Chapter 380 – Business Strategy

Mo Lan could certainly use the wine as card-crafting material to produce identical wine cards.

But this was a recipe Aeltis had invented. Using the Book of Cards to make wine cards from it would be infringing on her rights.

This was different from the Magic and other knowledge that all witches could learn.

If Aeltis weren’t a witch, Mo Lan would have done it without hesitation.

Hearing Aeltis repeatedly emphasize that the Dreaming Rose was a specialty of another world and its fragrance was difficult to collect, which was why she brewed so little Tiger’s Sniff Rose—

Mo Lan thought for a moment and said, “Lady Aeltis, do you have any of the Dreaming Rose’s fragrance? With just a small amount, I might be able to create a Dreaming Rose fragrance card.

“Or you could grant me the rights to produce and sell Tiger’s Sniff Rose cards—I can give you ten percent of the card sales profits.”

The more she spoke, the more feasible the idea seemed. It wasn’t as though only Sorceresses could partner with her.

The Headmistress, who possessed magical knowledge from other worlds, could use a Management Card to set up a card pool. Why couldn’t other witches with exclusive recipes do the same?

Her card-crafting materials alone weren’t numerous enough, but what about all the witches combined?

Aeltis sat up straight. “You can directly make a {Dreaming Rose Fragrance Card} and a {Tiger’s Sniff Rose Card}?”

Mo Lan summoned the Book of Cards and produced a {Tiger’s Sniff Rose Card}, handing it to Aeltis.

Aeltis materialized the card, and it really was a glass of Tiger’s Sniff Rose—identical to the one she brewed.

Even the card description read “Brewed by Aeltis.”

So in truth, even without buying her wine, Mo Lan could already make the same wine cards?

She could do it just from having tasted it?

Aeltis no longer doubted that Mo Lan could produce a {Dreaming Rose Fragrance} card.

Aeltis loved brewing wine, especially using rare and exotic materials.

The problem was that many of those materials were unique to other worlds and difficult to procure.

That was why Dukang Wine House’s selection, apart from the few varieties for which she had secured reliable material sources, was always changing, frequently out of stock.

If she partnered with Mo Lan, all those problems would be solved—she’d only need to provide samples as materials.

Aeltis was already wavering, but: “A ninety-ten split—isn’t that a bit ruthless?”

“I bear all the card-crafting costs. You only need to provide samples. Once we reach an agreement, you’re earning pure profit. That ten percent is already quite generous.”

Mo Lan continued, “If you have enough exclusive wine recipes, I can give you a dedicated Management Card. You can use it to set up a specialized Dukang Wine House card pool to create and list wine cards for your products. The Management Card can store all the Gem Coins earned from card sales. However, the profit split remains ninety-ten. The Sorceress card pools split seventy-thirty, but that’s because they also bear a portion of the card-crafting costs.”

Aeltis looked at Lilith. “You agreed to an seventy-thirty split with her? Are you out of your mind?”

Lilith often felt the sting of it too, but that didn’t stop her from standing by her partner right now. “The cards are hers! Without her, we couldn’t produce that many cards or sell that many Gem Coins! We contribute our unique knowledge and abilities, she contributes her card-crafting ability and bears the crafting costs—it’s only fair she gets the larger share!”

It was income created from nothing, after all. How could she have sold analyzed and processed blood cards on her own before?

Without Mo Lan’s Book of Cards, anyone who learned her Blood Magic would have to collect fresh blood themselves, then analyze and process it with Blood Magic before they could perform fusion.

Without partnering with Mo Lan, she could never have earned this many Gem Coins. And now that Gem Coins were linked to Energy Storage Cards, they were essentially equivalent to disposable Mana. It was entirely thanks to the blood card revenue that she’d escaped being Mana-poor—stuck in a situation where her Mana couldn’t keep up with her Blood Magic research.

It wasn’t Mo Lan begging them to cooperate—it was them begging Mo Lan!

Aeltis listened and found herself unable to argue. It did seem to be exactly as described—without Mo Lan, she couldn’t earn this money either.

“This kind of partnership is only available to witches, you know!” Mo Lan added.

If it were outsiders, unless it was something she truly couldn’t learn herself, there was no way she’d share profits!

Between kin there was fellowship; with outsiders, it was whoever had the bigger fist who made the rules.

When witches were weak, nobody had ever protected their interests.

Seeing that Aeltis was still somewhat hesitant, Mo Lan—eager to ensure a steady supply of Tiger’s Sniff Rose in the future—pressed on:

“Although it’s only ten percent profit, your earnings per glass of wine won’t necessarily be less than what you’d make producing and selling it yourself.

“This small glass of Tiger’s Sniff Rose only cost me 5 Gem Coins to make. I’ll price it at your selling price—30 Gem Coins. Without lifting a finger, you’d earn 2.5 Gem Coins.

“But that’s only the price among witches. Outside the Wilds, cards won’t sell at these prices—they’ll be at least double. Then you’d earn 5 Gem Coins per glass.”

“The cost is only 5 Gem Coins?” Aeltis gasped. Never mind that she’d happily sold the first glass at half price—that was only because today was Independence Day and she was in a good mood.

She hadn’t even dared sell too many at that price, afraid of taking too heavy a loss.

In truth, she barely turned a profit even at full price.

Speaking of production costs, this small glass cost at least 27 Gem Coins to make. She only earned 3 Gem Coins per glass.

Granted, selling to witches through Mo Lan would mean 0.5 fewer Gem Coins per glass compared to selling directly. But selling to outsiders—just one glass sold would net her 5 Gem Coins!

Aeltis finally stopped hesitating. “I’m in! This is how it should be! I regret selling my wine so cheaply when I was traveling outside the Wilds before! No wonder everyone calls you the Sorceress of Wealth—at this rate, you’ll definitely become the richest witch of all, won’t you?”

“At this rate, all witches will grow wealthier too,” Mo Lan said with a smile. “One day, when Card Magic truly becomes popular across all of Valen and I become widely known, every witch will be able to profit from the price difference.”

Aeltis froze for a moment, then broke into a wide smile. “The Sorceress of Wealth truly lives up to her name!”

Even Lilith was stunned. “So you had this plan all along! A Sorceress who brings wealth to all witches—the title of Sorceress of Wealth really belongs to no one but you.

“But if we do this, won’t our reputation among outsiders end up as bad as the goblins’?”

“Reputation—is that more important than money? We witches can handle a little slander!” Aeltis declared.

Lilith said hesitantly, “I’m not sure it would even count as slander, though…”

Glaring daggers from both Mo Lan and Aeltis cut toward Lilith, and she quietly swallowed the rest of her words.

“This is called business strategy!” Mo Lan emphasized. “We price things openly and fairly—how can you even compare us to goblins?”

“Yes, yes, of course!” Lilith hastily agreed.

Only then did Mo Lan let her off the hook. She crafted a {Management Card – Aeltis} and gave it to Aeltis, explaining how to use semi-finished cards.