diff --git a/poc/int_to_string/benchmark.cpp b/poc/int_to_string/benchmark.cpp
index bb5dbdf..9540468 100644
--- a/poc/int_to_string/benchmark.cpp
+++ b/poc/int_to_string/benchmark.cpp
@@ -46,13 +46,13 @@ int main()
         result_buffer_type buffer = {};
         uint64_t integer = std::numeric_limits<std::uint64_t>::max();
 
-        auto start = std::chrono::system_clock::now();
+        auto start = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
         for (size_t i = 0; i < loop_count; ++i)
         {
             _ui64toa(integer, buffer.data(), 10);
             integer -= reduction_value;
         }
-        auto end = std::chrono::system_clock::now();
+        auto end = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
         auto elapsed = end - start;
         std::cout << std::chrono::duration_cast<std::chrono::milliseconds>(elapsed).count() << " ms\n";
     }
@@ -63,14 +63,15 @@ int main()
 
         uint64_t integer = std::numeric_limits<std::uint64_t>::max();
         uint64_t accumulated_characters = 0;
-        auto start = std::chrono::system_clock::now();
+        auto start = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
+
         for (size_t i = 0; i < loop_count; ++i)
         {
             auto [ptr, ec] = std::to_chars(buffer.data(), buffer.data() + buffer.size(), integer);
             accumulated_characters += static_cast<std::size_t>(ptr - buffer.data());
             integer -= reduction_value;
         }
-        auto end = std::chrono::system_clock::now();
+        auto end = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
 
         auto elapsed = end - start;
         std::cout << std::chrono::duration_cast<std::chrono::milliseconds>(elapsed).count() << " ms       ";
@@ -85,13 +86,13 @@ int main()
         uint64_t integer = std::numeric_limits<std::uint64_t>::max();
         uint64_t accumulated_characters = 0;
 
-        auto start = std::chrono::system_clock::now();
+        auto start = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
         for (size_t i = 0; i < loop_count; ++i)
         {
             accumulated_characters += int_to_string(integer, buffer);
             integer -= reduction_value;
         }
-        auto end = std::chrono::system_clock::now();
+        auto end = std::chrono::steady_clock::now();
 
         auto elapsed = end - start;
 
diff --git a/poc/int_to_string/int_to_string.h b/poc/int_to_string/int_to_string.h
index 8e4a32f..7a613e0 100644
--- a/poc/int_to_string/int_to_string.h
+++ b/poc/int_to_string/int_to_string.h
@@ -181,19 +181,19 @@ constexpr std::uint8_t int_to_string(T integer_value, result_buffer_type &target
     // digit count via logarithm lookup
     std::uint8_t digits_left_to_encode = detail::digit_count(number_to_encode);
 
-    static_assert(std::clamp(static_cast<uint16_t>(201), static_cast<uint16_t>(0U), static_cast<uint16_t>(199U)) ==
-                  199);
-
-    // left-to-right extraction, 2 digits (0-99) per loop
-    // Each iteration costs: 1 divide + 1 multiply + 1 subtract
-    // (vs. 2 divides + 2 mods in the classic right-to-left scheme)
-    while (digits_left_to_encode >= 2)
+// left-to-right extraction, 2 digits (0-99) per loop
+// Each iteration costs: 1 divide + 1 multiply + 1 subtract
+// (vs. 2 divides + 2 mods in the classic right-to-left scheme)
+#if KDTOOLBOX_ASTREE
+    __ASTREE_unroll((20))
+#endif
+        while (digits_left_to_encode >= 2)
     {
         std::uint64_t divisor = detail::pow10[digits_left_to_encode - 2]; // 10^(L-2)
-        auto chunk = static_cast<uint16_t>((number_to_encode / divisor) & 0xFFFFULL);
+        auto chunk = static_cast<uint16_t>(number_to_encode / divisor);
 
         // chunk must be possible to multiply by 2 without overflow
-        std::uint8_t lut_index = (chunk & static_cast<uint8_t>(0b01111111)) * 2;
+        std::uint8_t lut_index = chunk * 2;
 
         lut_index =
             std::clamp(lut_index, static_cast<uint8_t>(0U), static_cast<uint8_t>(detail::two_digit_lut.size() - 1));
diff --git a/poc/int_to_string/main.cpp b/poc/int_to_string/main.cpp
index 4a8e70f..d6116e1 100644
--- a/poc/int_to_string/main.cpp
+++ b/poc/int_to_string/main.cpp
@@ -13,7 +13,10 @@ This file is part of KDToolBox.
 
 constexpr bool compare_number(result_buffer_type &source, size_t num_characters, const std::string &expected)
 {
-    for (size_t i = 0; i < num_characters; i++)
+#if KDTOOLBOX_ASTREE
+    __ASTREE_unroll((20))
+#endif
+        for (size_t i = 0; i < num_characters; i++)
     {
         if (source[i] != expected[i])
             return false;