"Haven't I mentioned this many times? Any device powered by elements and magic can work—like an Element Car."
"Your Highness Ron, what you're describing is feasible, but due to the limitations of magic materials for magic arrays, the cost would definitely be quite high…"
"I'm not planning to mass-produce them anyway," Ron shrugged with a smile. "Even if I wanted to, you wouldn't have the time, right? Just making a few—ten or so—shouldn't be a problem?"
"Of course," Illya nodded.
So Ron took out a life-sized puppet version of himself and left behind some Mimic Grass, planning to work together with Illya to create the Element Car he had in mind.
As for the Mimic Grass, it was left with Illya and Harper so they could record their experimental processes, making it easier to review later.
After assigning the "Element Car development" task to Puppet Ron, the real Ron left the private experimental area and headed to the magic battle arena in the Royal Capital.
Today was March 15th—the official opening day of the Gold tier on the fifth floor.
Since Ron had many other responsibilities, all operations here had been entrusted to Nora.
At 8 a.m., the Gold tier officially opened.
To secure the first promotion, Andy had even informed his parents in advance so he could arrive early in the morning.
Yet it wasn't until nearly 5 p.m. that he finally succeeded in advancing to Gold.
Compared to Silver, the requirements for Gold were far stricter.
First, your Silver-tier points from the previous week had to rank within the top 30%.
Second, in the Silver promotion zone, your number of wins had to exceed your losses by at least 50 matches.
Finally, after meeting these conditions, you would qualify for the Gold promotion matches.
To successfully advance, you still needed to play ten matches—and maintain at least a 50% win rate.
Moreover, your opponents would also be top players from the fourth floor who had qualified for Gold.
The first condition alone eliminated most Silver players. The second wiped out nearly all the rest.
So when Andy finally reached the required 50-win margin, he discovered an awkward situation—
There was no one else on the third or fourth floor who had qualified yet.
Later, Wardson and Rowell also reached the fourth floor and completed the second condition around noon.
But the final ten matches required facing ten different opponents.
So after Andy played against Wardson and Rowell—ending with one win and one loss—he had no choice but to wait for more qualified players.
It wasn't until 5 p.m. that he completed his promotion matches with a 9–1 record and successfully advanced to Gold.
By the time Ron arrived at the arena, Wardson and Rowell had just barely reached Gold as well.
"Boss, Andy, Wardson, and Rowell have already met on the fifth floor," Nora said as she hurried over upon hearing Ron had arrived.
On the fifth floor, commoners and nobles would finally share the same space.
Although this plan had originally been proposed by Nora and approved by Ron, she was still worried about potential conflicts.
"Don't worry. I already spoke with Wardson—he'll keep the nobles in check."
Back during the Spring Hunt, when Ron had been invited by the First Prince for an evening discussion, Wardson had been present.
Ron had taken the opportunity to talk to him about this.
Wardson's father was General Moen, one of the Empire's three great generals.
Originally a commoner, Moen rose step by step to become a legendary-tier warrior, earning great merit in the winter wars before being granted the title of count by Emperor André III.
So Wardson was a genuine second-generation noble—but without excessive aristocratic airs. His upbringing was strict.
Because his father understood the hardships of commoners, Wardson himself held no prejudice against them.
Having him help maintain order on the fifth floor was a solid choice.
The conflict between nobles and commoners couldn't be fully resolved—but that didn't mean they couldn't coexist in certain environments.
For example, in the Spring Martial Tournament, teams often consisted of both nobles and commoners.
Wardson's own team had two commoner members.
The issue was complex, and Ron was simply testing the waters.
If problems arose, he would consider separating them again.
"How about the new batch of Element Cards? Any issues so far?" Ron asked.
"None so far," Nora shook her head.
Released alongside the Gold tier were 24 new Element Cards.
Naturally, the mages recruited for the Card Research Institute weren't just there for show.
After Kiel reviewed the newly developed cards, Ron had them examined again by the institute to ensure there were no theoretical flaws.
The mages worked efficiently—after all, they were being paid well.
With their expertise, analyzing these relatively simple magical interactions was trivial, and they quickly compiled an updated Magic Compendium.
After this update, the original 54 cards—excluding the Jokers—now each had an alternative card with the same number and suit.
This greatly expanded strategic options and made matches more dynamic and unpredictable.
Beyond player skill and luck, the pre-match card selection phase had now become a key factor in determining victory.
The arena had already announced the full match flow for the Magic Duel tournament.
At the start of each match, the preparation phase included a card selection phase.
Excluding Jokers, all Element Cards were divided into four elements, with 26 cards per element. Each number-suit combination had two variants.
During selection, players went through four rounds.
For example, between Player A and Player B:
Player A first selects an element and bans three cards of different numbers.
Player B then chooses from that element.
Next, Player B selects an element and bans three cards.
Player A then chooses.
This repeats, with each player ultimately banning 12 cards.
This system directly restricted opponents' strategies.
As a result, players now needed to prepare multiple—sometimes over a dozen—deck strategies.
Otherwise, if their usual setup was banned, they could easily lose to weaker opponents.
This rule had already been implemented in the Silver promotion zone.
As for Bronze players, most still hadn't grasped strategy at all—so such restrictions weren't necessary yet.