Chapter 158 – The Card Channel

Chapter 158 – The Card Channel

This was exactly what Carmela had come for!

Her Sorceress Magic was already mature—she’d sold who knows how many copies, and it was too late to make changes now.

But that didn’t stop her from setting up that channel thing Moira had mentioned!

Just in the short time since she’d purchased Card Magic, how much Mana had been spent in that dusty gray vortex?

The potential was absolutely limitless!

Lilith also looked at Mo Lan expectantly. Who would ever complain about earning too much Mana?

Vasida and Sylph, who had absolutely no idea what they were talking about: “???”

“What channel?”

“Moira said she can set up a dedicated card pool for us, where people can draw our Sorceress Magic cards. All we need to do is give her some kind of… authorization, letting her process our Sorceress Magic into cards.”

As soon as Lilith finished explaining, Vasida and Sylph fixed Mo Lan with eager stares: “Can we join too? Count us in!”

Though their Sorceress Magic hadn’t been developed yet, it was only a matter of time.

Mo Lan’s gacha card pool—what Sorceress wouldn’t be tempted by it!

Even Amisha gave a light cough and asked her: “I have some special magical knowledge from other realms. Could that be made into cards and put into one of those card pools you mentioned?”

Under the weight of all their gazes, Mo Lan suddenly felt like there was no way she could not make this happen. However:

“The Headmistress’s should definitely work without any issues. As long as you teach me your magical knowledge and allow me to use that knowledge to create cards for sale, that’s all we need.

As for you, Lady Carmela, and the rest of you—we’ll need to see whether authorizing me to make cards would affect your control over your exclusive Mana.”

When it came to control over exclusive Mana, Mo Lan didn’t dare jump to conclusions.

“I’ve never tried this kind of authorization either,” Carmela said. “Let’s just test it and find out. I’ll grant you a brief authorization to use the Golden Pen Technique to make cards, and you can see if you’re able to produce the corresponding card.”

Carmela quickly wrote up an authorization contract.

The contract specified that Mo Lan was granted permission to use the Golden Pen Technique to create cards for a duration of five minutes.

Apart from the time limit, there were no other restrictions.

But with the time limit in place, even if some control was temporarily ceded, it would all revert once the time was up.

Mo Lan also summoned her own golden pen and wrote her name on the contract.

The contract took effect, and Mo Lan quickly sensed that her Golden Pen Technique had undergone some kind of change.

She summoned the Book of Cards and designed a card.

【Card Slot: Trade Contract Card】

【Estimated Cost: 4 Mana】

【Estimated Function: Using this card produces a trade contract free of any loopholes or security risks. Simply fill in the traded items and sign your name, and the contract takes effect. If either party violates the contract, their entire assets serve as compensation. Effective on contract targets at Apprentice level or below.】

“It worked!” Mo Lan produced the card with ease.

Carmela examined the card, but shook her head: “I don’t think it quite worked…”

She could clearly feel that the Pen of Oaths had lost something—it felt different from her usual magical contracts.

She tried writing a contract, but the law-binding contract text that normally appeared did not manifest: “Part of the contract’s authority has been affected.”

“Ah? Then I guess it won’t work after all…” Lilith said.

Exclusive Mana was a Sorceress’s foundation—absolutely not something that could be compromised. Giving up control of one’s exclusive Mana just to earn a bit more universal Mana was definitely not worth it.

Mo Lan said nothing. The process of creating that card just now had sparked another idea.

Since her own power was limited and she couldn’t produce a complete corresponding card, what if she made a half-finished product, and let someone with the right capabilities fill in the missing parts?

She thought it over, then designed another card.

【Card Slot: Trade Contract Card (Half-finished)】

【Estimated Function: Touch this card with the Pen of Oaths and inject an appropriate amount of Mana to complete the card’s missing elements, turning it into a complete {Trade Contract Card}.

Using a completed {Trade Contract Card} produces a trade contract free of any loopholes or security risks. Simply fill in the traded items and sign your name, and the contract takes effect. If either party violates the contract, their entire assets serve as compensation. Effective on contract targets at Apprentice level or below.】

After editing the estimated function, she tested the estimated cost.

【Estimated Cost: 3 Mana】

It really was feasible!

Mo Lan produced the card. By this time, the authorization period had just expired: “Lady Carmela, try this one!”

Carmela took the card: “A half-finished product?”

Following the instructions on the card’s description, she placed the tip of her Pen of Oaths on the card and injected Mana into it.

The card immediately began to change.

“Oh? It turned into the same card as the one from before!” Vasida exclaimed in surprise.

“I used roughly 2 units of universal Mana,” Carmela said.

“That’s fine. Compared to me making it directly, it only costs 1 extra Mana in production—that’s acceptable,” Mo Lan said.

Carmela asked: “This method doesn’t require authorization, right? The authorization period already ended just now.”

“Exactly!” Mo Lan said. “I can use these half-finished cards to set up card pools for all of you! No authorization needed—we just sign a revenue-sharing contract.

I can also make each of you a dedicated management card. You can use it to manage your own card pool and handle the sales of your cards in the marketplace yourselves.”

The more Mo Lan talked, the more she felt this approach was even better. This way, she could operate a completely hands-off channel—just provide a management card and half-finished card templates, and she wouldn’t have to worry about anything else. She could just sit back and collect her share of the profits.

The Sorceresses, who had thought they’d lost their chance to benefit from Mo Lan’s Card Magic, were overjoyed at this unexpected turn of events.

But now came the question: “How do we split the profits?”

Mo Lan—one person facing off against a full-grown Sorceress, a full-grown witch, and three young Sorceresses—wasn’t the least bit intimidated:

“I bear sixty percent of the card production costs, the platform is provided by me, and I still have to supply you with management cards and half-finished card templates. All of that together—taking ninety percent seems perfectly fair, right? So, ninety percent of the profits go to me, and ten percent goes to you.”

“How much is ninety percent?” Vasida and Sylph asked, their faces blank with confusion.

Mo Lan, who had been bracing for them to haggle: “…”

She turned to Lady Amisha: “Headmistress! Look at this—math class really needs to happen, there’s no getting around it!”

“I know, I know! It’s starting in second year!” Amisha said. “But ninety percent is way too much—we probably wouldn’t even break even. Don’t forget, it’s our magic that’s the core of these cards! And the cards need to be managed by us too, right? That’s also a cost. We need at least thirty percent!”