The Element Potato had tremendous utility.
For Ron, many aspects of daily life could be made far simpler and more convenient by combining "Element Potatoes + magic arrays."
For example, the soundproofing array, sound reception array, and amplification array he previously used in the Magic Battle Arena.
These three could be widely applied in many everyday scenarios.
However, due to the scarcity of elemental stones and various magical materials, such magic arrays had always been extremely expensive. Compared to their function, the cost-performance ratio was far too low.
As a result, most nobles preferred to simply hire a mage to handle these tasks.
As for ordinary people, it wasn't even worth considering.
At its core, the issue was still price.
For products with the same function, people would naturally choose the cheaper option.
Even wealthy nobles would hesitate when faced with magic arrays that constantly burned money to operate.
Unless it was something irreplaceable, such as large-scale spatial teleportation arrays or large elemental arrays.
These either existed because mages of certain specialties were extremely rare, making it more cost-effective to build an array than employ a mage,
or because only magic arrays could achieve that function, and the function itself was critically important.
As for arrays that merely solved everyday problems, they were ultimately eliminated due to cost.
Take the water condenser Illya had shown Ron before.
Without Element Potatoes, a single elemental stone could only produce about half a barrel of water.
And a water-element stone costs around 10 gold coins on average.
Even in areas where water was scarce, 10 gold coins could buy countless barrels of water.
Who would be foolish enough to buy a water-element stone just to convert it into water?
That was basically throwing money away.
Even now, with Element Potatoes solving the inefficiency and high consumption of elemental stones,
Magic arrays still couldn't be popularized due to the high cost and scarcity of magical materials.
Of course, Ron himself could use magic arrays to make his own life more convenient.
In fact, he already was—for example, the soundproof array used on the arena stage.
But as long as the issue of magical materials remained unsolved, magic arrays could never truly become widespread.
On this point, Ron wasn't particularly obsessed.
The Rixis Continent was far larger than even the biggest landmass in his previous world.
The number of ordinary people living on it was beyond imagination.
He had never felt obligated to improve everyone's quality of life.
He simply found the idea of popularizing magic arrays interesting.
This differed from Illya's original intention.
So comparatively, Ron was more casual, while Illya was more persistent.
Since the problem still couldn't be fully solved, Ron chose not to force it and let things take their course.
After leaving the laboratory in Illya's hands, Ron stepped out and checked on the construction progress of the Mana–Element Reaction Zone.
At the current pace, it would be initially completed in a few days, around early March.
However, it would still require a series of safety inspections to ensure no hazards during operation.
After all, this involved the dangerous experiment of reversing mana into elements.
Although the experimental goals had been clearly defined and each conversion used far less mana than the explosion in Harper's laboratory,
Basic safety still had to be handled with extreme caution.
On this matter, despite having a side quest, Ron still instructed the construction team and Harper to conduct thorough inspections.
Better to spend more time than to overlook details.
After all, the side quest reward—"Mimic Grass"—didn't sound particularly impressive.
The name was also a bit strange.
After casually complaining about it, Ron left the private experimental zone and returned to the Royal Capital through the storage room.
The streets of the Royal Capital were now filled with discussions about the Spring Martial Tournament.
After more than a month of competition, the tournament was nearing its end.
The matches had become increasingly intense.
Especially in the team battles—due to the large number of participants and constantly shifting situations, the burden on the nuns of the Church of the Goddess of Harvest — Hervesta and the Church of the God of Life had grown significantly.
Fortunately, severely injured participants were treated in time.
At least things didn't look too bad.
By today, February 30th, both the individual and team competitions had reached the semifinals.
In the individual category, two of the top four came from the Royal Capital First Military Academy, while the remaining two spots were taken by the Northern and Eastern regions.
In the team competition, the Royal Capital still held half the spots, with the other two going to the Northern and Southern regions.
The Western region, however, had been eliminated at the semifinal stage in both categories.
Even looking back at the top eight, there was only one representative from the Western region in each category.
This clearly showed just how weak the Western region was in this regard.
Sometimes, having the largest territory didn't mean much.
Ron only briefly reviewed the situation before losing interest.
However, he had already assigned Kiel to intensively push advertising in every promotional opportunity related to the Spring Martial Tournament.
After another round of advertising bombardment that day, even people who didn't play Battle Magic would inevitably see news about the upcoming ranked matches at the Magic Battle Arena—as long as they had visited the Grand Arena.
This time, with the updated posters, a new character appeared—
The God of Magic, Magico, is a handsome and polite gentleman wearing a top hat, a blue suit, and a monocle over his right eye.
Of course, although Miss Elementia didn't make a visual return this time, her presence was still on the poster.
Magico sat in the main seat, while Elementia stood behind him with a charming smile, her hands resting on his shoulders, her head tilted as her snow-white hair cascaded down one side.
The poster was appealing to both men and women, bringing a massive wave of traffic to the Magic Battle Arena.
"Boss, the Grand Arena sent invitations for the semifinals and finals. They're scheduled for tomorrow and the day after tomorrow. Are we going?" Nora asked, handing Ron two golden invitation cards.
Ron casually weighed them in his hand before putting them away. "We'll skip the semifinals. The ranked matches start tonight—we need to monitor things."
"We'll attend the finals on March 3rd."
"Alright," Nora nodded, then continued reporting. "Based on the current promotion requirements, over a hundred people in the arena already qualify for Silver rank."
"Among them, around thirty are expected to complete their promotion tonight."
"The rest should achieve it over the next three to four days."
"Based on current progress, about twenty to thirty players will reach Silver rank each week."
"If traffic continues to grow, that number will increase."
Ron sat in the booth area, took a sip of juice, and nodded slightly.
With the current daily traffic of five to six hundred people on the first floor, this ratio was just right.
Silver rank wouldn't feel too scarce, nor would it become too common.
As for the future, when Silver players became too numerous and lost their exclusivity, they could simply open higher-ranked floors.
A demotion system would also need to be gradually introduced.
Thinking of this, Ron asked, "How's the Gold rank floor on the fifth level coming along?"
"It should be finished in a few days."
"Good. Once the number of Silver players reaches 300, we can open the Gold rank," Ron said after some thought. "When Gold players reach 100, we can start organizing competitions."
"It should be ready by early April."
"That way, we'll have at least a hundred participants—not too shabby."
And it would also meet the main quest's participation requirement.
With all three ranks combined, the total players would exceed a thousand, and the audience for Battle Magic might surpass ten thousand.
The requirement of 1,000 spectators should also be achievable.
It was just a pity that the Spring Martial Tournament would end in early March.
Otherwise, he could have ridden its popularity for much longer.
Thanks to the tournament's hype, the Magic Battle Arena had attracted so many customers after opening.
Otherwise, relying solely on internal marketing wouldn't have achieved this scale.
After all, if customers never walked through the door, no matter how good the service inside was, no one would know.
Relying only on the foot traffic of Central Street would require slow, gradual growth—it would be impossible to reach this scale in just a month.
After discussing preparations with Nora in the afternoon and confirming everything for the ranked matches, the evening arrived.
Ron wrapped an arm around Nora and called over Betty and Soren, who had been asking Betty about Battle Magic knowledge. The four of them headed to the nearby hotpot restaurant.
Along the way, Nora let go of Ron's arm and began chatting with Betty, while Soren slipped over to Ron's side.
"What? You're really planning to apply as a commentator?" Ron glanced at him.
"Why not? I'm serious."
"Isn't all your time spent chasing women? Where'd you find the time for this?"
"Tsk, you just don't get it." Soren grinned smugly.
"At first I was just joking, but after some investigation, I realized this commentator role is actually pretty great."
He cleared his throat and began analyzing:
"Right now, aside from Betty, there's no second commentator in your arena."
"That means if I get the job, I'll be the first male commentator."
"And thanks to Mia bringing people in every week, not only noble young men but also many noble ladies have started liking Battle Magic."
"From what Betty told me, these noble ladies generally aren't very skilled themselves, but they love watching high-level matches."
"Especially top players like Wardson and Rowell—they're basically idols to them."
"Well… maybe 'idol' is too strong, but at least they have a favorable impression."
"Isn't this the perfect way to win over girls?"
"Even if I can't become a top player, becoming a top commentator for top players is still being a 'top' in its own way!"
"I trust your operations—once Battle Magic grows, it'll attract more and more girls."
"So I've got to secure my position early… to better 'protect' them!"
"…." Ron looked at him sideways, not sure what to say.
He had thought the arena match had genuinely changed Soren.
Now it seemed that the moment Soren walked out, his brain had been filled with women again.
And somehow it evolved into this…
"I'm warning you—if you use Battle Magic to stir up any scandals, don't blame me for not going easy on you," Ron said, glaring at him before sighing. "I'm starting to feel like supporting Penny."
"You might as well just marry her. Do the Royal Capital a favor—everyone wins."
"You're already twenty-five or twenty-six. What's wrong with settling down?"
"Marriage?" Soren widened his eyes and shook his head repeatedly. "Not happening in this lifetime."
"Maybe just occasionally discussing life with young ladies late at night."
"I'm not like you—surrounded by all kinds of options, yet choosing only one."
"And from what I can tell, your Nora is still just a budding flower, right?"
"You don't sleep together?"
Ron replied, "We do."
"Damn, and you can hold back?" Soren looked him up and down suspiciously. "Are you even a man? Or is something wrong?"
Ron's eye twitched. "I'm cutting off your pine-needle tea supply. Let's see who ends up with problems first."
"I was just asking out of concern," Soren said, patting his shoulder ingratiatingly. Then he asked again, "So you really can hold back?"
"What's there to hold back…" Ron rolled his eyes. "I meditate at night. What else would I do?"
Smack.
Soren slapped his own face and covered it. "How can someone waste such an opportunity as you do…"
"Nora must have terrible luck to end up with you…"
"It's been a month already, right?"
"Even if you meditate at night, mornings work too."
Ron glanced at him. "I train in the morning."
"You're completely missing the point!" Soren said, half laughing, half exasperated.
"Alright," Ron shrugged. "I just think she's still too young. It wouldn't feel right."
"How old is Nora?"
"Seventeen this year."
"…Do you have some misunderstanding about what 'too young' means? Commoners are already married with kids at sixteen."
"Let's wait until she turns eighteen," Ron said. "For now, no."