legends' classes. Then made the best possible gear for myself, and for the members of my family. The usual hoodie, combat pants, shoes, and of course the pudao. All so filled with magic, that despite not going for any combat skills or my physical capabilities, my strength increased significantly with those new items.

During this time, I also upgraded the city for the ninth time.

I wanted to spend some more time in Petrograd and go upgrade some more stuff, but judging by the mood in the city, I was approaching the end of the time I could buy. Because of that, I decided to get the last, tenth upgrade before, according to my knowledge, the fruit was ready to be consumed.

Eventually, I found myself in the city center, with the right amount of points, but doing the thing wasn't easy. I build so much in that place, and I had to just destroy it all. Part of me argued that it wasn't worth it, the rest knew that there was no other choice.

I decided to do it in a proper way, which - I thought - would end terribly. As many had their whole lives built now in Petrograd. They invested so much in the place, but it was about to be completely leveled to the ground.

I told them all to gather in the city center. Because both they and I had to face the reality. The war was approaching. We needed to get ready before we still had time.

So like I said, I found myself in the city center, with the right amount of points, surrounded by everybody who lived in Petrograd. Most of them was confused, but it was obvious that I had some big news, so there was also excitement in the air.