Chapter 153 – Teach Me, Junior

After finishing putting up the promotional posters, Mo Lan walked down the Academy hill alone.

She went to the greenhouse to Attune some Broomstick Grass, then stopped by the Ingredient Collection Station to pick up a few ingredients, planning to cook something with Culinary Magic that evening.

On the way back, she also checked on her farmland. It had been a while since she’d tended to it, and weeds had spread into the field again. The crops weren’t growing particularly well either.

“These weeds need to be cleared, the soil needs fertilizing, and I’ll have to use the Lush Flourishing spell too! Looks like I’ll need to make another trip tomorrow.”

Mo Lan muttered to herself as she floated her ingredients along and headed toward the Dormitory.

From a distance, she could already see a red-haired figure standing under the streetlamp outside her dormitory door: “Senior?”

Hearing her voice, Lilith turned around, and upon seeing her, hurried over. “Moira! You’re finally back!”

“Senior, is something the matter?” Mo Lan asked, while not forgetting to fish a flyer out of her satchel. “Senior, I’ve developed a Sorceress Magic! Here’s the flyer!”

Lilith snatched the flyer. “That’s exactly why I’m here! I just heard about it from Vasida.”

Due to the time crunch last night, Mo Lan had only copied thirty small flyers and three large promotional posters in total.

She had handed them out in class today for everyone to look at, but after people finished purchasing the magic, she collected them all back, planning to copy more tonight and distribute them to the second and third-year students tomorrow.

She hadn’t expected to keep her senior waiting.

“The only Sorceress Magic? You’re only planning to sell this one Sorceress Magic? And for only 3 Mana in permanent mana? Are you feeling alright?”

Lilith finished reading the flyer and stared at her with a face full of suspicion.

Was this really something Mo Lan would do? If she had split her Sorceress Magic into tiny fragments and sold each one for seven or eight Mana, Lilith wouldn’t have found it the least bit strange.

Mo Lan’s bargains were never easy to take advantage of! There had to be some hidden trap she wasn’t seeing! But the flyer listed everything at clearly marked prices, and even included a free card draw. She couldn’t spot the trap anywhere—in fact, it seemed like an incredible deal.

Only her intimate knowledge of Mo Lan’s shrewd merchant nature kept the alarm bells ringing in her mind.

“Relax, this magic truly and honestly costs only 3 Mana in permanent mana! And I most likely won’t be developing a second Sorceress Magic either.”

Seeing that her senior still looked doubtful, Mo Lan assumed she was worried about her taking a loss, just like Vasida and Sylph had been, and added: “Don’t worry, Senior. Even with just one magic, I’ll make an absolute killing. There’s absolutely no way I’ll lose money on this.”

Lilith: “!!!”

She knew it!

Mo Lan was a merchant as cunning as a goblin! But with just one magic at such a low price, how could she possibly make a killing? Senior Sorceresses had always split their exclusive Mana into tiny pieces, creating many different Sorceress Magics to sell separately at different tiers.

Lilith was also currently working on her own first Sorceress Magic. She was dying to know how her junior had done it—maybe she could use it as a reference? Her resolve solidified. “I’ll buy it!”

The words were barely out before a twinge of regret crept in—what if there really was some massive trap?

“Senior, you didn’t bring paper, did you? I have some right here!” The moment Mo Lan heard this, she enthusiastically dug a blank sheet of parchment out of her satchel and pressed it into her senior’s hands.

Lilith’s wavering heart was instantly steadied by Mo Lan’s expectant gaze and the eagerly provided parchment.

Oh well, forget it—she’d just buy it! Using the Golden Pen Technique, she began writing according to the contract template.

The moment she signed her name and added her blood, the contract took effect immediately.

What came next was the dazzling opening animation and tutorial of Card Magic, which completely stunned Lilith.

She had never seen such an extraordinary magic before. That was exactly the word—extraordinary!

By the time she came to her senses, her Mana had already dropped to the warning threshold.

If she spent any more, it wouldn’t fully recover by tomorrow.

What she held in her hands was a pile of miscellaneous cards.

They were either fragment cards or Earth seasoning packet cards worth 1 Gem Coin each.

The only exception was a single {Ingredient Card – Spicy Beef Bun}, worth 3 Gem Coins.

And it was precisely this one card that had made her accidentally pour a huge amount of temporary mana into draws without even realizing it.

Looking at that gray-white vortex, Lilith felt as though she was gazing into the terrifying Abyss. This thing was absolutely horrifying!

If even she—a little witch who budgeted her Mana down to the last drop—couldn’t resist spending beyond her means, what hope did anyone else have?

For now, she could only console herself with the fact that every card she’d drawn was at least useful, so it wasn’t a complete waste.

She didn’t dare calculate how much Mana she’d lost on card draws.

After the sting of loss faded and rationality returned, Lilith examined the magic with fresh eyes and realized just how profitable it was.

The card pool and shop earned temporary mana; the Gem Coin storage cap and card album slots earned permanent mana.

A single magic that earned on every front.

As expected of Mo Lan! As a subscriber of this Sorceress Magic, the experience was equal parts pain and pleasure—but as its creator, there was nothing but pleasure.

Lilith could hardly imagine how thrilling it would be if her own magic could earn Mana like this!

She looked at Mo Lan’s head. What on earth was going on inside her junior’s brain? How could she even come up with a magic like this?

Mo Lan watched helplessly as her senior went from frenzied card drawing, to clutching her Status Card in anguish, to finally fixing her with an unsettling stare.

She couldn’t help but take a step back. “Senior, you have to show restraint with card draws. I don’t have any underage card-draw Mana refund policy here!”

“Do I look like that kind of person?”

Lilith let out a cold snort, then grabbed Mo Lan’s hand with an eager expression:

“Teach me, junior! Teach me! I want to create a magic that earns Mana like this too!”

Mo Lan flinched when her senior’s hand shot out, but once she processed what Lilith was actually saying: “??? You don’t want a Mana refund?”

“What refund? Teach me! Not the magic itself—the design philosophy behind it!” Lilith said. “If I can earn more Mana, I can afford more card draws!”

Some cards were too expensive for her to buy outright from the card shop, but in the card pool, each draw cost only 1 Gem Coin—she couldn’t lose too much, and pulling one was pure profit.

She refused to believe she couldn’t draw one eventually.

Mo Lan relaxed. As long as her senior hadn’t had a mental breakdown from drawing cards, everything was fine. Sharing the design philosophy behind Sorceress Magic? She was more than happy to do that. However: “That’s a long story. Let’s go inside first. Senior, you haven’t eaten yet, have you? Eat at my place—we can talk over dinner.”

“Mm!” Lilith nodded emphatically, drew her Wand, and levitated the vegetable basket Mo Lan had set aside. “Let me carry that for you!”

After closing the door, Mo Lan invited her senior to sit at the kitchen bar counter, poured her a glass of Breadfruit juice, then picked up her own Wand and perched on a barstool. She directed the kitchen utensils into motion with Culinary Magic while chatting with her senior.

Even though Lilith had long since noticed that her own Culinary Magic progress bar had turned green, watching Mo Lan work with such practiced ease still felt surreal.

It felt like just yesterday that her junior had attempted Culinary Magic for the first time, invited them over for a gathering at her dormitory, and ended up turning the kitchen into a complete disaster.