Chapter 185: Summoning Ritual
City of Turin, Bauhinia Bank.
"Miss Jia Na, your current account balance is eleven thousand nine hundred ninety-three jin sule."
Looking at the account statement handed over by Goblin Grey, especially when she saw the account balance in the bottom right corner, Jia Na's eyelids couldn't help but twitch.
The money in the account was the total sum of Jia Na's saved salary and year-end bonus, after deducting the money she had withdrawn from the card in the past few months.
Looking at the account balance that had broken through to five digits, Jia Na suddenly felt a sense of coming through hardships to sweetness.
"It seems the Nightingale Opera Troupe earned quite a bit this year—"
The contract Jia Na signed with the Nightingale Opera Troupe back then was a profit-sharing system. Besides the fixed monthly salary of five hundred jin sule, the 2% profit share at the end of the year was the main source of Jia Na's income for the entire year.
Because the investment cost in the opera industry is much lower compared to other physical industries. Compared to the average industry profit margin of 15% in the Alchemy manufacturing industry, the profit margin in the opera industry is probably around 20%-30%.
Therefore, Jia Na estimated that the Nightingale Opera Troupe's total profit this year should be after tax.
"Doing business really does make money."
Although she thought so, Jia Na, who was solely focused on pursuing the path of a Wizard, naturally could not invest a lot of energy into it like those businessmen.
After all, considering Jia Na's work frequency of only two days a week on weekends, her hourly wage was already far higher than that of a normal pharmacist.
When renegotiating the contract in April this year, Jia Na was confident she could negotiate a higher profit-sharing percentage.
"Miss Jia Na, are you interested in trying our bank's newly launched time deposit? The minimum deposit is five thousand jin sule, with an annualized interest rate of around 2.8%, which is much more suitable than the current deposit rate of 0.25%.—"
1
Hearing the interest rate of the time deposit product introduced by Goblin Grey, it was impossible for Jia Na to say she wasn't tempted.
After all, the annualized interest rate for current deposits is only 0.25%. With Jia Na's current deposit amount, it wouldn't generate much interest in a year.
However, a 2.5% interest rate is different. Even if she deposited five thousand jin sule every year, the interest for the year would still be one hundred twenty-five jin sule...
"Thank you, I'll consider it when I go back."
After thinking for a moment, Jia Na still chose to politely decline.
After all, now was when she needed money. Any apprentice-level wizard tool at the auction house could reach five digits—so, her current savings were not yet at a level where she could make a time deposit.
"Okay, here are the three thousand jin sule you are withdrawing this time."
Looking at the cloth bag handed over by Goblin Grey, Jia Na counted the money and then directly put it into her thorn bracelet.
Afterward, guided by Goblin Grey, Jia Na quietly left from the side door of the VIP reception hall at Bauhinia Bank.
Considering Jia Na's current popularity and the fact that her account deposit had exceeded ten thousand jin sule for the first time,
she was directly upgraded to a VIP customer by Bauhinia Bank.
Besides enjoying one-on-one service from Bauhinia Bank, Jia Na could handle her transactions in a relatively independent VIP room each time.
After all, it was the beginning of the year, a time when many people received their year-end bonuses. Therefore, Bauhinia Bank, which didn't usually have a particularly large flow of customers, had packed halls these past few days, requiring long waits in line.
If Jia Na were to appear in such a setting, it would definitely cause a stir throughout the bank.
Therefore, after considering this risk, Bauhinia Bank opened an independent VIP room for Jia Na to handle her transactions privately.
"It seems 'Tanuki's New Outfit' hasn't released any new products yet—. It's not too late to change this equipment when the latest products are available."
The tanuki robe Jia Na was wearing and the 【Green Field Staff】 in her hand were bought in May last year. Although their grades weren't high, they were quite cost-effective at the apprentice stage.
Therefore, before better new products came out, Jia Na planned to wait and see if there was something more suitable.
"It was fine when I didn't have money—but once I have money, I'm actually a bit reluctant to spend it."
After leaving Bauhinia Bank, Jia Na, suppressing her desire to shop, returned directly to the academy and entered the Magic Tower to start selecting the materials for the Elf Summoning ritual.
The summoning medium Jia Na planned to use for the Elf Summoning ritual this time was the top-grade Water Elemental Essence she obtained by winning the Three-School Joint Examination.
Compared to the intermediate Flame Magic Stone used when she last contracted the Flame Guardian, both the purity of magic power and the elemental affinity were several times higher.
Therefore, to ensure the success of this Elf Summoning ritual, Jia Na also specifically chose materials of better quality when selecting the auxiliary materials for the ritual.
Just the spiritual candles and the sea beast skin used for setting up the formation were much more expensive than what Jia Na had bought before.
The main purpose was also to increase the success rate of the ritual.
"If the ritual fails, the elemental essence will definitely be wasted—so, it must succeed this time."
After silently making up her mind, Jia Na placed all the ritual materials on the magic crystal wall.
"Miss Bei'er, I would like to exchange these materials."
Looking at Black Cat Belle, who was rarely not sleeping in this time, Jia Na softly spoke to her after confirming all the materials.
"Are you still paying with jin sule?"
"I choose to pay with academic credits this time, Miss Bei'er."
"Okay, you can pay now."
Hearing this, Jia Na gently pressed her index finger on the fingerprint scanner of the magic crystal wall. Light flowed, accompanied by a faint tingling sensation from her fingertip, and Jia Na completed the academic credit payment.
"Miss Bei'er, I'll be leaving now."
"Okay, go ahead."
Jia Na didn't know if it was her imagination, but ever since she entered the Magic Tower, she felt that Black Cat Belle had been observing her with a scrutinizing gaze.
Even after she turned to leave, Jia Na could still feel the burning gaze from behind her.
"Could it be that it already knows about me mastering the Law Shard?"
Because when Jia Na exchanged magic scrolls in the Magic Tower before, Black Cat Belle had already suspected that her Plant Affinity talent was abnormal.
Therefore, from that time on, Jia Na discovered that Black Cat Belle's perception ability was exceptionally strong. Even if it hadn't reached the level of 【Extraordinary Perception】, it was still a significant presence.
"If it only perceived the Law Shard, it doesn't matter anyway. I will proactively tell the Principal about this when the new semester starts."
Being able to successfully comprehend the Law Shard through "her own ability" during the apprentice stage would only further prove Jia Na's monstrous Wizard Talent.
At the same time, this was also a bargaining chip for Jia Na to obtain preferential allocation of academy resources...