Time gradually reached late February and early March.
During this period, Ron became thoroughly busy.
The cash-burning war between hotpot restaurants had reached its fiercest stage. Mia even took Ron's chibi Doll north to the Northern Frontier, where she and Lyle held the fort together.
Ron also needed to communicate with Mia from time to time, keeping abreast of the local situation and offering them strategies.
He did not know whether it was an illusion, but the pirate hotpot restaurants had recently stepped up their advertising and promotions again, making Ron feel as though they had finally bared their dagger after exhausting every trick.
Perhaps the Duke of the Northern Frontier and the people from the Grain and Medicine Trade Alliance felt that the recent expenses of the hotpot restaurants were no longer worth the cost, and had already put pressure on those in charge.
Meanwhile, Ron's side remained at ease throughout, supported by the Flower Shop's steady and substantial income, with no financial troubles whatsoever.
Setting aside the hotpot restaurant expansion plans, the first all-purpose healing potion in the laboratory Ron had invested in at the Imperial City Magic Academy had entered its final testing phase.
Once the test results met expectations, it could officially enter mass production.
Meanwhile, in the private experimental district of Chaos City, the research area was not far from being fully completed.
Some independent laboratories had already been put into use.
When Ron arrived, Ilya had just emerged from the single water-element extraction chamber, her face still bearing an expression of disbelief.
"Is the experiment progressing smoothly?" Ron asked curiously.
Ilya looked at him with a complicated expression, her voice low and uncertain. "I don't know whether this counts as going smoothly or not."
The two entered a research room nearby. Ilya took out