That night, Tyla could no longer bear the separation from Leon as despite Talia giving her daily updates about his situation, she finally forced her way from Iron Reef all the way to Canyon Hub to meet him.

And well, that night, Leon got a mouthful from her.

Apart from getting a mouthful from her, he also enjoyed his most memorable night in Canyon Hub so far as Tyla made sure to leave her mark on him.

At times, he struggled to deal with her enthusiasm.

Also, that night, Leon didn’t sleep early.

Laying down on the hotel bed with Tyla in his arms, Leon began thinking about everything that had happened in his life so far since becoming a D Rank Ascended.

It was just a month ago but it felt like a lifetime ago already.

After the events of the past week, most notably his duel against Colonel Alphonse, his epic battle against Dhruv Laden, and then the subsequent culling of the Neon Beasts born from the nuclear disaster, Leon finally had a clear grasp of where exactly he stood in the hierarchy of power of the world.

He clenched his right hand and raised the fist high, looking at it. ’I’ve really come a long way, huh?’ He chuckled. ’And in just a few months’.

He still remembered when all he had was Construct and Deconstruct.

Well, in a way, it was Construct and Deconstruct that brought him to where he currently was today.

’June 22nd...’ he thought.

That was the day that led by Talia, Community G rose up against the Zmer gang to eradicate the gang and their leader, Parasite.

That was the day that he participated in his first big battle after the Siege of the Cargo Trailer a few days prior.

And now, he was already fighting against D Rank Ascended and Neon Beasts. Not just fighting, he was killing them!

’September 5th...’ he thought. ’I wonder how long it’s going to take me before I become a C Rank Ascended’.

He looked at his hand again. ’Being D Rank already changed me so much, I wonder how much the C Rank change is going to be’.

Thinking of C Rank, he thought of Ren Nora.

The events of the past week didn’t just show him where he stood in the current hierarchy of the world in terms of power, fighting in so many significant battles also made Leon understand himself and his powers better.

Now, he knew the limit of the Zerphyr-7 Stealth Reconnaissance UAV and what exactly it was capable of. 𝗳𝚛𝗲𝕖𝚠𝚎𝚋𝗻𝗼𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝚘𝐦

Now, he’d seen firsthand the true harrowing power of the Sentry-IV Autocannon Drone when holding nothing back.

He’d also seen the power of the Bulwark MK.II Titan Frame especially when his army of Doom Rovers were fighting alongside him.

Leon grinned. ’Little did I know it but I’m already one of the strongest Ascended in the world... in less than 4 months!’

Another reason why Leon was thinking so much this night was not just because of post-nut clarity, it was because just as the battles that he fought showed him his strengths, he also recognized a few of his weaknesses due to them.

And with the credit alert that he got earlier today, Leon no longer had to think about the cost of Construction.

He could now truly afford to let his creativity flow.

And of course, Leon was a greedy man. When the money first entered his bank account, he didn’t think small at all.

He thought big.

He thought of the other major blueprint names that he saw during the climax of his D Rank Ascended Trial- the X-99 "Solaris" Photonic Disintegrator, the Guass-X Kinetic Accelerator, the V-7 Kinetic-Ion Barrier and the others.

He thought of the Class-Exclusive Blueprints of the 2 other Class Specializations of the Mechanist Class.

By now, after thinking for a long time, Leon already realized that unlike other Class with their Class Specializations, the 3 Class Specializations of the Mechanist Class were more like 3 parts of a single whole, the blueprints especially.

’The penultimate D Rank Mechanist is the one that has all 9 blueprints at his disposal right?’ Leon thought with a smile.

’But is that even possible?’

’Has any D Rank Mechanist ever gathered all 9 blueprints before in history?’

At E Rank, Leon managed to crack the code, turning his Class that was still seen as a weak and utility Class into a lethal Class in terms of combat.

He turned it into the penultimate combat Class, hunting multiple E Rank Ascended as a mere Mechanist.

Now, after his performance against Dhruv Laden with just 3 of these blueprints at his disposal, Leon could not help but think of the possibility of having all 9 blueprints in the future.

’Maybe I can even survive a C Rank Ascended if I have all...’ he thought, then he chuckled as he realized just how wild his mind was running.

Leon didn’t know if it was possible, but after getting a taste of just what his Class could offer at D Rank, his appetite could no longer be sated.

It doesn’t matter if it was impossible, he would try nonetheless.

He would keep on trying till he either gathered all 9 blueprints of the 3 different D Rank Mechanist Class Specializations, or till he became C Rank, and still he won’t stop searching to gather all of them.

Besides, unlike other Mechanists, Leon had a special advantage that no other Ascended had in this world... the ChronoSystem.

Since becoming a D Rank Mechanist, Leon had been checking the System Shop every single day, waiting for the day that he would get lucky.

Also, since he became a D Rank Mechanist, he was yet to spend his Data Points as he kept on stockpiling them for future purchases.

He was waiting for the day that the stars would align in his favor and one of the Class-Exclusive Blueprints of the Mechanist Class that was not yet in his arsenal would appear.

Leon didn’t want that day to come only to miss it because he wasn’t prepared and didn’t have enough Data Points, this was why he kept on stockpiling them.

Looking at the chandelier above, Leon thought. ’Will I be able to gather all 9 Blueprints before my Ascended Counter get to 4000/4000?’

As he thought, he twirled Tyla’s long hair, playing with it.

Also, with the experience that he got from hunting and killing Dhruv Laden, Leon confirmed that he was more than equipped to hunt D Rank Ascended if he was willing to bear the consequences of his actions.

If Dhruv’s death taught him one thing, it was the fact that a D Rank Ascended’s death would never go unnoticed.

Every D Rank Ascended in the world is either independent with extreme survival skills and were almost impossible to kill, or they were tied to at least 1 of the major factions of the world.

Targeting them is synonymous with inviting the ire of the faction behind them, and in most cases, people can’t handle the heat that comes with it.

Not Leon though.

’Joe Curry,’ he thought. ’Dhruv’s down, I’m coming for you’.

It’s been almost 4 months since the events of Community G where Rex lost his life, but the circumstances of how it happened meant Leon never forgot it.

He never forgot about revenge and now that he was equipped for it, Leon was ready to go all in for it.

All he needed was for Lt. Colonel Umar Farouq to do all the fact-finding for him to learn everything he needed to know about Joe Curry to prepare appropriately for the assassination.

’I’ll meet him tomorrow’. He thought. ’After, I can work on making upgrades to my existing constructs’.

After getting the credit alert later in the day, Leon didn’t just think of new blueprints, he also thought of his existing constructs and how to improve them and he knew a few ways already.

For example, the Doom Rover v0.2s.

Though he won the duel against Colonel Alphonse, the performance of the Doom Rovers against the D Rank NetRunner were less than satisfactory for him.

The only win he accepted from that duel was the performance of the Bulwark MK.II Titan Frame against the Colonel.

Just like the blueprint boasted, the mech suit was actually equipped to withstand the Neural Projection ability of NetRunners!

To Leon, this was massive.

This was why with enough money now in his account, one of the important projects that he intended to tackle in the next few days was to try reverse-engineering the tech inside the Bulwark MK.II Titan Frame that protects it against a NetRunner’s neural invasion.

Also, it was finally time to construct his first set of the D Rank Blueprint that he got from Ren Nora, the Aegis-V Modulator Blueprint.

Leon intended to swap the R9 energy shield for the Aegis-V in almost all his most expensive and important constructs.

He sighed. ’So much work to do...’

In that moment, Tyla squirmed in his arms and her eyelids fluttered open.

She stared at him. "You’re still awake".

"Davis".

DING!

"Time".

"01:23am ma’am".

Tyla glared at him. "It’s late, go sleep!"

Leon chuckled. "Ok".

He finally slept.