Chapter 41 – Fair Trade

Miniature portraits of Sylph and Vasida appeared on the cards, along with their personal information.

Their Race, Rank, and Magic Level were all the same as Mo Lan’s.

Only Magic Power was slightly different.

Vasida’s read: “【Magic Power: 888/888 Mana】”

Sylph’s read: “【Magic Power: 300/900 Mana】”

Their current Magic Power reserves were higher than Mo Lan’s, but their total Magic Power capacities were both slightly lower than hers.

“That’s incredibly precise!” the two exclaimed in surprise.

“I think my Magic Power even went up by 1 point! During the Talent test, it measured at 887 Mana.” Vasida hadn’t felt her Magic Power increase at all before this.

“Mine hasn’t changed,” Sylph said.

“Right now, the greatest value of these cards is displaying Magic Power levels,” Mo Lan nodded.

After all, things like Race, Rank, and Magic Level were things everyone already knew even without the cards showing them.

Only Magic Power quantities couldn’t be accurately monitored yet — they could only make rough estimates based on energy Halos.

“Why haven’t you three gone to class yet?”

There was a flying lesson this morning, and Lilith couldn’t sleep, so she’d gotten up earlier than usual.

When she went to the backyard to pick vegetables and prepare breakfast, she spotted the three of them huddled together in front of Sylph’s courtyard gate, heads bent in conspiracy.

She couldn’t resist climbing over the hedge to join them.

The three young Sorceresses patted their chests with lingering alarm.

They hadn’t seen their senior all day yesterday, so her sudden appearance was quite startling.

Mo Lan happily told Lilith about the cards.

“I don’t see you for one day and you’ve made this much progress?” Lilith was astonished. “But… you can share them with other witches and Sorceresses without establishing a Sorceress Contract?”

“Yes! It’s not mature Sorceress Magic yet,” Mo Lan said. “Lilith, let me make one for you too!”

Lilith shook her head in disapproval.

“Even if it’s not mature Sorceress Magic, you can still sign a contract and charge for it! I know you mean well by giving us cards, but it’s really not a good idea. Today you gave cards to the three of us — if the other young witches find out and want them too, are you going to give them away as well? You gave them away this time, so when you create other cards later, will you give those away too? You’re at the Academy right now, surrounded by witches, but out in the Wilds, that kind of careless generosity would only invite those who care about nothing but profit to walk all over you.”

“Don’t worry, there was a popular saying in my past life — ‘A small favor earns gratitude, a large one earns resentment.’ I won’t go handing out freebies to strangers.”

Mo Lan explained, “As for the young witches, they’re all good people. Making a single character card doesn’t cost much — even if I made one for every young witch in the school, I could afford it.”

She could be so generous with the young witches because deep down, she truly felt that witches were people of good measure, worthy of trust.

That was simply witch culture — they would never take another’s goodwill for granted. That was why the Witch Council’s contributions had never been betrayed. The witch race was loose and free, yet absolutely united.

Even without the binding of contracts, there had never been a single instance of witches harming their own kind in all of witch history.

After all, only women with truly pure hearts could be chosen by the Will of Valen in their darkest hour and evolve into witches!

It was merely some Magic Power that would recover over time. If it could help everyone observe their own status more clearly, why wouldn’t she do it?

Of course, she genuinely hadn’t known before that contracts could be signed for things other than Sorceress Magic.

Seeing that Mo Lan still didn’t understand the gravity of the matter, Lilith’s tone grew more serious.

“Even if you’re only doing this with witches, it’s still not good. Witches won’t take your goodwill for granted, but once they’ve accepted your gift, they’ll inevitably look for ways to repay you. You gave us cards for free — so when it comes to our Sorceress Magic later, should we charge you or not? Our Manifested Gifts aren’t like your cards, which only consume your own Magic Power during creation while the user provides all the energy during use. If we gave you free access to ours, then every time you used our Sorceress Magic, it would consume our Magic Power. But if we don’t give you free access, we’d have received your cards for nothing. And what about the other young witches — how would they repay your kindness? It would be far better to sign contracts from the start and pay for your cards! Remember — among witches, fair trade is always more welcome than exchanging favors! I need this card too, but I only want to obtain it through a proper contract with you.”

Mo Lan was taken aback. It was just a 10-Mana character card — she’d never expected the young witches to repay her. But would they really not try to repay her?

She looked toward Sylph and Vasida.

“Moira! If contracts can be signed for things other than Sorceress Magic, then let’s pay some Magic Power and sign a proper contract! You need Magic Power to research the Book of Cards too, don’t you?” Vasida said.

“Lilith, Moira just didn’t understand how Sorceress Contracts work. She didn’t know you could sign contracts for things that aren’t Sorceress Magic, so she just gave us the cards directly,” Sylph explained.

Hearing this, Vasida also spoke up in Mo Lan’s defense. “That’s right! Moira is a Soul from Another World. It’s only natural that she hasn’t fully adapted to how witches interact, given the influence of her past life.”

Lilith’s expression didn’t soften. She stared at Mo Lan, determined to make her understand this principle.

She worried that Mo Lan would suffer for it someday.

Seeing Vasida and Sylph’s reactions, Mo Lan understood. She said willingly, “You’re right, Lilith! I wasn’t thinking it through. Please teach me how to set up a Sorceress Contract!”

Only then did Lilith breathe a sigh of relief.

“The difficulty of a Sorceress Contract has never been the contract itself — it’s the Sorceress Magic. Since yours doesn’t involve the issue of borrowing magic, it doesn’t need to be that complicated. Ordinary Contract Magic will do. You learned the Golden Pen Technique yesterday, right? Just use the Golden Pen Technique to write up a contract, specify what both parties need to provide, and then sign it.”

Mo Lan understood. “Wait here for me.”

She ran home and grabbed a stack of parchment, then used the Golden Pen Technique to draft three contracts modeled after Traci and Lady Carmela’s Sorceress Magic contract. She brought them out to show Lilith and the others.

“‘Willing to pay a one-time cost of 50 Mana or a one-time magical force equivalent to 50 Mana, to purchase one {character card — Apprentice — Unbound} from the Sorceress Mo Lan, with all energy costs incurred during the card’s use to be borne by the user’?”

When Lilith reached “50 Mana,” her voice went shrill.

“Moira, were you a sprite in your past life?!”

Mo Lan thought of the cunning, greedy sprite illustrations in the 《Young Witch’s Primer》 and wrinkled her nose. “Don’t you dare slander me! I was a proper, law-abiding human in my past life. I never did a single bad thing!”

(End of Chapter)