After closing the system panel, Ron did a bit of tidying up and then left the shop, heading out into the street.
He followed Aikley Street all the way to the Jade District's Gold Reserve.
The Gold Reserve was a multi-racial joint venture—functioning much like a bank from Ron's original world.
Ron stepped into the spacious and well-lit main hall. At the counter, a polite elven receptionist introduced the services, and Ron presented his two deposit slips, saying he wanted to apply for a Gold Card.
The elf girl took the slips with a sweet smile, but the moment she glanced at the amount, her eyes widened in surprise.
To apply for a Gold Card, all that was required was a deposit of 100 gold coins. Ron's 6,000 gold coins far surpassed that threshold.
"Um… sir, this is quite a large amount. I'll need to consult with the manager. Would you mind waiting over there for a moment?" she asked softly, her cheeks slightly flushed from seeing the figure written on the slips.
"Sure," Ron nodded and took a seat to the side.
Not even a minute later, a goblin manager came hurrying over, following behind the elf receptionist.
"Good day, sir! I'm Gai, the manager here. It's a pleasure to meet you," said the goblin with his most professional smile as he reached out to shake Ron's hand.
Ron shook back lightly. "Ron André."
The moment Gai heard the name, he froze for a second—then quickly recovered and asked cautiously, "You're… Prince Ron? The Seventh Prince of the Empire?"
Ron raised an eyebrow in surprise. "You know me?"
"Of course, of course. You're a direct royal member—how could I not?" Gai replied with a sincere smile. "Every direct member of the royal family, regardless of their deposit amount, is entitled to a Black Gold Card, which comes with a monthly credit limit of 100 gold coins at any Gold Reserve on the continent, plus various other benefits. You probably haven't paid much attention to this before, which is why you weren't aware."
Though Ron might be a powerless seventh prince, his identity alone ensured that places like the Gold Reserve would have records on him.
Ron raised an eyebrow but didn't really care too much.
A 100-gold monthly credit wasn't much to him now.
Still, free benefits are free benefits—no reason not to accept them.
"Alright, then give me one. And deposit both of these slips into the account, too," Ron said.
Gai immediately handed his manager's authorization card to the elf receptionist and instructed her to process it.
Front desk personnel could only authorize Gold Cards—the Black Gold Card required a manager's permission.
A few minutes later, Ron received his Black Gold Card, about half the size of his palm.
The card shimmered with faint starlight against its black surface and looked quite beautiful.
His name, Ron André, was engraved in the corner, marking it as his personal, exclusive card.
When Gai learned that Ron was already a Tier-1 Mage, he even taught Ron how to channel his mana into the card. Ron followed his instructions and discovered that the card was an enchanted item.
Once infused with mana, the card became magically bound to Ron. Every time he injected mana into it, the starry glow would brighten, and his name would light up as well.
This ensured the card couldn't be faked.
Originally, the enchantment required a drop of blood to bind it, but for mages, mana binding was both safer and more secure.
Once everything was sorted, Ron thanked Gai and the receptionist and returned to his shop. He opened his system panel:
[System Level: Lv 2
Host: Ron André (Royal Badge Attached)
Race: Human / Foxkin Hybrid
Gender: Male
Age: 18 (Decorative Pattern Active)
Profession: Tier-1 Mage
Wealth Points: 6621]
[Quests]
[Backpack]
[Shop]
Looking at the now four-digit Wealth Points total, Ron couldn't help but feel the itch to splurge a little.
At the same time, the Shop had also been updated:
[Shop Inventory]
[Cultivation Space]: 100 WP per 1㎡ (Max: 10㎡)
[Nether Orchid Seed]: 10 WP each
[Golden-Red Chrysanthemum Seed]: 15 WP each
[Dewdrop Spell]: 500 WP
[Soil Turning Spell]: 500 WP
[Plant Manipulation Spell]: 200 WP
[Permanent Psychic Disruption]: 100 WP per use (Temporary item, available until relevant quest is completed)
[Miracle of the Goddess of Harvest]: 10,000 WP per use
In addition to the previous items, two new additions had appeared:
[Crimson-Gold Chrysanthemum Seed] and [Plant Manipulation Spell].
Looking at the prices, Ron suddenly felt like… "Not so bad."
Except for the last one, of course.
Now that he was an official partner of the Magic Academy, once he received the supplier badge, he could hang it on the shop's front door—and no one would dare cause trouble.
In a place like the City of Chaos, backing from the Magic Academy was more than enough.
The Academy probably still believed Ron had Imperial support behind him—especially after Jasper and Professor Hicks had bumped into each other the other day, which would've only reinforced that idea.
So for now, things should be relatively safe.
Unless the Empire itself started getting suspicious and launched an investigation—that would be a real headache.
Anyway, with only 6621 Wealth Points for now, he'd need to wait until next month's 4,000-gold payment from the Academy to realistically hit the 10,000 WP needed to redeem the Goddess of Harvest's Miracle.
And since he still had things to spend points on, that Miracle would have to wait.
Time to budget carefully.
For example, skills like [Dewdrop Spell] or [Plant Growth Spell] weren't worth redeeming—he'd just go learn them himself at the Magic Academy and save the points.
With that in mind, Ron first redeemed 9㎡ of Cultivation Space.
[Wealth Points remaining: 5721]
Immediately, the shop updated with the new pricing tier:
[Cultivation Space]: 1000 WP per 1㎡ (Max: 20㎡)
"…Seriously? That price jump is outrageous!" Ron rolled his eyes.
System: "[The Host was previously warned that cultivation space is a rare resource. The earlier 100 WP per ㎡ was already a generous discount. The current price increase is fully reasonable.]"
Shameless system!
Ron cursed it mentally and looked at the cost of expanding again, then at his now-shrinking 5721 WP… and suddenly felt poor again.
So he decisively closed the system panel to avoid the temptation to spend more.
Then he walked over to the storage room, opened the door, and entered the dimensional space.