After saying goodbye to Lyle, Ron and Mason exited the courtyard of the barbecue shop and walked together down Desak Street, behind Aikley Street, heading toward the backyard of Ron's shop.
As they passed a narrow alley between two yards, Ron caught sight of a thin figure, cloaked in tattered linen and wearing a cloth hat, rummaging through a trash bin.
The moment the person noticed Ron looking, they froze. Then, clutching whatever they had fished out of the trash, they tugged their hat down tighter and quickly ran off through the other end of the alley.
"Uh…" Ron paused, blinking. If he wasn't mistaken, that person seemed to be holding the leftovers from his lunch.
"What's wrong?" Mason asked from the side.
"Just saw a stray kid, probably pretty young," Ron replied. "Are there a lot of homeless people in Chaos City?"
"There's a slum on the eastern slope," Mason explained. "It's mostly filled with people who came here chasing dreams of wealth and failed—or their children. Every city has a place like that. But Chaos City's not the worst, thanks to all the trade."
Ron nodded thoughtfully.
As the Seventh Prince, the original Ron hadn't really been exposed to this kind of thing.
And though he'd been reading some history lately, he was still far from fully understanding how the world worked.
But it was just a passing curiosity. Soon, the two of them arrived back at the flower shop.
Mason paid the 100 gold coins that Professor Hicks had given him and bought five more Nether Orchids before leaving, quite satisfied.
[Main Quest] – [Open the Shop and Sell 100 Nether Orchids]:
[Progress: 6/100]
Ron nodded with satisfaction and opened his system panel:
[System Level: Level 2 (Title Badge Unlocked)
Host: Ron Andre
Race: Human-Foxkin Hybrid
Gender: Male
Age: 18 (Patterned Mark)
Class: Tier 1 Mage
Wealth Points: 121]
[Quests]
[Inventory]
[Shop]
So far, he had completed one main quest, with the current goal of selling 100 Nether Orchids still in progress.
As long as Mason continued promoting the flower at the Magic Academy, that should be easy. Word-of-mouth could accelerate sales quickly.
He had also completed an upgrade quest.
Out of the daily quests, he had failed two and completed one. One more—"Find a convincing explanation for the shop's supply chain"—was still pending.
The inventory was empty.
The shop contained:
[Farming Space]: 100 Wealth Points per square meter (max 10 sqm)
[Nether Orchid Seed]: 10 Wealth Points each
[Seed Acceleration Spell]: 100 Wealth Points
[Permanent Mental Interference]: 100 Wealth Points per use (temporary item; available until related quest is completed)
The previously seen temporary items, aside from the last one, had already disappeared.
After reviewing everything, Ron nodded and headed to the second-floor study.
But he didn't grab a book right away. Instead, he pulled out a stack of rectangular cards, roughly palm-sized, and began scribbling on them.
Since he had closed early and gotten a free meal at Lyle's, the evening was still young—a perfect time to find something fun to do.
On one card, he drew a little flame in the top-left and bottom-right corners. Next to it, he wrote a "1."
In the center, Ron drew an image of a Fireball Spell, making the card feel more dynamic and magical.
He continued this all the way to the "K", where he drew the legendary spell "Meteor Catastrophe."
Yes—Ron was making playing cards.
Of course, to make it fit the world's aesthetic, he swapped out the traditional suits of Spades, Hearts, Diamonds, and Clubs for elemental icons: flames, earth, water droplets, and whirlwinds—representing the four basic elements of nature.
Each suit had matching spell art depending on the card's number.
The Joker cards?
Little Joker: Elemental God Elemont—whom Ron depicted as a long-legged elf lady in a flowery dress.
Big Joker: Magic God Magiko—drawn as a handsome middle-aged man in a sharp suit.
With that, the deck was complete.
Ron proudly dubbed it: 'Elemental Cards'.
Maybe tomorrow, he could call Lyle and his staff over for a round of "Dou Dizhu(Fighting the landlord)."
To be honest, ever since crossing into this world, Ron had been busy and curious, with the system giving him lots to do. Life felt fulfilling.
But after nearly half a month…
Completely cut off from his original world's entertainment…
The withdrawal symptoms were starting to kick in.
I miss video games.
I miss anime.
But there was none of that in this world.
So what to do?
Make a deck of playing cards, of course! At least it would help ease the cravings.
After all, completing his main quest was still a long way off, and there wasn't much else demanding his attention right now.
Aside from Lyle's barbecue shop and the ongoing daily quest for supply chain explanations, his schedule was wide open.
For that daily quest, Ron was starting to form a plan.
He had recently visited a bookstore again and bought a few volumes about various races' divine myths. He was currently studying them—and the key to solving his daily quest might lie within.
The bookstore owner had also "generously" gifted him a few special editions again. Ron had no choice but to accept them.
The bookstore probably wasn't doing great, and this was the owner's sleazy way of keeping loyal customers.
Still… Ron had to admit the quality was top-tier this time—far better than the earlier ones.
After indulging for just a moment, he put them away with admirable self-control and pulled out "The Evolution of Human Beliefs" to study instead.
Currently, humans have three major deities they believe in:
God of War
Goddess of Harvest
God of Healing
Each of these had dedicated temples in every human city for public prayer.
There were also some minor followings for deities like the God of Magic, but these didn't have formal churches and were more scattered.
In the Empire's upper echelons, military officers and warriors mostly believed in the God of War, while nobles tended to favor the God of Healing.
As for the Goddess of Harvest, she had the strongest following among commoners.
So why did the original Ron Andre choose to believe in the Goddess of Harvest?
Well… it was simply because, as a child starved for maternal love, he naturally gravitated toward the only goddess among the three—a figure who manifested as a kind, nurturing woman.
Pure coincidence… but it worked out perfectly.
Because the Goddess of Harvest's image happened to align perfectly with the cover story Ron was planning for his shop's supply chain.
The next morning, after his usual training, Ron didn't go into the dimensional space to grow Nether Orchids.
Instead, he left the shop and made his way alone to the Goddess of Harvest's church in the southern district of Chaos City.
It was Sunday.
Time to make a prayer.