In the afternoon of the next day, Caroline could be seen walking down the quiet hallway, heading straight for the study room.

​’Yawwwwn... I intended to take a short nap yesterday, but I guess I was really that tired. I didn’t even wake up until this morning. I am starting to really miss Aron doing all this work. I just can’t take it anymore,’ Caroline complained internally, rubbing her tired eyes.

​She slowly opened the heavy wooden door. To her surprise, she saw Ian already inside. He was sitting at the main desk, working deeply in the exact same spot she had been seated yesterday. Seeing Ian working so seriously with the sunlight hitting his face, a sudden vision of her late husband, Aron, appeared in front of her.

​She stood frozen at the door, completely dazed by what she was seeing. Her eyes watered, and she was almost about to cry. ’Aron...’ 𝗳𝐫𝚎𝗲𝚠𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝘃𝚎𝗹.𝗰𝗼𝗺

​"Oh, you are here, Mother. I thought you were not going to show up today and just sleep in for the whole day," Ian said, looking up from his work. "The methods you were using to calculate were so crude and so inefficient. I hope you don’t mind, but I changed a few things. If we use this new method, maybe we can be completely done by tomorrow." He kept writing smoothly in his ledger as he spoke.

​She did not respond. She just stood there by the door, staring at Ian.

​"Mmm, Mom, is something wrong?" Ian asked, looking at her with concern when he saw she was not responding.

​".....?"

​"Why are you crying?" Ian asked softly when he saw fresh tears flowing down her cheeks.

​"Sniff—I’m not crying. My eyes just hurt, that’s all. Please pay no mind to that," she said, quickly rubbing the tears away and forcing a bright smile at Ian.

​Ian was about to say something, but the words couldn’t come out. He only just stared at her as she walked over to the other desk and picked up the books that Ian had just finished working on.

​There was a bit of awkward silence in the room as she read. Just then, Caroline slammed her hands on Ian’s table.

​"Is this the ’changing a few things’ you were talking about?!" Caroline asked with a deeply shocked expression. "I don’t even understand what you just wrote here! Why are the numbers written on different sides in this thing you called ’double-entry’ and ’trial balance’? The most shocking part is that you found the exact profit of the clothing shop in just one single page, while I usually have to write five pages to find it!"

​Ian smiled, seeing her dramatic reaction. He knew it was coming the moment he wrote it down.

​’At first, when I saw the paperwork, I planned to write it using the methods Mother was already using. I thought I would just teach her the better way in the future as time went on. But when I saw her crude methods of using a single-entry system and wasting so much time, I didn’t have the patience for it. So, I just changed the methods she was doing completely. I don’t know accounting that deeply, but I do know the basics from my past life on Earth, and the basics can really help a lot here,’ Ian thought, looking down at the paperwork he had finished that morning.

​"As I said, I made some little adjustments," Ian said calmly. "This is how one keeps a proper book of accounts with little effort and, of course, a lot less paperwork. By tomorrow, maybe we will be completely finished."

​"Duh, I know that! I realized it when I was looking at the one you placed on the table. It was the exact same task I spent my whole day doing yesterday," Ian’s mother said with a sigh. "But I feel that this is hard. How do I even know what numbers to place where? So, please, teach me."

​Ian smiled when he heard her remarks.

​"It’s so easy, Mom. You see, it goes like this..."

​Then, Ian spent the whole day explaining accounting to his mother. During the teaching, whenever Ian wanted to take a small break, his mother would insist that they continue. It seemed like she was really having fun being taught something so new and efficient.

​"Wowww, this is really fun!" Caroline said, stretching her arms up high as the evening sun started to set outside the window.

​’For you, maybe. I just spent the entire day teaching you accounting. Some kids back on Earth would sleep through this whole lesson,’ Ian thought, feeling exhausted. ’And that System notification has been beeping in my head since this afternoon! I made so many excuses to leave, but she did not want me to leave.’

​"Well, since this lesson is over, I will get out of your hair," Ian said. Just after saying that, he dashed out of his chair, desperate to get away from her.

​"Wait a moment, young man," Caroline said with a cold, strict voice.

​Ian froze in his tracks and turned around, sweating slightly. "Yes?"

​"We are still on for tomorrow again, right? Since today we didn’t do much actual work, right?" Caroline asked with a teasing smile.

​"Of course," Ian replied quickly. He then pulled the door open and dashed away down the hall.

​"I don’t understand where he is in such a hurry to," Caroline muttered to herself, looking back down at the neat ledgers. "But still... these new methods will completely change the way we operate our organizations. Many people will lose their jobs, and we will finally be able to easily catch those who are stealing from us."

​She paused, narrowing her eyes. ’But how did he come up with this? Did he somehow become a genius overnight? Or did that mysterious artifact that saved his life give him this information too?’

​Back in his room, Ian quickly locked his door. He sat on his bed and looked at the notification menu that had been beeping nonstop all afternoon. He pressed it, and blue messages started to show in front of his eyes:

​[Notice: Detected that Ivory Thorne has broken through to the Early Stage of Skin Cultivation. Rewarded: 10 Prosperity Points.]

​[Notice: Detected that David Thorne has broken through to the Early Stage of Skin Cultivation. Rewarded: 10 Prosperity Points.]

​[Notice: Detected that Dion Thorne has broken through to the Early Stage of Skin Cultivation. Rewarded: 10 Prosperity Points.]

​[Notice: Detected that Dennis Thorne has broken through to the Early Stage of Skin Cultivation. Rewarded: 10 Prosperity Points.]

​[Notice: Detected that Emma Thorne has broken through to the Middle Stage of Skin Cultivation. Rewarded: 30 Prosperity Points.]

​’Huh. It changed their surname to Thorne, huh?’ Ian thought, a massive grin spreading across his face. ’I guess the System officially counts them as my Clan members now. And Emma broke through too!’