Chapter 453 – Trial Mission Three

Chapter 453 – Trial Mission Three

Greta was immersed in the joy of surviving her ordeal, but Lilith, Vasida, and Sylph all wore subtle expressions.

“The final reward for Trial Mission Two is… opening a ‘Goblin Shop’?” Lilith accidentally let her thoughts slip out.

“What Goblin Shop? This is a welfare shop that lets her enjoy the resource exchange privileges of a full member ahead of schedule! Every single card was hand-picked by me just for her!” Mo Lan said.

“If I remember correctly, a Food Card – Black Bread costs 0.5 Gem Coins each, right?” Vasida said.

Not long ago, when Mo Lan had said she was using Food Card – Black Bread as rewards to control costs, Vasida had looked up the price of the card.

“That’s… a four-times markup!” Even Sylph felt a bit sorry for Greta.

“Should be twenty times, actually,” Lilith said. “Mo Lan always prices at five times cost, and this card only costs 0.1 Mana to make.”

“Selling to witch contractors at five times cost, selling to human contractors at ten times cost, and selling to non-contracted humans at twenty times cost — isn’t that perfectly normal?”

Mo Lan continued, “My costs being low is because I’m skilled. You can’t expect me to price things low just because my costs are low — how would the other merchants in Valen survive? I get to eat the meat, but I should at least let them have some soup!”

Lilith, Vasida, and Sylph: “…”

“Don’t forget, your magic will also be made into cards for sale,” Mo Lan said.

“How about thirty times then!” Lilith immediately said.

Sylph and Vasida turned to her: “???”

“Thirty times is too expensive — no one would want to buy them,” Mo Lan said.

“If you put the Society Shop’s price next to it, would she still buy something she knows is overpriced?” Sylph asked.

If she herself knew she was paying double what others paid, she certainly wouldn’t be willing to spend that much.

“Of course she will!” Mo Lan said. “The price of goods isn’t fixed — it changes based on demand. And obviously, right now is exactly when she needs these things.”

The moment her words fell, Greta bought a Food Card – Black Bread.

“Not bad! She didn’t waste her psychic power buying white bread — she’s not the type to indulge in momentary pleasures!” Mo Lan said approvingly.

Although Greta didn’t know exactly how much psychic power she could mobilize, she had read in the magic book she’d found that a mage apprentice’s psychic power, when converted to the highest quality magical energy — Mana — would amount to no more than 100 Mana at most, which was barely less than 100 Gem Coins.

Everything in the shop was something she urgently needed right now. When it came to food and drink, as long as she wouldn’t starve, she couldn’t bring herself to spend more.

She may have escaped the Black Forest, but the surrounding environment was unfamiliar, and who knew what dangers might lurk here!

At the very least, she needed to prepare a few healing cards, and there was also that Magic Card – Ask Directions. She didn’t even know where she was in the Mage Empire right now, let alone which direction to walk to reach the nearest town. She’d need to use that card to get her bearings.

Greta converted active psychic power equivalent to 2 Mana and bought the Food Card – Black Bread. Then, based on her remaining active psychic power, she did some rough calculations:

“If my psychic power is full, I could probably exchange for about 20 Food Card – Black Breads without any problem. So my psychic power is roughly equivalent to 40 Mana? 40 Mana means 40 Gem Coins. At this rate, it won’t take long at all to buy everything I need! This is so cheap!”

“???” Vasida dug at her ear. “Did I hear that right? She said it’s cheap?”

“You heard correctly.” Sylph also found it somewhat unbelievable. “What kind of lives do people in the Yala Empire lead? She thinks 2 Mana for a black bread is cheap.”

“Don’t forget — human mages can recover their psychic power through meditation at any time,” Mo Lan said. “2 Gem Coins — just meditate for a while and you’ve earned it back.”

“We should have priced them even higher!” Lilith said with regret.

Greta moved on to look at Trial Mission Three.

【Trial Mission Three: Leave the Emerald Creek Plains and travel to the capital of the Duchy of Lance. Befriend as many mages in difficult circumstances as possible. Time limit: one year.】

【Reward: A reward may be claimed for each mage friend in difficult circumstances you successfully befriend.】

“I’m in the Emerald Creek Plains? I haven’t even reached the Mage Empire yet?” Greta didn’t even know where the Emerald Creek Plains were.

Vasida asked Mo Lan, puzzled, “This is the third trial mission you came up with? What’s the purpose?”

“To test her social skills, obviously!” Mo Lan said. “If her social skills pass muster, developing downline agents later will be a breeze!”

This was a trial mission she had specifically designed for Society members she planned to focus on developing.

Greta didn’t find the mission’s content strange at all, because she had already read the 《Dawn Society Mission Statement》 back in Trial Mission One. She knew the Dawn Society was always searching for companions in similar difficult circumstances, guiding them out of their hardships.

Having successfully escaped the Black Forest through the trial missions, she already had deep trust in the Dawn Society.

The Dawn Society’s trial missions only ever had rewards, never punishments. Such miraculous magic cards had simply been given to her — a mere apprentice who wasn’t even a full member yet — during the course of these trials. Without the Society needing to say anything, she already believed that the Society would only bring her good things!

Moreover, the intuition that had saved her through countless crises since childhood told her that the Dawn Society truly posed no danger.

Greta even thought to herself: “The Society gives far too much. If this keeps up, won’t they really go bankrupt?”

“Once I become a full member, I should contribute to the Society however I can. It would be such a shame if such a wonderful organization went bankrupt.”

“How does that even work?” Vasida and Sylph couldn’t understand at all how Greta had suddenly developed such a sense of belonging to the Society. Mo Lan had clearly set up a “Goblin Shop” — far from losing money, the purchases from it would more than recoup the cost of all the cards given out during the first two missions, with plenty of profit to spare.

Mo Lan was also somewhat surprised. This was indeed her ultimate goal, but it wasn’t supposed to be achievable this soon. She hadn’t expected Greta to develop such deep affection for the Society so quickly.

She could only think of one reason: “It’s probably because she was exploited so terribly back in the Yala Empire!”

In the Mage Empire, mages were the masters, elevated above ordinary commoners. No matter how bad things got, they never had to worry about basic necessities.

In the Yala Empire, only the upper echelons of the Temple who monopolized magical knowledge and the imperial nobility were the masters. All other commoners were sheep, and other mages were merely slightly higher-ranking sheep.

People who had suffered in the past were always more easily moved by even a small measure of happiness, and more grateful for what they had now.

At this point, Mo Lan had already decided that regardless of how Greta’s social skills turned out, she would let her pass the trial.

If her social skills weren’t up to par, she could just remain an ordinary contractor placed there — she’d still help boost magic and card sales a bit.

Mo Lan could always select someone more capable to focus on developing later.