Chapter 79 – The Bank

Chapter 79 – The Bank

Cheng Yang led Wang Lu to the profession statues and asked, “What profession do you want to choose?”

Wang Lu looked surprised. “I can choose? I heard that profession selection depends on one’s innate talent.”

Cheng Yang hesitated for a moment before saying, “That’s true. Let me test your talent first.”

He then spent a bit of spiritual energy to test Wang Lu’s aptitude. After a long wait, no pattern appeared on Wang Lu’s forehead. Seeing this, Cheng Yang breathed a sigh of relief – it was just as he had suspected.

Wang Lu, unable to see her own forehead, asked anxiously, “Lord, what profession suits me?”

Cheng Yang replied, “You have no specific talent inclination, so any profession would work. However, among the four statues, only the Summoner slot remains.”

Wang Lu didn’t fully understand the benefits of talent inclination, so she didn’t mind much. Since Cheng Yang said only the Summoner profession was available, she decided to choose that.

Soon after, Wang Lu’s profession change was complete, and she now held a wooden staff in her hand.

After reading her stats, Wang Lu couldn’t help but ask, “Lord, what is this Financial Management talent?”

Cheng Yang smiled, “It’s an extremely powerful talent.”

What Cheng Yang didn’t say was that this talent wasn’t just powerful – it was practically game-changing for a territory. The Financial Management talent allowed the establishment of banks.

Banks, as the name suggests, are places for deposits and loans. Based on Cheng Yang’s previous life experience, there were two types of banks: personal banks that required a certain amount of spiritual energy to establish, and territory banks that belonged to the territory (the lord) but operated using the territory’s spiritual energy reserves.

Normally, a territory’s spiritual energy couldn’t be used by its inhabitants. But with a bank, the lord could allocate part of the territory’s spiritual energy to the bank for operation. This would benefit not only the territory’s warriors but also the territory’s development as a whole.

From Cheng Yang’s knowledge, in his previous life there were fewer than 2000 people worldwide with the Financial Management talent. In Xiang City, there was only one – Wang Lu, whom he had brought back to Phoenix Fall Village.

Cheng Yang hadn’t brought Wang Lu back to let her establish her own bank, but rather to activate Phoenix Fall Village’s spiritual energy reserves through her, maximizing their potential.

“But how do I establish this bank?” Wang Lu still looked confused.

Cheng Yang smiled, “It’s simple. Go to the territory altar, and you’ll find a new option in your status panel to apply for bank establishment. I’ll handle the rest.”

Wang Lu followed his instructions and went to the altar. As soon as she applied to establish the bank, Cheng Yang heard a familiar voice in his mind:

This was the first time Cheng Yang had heard such a prompt. It seemed the gods were quite considerate.

Cheng Yang walked to the altar and opened the territory management page, where he indeed found a new message behind Wang Lu’s name.

“Do you agree to Wang Lu establishing a bank?”

“Agree!”

“Please select bank mode.”

“Territory fully owns.”

“As you have chosen the territory fully owns mode, all resources and operating funds for the bank will be supplied by the territory. The Financial Manager will receive 1% of the bank’s profits as compensation. Do you agree?”

“Agree!” Cheng Yang thought to himself, *Could I really disagree? This is practically a forced contract.* But 1% wasn’t too much, and it was well-deserved compensation for Wang Lu, especially considering the bank’s future potential.

“Please name the bank.”

“Phoenix Fall Bank.”

With all the selections complete, the bank construction project appeared under the buildable structures in Phoenix Fall Village’s territory attributes.

Seeing this, Cheng Yang breathed a sigh of relief. While 500 cubic meters of wood was a lot, the territory could handle it. As for the 50 cubic meters of stone, they didn’t have it yet but should be able to gather it by tomorrow.

“Is that it?” Wang Lu asked after waiting for a while without seeing anything happen.

Cheng Yang replied, “That’s it for now. Once we gather the resources tomorrow, we can establish the bank. You’ll be its manager.”

Wang Lu said earnestly, “Lord, don’t worry. I used to study accounting. I’ll definitely manage this bank well.”

Cheng Yang nodded, then went to each of the five profession statues, selecting an upgrade option at each. This should have been done last night, but the territory’s spiritual energy had been completely depleted then, forcing them to wait until now.

This time, Cheng Yang upgraded the physical defense enhancement for the four main professions. As for the Priest statue, he upgraded its mana enhancement attribute. The Priest statue now had upgraded healing enhancement and attack enhancement. Once the remaining four projects were upgraded, the Priest statue’s level could be increased again.

After completing these tasks, Cheng Yang brought Wang Lu back to his courtyard.

Liu Hao and the others were still in the courtyard, waiting. When they saw Cheng Yang return, they all looked at him curiously, their expressions clearly saying they wouldn’t let him off without an explanation.

Cheng Yang explained, “Wang Lu has changed professions. She has a special talent called Financial Management that allows her to establish a bank in our territory. From now on, our excess spiritual energy can circulate through the bank. We can also deposit our extra spiritual energy there.”

Everyone understood the importance of a bank, and their earlier doubts disappeared.

“Old Niu, assign Wang Lu to your team today. Let her familiarize herself with basic combat knowledge. Although she’ll spend more time handling bank affairs in the future, in this apocalyptic world, combat is always the main theme. We can’t neglect it,” Cheng Yang instructed.

Niu Bing immediately agreed.

Soon after, Liu Hao and the others left the courtyard, following Cheng Yang’s instructions to gather people. They were all looking forward to this unified action with Cheng Yang. With the boost from Cheng Yang’s skill, their efficiency in obtaining spiritual energy would increase several times over.

About ten minutes later, Liu Hao and the others returned to the courtyard with their respective teams. Then, under Cheng Yang’s leadership, they left Phoenix Fall Village.

“Lord, where are we going today? Are we continuing to clear out the demon beast hordes around us?” Liu Hao asked as they walked.

Cheng Yang replied, “Is that all you aspire to? Just thinking about dealing with those demon beasts all day?”

Liu Hao smiled wryly, “Lord, it’s easy for you to say. We’re only novice magic apprentices now. Being able to contend with first-tier initial stage demon beast hordes is already quite good. Do you think we’re all as overpowered as you? Besides, what else is there in this world besides demon beasts? They’re just different in strength. We’re dealing with demon beasts, but aren’t you also dealing with demon beasts?”

Cheng Yang chuckled, “You’re killing demon beasts as an end goal. I’m going for the benefits behind those demon beasts.”

Liu Hao was momentarily stunned, then quickly understood, asking excitedly, “Boss, what good stuff is there this time?”

Cheng Yang smiled lightly, “It’s a secret. You’ll know when we get there.”

Liu Hao was left speechless and quickly followed Cheng Yang. Li Wanshan and Zhao Chuan also quickened their pace. The direction they were heading was towards Xiang City.

At this moment, the path from Phoenix Fall Village to the southern passage of Xiang City was mostly within Phoenix Fall Village’s territory, so they encountered few demon beasts along the way. It was only after passing through the southern passage that the number of monsters increased.

This time, Cheng Yang didn’t take the usual route, instead choosing a path they hadn’t taken before.

PS: Seeking recommendations, collections, clicks…