Chapter 449 – Guiding Mentor

Lilith, Vasida, and Sylph, hidden within the flying carpet’s invisibility shield, also saw the contents of the letter and exclaimed in surprise:

“Moira, why did you use your real name? Didn’t you say you’d come up with an intimidating codename?”

“I wrote to Madam Amisha to ask. There’s no difference between a real name and a fake one, so I might as well use my real name. When it comes time to sign the Sorceress Contract, they’ll learn our names anyway. If we go around being all secretive beforehand, it actually lowers our standing.

Once we reach the Mage Empire, we can also give ourselves similar names in the Mage Empire language.

It’s all ‘Moira,’ but the Guiding Mentor’s ‘Moira’ is written in the common human tongue, which makes it a completely different name from ‘Moira’ written in the Mage Empire language,” Mo Lan said.

She had originally worried that true names in the magical world held some special significance — for instance, that they could serve as a medium for curses or prophecies.

But later, when she read books on curse and prophecy magic, she discovered it wasn’t as she’d imagined.

Even a fake name, as long as it clearly pointed to you, could serve as a medium for spellcasting.

Only Lady Carmela’s Contract Magic required both parties to use their true names.

Given that, there was no difference between a true name and a false one.

Their names — even among the witches, not everyone knew them, and those who did would certainly keep them secret. Even using their real names, no one would connect them to the witches.

Just to make sure she hadn’t overlooked anything, she had specifically consulted Madam Amisha to confirm this before finally deciding to use her real name.

A true name that nobody knows is no different from a fake one.

Moreover, since the different languages of Valen didn’t translate names between them — everyone introduced themselves using their names in their mother tongue — they only needed a slight translation to possess many different names across many different languages.

Only then did Lilith and the other two relax, turning their attention back to Greta below.

“This letter — will she actually believe it?” Vasida said.

If it were her, and some unfamiliar object suddenly appeared in her hands trying to trick her into signing her name, she would definitely assume it was some kind of Demon trap! Only Demons were always fond of using contracts to deceive people.

“She no longer has the luxury of choice,” Mo Lan said. “This is her last lifeline. If she doesn’t sign this, the Death Force will soon invade her body again, and she’ll die.”

“She’ll probably hesitate a bit, but she’ll sign it in the end!” Lilith said. “The contents of this invitation… they fit her situation far too perfectly!”

Sylph agreed as well. “Moira, was this invitation written specifically to match Greta’s circumstances?”

“No. Every future contract target will receive the exact same invitation,” Mo Lan said.

“Huh? Then can this invitation really persuade every contract target?” Sylph asked, puzzled.

“Of course it can!” Mo Lan said. “What our Dawn Society can offer is access to more magical knowledge and materials. While our reputation is still unknown, only those who lack backgrounds or have poor talent would be willing to go all in on an unfamiliar organization. Aren’t every one of them just like what the invitation describes — dwelling in darkness yet refusing to submit to fate, seeking an opportunity to break through their predicament? Once our Dawn Society’s reputation grows and people learn about all the benefits we offer, they’d pay just to get this invitation. Who’d even care what’s written on it then?”

“…”

“You can do that?”

At that moment, a single thought arose simultaneously in the minds of Sylph, Vasida, and Lilith: the Goblin Sorceress had finally left the Wilds and was about to start swindling humans!

“Hm?” When Mo Lan finished speaking and looked back down at Greta, the girl had already bitten her finger without hesitation and pressed it against the signature line of the invitation.

“Is she a bit simple? She could have just signed her name, but instead she used her own blood?” Vasida said. “And so quickly too — she couldn’t even have checked whether the paper had any hidden clauses written in hard-to-see ink!”

“Nowadays, both Demons and Angels have concentrated their main forces at the Well of the Sky. The humans on the Mainland haven’t experienced being swindled by a Demon’s contract until they had neither body nor soul left in quite a long time, have they?” Lilith shook her head disapprovingly. “Far too careless. Moira, choosing her as the first non-witch contractor — can she safely develop a network of recruits?”

According to Mo Lan’s plan, the first non-witch contractor was quite important to them. Mo Lan felt uneasy as well — Greta had signed the contract far too quickly!

Even if her life was in danger, there was no need to rush so much that she couldn’t even properly inspect the invitation.

If she had used inconspicuous ink to hide an unfair clause within the decorative patterns along the edges of the paper, wouldn’t Greta have been swindled out of everything?

“Let me read her mind!” Mo Lan said.

“Is this Dawn Society even reliable? They send an invitation but no pen, making me hurt myself on top of my injuries. The smell of blood will attract undead creatures, and I really can’t handle a skeleton’s club right now!”

“I don’t have a bad feeling about this, so it should be fine… right?”

“How is it? Moira?” Sylph and Vasida asked.

Mo Lan: “…”

Lilith had also learned a bit of mind-reading magic and caught Greta’s inner thoughts. She patted Mo Lan on the shoulder. “Include a pen with the letter from now on!”

Having heard the inside story from Lilith, Vasida burst out laughing.

Sylph couldn’t help but smile either. “It seems it’s not that she was being careless, but that conditions were limited, and she has great faith in her own intuition.”

Mo Lan: “…”

How was she supposed to know that someone who was already a mage apprentice didn’t even know how to sign a contract using a psychic power imprint!

Without a word, she pulled out her planning notes and jotted down a reminder to include a pen with the invitation.

“Greta’s intuition really is remarkable!” Lilith couldn’t help pulling out a large test tube of blood. “No matter how you look at it, it’s just ordinary human blood!”

This blood had all been drawn while Greta was asleep. She still had ten large test tubes of it.

Below, after Greta signed the invitation with her blood and accepted the trial invitation, the original {Dawn Society Trial Invitation} transformed into a brand-new {Dawn Society Trial Card}.

【Trial Participant: Greta】

【Trial Task One: Become a Dawn Society trial participant. Read 《Dawn Society Resource Catalog》, 《Dawn Society Mission Statement》, and 《Dawn Society Confidentiality Regulations》, then complete the examination.】

【Reward: Based on examination results, you may receive a {Magic Card – Purge Death Force}, {Item Card – Compass}, {Food Card – Black Bread}, {Food Card – Drinking Water}, and other resource cards.】

【Trial Task Two: Survive and make it out of the Black Forest alive.】(0%)

【Reward: For every 10% progress, receive {Magic Card – Purge Death Force}, {Magic Card – Heal Minor Wounds}, {Food Card – Black Bread}, {Food Card – Drinking Water}…】

【Trial Task Three: Not yet updated.】(Unlocks after completing the prerequisite “Trial Task Two.”)

Seeing the tasks on the card, Greta fell silent. Lilith, Vasida, and Sylph also fell silent.

Judging by the trial tasks, this Dawn Society didn’t seem to harbor any ill intent. It really did seem to be guiding her out of her predicament, just as the invitation had promised.

But what Greta had never in her wildest dreams expected was that she had to read books and take an exam first!