The four students following behind Angelia arrived at the lab located on the second floor. It was a very large hall with wooden desks and stone slabs running vertically through the hall.

The room was bustling, packed with other groups of students deep in their own experiments, but fortunately, there was still enough space for the newcomers.

Since two of the three girls were close friends, they immediately partnered up, leaving the remaining girl to automatically pair with Ronan.

"Get your setups ready," Angelia instructed.

With that, she took her seat on the raised platform behind the large wooden desk, and the students busied themselves preparing for the start of the experiment.

"Hey," Ronan greeted his new partner. "I am Ronan."

"Hello," she replied. "I know your name. We are classmates, after all. I am Katie."

"Haha!" Ronan chuckled.

"And I know yours." He paused for a moment before adding with a small laugh, "Well, who does not?"

And it was the absolute truth. Who did not know Katie? If the other guys in their class found out and, they surely would, that he was partnering with her today, they would go completely mad with envy over how lucky he was.

If Professor Angelia was the most beautiful faculty member and arguably the most stunning woman on campus, Katie was right up there with her, if not completely eclipsing her.

She was tall and slim, with long blonde hair, a pair of large blue eyes, a sharp nose, and a defined jawline that gave her a distinctly aristocratic look. Ronan did not know anything else about her apart from her name and her excellent academic reputation as one of the department’s top students. A perennial topper.

Even so, he was certain she was not a poor girl like him. She was clearly upper middle class, if not outright wealthy.

Katie merely chuckled in response to his comment. Together, they finalized their setup and began the practical.

Angelia drifted over to their station a couple of times throughout the afternoon, guiding them smoothly through the trickier parts of the process. The experiment continued for a couple of hours before everything was finally wrapped up. Ronan exchanged a brief farewell with Katie before packing up his notebook and leaving Nergan University behind for the day.

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By the time Ronan left Nergan University, it was 5:00 PM. The sun was about to set, its light fading and in an hour darkness would start to take over.

He had two things in mind that he planned to do.

The first was to resign from his current job. He had a good relationship with his supervisor. The supervisor had been kind to him and had looked after him when in some kind of problem which was the only reason he was taking the trouble of actually going in person.

The second thing was to sell the gold beads.

The mall where Ronan worked was within walking distance of his college. He worked in a clothing shop, and since he was a part time worker, his role was multipurpose. He at times managed billing, acted as a salesman, or at times even worked as manual labour.

Ronan reached the SunView Mall. He used the staff elevator to head up to the fifth floor where the clothing store was located. He worked here at a monthly salary of six-thousand-five-hundred Dunt and five-percent commission if he made any sales.

Coincidentally, Ronan encountered his supervisor right at the entrance. He was a middle aged, bulky man.

"Ronan!" the supervisor said in surprise. "I thought you were still unwell and would be taking leave today as well. This is why I did not call you today."

"I am fine, Mr. Limberly," Ronan responded.

"Oh! Great then," he replied. "But you are a bit late today."

Ronan merely smiled.

"But not to worry," Limberly said. "I know how tough it is for you students. I will overlook it this time. Now go change into the store uniform and get to work."

Limberly was about to walk away, but Ronan stopped him.

"Mr. Limberly," he called out. "Actually, I’m not here to work."

"Not here to work," Limberly questioned. "What do you mean?"

"I am quitting my job," Ronan said.

"Why?" Limberly asked, surprised. "How will you manage your expenses? Or did you get a better opportunity?"

Ronan shook his head. "I did not get a better opportunity. But working here has disrupted my studies. Since only a few months remain before graduation, I want to fully focus on my coursework. I cannot afford any distractions right now."

"I understand your difficulties," Limberly sighed sympathetically. "But how will you manage?"

"I will manage somehow," Ronan said. "I think I have a couple of ideas."

"Good." Limberly did not pry any further. "And though I cannot make any guarantees, if you ever need the job again, I will do whatever I can."

"Now go," he added with a brilliant smile. "I will make sure that you receive your remaining salary and commissions within two days."

Ronan smiled in response. They shook hands.

"See you sometimes, Mr. Limberly," Ronan said.

And with this Ronan said goodbye to a significant Chapter of his life. With one item on his to-do list ticked off, Ronan’s mind shifted to the gold beads. He had to sell them.

Selling three beads, around thirty grams of gold, was not going to be a difficult task. There would be no raised eyebrows or questions asked about such an insignificant quantity of gold.

But this was not a process he could repeat continuously. If he did, a lot of eyebrows, including those of the government, might be raised. Taxations and other financial departments would surely come after him.

The second problem was that whatever money he made would technically be black money. He could not spend it very openly. If he wanted to avoid this trap long-term, he needed a smokescreen. Something that would make his gold appear to be coming from a legitimate and legal source. With all these thoughts in mind, Ronan fixated a certain location in his mind where he would be selling his three gold beads.

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