FiOP Chapter 116 (Patreon)

The following years…

Time kept on moving as I kept working on getting levels as fast as I could. Things slowly changed, but only at a speed that it was hard to notice the differences unless you really thought about them. The village had already expanded into a town, but over the years, with every new person moving here, the town expanded into a city.

From what everyone was saying, it was the fastest-growing city ever in the entire history of the country, perhaps even the entire continent, and it was all for one reason: my food. Many couldn’t afford the better quality fruits and vegetables. It had been kept a well-hidden secret from most of the population as factions quickly bought up everything I sold, but as I kept expanding, the cat was eventually let out of the bag. Anyone who wanted a taste of something better moved here for a better chance at getting the higher-quality crops because they would no longer make it out of the city, as demand was that high for them.

Not only did it have an ever-increasing population, but many nobles also sent their own people here to work as brokers for the better crops, some even moving here themselves so they could eat them as fresh as they possibly could be. It meant that my city now had the second-highest noble population, only behind the capital.

The biggest and most noticeable change was to my farming plots. Every year, they just about doubled, growing at an unprecedented pace to attempt to feed the insane demand for higher-quality produce. People were ravenous for it, and with the king dead, we were now seeing a similar number of quality farmers as quantity farmers, if not more.

Making the dungeons safer, finally unlocking some of the higher-level skills, I fundamentally shifted the difficulty of pushing into dungeons, as now there were multiple safe zones in each, allowing dungeons to slowly start correcting themselves while I helped them along the way. The standout skill was landmark creation; not only did it create another safe zone, but the safe zone also gave differing benefits that people would go out of their way to visit because they were that good.

To a giant tree that provided fruits that worked similarly to a minor health potion, not only feeding but healing those who stayed there, to a waterfall that cleansed minor poisons, diseases, and curses. Many landmarks became famous themselves, often changing the entire name of the dungeon to more suitably fit the landmark inside than the end boss, which is how most were named before.

With time, my children grew, and some were now even helping with the farm work or following in their mothers' footsteps. Leaf’s little boy, Oak, took after Delilah, following her like a lost puppy and learning everything he could about blacksmithing from her. Delilah’s boy, Baldur, had already begun his training to become a knight. Even at his age, he was making steady progress in growing his strength and bravery.

The standout was Silk’s firstborn, Samson. Not only a certifiable genius, but one of the strongest children my wives and I produced. He could end up with a wide variety of classes, but for a totally different reason than I. I had a high probability of being in many classes because I worked hard for those chances. He was gifted enough that his potential was almost unlimited; even if he didn’t strive for it, he could end up with that class because that’s what his heart really wanted.

More than likely, he was getting a combat leader class, or he’ll be the first one of my children with a noble class. Most of my wives were still the same rank as me, except Leaf, who moved up to rare. With the stat boost I gave her, she was now one of the strongest people in the city, beating out Marcus finally. Once things finally started settling down, many of my wives went and began correcting the problems they had had earlier in life.

Tems went back to her old kobold burrow and rescued her mother. She was old now, locked in that cave; she aged like a normal woman, and it was obvious she would die far before Tems, and Tems was the only one who didn’t realize that was going to happen sooner than she thought. Her mother's life wasn’t as easy as when she was still in the cave; her good looks were the only reason she still lived, but it was at a high cost of hard living that shortened her life.

The better food and living in the small house she moved to on the outside of the city would help, but unless she grinded her class to the next rank, or slept with me for the stat boost(which I wouldn’t do), she wasn’t going to live past the next decade. She seemed fine with it, but I knew it was a bomb waiting to happen for Tems, and it would destroy her when she did finally pass.

Our lifespans were now counted in centuries instead of years; even the weakest of my wives would live until they were over five hundred, unless something terrible happened or they died fighting something. I would do everything in my power to stop that from happening, but there was still a chance, which was why I still grinded levels like a madman, to lower that chance.

Silk saved her family and moved her sister, who was on the verge of dying, and her family to our city. Her father died young as well in a mine collapse, her brothers moving on to make their own families, never really looking back, and leaving the now oldest girl to do most of the work, and her disease crippled her, making it almost impossible until Silk found her, paid for her to be cured and was now paying for them to be raised near us.

Olivia traveled all the way up to the north to visit her family. The endurance bonus she got from me all but eliminated the negative effects the sun had on her. It was still a very long trip, and she was gone for months during the visit. My brain automatically went to the worst things that could have happened, but she came back fine, even faster than we estimated she’d be away. It turns out she had another little sister, only slightly older than some of her own children now.

Many of my wives were just happy to live and didn’t have any problems they needed to go back and correct. The tribe Roka left was already disbanded; no one to go and save. Delilah was kicked out of the dwarven strongholds; they would never let her back, even if she proved her skill as one of the best blacksmiths the dwarves have ever created.

Sarah and Leaf had history, but didn’t want anything to do with it. They settled down already. If someone from their past did show up, it would be for a negative reason, and we’d deal with it when(if) it ever came about. Cherry and Cynthia did their best leading the city, and Millicent was now the leader of the city's alchemists' guild. The only one who was frozen, waiting for time to pass, was Mara, the dragoness, who made herself comfortable in the new city. She would outlast us all, but at the same time, was amazed at how fast things were changing around her.

I finally went through it. The chances of going through a status recalibration would increase as your rank did; the crunching down of skills was necessary, and I knew Mara was more excited than I when it finally did happen.