January 25th, night.
Third floor of the flower shop in the Royal Capital, inside a mahjong room.
Ron André sat with Nora on his right, Yuna on his left, and Sylvie across from him as the four of them played Gods' Contention.
"Boss, after I gave the Scalevine to Jorina, her father's leg injury healed very quickly," Nora said happily. Then she added with some concern, "But afterward, Jorina came to me and said something like Scalevine is too valuable. She wants to cut her wages in half to repay the debt slowly."
"For things like that, you should learn to make your own decisions. As long as you think it's appropriate, that's fine." Ron played an "Eight Staff."
"Pung!" Sylvie called, taking the tile.
"I understand, but I still feel like I should report it to you," Nora nodded obediently.
The game continued until around ten at night.
Sylvie reluctantly left the mahjong table, said goodbye to Ron and the others, and returned to the convent of Stan City.
Nora and Yuna headed back to Ron's Wonderful Flower Shop in the City of Chaos to rest, while Ron stayed behind to review the Element Card sales report Kiel had delivered that evening.
After days of continuous buildup, the popularity of Element Cards had reached a new peak.
Especially after the release of the second batch yesterday, it triggered explosive growth.
Given how popular Magic Duel had become, this time, Ron didn't just change four cards' designs. Instead, he only replaced one card per deck, and most decks only contained one of three modified cards: "Earth 3," "Water 5," or "Wind 8."
Moreover, these three cards had different drop rates.
In other words, out of one hundred second-batch Element Card decks:
Around 60 decks would contain only the new "Earth 3."
30 decks would contain only the new "Water 5."
9 decks would contain only the new "Wind 8."
And as for the "Fire K"—
Out of a hundred decks, there was only one.
This made countless noble youths grind their teeth in frustration, yet they willingly spent money just to obtain that revamped "Fire K Legendary-tier spell — Blazing Cloud Inferno."
Especially after the Magic Duel rules were updated.
The new rules didn't change the overall flow, but split what was originally a shared deck into two separate ones.
Each player could now prepare their own 54-card Element deck, as long as the suits and ranks met standard requirements.
As a result, whenever new cards were released, dedicated Magic Duel players had no choice but to upgrade their decks immediately—otherwise they'd be unable to execute new strategies.
When Ron first proposed this change, Kiel had showered him with praise again, flattering him to no end.
And building on that, Kiel proposed a new idea—introducing White Magic and Black Magic into the system.
This would mean:
White Magic: Summoning, Barrier, Healing, Blessing
Black Magic: Curse, Darkness, Blood, Undead
Each forms its own distinct system.
This would greatly enrich the depth and freshness of Element Cards.
Ron was stunned listening to this. It felt like Magic Duel was drifting further and further away from ordinary playing cards, evolving into something entirely new.
To be fair, when it came to business ingenuity, Ron had to admit defeat.
No matter what idea he proposed, Kiel could always expand on it brilliantly—and in a way that perfectly matched the trends of this world.
Even Ron, a transmigrator, was left impressed.
If Kiel had lived in Ron's original world, he probably would've made quite a name for himself.
But for now, working under Ron was just as good.
Unfortunately, even at this point, the system still hadn't notified him of task completion.
The main quest, [Selling Element Cards], had vague requirements—it only stated that Element Cards needed to become popular throughout the Royal Capital, without specifying exact criteria.
Ron wasn't too worried.
After this explosive phase, there would likely be a stable growth period, which should be enough to complete the quest.
At this point, it was only a matter of time.
As for the reward—Element Potato—he had no idea what it was yet.
He'd figure it out later.
With that thought, Ron shifted his consciousness into the puppet inside the palace and contacted Mia.
Mia complained about the expansion of the hot pot business. Since knockoff hot pot restaurants in the North had already seized the market, their early progress hadn't been smooth.
Ron wasn't concerned. Mia and her team were already prepared for an upcoming spending war and promotional campaign.
After listening, he said, "If you have time in the next couple of days, come by the flower shop. Bring Eileen too—I promised to give you some plants, and I've almost forgotten."
"Okay, Ron! Then Eileen and I will come by tomorrow evening for dinner?"
"Sure, I'll have Nora prepare things."
"Hehe, come to think of it, I haven't seen Nora in a while." Mia cupped her face and giggled. "So when I see her, should I call her Nora—or sister-in-law?"
"Call her whatever you like," Ron replied casually.
"Ah…" Mia sighed dramatically. "Poor Eileen, what's she supposed to do?"
Ron laughed. "Stop playing matchmaker. If you've got time for that, think about what kind of plant you want."
"Doesn't matter much, I don't really need anything." Mia shrugged lazily. "The palace already has shares of Nether Orchid and Crimson-Gold Chrysanthemum. I'm also raising a Scalevine. What else do you have?"
"I actually want one of those puppets, but you said only Chosen Ones can use them… what a pity…"
"Ahem…" Ron coughed awkwardly and quickly changed the subject. "I also have Scalevine leaves—they have strong healing effects. External injuries, internal injuries, and even other conditions can all be treated."
He wiped some sweat from his brow, thinking: No way I'm giving her a puppet.
Once that got out, the puppet's true function would be completely exposed.
Mia had changed clothes in her own room before!
Even though he hadn't looked…
But he had seen Nora's…
What if Mia told Nora?
Better to explain that kind of thing personally in the future.
"I don't really lack healing items either, and I'm not usually in danger, so I probably won't need it," Mia said, not noticing anything unusual. "Anything else?"
"There's another thing you might like—a type of tree resin. Applying it to the skin protects and nourishes it, and even slows aging."
"Really!?" Mia's eyes lit up. "I want that! I want that! I'll come with Eileen tomorrow afternoon!"
"No problem. I'll be waiting."
After ending the connection, Ron couldn't help but think—
As expected, skincare products are far more appealing to girls.