Chapter Three: The Golden Rule and the Power of Money (Please Bookmark and Recommend)

After closing the rudimentary character status panel, Haruaki Suzuki finally spat out the bone from his mouth and shifted his gaze to Ayako Suzuki and Sonoko Suzuki.

From Haruaki’s perspective, he could clearly see the three floating characters “Available to Sign In” hovering above Ayako and Sonoko’s heads.

Seeing this, Haruaki tugged on Sonoko’s arm and said, “Sister Sonoko, could you pass me a piece of steak?”

“Ding! Congratulations on successfully signing in, Sonoko Suzuki. You have been rewarded with ‘The Golden Rule,’ which the host may claim at any time.”

The moment Haruaki touched Sonoko, a system notification sounded in his mind. The three floating characters above Sonoko’s head slowly faded away.

“Here you go.”

Sonoko smiled brightly and passed him a piece of steak without any suspicion of his intentions.

“Thanks, Sister Sonoko.” Haruaki took the steak and bit into it happily on the surface, but in truth, he was eager to check the newly acquired reward.

[Skill Name: The Golden Rule
Type: Passive Skill
Level: Cannot be upgraded
Effect: The bearer of this skill will be favored by the God of Wealth and will never suffer from money troubles in their lifetime.
Cost: None
Cooldown: None
Note: You are the God of Wealth’s favorite child!]

After reviewing the attributes of The Golden Rule, Haruaki couldn’t help but feel a bit speechless.

To be honest, The Golden Rule was quite powerful, especially for those penniless and struggling.

However, for Haruaki Suzuki, this ability seemed somewhat redundant.

After all, he was destined to inherit the Suzuki conglomerate; he doubted he would ever lack money.

Despite his reservations, as a commemorative prize for signing in, Haruaki immediately activated The Golden Rule.

Since The Golden Rule was a passive skill and financial luck was rather intangible, Haruaki didn’t feel any obvious changes in his body.

“Sister Ayako, could you pass me a rib?” After finishing the steak, Haruaki repeated his tactic, tugging on Ayako’s arm.

“Ding! Congratulations on successfully signing in, Ayako Suzuki. You have been rewarded with ‘Cash Ability,’ which the host may claim at any time.”

Hearing the system notification, Haruaki eagerly examined the attributes of Cash Ability.

[Skill Name: Cash Ability
Type: Active Skill
Level: Cannot be upgraded
Effect: Allows the user to imbue any object with financial power, temporarily enhancing its attributes, increasing its strength and duration in proportion to the amount of money spent.
Cost: Money (in the conventional sense; antiques or calligraphy do not count)
Cooldown: None
Note: Money is all-powerful. If there’s something money can’t solve, then it just means you don’t have enough of it.]

Haruaki mused to himself, “No wonder they’re the eldest and second daughters of the Suzuki Group; both abilities are tied to money.”

After dining with his two sisters, Haruaki followed his usual routine, bathing under the care of Tamaka Kurosaki before returning to his modest hundred-plus square meter children’s bedroom.

Slipping on his soft slippers and entering the room, Haruaki opened his safe with anticipation.

Though still a child, during holidays and festivals, the elders of the Suzuki family would give him red envelopes, so naturally, he had his own small treasury.

Inside Haruaki’s treasury, besides a bank card with over 20 million yen in savings, there were three piggy banks about the size of a palm.

The white piggy bank contained 500-yen coins, primarily for pocket money.

The silver piggy bank held 1,000-yen bills.

As for the gold piggy bank, it contained 10,000-yen bills, though it wasn’t yet full, holding just over two hundred notes.

“Ding ding ding…”

After surveying the three piggy banks, Haruaki finally chose the white one and emptied several hundred coins into his palm.

“Alright!”

With money ready, Haruaki took two palm-sized blocks from his toy box, then grabbed a fruit knife beside the fruit platter and struck one of the blocks with force.

Since the fruit knife wasn’t particularly sharp and Haruaki’s strength was limited, it only left a small cut mark on the wooden block.

Seeing this, Haruaki wasn’t disappointed. He extended his left hand, picked up a 500-yen coin, and activated Cash Ability.

“Shhh shhh shhh…”

Upon activation, the coin in his hand rapidly shrank, transforming into a unique energy that flowed into the fruit knife under his guidance.

“Crack!”

Haruaki wielded the empowered fruit knife and sliced the solid wooden block cleanly in half.

At the moment the block split, Haruaki clearly sensed nearly a third of the special energy contained in the knife dissipate.

He stared at the halved block for a moment, then ceased cutting and began to carefully sense the fruit knife.

Through his perception, he could clearly feel that even without further use, the special energy in the knife was slowly fading away.

After nearly two minutes, the energy completely vanished, and the knife returned to its original state.

“So it’s only a temporary enhancement. Next, let’s test something else.”

Haruaki put the fruit knife back and took a bite of watermelon from the fruit platter.

After savoring its taste, he activated Cash Ability again, infusing 500 yen worth of financial power into the remaining watermelon before continuing to eat.

“Mmm hmm~”

The watermelon, enhanced by the financial power, tasted noticeably superior—far better than any watermelon Haruaki had ever eaten in recent years.

Before the financial power faded, Haruaki finished the watermelon quickly, feeling somewhat reluctant to stop.

“Not bad. Just as I suspected, financial power doesn’t simply make an object harder or sharper; it amplifies the item’s inherent qualities. So when applied to food, the enhanced attribute naturally means better flavor.”

Over the next few hours, like a child with a new toy, Haruaki tested Cash Ability on every item he could think of, gaining a thorough understanding of the skill.