Jasper's Bold Guess

"Cooperation?" Jasper sat in his office, his expression grave as he listened to Holt's report, feeling a mix of suspicion and uncertainty.

"Yes, I heard Professor Hicks tell Prince Ron 'happy to cooperate' with my own ears. The two sides even exchanged receipts, and they mentioned signing some kind of contract." Holt said earnestly.

Jasper leaned back in his chair, one hand propping up the armrest while the other twirled a pen, rubbing it as he pondered.

Previously, he had been wondering where the Nether Orchids in Prince Ron's flower shop had actually come from.

After all, plants with such magical properties were almost never found in ordinary environments; otherwise, they would have been discovered long ago.

Prince Ron had lived in the palace since he was a child, and aside from this current trip to Chaos City, he had never left the Imperial Capital. Where would he have had the opportunity to come into contact with a plant like the Nether Orchid?

But if the Disode Magic Academy was behind him, everything could be explained.

What exactly... was the Magic Academy trying to do?

Why use Prince Ron to bring the Nether Orchid into the public eye?

If it were purely for profit, the Magic Academy could have handled the entire process themselves, or at most, collaborated with the Gnome Trade Alliance. There was no reason to choose the Seventh Prince, who held no real power, as a partner.

It couldn't be that they wanted to groom Prince Ron and interfere in the division of interests within the Human Empire, could it?

Jasper made a few random guesses at first, only to be startled by his own audacity.

Grooming Prince Ron... grooming the Seventh Prince...

But the Disode Magic Academy was an absolutely neutral force!

How could this be possible!?

Jasper felt a cold sweat trickling down his back.

He shook his head, feeling his own thoughts were too absurd.

The very foundation of the Disode Magic Academy was absolute neutrality; how could they possibly interfere in the internal affairs of the Human Empire?

Although the head of the Magic Academy was human, the two vice-heads, who were both legendary mages, were from the Elf Race and the Gnome Race respectively. They would certainly never agree to meddling in the affairs of the Human Empire.

Jasper tried his best to convince himself in his heart...

But... what if?

People's hearts could change.

Who could say for sure about such things?

Since Prince Ron certainly didn't have the ability to obtain a plant like the Nether Orchid on his own, it must have been provided by the Magic Academy that was collaborating with him.

This point was obvious.

Since that was the case, even if the Magic Academy's original intention wasn't to interfere in the affairs of the Human Empire, there must be some other reason that led them to choose Prince Ron.

It was just that there was too little information right now, so Jasper couldn't make an accurate judgment.

"Leave the Nether Orchid and you can go first." Thinking this, Jasper waved his hand at Holt and said, "Don't stop the surveillance on the flower shop. Increase the monthly expense quota to 1 gold coin, and remember to report to me every week."

"Yes." Holt nodded respectfully and exited the office.

Jasper looked at the Nether Orchid on the table, pulled out a blank sheet of stationery, and began to write a letter.

He described everything involving Prince Ron in complete detail, distinguishing between objective facts and his own speculations so that the commander could understand clearly.

Matters involving the Magic Academy and the Human Empire had to be reported to the commander.

After finishing the letter, Jasper rubbed his temples and let out a long sigh.

Tomorrow, he would find a mage in the mercenary group to test the effects of the Nether Orchid, then go to the flower shop to see Prince Ron and probe his intentions.

Thinking this, Jasper took the letter out of the office and ordered his subordinates to send it off.

The commander should be in the north of the empire recently, so this letter would likely take a long time to arrive.

Fortunately, the matter of Prince Ron wasn't too urgent, so Jasper wasn't overly impatient.

How things would proceed would depend on how Prince Ron's flower shop developed.

Waking up in the morning, Ron completed his daily training as usual, exercising his ability to squeeze out "Qi," feeling that he was getting closer and closer to becoming a Tier 1 warrior.

After breakfast, someone from the Magic Academy Business Department came to the door with a formal contract.

Ron read it carefully several times, pointed out a few minor flaws, and after revisions, both sides signed the contract, and the deal was finalized.

The people from the Magic Academy placed the one hundred Nether Orchids into a spatial device, bid Ron farewell, and left.

Ron also received a receipt for 4000 gold coins as he had hoped, along with a three-month contract for 600 Nether Orchids.

The system's notification arrived right on cue—

[Main Quest]--[Open for business, sell one hundred Nether Orchids]:

"Congratulations to the host for completing the quest. The quest reward has been deposited into the [Inventory]."

System: "Triggering upgrade quest."

[Upgrade Quest]--[Successfully cultivate one Golden Red Chrysanthemum]:

"Specific requirements: Successfully cultivate one Golden Red Chrysanthemum within the Cultivation Space."

"Quest Reward: Plant Growth Technique, System Level +1."

Seeing the quest reward of a system level increase, the corners of Ron's eyes twitched.

"What's the point of this level up? Just adding a pattern to the interface?" Ron retorted irritably.

System: "With this upgrade, the system will introduce three different patterns for the host to choose from. Once the host reaches level five, the system will also introduce interface skins to satisfy the host's aesthetic needs."

"Heh... hehe... interface skins..." Ron's mouth twitched, not knowing where to even begin with this complaint.

You might as well be even more black-hearted and introduce skin fragments or something!

Giving away skins directly, I really should thank you!

He sighed, shook his head helplessly, and then opened his Inventory.

He first selected the [Golden Red Chrysanthemum Cultivation Method] and absorbed it, instantly learning all the knowledge regarding the cultivation of Golden Red Chrysanthemums.

Only then did he click on the [Golden Red Chrysanthemum Seeds] to look at the item description.

[Golden Red Chrysanthemum Seeds] (One): Golden Red Chrysanthemum, a perennial evergreen herb. It prefers moist, loose, and fertile soil. It blooms every autumn and withers at the end of the season. Its fragrance can promote the circulation of Battle Qi. The leaves and petals can be used to brew tea, and the petals can also be consumed directly. Both methods can boost Battle Qi circulation and stimulate human vitality, with a gentle effect that provides an additional boost to the condensation of Battle Qi.

"Tsk tsk, after mages, is it the warriors' turn now?" Ron rubbed his chin and chuckled, "Are you trying to blossom in both magic and martial arts?"

Ron was very satisfied with the effects of the Golden Red Chrysanthemum and nodded repeatedly as he read the description.

Compared to the Nether Orchid, the Golden Red Chrysanthemum had a much broader target audience.

After all, the number of warriors far exceeded that of mages, especially low-ranking warriors. Basically, any ordinary person with a bit of talent had a chance to successfully promote after years of training.

Of course, this was only relative.

On the continent, ordinary people still made up the vast majority, and the number of warriors who had condensed a Battle Qi Vortex could only be said to be slightly higher than that of mages; it was far from the level where everyone practiced Battle Qi.

It just so happened that Ron was at the stage of being about to condense a Battle Qi Vortex, so the Golden Red Chrysanthemum had arrived at the perfect time.

I want recommendation votes~~~