The Queen of Scrolls never admits defeat

Chapter 482 Life-saving straw
"The final trial mission!" Greta covered her mouth, almost exclaiming in surprise.

She thought she would have to wait several more months before Trial Mission Three was finally settled!
The bread cards weren't selling well. She had a stall in Riverside Village before, and only sold a few a couple of days ago, after which no one paid any attention to them.

She had no choice but to materialize the {Bread Card} and sell it as ordinary black and white bread, which is how she managed to save up the money to come to Lance City with the caravan.

They relied on bread cards, which they earned through mental energy, to survive along the way.

There was no time or opportunity to meet mages on the road, but once you arrive in Lance City, you'll find mage apprentices everywhere.

Ordinary people still respect her mage robes, but they won't patronize her business just because she's a mage.

They would even give her strange looks when she was selling bread at her stall.

Outside the city lies the golden wheat field, and the ordinary people of Lance City have no shortage of bread to eat, so her bread business has suffered an unprecedented blow.

Prices in Reims are high.

The money she earned from selling bread was barely enough to cover her stay at a cheap hotel, where there wasn't a single monk to be found.

Restaurants, inns, and bookstores frequented by monks all charge starting prices in silver coins, with gold coins being the more common currency.

Greta had no money to go, let alone make friends with the mages there.

If you can't make friends, you can't complete the task and get the reward.

The nobility conferment examination and the mage tower recruitment are also channels, but they haven't started yet.

If she hadn't seen the job posting at the Golden Orb Inn, she would have been selling spell structures from her magic notebook to earn money for socializing and completing her trial missions.

Golden Flower Hostel offers free meals and accommodation, plus a weekly salary of 1 gold coin. The owner, colleagues, and guests are all mages.

It was here that she made five monk friends.

They were all poor apprentice monks working here.

Four of them became mage apprentices after the age of ten and were not qualified to study at the Lance Mage Tower.

Another was a mage apprentice who studied in the mage tower until he was twenty years old but failed to advance to the level of a novice mage and had to leave the mage tower.

Their predicaments are all the same: lack of talent, no background, and a lack of magical resources.

Greta also realized from them that although the atmosphere in the Magic Empire was more open, magical knowledge and resources were still in the hands of a few people, and it was not easy to obtain them.

Not only is there a talent requirement, but there is also a price to pay.

If you lack talent, you can only gradually become a wild mage without any background, wasting your time.

Greta is already sixteen years old, past the age to attend a mage initiation school, and far from becoming a junior mage, so she cannot use the mage tower's regular admission channel.

If you have exceptional talent, you can pursue a special admissions pathway.

But Greta had already tested her talent when she went to the government center to apply for the magic badge.

According to the tester, her elemental affinity was average, and her mental strength was also average for her age.

As for initial mental strength, it cannot be accurately tested once meditation has been performed.

Even if she says she only started practicing meditation this year, that's just her side of the story. Unless she can advance to the level of a novice mage before the age of twenty, it's practically impossible for her to pass the mage tower's entrance exam.

As for the assessment for being granted a title, with her current level of mental and magical abilities, it would be very difficult for her to seize a baronial fief.

It's safe to say that in the future, she will likely be just like the other mage waiters in the restaurant, struggling to survive in Lance City, saving money to scheme and acquire magical knowledge.

Greta fled all the way from the Yara Empire, experiencing so many life-or-death crises, only to find herself in the Magic Empire, where she was just a pitiful apprentice with a bleak future.

Escaping the Yara Empire, learning powerful magic, and taking control of her own destiny seemed to be nothing more than a foolish fantasy on her part.

The real magical world beneath the temple's lies is surprisingly cruel.

If it weren't for the trial cards from the Dawn Academy, she might have really been depressed for a while.

It was at that time that she truly realized how rare it was that so many precious magical resources in the "Dawn Society Resource List" could be exchanged for gem coins obtained solely with magical energy.

Previously, the Dawn Society was her lifeline in the Black Forest; now, it is her lifeline on her magical path.

I originally thought that I would have to wait a while for Trial Mission 3 to end, as there were still a few months left in the year before the deadline!
Greta was thrilled that the final trial mission appeared ahead of schedule.
This means she can join the Dawn Society ahead of schedule!

At this moment, she was extremely grateful that she had kept the third trial mission in mind and had worked hard to build good relationships with the mages of the same level that she could come into contact with.

She didn't suspect the early appearance of the task, assuming it was simply because her progress on Trial Task 3 was fast.

In fact, this task was issued by Moran on short notice, and it would appear no matter how many mage friends she made.

Greta carefully read the requirements of the final trial mission.

"The owner of the Oak Inn?"

Thanks to Julian, the mage apprentice who was responsible for feeding and maintaining the guests' mounts at the carriage shed, Greta heard a lot of news from him.

"Is it that old elf who always talks to the oak tree? An old friend... could it be that oak tree?!"

Greta wondered to herself.

The mission instructions stated that he should be given an {Dawn Society Invitation} in the most appropriate way.

What is the appropriate approach?

Should we secretly place the {Dawn Society Invitation} where he might pass by?
Greta shook her head; she was on the verge of success and didn't want to make a mistake.

Moreover, if this is how the Dawn Society invites new members, leaving it there doesn't guarantee it will necessarily help him.

Just like back then, when she was in the Black Forest, thinking she was about to die, she received that {Dawn Society Invitation} and her hope was rekindled.

Looking back, Greta thought that perhaps it was a member of the Dawn Society who discovered her desperate situation and placed the {Dawn Society Invitation} beside her.

But the elf at the hotel across the street wasn't in dire straits; he was just having a problem because his "old friend" was bothered.

In this situation, if he knew nothing about what the Dawn Society could offer him, he probably wouldn't accept an invitation from an unknown source!
If the invited person does not accept the trial, does the mission count as a success?
Greta dared not gamble.

"It seems we need to figure out exactly what his current predicament is before we can take action. We have three days, so we need to hurry!"