Chapter 506 – Beginner Mage

Chapter 506 – Beginner Mage

Dayla of course knew where the Dawn Society came from, but she still pretended otherwise, saying with a helpless tone:

“It seems the origin of the Dawn Society isn’t bad news for you.”

“Not just not bad news — it’s absolutely amazing news,” Clara said.

If only her godmother’s Psychic Magic talent weren’t so lacking, she would have wanted her godmother to read her mind, bypassing the confidentiality contract, so she could learn who was behind the Dawn Society.

“You focus on studying and finishing your exams. I’m going back to researching the Dawn Society!”

Now that Clara no longer harbored suspicions about the Dawn Society, she didn’t need her godmother’s escort every time she wanted to explore it.

In the magic carriage, she followed the Dawn Society’s magical light screen tutorial for newcomers, figuring out the screen’s functions and usage, as well as the Dawn Society’s internal operating rules.

What she cared about most — the {Material Card – Green Phantom Fruit} — was a tier-five resource. She would need to become a level 1 Dawnbreak Scholar before she could redeem it once per year. A level 2 Dawnbreak Scholar could redeem it twice per year. And so on, up to a level 10 Dawnbreak Scholar redeeming it ten times per year.

One needed to become a Guiding Mentor to redeem it without limit.

Currently, her status was still level 1 Night Mist Apprentice.

Between her current rank and Dawnbreak Scholar, there were still two ranks in between: Night Observer and Beacon Watcher.

Night Mist Apprentices needed 10 contribution points per level to advance, and after level 10, they would be promoted to Night Observer.

Night Observers needed 20 contribution points per level, and after level 10, they would be promoted to Beacon Watcher.

Beacon Watchers needed 30 contribution points per level, and after level 10, they would be promoted to Dawnbreak Scholar.

Dawnbreak Scholars needed 50 contribution points per level, and after level 10, they would be promoted to Guiding Mentor.

Guiding Mentors needed 100 contribution points per level, with a maximum of level 10.

All other ranks only increased card purchasing privileges, but upon becoming a Guiding Mentor, each level gained would grant a permanent 0.1% shopping discount.

Tier-five resource cards were astronomically priced, so even a mere 0.1% discount was quite considerable.

Clara did the math. To reach level 1 Guiding Mentor, she only needed to earn a total of 1,100 contribution points, and then she could freely purchase any resource card.

According to the contribution point calculation rules, 1,100 contribution points meant 55 Peak level mages, or 110 advanced mages, or 220 Intermediate mages.

If counting mage apprentices, she would need 1,100 of them.

The catch was that all of them had to pass the Dawn Society’s trial, join the Dawn Society, and become official members before they would count toward her contribution points.

The Lance Mage Tower alone had more people than that.

Clara felt she could effortlessly max out her Dawn Society rank — all the way to level 10 Guiding Mentor!

She redeemed a {Food Card – Braised Beef Flavor Instant Noodles} and started eating in the carriage. “My nose really didn’t deceive me — this is delicious!”

That very day, all the beginner mages in the Lance Mage Tower received an invitation letter from Grand Duke Clara.

Originally, Clara had planned to approach the several Counts under her command and invite them first.

After all, they were all Intermediate mages with stronger psychic power and faster learning speeds, meaning they could pass the trial more quickly, helping her earn contribution points and raise her Dawn Society rank.

But when she called them over and asked, she discovered they were all already trial members of the Dawn Society.

Aramir had beaten her to every single one of them.

Fortunately, she still had an entire Mage Tower’s worth of connections.

Clara wasn’t worried that the Dawn Society’s rules would disrupt the current national system of magical knowledge inheritance either.

Setting aside the fact that she had been taught by a Witch and greatly admired the Witches’ selfless model of passing down knowledge — she was at heart a Heritage faction supporter who wanted to eliminate knowledge barriers. Even if the Dawn Society did upend the mage inheritance rules, allowing mages to obtain magical knowledge without going through Mage Towers, she would only applaud.

Unfortunately, she had browsed through all of the Dawn Society’s resource cards. While they ranged from apprentice-level to advanced spell structures, they were all just common, well-established spells — the kind that could be obtained without signing strict contracts.

Truly rare and precious magical knowledge was nowhere to be found.

The Empire’s magical knowledge security was simply too thorough. Even a Witch capable of establishing something as impressive as the Dawn Society couldn’t get her hands on the knowledge the Empire kept tightly under its control.

When the beginner mages of the Mage Tower received their invitation letters, they all assumed they had been singled out by Grand Duke Clara to join her private magical organization.

They were both thrilled at being the lucky chosen ones and somewhat worried about the cost of joining the Grand Duke’s Dawn Society.

After all, in their eyes, if a Grand Duke who already commanded an entire Mage Tower still needed to establish this kind of secret organization, there was only one possibility.

There were things that couldn’t be publicly known, things that required the organization’s members to carry out.

Such things promised great rewards, but also great danger.

So even though it was an invitation from Grand Duke Clara herself, the mages all read the letter carefully.

After reading it through, however, they found that aside from maintaining secrecy, they weren’t required to do anything at all.

The Lance Mage Tower’s learning environment was already better than most Mage Towers. Even so, when they had entered the Mage Tower, they had signed lifelong contracts forbidding them from using the magic they learned against the Duchy of Lance, and every piece of magical knowledge had to be earned through completing tasks.

Nothing had ever come for free.

This invitation letter was, to them, practically a free gift.

It made them somewhat uneasy. If they hadn’t noticed that this wasn’t a formal membership invitation but merely a “trial” invitation, they would have suspected that the Grand Duke was publicly throwing her support behind the Heritage faction.

Only the Heritage faction would occasionally show such generosity, doing charitable work for lower-ranked mages.

Though they hardly counted as lower-ranked mages themselves.

Regardless, this trial invitation seemed to them entirely beneficial with no drawbacks — there was no reason to refuse.

*

Number 21, Apprentice Lane.

Mo Lan and the others held their {Dawn Society Management Cards} and watched wide-eyed as the number after the 【Members in Trial】 column jumped by dozens, then hundreds.

Before long, it surpassed one thousand.

Every single one of them was a beginner mage with active psychic power exceeding 100 Mana.

In their eyes, these were premium crops ready for harvesting — far more resilient than apprentice-level mages.

“Grand Duke Clara is incredible!” Lilith said. “It’s just… Greta is probably going to cry.”

Greta was still at Apprentice Square selling instant noodles, carefully building up her network from among her customers!

Little did she know that soon, a flood of competitors would be emerging from the Mage Tower.

“Every trial member needs to successfully invite ten spellcasters to participate in the trial before they can become an official member.

“Even after becoming official members, they have to keep inviting new members to join in order to raise their rank.

“At this rate, all of Lance City will be Dawn Society members before long,” Vasida said.

It was the first time she had so viscerally felt the terrifying viral spread of Mo Lan’s promotional scheme.