Chapter 241 – Magic Market Prices

Chapter 241 – Magic Market Prices

Mo Lan shared her tips for quickly learning the Wood-Shaping Spell and the Metal Shaping spell with the young witches, holding nothing back.

The young witches took her advice seriously and made a trip straight to Academy Castle, where they transcribed the two magic books Mo Lan had recommended.

After all, between classes, they could barely carve out time for their own pursuits.

Mo Lan had already finished learning all four branches of Elemental Magic, yet they still hadn’t had a chance to properly study the single branch they each planned to specialize in.

So they felt the same way—eager to complete their coursework as quickly as possible, bank a little extra vacation time, and study the magic they actually wanted to learn.

Having lit a fire under the young witches’ Alchemy studies, Mo Lan herself headed to the Magic Training Grounds to begin her daily magic practice.

Only after depleting more than half her Mana did she return to the Dormitory.

Starting tomorrow, aside from setting aside a bit of time every Friday afternoon to attend Magic Q&A class and have Lady Amisha address questions from her week’s studies, all the rest of her time would be hers to arrange freely.

Mo Lan allocated her extra afternoon hours to Alchemy Magic, potion-brewing magic, Spatial Magic, and Plant Magic.

She planned to advance these branches alongside her Elemental Magic studies, pushing their progress forward as well.

And not one at a time either—all four would progress simultaneously.

She had already finished reading every book on Alchemy.

Not just those in the Second-Year Reading Room, and not just 《The Witch’s Complete Alchemy Compendium》 Mo-Pic book on the library’s sixth floor.

Every single book on Alchemy in the entire library.

One could say that at this very moment, her knowledge reserves on Alchemy already surpassed those of quite a few Alchemy Witches.

Next, after organizing and sorting through her mental knowledge of the one hundred and eight individual runes, she could begin crafting magic items according to Alchemy blueprints, gradually improving her Alchemy Magic abilities step by step.

Every magic item she crafted represented an opportunity for Mo Lan to enrich her card pool.

She only needed to craft something once before she could mass-produce it.

However, the pricing of these cards needed some thought.

No—the pricing of all cards related to magic and magic items needed to be reconsidered.

The Book of Cards was immensely powerful. As long as she had the knowledge and energy reserves, she could create any card.

Mo Lan had no problem using the Book of Cards to earn Mana. She couldn’t control everything else, but she felt that at the very least, she shouldn’t let cards undermine the witches’ magical heritage and livelihood.

The Book of Cards was her Manifested Gift—it existed because of her.

If witches became too dependent on the Book of Cards, if cards completely dominated the magic items market, then what would happen to the witches if one day she was gone and the Book of Cards was no more?

Granted, purchasing cards required magical power, and magical training helped increase one’s magical power, so even if cards dominated the market, witches wouldn’t necessarily abandon their magic practice.

But if cards that could substitute for potions and magic items dealt too heavy a blow to the potion and Alchemy markets, it could lead to the decline of Alchemy Magic and potion-brewing magic.

That was something Mo Lan didn’t want to see.

This was different from magic cards.

While magic cards did overlap somewhat in function with the witches’ own magic—

—the ones she currently sold were all single-use magic cards, priced considerably higher than the cost of a witch casting the spell herself. The cards were positioned for Contractors who lacked talent in a particular type of magic but needed that type of card, as well as Contractors who stockpiled magic cards for life-saving emergencies.

Magic cards like these could only serve as supplements. They couldn’t replace magic itself, nor would they diminish the witches’ motivation to study magic.

Mo Lan thought it over and concluded that only by understanding the original market values could she arrive at appropriate pricing.

Though her current Alchemy and potion-brewing abilities were nothing special and she couldn’t make much yet, she needed to research this in advance so she’d know how to design her cards going forward.

Unfortunately, she had never come across a book like that in the reading room, nor was there a Mo-Pic book of that sort.

That left only one option—asking Lady Amisha:

“Headmistress! Does the Academy have any books about market prices for magical materials and finished products in Valen and among the witch clans?”

“Yes. The latest edition of 《Magic Market Prices》—recommended elective reading for fourth and fifth years.”

“Could I transcribe it early and take a look? I’d like to understand how magic items are priced, so I can make sure the cards I create don’t conflict too much with the Alchemy Witches’ and Potion Witches’ businesses,” Mo Lan said.

Amisha was somewhat surprised that she had thought of this, and directly signed a library pass for her.

The next morning, Mo Lan went to the library and transcribed the entire set.

The book had been written fifty years ago and recorded the prices of various magical materials and magic items across the major regions of Valen. It covered not only products unique to the witch Race, but also specialties of other Races.

It was a perfect match for her needs.

She first skimmed through the prices of low-level Alchemy products and potions within the witch clans, as well as the raw material costs.

Presumably because witches could generally learn a bit of magic from any branch, and had access to free knowledge inheritance—it was simply a matter of whether they wanted to learn, whether they were willing to learn.

As a result, the profit margins on these low-level magic items within the witch clans were quite thin. Anything with even a hint of distinction was essentially sold outside to the Wilds, to other Races. And even then, it was only thanks to the witches’ small population and low output that they could eke out a modest profit.

“If I turned these kinds of magic items into cards and mass-produced them, wouldn’t these items become completely unsellable?” Mo Lan frowned.

That absolutely wouldn’t do.

Every Alchemy Witch and Potion Witch had started from the Apprentice level, and they all began by making low-level magic items.

If these items couldn’t sell, where would they earn the money to keep improving their magic?

While self-interest came before altruism, Mo Lan didn’t absolutely need to earn Mana by selling low-level magic item cards.

After studying 《Magic Market Prices》 all morning, Mo Lan ultimately decided to abandon the idea of feeding the magic items she crafted from Alchemy blueprints directly to the Book of Cards for mass-produced magic item card sales.

“Looks like I’ll have to design magic item cards that are more convenient and useful than standard Alchemy and potion products.” Mo Lan sighed.

Of course, she couldn’t sell such magic item cards at merely five times the production cost either—she’d need to price them at market rates.

Since she wouldn’t be turning ordinary magic items into cards, she still needed to study Alchemy and potion-brewing properly. She still had to practice each Alchemy blueprint and potion recipe one by one.

Only by improving her Alchemy and potion-brewing abilities could the Book of Cards’ capacity for creating Alchemy products and potions grow stronger.

That was the only way to produce magic item cards that were distinct from ordinary magic items—and more valuable.

As for Spatial Magic and Plant Magic, there were crucial reasons Mo Lan had included them alongside Alchemy and potion-brewing magic in this year’s study plan.