After saying goodbye to Lyle, Ron and Mason left Lyle's yard and headed straight down Desak Street, behind Eckley Street, toward the yard behind Ron's shop.
As they passed the alley between the two yards, Ron spotted a small, thin figure in a tattered hemp robe and cloth cap, rummaging through a trash can.
The person noticed Ron looking and froze. Then, clutching something they had pulled from the trash, they tightened their cap and quickly fled out the other end of the alley.
"Uh..." Ron stared for a moment. If he hadn't mistaken what he saw, the person was holding some of the food he'd left over from lunch.
"What's wrong?" Mason asked beside him.
"I saw a homeless kid. Probably pretty young," Ron said. "Are there a lot of homeless people in Chaos City?"
"There are some slums on the hillside at the eastern edge of the city. They're full of people who came to Chaos City hoping to strike it rich and failed, or their descendants," Mason replied. "Every city has slums like that. Chaos City is relatively well off because trade is thriving here."
Ron nodded thoughtfully.
As the Seventh Prince, his previous self hadn't known much about such things.
He'd read some history in recent days, but still didn't know the situation very well.
He'd only asked out of curiosity, though, and the two soon arrived at the shop.
Mason paid the 100 gold coins Professor Hicks had given him, then bought five Nether Orchids from Ron's shop before leaving, satisfied.
[Main Quest]—[Open a shop and sell one hundred Nether Orchids]:
"Progress: 6/100."
Ron nodded with satisfaction, then checked his basic status panel again—
System Level: 2 (Title Badge)
Host: Ron Andre
Race: Human and Fox-kin hybrid
Gender: Male
Age: 18 (Pattern)
Class: First-Order Mage
Wealth Points: 121
[Quests]
[Inventory]
[Shop]
He had completed one main quest, and still had one left: selling one hundred Nether Orchids.
As long as Mason promoted them properly at the Magic Academy, this shouldn't be a problem. If word of mouth took off, sales would surely pick up faster and faster.
He had also completed one level-up quest.
He had failed two daily quests and completed one. Another remained unfinished: "Find an explanation for the shop's supply channel that will convince everyone."
His [Inventory] was empty.
[Shop]
[Cultivation Space]: Exchange 100 Wealth Points for 1 square meter (maximum exchange: 10 square meters)
[Nether Orchid Seeds]: Exchange 10 Wealth Points for 1 seed
[Seed Germination Technique]: 100 Wealth Points
[Permanent Mental Interference]: Exchange 100 Wealth Points for 1 person (temporary item; will remain in the shop until the relevant quest is completed, then be removed)
Of the temporary items that had appeared before, all but the last had been removed.
After carefully reviewing the basic status panel, Ron nodded in understanding and went to the second-floor study.
He didn't start reading right away. Instead, he took a stack of palm-sized rectangular cards from the bookshelf and began drawing and writing on them.
Since he'd finished work at four that afternoon and had gone to Lyle's for a free meal, it was still early. Ron had time to find something fun to do.
In the top-left and bottom-right corners of one card, he drew a small flame and wrote "1" beside it.
In the middle, he drew a Fireball Technique, filling out the card's design.
He kept going until he reached "K." In the center of that card, he drew a scene depicting the legendary magic Cataclysmic Fire, completing the "fire suit."
That's right—Ron was making playing cards.
Of course, to better suit the customs of this world, he'd replaced clubs, diamonds, hearts, and spades with flames, yellow earth, water droplets, and whirlwinds, representing the four basic elements of nature.
In the middle of each card, he drew a spell of the corresponding rank based on its number.
The small joker was Element, the God of Elements. The big joker was Magic, the God of Magic.
Ron had drawn the former as a long-legged beauty in a floral dress, and the latter as a handsome middle-aged man in a suit.
And with that, the deck was complete.
Ron called them "Elemental Cards."
Maybe tomorrow he could invite Lyle and the employees at Lyle's shop over for a fun game of Dou Dizhu.
To be honest, in the beginning, his days in this new world had been full and exciting. He was curious about everything, and the system kept him busy.
But nearly half a month had passed, and with all ties to the entertainment of his old world severed, Ron was finally starting to feel some "withdrawal symptoms."
I want to play games!
I want to watch anime!
But this world didn't have any of that.
What could he do?
He could only make himself a deck of cards to tide himself over.
The main quest would probably take a long time to complete, anyway, and he didn't have much else to do in the meantime.
Aside from Lyle's Barbecue Shop next door, the only other thing on his plate was the daily quest about explaining his supply channel. He had plenty of time.
He already had a few ideas about how to handle that daily quest.
He'd gone back to the bookstore earlier and bought a few books about the epics and deities worshipped by the various races. He'd been studying them lately, and his ideas for completing the daily quest were connected to what he'd read.
The bookstore owner had given him a few more good books, too, and Ron had reluctantly accepted them.
The shop probably didn't get much business. The owner was resorting to such underhanded tactics to keep customers coming back.
Still, Ron approved.
These books were even more detailed than the first two, and their quality was much better.
He read a little, then showed commendable self-control and stopped, taking out Changes in Human Faith to read instead.
Humans mainly followed three faiths: the God of War, the Goddess of Harvest, and the God of Healing.
Every city in human territory had a dedicated church for each faith, where people could go to pray at any time.
Some people also worshipped other deities, such as the God of Magic, but there were no dedicated churches for them, and their followers were scattered.
Among the upper ranks of the Empire, the generals and soldiers of the hawkish faction usually followed the Church of the God of War, while most nobles followed the Church of the God of Healing.
The Goddess of Harvest had more followers among the common people.
As for why Ron Andre's previous self had chosen to follow the Goddess of Harvest, it was simply because he'd lacked a mother's love growing up and had chosen the only female-presenting deity among the three.
As it happened, though, it was a happy coincidence. The Goddess of Harvest was the perfect choice for Ron's plans.
Early the next morning, after finishing his workout, Ron didn't enter the Dimensional Plane to plant Nether Orchids. Instead, he left the shop and headed alone to the Church of the Goddess of Harvest in southern Chaos City.
It was the weekend, and he was going to pray.
Waaah, we want recommendation votes~ (?w*?)
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