Chapter 455 – The Cautious Greta

Greta really did hide Underground for days on end.

Only after dark would she crawl out to stretch her cramped, numb arms and legs, then dig a pit somewhere farther away to take care of hygiene.

At the slightest disturbance, she would scurry back into the hole.

Mo Lan and the others on the flying carpet could only occasionally hear her coughing when a bite of black bread got stuck in her throat.

Judging from the card exchange records displayed on the Dawn Society Management Card, Greta had been anything but idle down in that hole these past few days. When she wasn’t eating or drinking, she was meditating to recover psychic power and exchanging cards.

On the first night, after finishing her meditation, she exchanged for an {Equipment Card — Shoddy Dagger}, giving herself a weapon for self-defense.

The dagger’s blade came with a sharpening spell attached, making it slightly sharper than an ordinary dagger. But because of the “shoddy” prefix, it looked battered and decrepit, with chips and rolls along parts of the edge.

Even so, Greta was quite satisfied.

She didn’t exchange anything at all on the second day. It wasn’t until the evening of the third day that she exchanged for a {Equipment Card — Shoddy Staff}, and as soon as she had it, she climbed out of the hole to test her magic.

This staff had a faint amplifying effect on Metal magic. With it in hand, Greta no longer needed to recite a lengthy incantation just to cast a single Metal Needle.

She finally had a magical means of self-defense, even if it was just a sewing-needle-thin spike of metal elemental energy.

On the fourth day, she exchanged for another {Food Card — Black Bread} and a {Magic Card — Heal Minor Wounds}.

On the fifth day, she exchanged for a {Magic Card — Heal Moderate Wounds}.

On the sixth day, she exchanged nothing, saving up until the seventh day to exchange for a {Magic Card — Heal Serious Wounds}.

Mo Lan had originally assumed that now that Greta had her equipment cards and a full set of healing magic cards, she would just exchange for a {Magic Card — Ask Directions} and set off toward the Duchy of Lance.

Instead, the next card she exchanged for was another {Food Card — Black Bread} and a {Food Card — Heal Minor Wounds}.

“She’s not planning to exchange every single limited-purchase card before setting out, is she?!” Lilith said.

“Probably,” Mo Lan said.

“That’s way too cautious!” Vasida exclaimed. “Squatting in a tiny hole like that for this long — I can’t believe she can stand it!”

“Being cautious is always better than being reckless,” Mo Lan said. “Later, when she’s actually out there covertly recruiting members, that caution will only help her stay hidden. It’ll make it that much harder for anyone to figure out what the Dawn Society really is.”

After all, while the four of them knew the Dawn Society currently had zero official members, Greta didn’t know that.

And future members of the Dawn Society wouldn’t know either.

So when the Dawn Society first appeared, and where it started — no one would ever know.

Greta really did stay holed up in that little burrow, squatting there until she had exchanged every last magic card and clothing card available.

Besides those cards, she only spent a little psychic power every three days to exchange for one {Food Card — Black Bread}. She didn’t even buy water to drink — she gathered it all with Gather Water, cupping a small handful of water at a time.

Back in the Black Forest, the water elemental force had been too thin to gather any at all. Now she couldn’t bring herself to waste psychic power buying {Food Card — Drinking Water}, let alone splurging on {Food Card — White Bread}.

Black bread was big and cheap. Being unpalatable was merely a negligible drawback.

Scrimping like this, squeezing every last drop of value from each bit of psychic power, she managed to exchange for a whole handful of cards as quickly as possible. Three {Magic Card — Ask Directions}, ten {Magic Card — Heal Minor Wounds}, five {Magic Card — Heal Moderate Wounds}, three {Magic Card — Heal Serious Wounds}, and three {Clothing Card — Shoddy Mage Robe}, plus the already materialized shoddy dagger and shoddy staff.

Though Greta was penniless, holding all of this gave her the feeling of being rather wealthy.

When she came out at night to stretch, her back was straighter than ever before.

A battered dagger in one hand, a battered staff in the other — she cut a remarkably spirited figure.

“I’ve been meaning to ask. Since you’re providing her with equipment, Mo Lan, why did you specifically make it all shoddy quality?” Sylph said. “They technically count as magical items, yet their effects are barely better than ordinary weapons. And you made them look all beat-up too, like they’re about to fall apart any second.”

These cards hadn’t existed in the Card Shop before — they only appeared this time, without so much as a new-listing notification.

Clearly, Mo Lan had made them specifically for Greta.

Who deliberately crafts cards to be low quality?!

“They really are meant to break easily! Even without any external damage, just from normal use, they’ll last a year at most before falling apart,” Mo Lan said.

“Truly high-quality magical items couldn’t be exchanged for at this price point.

These are the starter blank-slate equipment I carefully designed for destitute non-witch-race contractors! The cost-effectiveness is absolutely unmatched!

Of course, the beat-up appearance isn’t strictly necessary, but isn’t that meant to motivate the contractors? To make them realize just how poor they are, so they’ll work harder to recruit talent for the Society and earn more resources?”

“…”

“I’m actually starting to look forward to the day our Dawn Society becomes popular among human mages,” Lilith said.

Mo Lan’s devious schemes came one after another, even more relentless than a Goblin’s. They would absolutely rake in profits.

“Human supernaturals are the most numerous. Once we’ve secured the human base, we can move on to the other races. By then, even if our identities are exposed, we won’t have anything to fear,” Mo Lan said.

“Why is Greta going back to squat again? Is she still not ready to leave?” Sylph said.

The Sorceresses watched as Greta grabbed a clump of dead grass, held it over her head, and prepared to squat back down in her hole. They all fell silent.

Mo Lan and Lilith quickly cast mind-reading magic on her.

Greta: “If I exchange for more {Food Card — Black Bread} and {Food Card — White Bread}, I can materialize some when I reach a town and sell them. Then I won’t have to worry about not having money for an inn! Hehe! This is a zero-cost business!”

“Greta’s trial is definitely going to be fine,” Lilith said to Mo Lan. “Her business sense is almost as good as yours.”

Mo Lan: “…”

She’d miscalculated — she should have set an exchange limit on Food Cards too!

The Food Cards were originally meant as a stopgap for traveling through uninhabited areas, not as a money-making scheme.

But setting a limit now would look petty.

Oh well, oh well. Having a head for business wasn’t a bad thing. If she was this shrewd now, she’d be even shrewder when recruiting people later! Besides, Mo Lan wasn’t losing out — she netted 1.9 Gem Coins per card sold!

Once she thought it through, Mo Lan actually felt rather gratified. The only worry was not knowing how many {Food Card — Black Bread} and {Food Card — White Bread} Greta planned to stockpile before she’d finally set off for the Duchy of Lance.

The group had already been sitting around in this barren stretch of land for nearly two months.