Chapter 93 – Magic Coins
by spirapiraChapter 93 – Magic Coins
On the way down the mountain, Mo Lan carried the heavy satchel on her back, suffering yet delighted.
Inside the bag were three coin pouches—two large and one small.
The small coin pouch held 19 Red Gold Coins.
The two large coin pouches contained 99 Purple Gold Coins and 100 Magic Gold Coins, respectively.
Vasida looked at the sweat on Mo Lan’s brow and asked in confusion, “Moira, why did you exchange your Red Gold Coins for Purple Gold Coins and Magic Gold Coins? They’re inconvenient to carry, and you lost value in the exchange.”
“It’s easy to exchange 1 Red Gold Coin for 100 Purple Gold Coins, but 100 Purple Gold Coins won’t necessarily get you 1 Red Gold Coin back.”
“Even though 1 Red Gold Coin and 100 Purple Gold Coins can restore the same total amount of Mana, absorbing the Mana from a single Red Gold Coin is far more convenient than absorbing it from 100 Purple Gold Coins.”
“When everyone gets their hands on a Red Gold Coin, they clutch it tight and treat it like a life-saving treasure!”
Mo Lan naturally understood this reasoning. “Remember the Energy Storage Card I mentioned before?”
“Didn’t you say your knowledge reserves weren’t sufficient to make one yet?” Sylph had been keeping track of this!
Ever since she had used Mana to stimulate the growth of Wind Chime Flower leaves that one time, her own Mana had fallen into an embarrassing shortage.
She looked forward to Vasida’s Sorceress Magic and Mo Lan’s Energy Storage Card every single day, just like Senior Lilith did.
“What I was missing was the knowledge for absorbing stored energy back into the body for use,” Mo Lan explained. “Red Gold Coins, Purple Gold Coins, and Magic Gold Coins all possess this function. In theory, sacrificing any single magic coin to the Book of Cards would fill in that gap in knowledge. Since the effect is the same regardless, it’s obviously more cost-effective to use the cheapest Magic Gold Coin.”
She would rather endure the extra effort now than lose a Red Gold Coin outright.
“!!!” Sylph was overjoyed. “Does that mean you’ll be able to make the Energy Storage Card soon?”
“Probably! I’ll start researching as soon as we get back!” Mo Lan said.
If her Energy Storage Card could replenish energy as quickly as magic coins, it might very well hold the same value as magic coins!
“Hurry, hurry, hurry! Let’s get back! If the satchel’s too heavy, I’ll carry it for you!” Sylph had only experienced a single day of insufficient Mana, and she already couldn’t take it anymore.
“Let me! Let me! I’m stronger!” Vasida wasn’t worried about slow Mana recovery or running out, but she had been bathed in the envious gazes of her companions many times over.
Yet right now, forget Sorceress Magic—she hadn’t even mastered a basic Spring Water spell!
Mo Lan’s Energy Storage Card was far more promising.
The other young witches desired the Energy Storage Card no less than they did.
Up to now, they were still recovering their magical power by gnawing on Breadfruit with nothing else to supplement it!
Though unlike the Sorceresses, who could eat piles upon piles of Breadfruit and only recover a tiny bit of Mana, the witches at least got better returns.
Mo Lan was practically hurried back to the Dormitory by everyone.
Even the heavy satchel was shouldered by Vasida on her behalf, all so Mo Lan could walk faster.
Once they reached the dormitory area, everyone dispersed.
“We won’t disturb you. Do your best!”
Mo Lan closed her dormitory door and immediately summoned the Book of Cards.
She took out a Magic Gold Coin, placed it into one of the Book of Cards’ Slots, and channeled a small amount of Mana stored in the Purple Gemstone. The Magic Gold Coin was broken down instantly.
She then reviewed her previous design plan for the Energy Storage Card.
【Card Design: Energy Storage Card】
【Estimated Cost: 100,000 Mana】
【Estimated Appearance: Appearance Template 1】
【Estimated Function: The user can convert their own energy through the Energy Storage Card into Mana for storage, and can also convert the Mana stored in the card into any form of energy for absorption into the body. Maximum storage capacity: 10 Mana.】
【Current Difficulty: Severely insufficient card-crafting energy. Recommend replenishing card-crafting energy, reducing planned card functions, or setting functional limits on the card.】
The estimated cost was finally no longer infinite Mana, but Mo Lan still couldn’t feel happy about it.
An Energy Storage Card with only 10 Mana of storage capacity cost a staggering one hundred thousand Mana to manufacture.
That was far too expensive! All the Mana Mo Lan had accumulated over this long period fell woefully short of crafting even a single card.
Not only could she not afford to make one herself, even if she did, it would be meaningless!
A storage capacity of 10 Mana would only appeal to Apprentice-level witches whose total Mana was under 100.
But an Apprentice-level witch could absolutely never afford such an expensive card.
Mo Lan tried changing the card’s storage capacity to 100, 1,000, and even 10,000 Mana, testing the manufacturing cost for each.
Then she gave up entirely.
Every additional 1 Mana of storage capacity added 10,000 Mana to the manufacturing cost.
No matter what level a witch was at, none could afford an Energy Storage Card suited to her own needs.
Even for Mo Lan herself, setting aside any question of profit, making one for personal use was not something she could accomplish anytime soon.
And the manufacturing cost was probably even higher than Magic Gold Coins.
If Magic Gold Coins already existed, what was the point of an even more expensive Energy Storage Card?
Mo Lan read the difficulty notice on the Book of Cards card several more times. “Now that knowledge reserves aren’t the issue, the only way to keep reducing the manufacturing cost seems to be weakening the Energy Storage Card’s functions!”
But where should she start cutting?
Looking over the planned functions she had originally designed, there were really only three: storing energy, extracting and using stored energy, and converting between other forms of energy and Mana.
The Energy Storage Card’s core purpose was storing energy and extracting it for use—these were fundamental and couldn’t be changed. Changing them would mean it was no longer an Energy Storage Card.
Removing the conversion function between other energy forms and Mana would also create significant inconveniences.
If this function were kept, the aspect of Mana being the endpoint of energy conversion was non-negotiable.
Energy existed in different forms, but only Mana was the most primordial form of energy. Only Mana could be converted into any other form, and only any other form of energy could be converted into Mana.
If this function were removed, then a separate card would need to be made for each type of energy—an Energy Storage Card could only store and retrieve Mana, a Magical Power Card could only store and retrieve magical power.
Its versatility would be far inferior to Magic Gold Coins, which could replenish any form of energy.
Unless absolutely necessary, Mo Lan didn’t want to remove this function.
Still, she tested the estimated cost with the conversion function removed.
An Energy Storage Card with the same 10 Mana storage capacity but without the energy conversion function cost 99,900 Mana to manufacture.
A reduction of merely 100 Mana.
Clearly, the energy conversion function was not the primary reason for the enormous crafting cost.
Mo Lan, who hadn’t wanted to remove this function in the first place, was now even less willing to do so.
She studied the Energy Storage Card’s planned functions over and over, unable to figure out where to cut manufacturing costs. Just when she was at her wit’s end, her eyes happened to catch the three bags of magic coins sitting on her desk, and it all clicked into place. She finally understood where the problem lay:
“It’s the issue of repeated storage and retrieval!”
Magic coins—whether Gold Coins, Purple Gold Coins, or Red Gold Coins—all contained energy that could only be extracted once.