The next day, in the early morning, Locke handed over the completed backcrossed Hydra seeds, along with the Five-Headed Hydra seeds that Gregor and Williams had helped accelerate the backcrossing for, to Witch Scarlett.

Witch Scarlett looked at Locke with surprise, as well as at the Five-Headed Hydra magical plant in Locke's hands. "I didn't expect you to complete a subspecies of the Hydra magical plant in such a short time."

Witch Scarlett flipped through the breeding diary from Locke that she had obtained from the plantation staff. She directly ignored the records of the various potion-related resources that Locke had requested from the plantation within two weeks.

In any case, this was Arthas's money, not hers as a working employee. Moreover, Locke had used this money to create the Five-Headed Hydra magical plant. Even if Arthas's board of directors found out about this, they wouldn't be able to find anything wrong with it.

For Arthas, having researchers within the wizard university effectively develop some magical plants using funds was already a very cost-effective matter.

After all, shop alliances were often "scammed" by wizard mentors from various major wizard academies. Before development, they would boast extravagantly, but in the end, all the work was done by students, so naturally nothing good could be developed.

As Locke's trader, Witch Scarlett cared more about the effects of the Five-Headed Hydra. "The burden on individual wizards from the Five-Headed Hydra has actually decreased by a full two-thirds. This is truly excellent. This point can completely increase the market reach of our Hydra series magical plants."

Witch Scarlett was quite delighted. She glanced at Locke and said, "Cooperating with you is truly a pleasure. Breeder Augustine, I only mentioned to you in passing about the small defects of the Hydra magical plant in the market. Who knew you would take it so seriously and actually breed a new subspecies."

Locke nodded slightly. "I'm glad it helps you. I really do need money lately."

He was planning to go to the Goblin Family Bank today to get a loan, to see if he could directly gather enough for the Four Elements Ring and plant the Ancient Life Tree inside the Druid's Ring.

That would bring enormous improvements to his Forest Sanctuary.

He was so short of money, needing it for all aspects, and was eager to find new ways to quickly increase his funds.

Locke said, "I actually originally wanted to breed a Three-Headed Hydra. But unexpectedly, there wasn't enough time or resources, so I could only develop the Five-Headed Hydra. Moreover, the power of the Five-Headed Hydra did decrease somewhat."

"Perhaps in the future, I can breed some complementary small magical plants to make up for the problem of decreased power when using the Five-Headed Hydra magical plant."

Witch Scarlett nodded continuously. "I saw that. But these are just small problems. The newly appeared advantages far outweigh this small disadvantage."

"Moreover, having disadvantages is a good thing. Recently, the shop alliance has another movement..." Witch Scarlett thought of something and suddenly cut off this topic, then changed the subject with Locke, "In any case, with the Five-Headed Hydra magical plant, I will definitely have more options in subsequent operations."

"I'm currently handling a total of one hundred and seven formal wizards cooperating with the Arthas Shop Alliance. To be honest, Locke, you may not be the most capable breeder among them, but you're the type that makes me feel very comfortable working with."

Witch Scarlett smiled and said, "Many breeders only want to push their products to us, then completely ignore everything after, then expect us market analysts to arrange everything for them. How unlike you, who directly bred a new subspecies. As for the Three-Headed Hydra magical plant you mentioned, that's indeed very anticipated."

"If the Hydra can be simplified to a Three-Headed Hydra, that could indeed have even larger sales. Let's see how the Hydra sells on September 1st. If the sales are good, I can take the initiative to apply for Arthas's company project investment sponsorship for you."

"This would allow you to focus on breeding the Three-Headed Hydra magical plant. Rather than like now..."

Witch Scarlett said to Locke, "Then, I'll take these seeds first. With the breeding materials you've given us, plus Arthas's own mature plantation system, these Hydras and Five-Headed Hydras will be bred very quickly."

"September 1st, I hope our products will sell like hotcakes in the Golden Crown Mountain district."

Arthas had a system to protect the shop alliance's product ecology, so it divided Cloud Marsh Wetland into ten major districts. It divided the regions with the seven major top-tier academy geographical locations as cores into seven major districts, while the remaining areas were divided into three major districts.

Other shop alliances generally followed this method of division as well.

This way, they could both protect the product ecology, maintain shop interests, and ensure the interests of breeders cooperating with Arthas.

Locke spoke a few more words with Witch Scarlett, then bid her farewell.

He gave a few instructions to Gregor and Williams, asking them to pack up the things in this plantation and take away all the useful items, then left the plantation early and headed to the Dragon Blood Gathering.

...

The Goblin Family Bank inside the Dragon Blood Gathering was entirely furnished with mahogany furniture. Moreover, because goblins were generally small in stature, even wizards entering had to lower their heads when walking inside.

These peculiar beings said to originate from the Goblin Wilderness, the goblins watched Locke walk into their shop with vigilant yet shrewd little eyes.

Locke looked toward a First Circle crystallization goblin trader and said, "I want to get a loan."

This goblin trader's eyes immediately flashed with a gleam of shrewdness, and his face revealed a sincere smile. There was a saying, how did it go, the Goblin Family Bank welcomes all customers who come to their bank for loans, and regards them as their own God of Wealth.

This goblin trader immediately made a gesture. "Wizard Augustine, please, this way."

They entered a VIP room filled with exquisite mahogany furniture. Goblin trader Fischer used his characteristically dry and elongated goblin fingers to pour Locke a cup of Eagle Tooth black tea.

He only poured one cup, not pouring himself any tea, instead drinking a cup of plain water.

Goblin wizards possessed their characteristic stinginess and frugality, but they were courteous and quite generous to every customer.

At least for them, it was considered generous.

Goblin trader Fischer looked at Locke, his face full of enthusiastic smiles. "Wizard Locke, a research fellow from the Origin Academy like you is precisely a distinguished guest of our Goblin Bank."

Locke nodded. It was probably because he had a name and reputation, and could run from the monk but not from the temple.

For the Goblin Family Bank, he had stable cash flow here every month, had a stable job, a stable residence, truly an excellent quality customer source that was hard to come by.

Goblin trader Fischer said, "How much do you want to borrow?"

Locke said, "That depends on what your bank's interest rate is."

Goblin trader Fischer then carefully took out a Crystal Apple from the mahogany drawer, then instead of eating it himself, swallowed his saliva and looked at Locke.

Locke casually picked it up, might as well eat it since it's free, took a bite, then looked up to see Fischer staring at him while constantly swallowing.

Honestly, goblin wizards had reached a certain level of stinginess, but the problem was, their stinginess was different from others. They were stingy with themselves, but very generous with customers.

They would try their best to ensure customers' experience, while being as frugal as possible with themselves, able to save an expense, then save that expense.

Goblin trader Fischer said, "Goblin Bank definitely has the lowest annual interest rate among all banks. This is a family bank, we have branches everywhere. Our ancestor is in... the Star Domain Sea. He's already very, very old. He enjoys status and prestige in the Star Domain Sea. He led us away from the Goblin Wilderness plane, immigrated into the wizard world, and became wizards of the Great Truth World."

"Now, we've forgotten our race's past language and culture. Many goblins even believe we are a native race of the wizard world."

"This is perhaps a good thing. It represents that we've completely integrated here."

Locke nodded slightly.

According to the Pan-Magical Race Wizard Law stipulated by the White Wizard Association, any race that could learn magic and voluntarily enter the wizard world could be regarded as a native race of the wizard world.

This point was even said to have been recognized by the world will of the wizard world.

Law was the magical crystallization of the Divine School. Divine Masters in the Divine School either had the ultimate goal of creating the most perfect religion in the world, or their ultimate goal was to create laws that could be recognized by the world will.

Using human-made laws to replace the established physical laws of the world.

The Pan-Magical Race Wizard Law was one of the masterpieces of Divine Masters.

According to this wizard law, all races that learned magic could voluntarily become "human."

But Locke didn't let Fischer lead him astray. When a goblin wizard starts rambling with you, you must remember your original purpose in talking with him, otherwise you'll easily fall into the other party's rhythm.

Locke asked again, "Yes, I know the Goblin Family Bank has a long history and rich credit as backing."

"More reliable than those small banks, which is why I came to your bank to inquire about loans. So what exactly is the annual interest rate?"

Goblin trader Fischer quickly reviewed Locke's cash flow records at the Goblin Family Bank, and immediately beamed with joy. "Alright, alright, impatient guest."

"For an excellent customer like you, for loans within five hundred thousand magic stones, the annual interest rate is only 5%. That means for every five hundred thousand magic stones, the annual interest is twenty-five thousand magic stones."

Fischer said, "However, the minimum loan must also be five hundred thousand magic stones, and must be paid off at least one year later. Early repayment is not allowed." 𝘧𝓇ℯ𝑒𝓌𝑒𝑏𝓃𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘭.𝒸ℴ𝓂

"Moreover, you need to provide proof of assets. However, I've reviewed your monthly cash flow at our bank, so this won't be necessary."

Fischer said, "This is absolutely a very fair interest rate. Because the White Wizard Association has strict restrictions on us Goblin Family Bank and the other four of the Big Five Banks. Our loan annual interest rates are 5% to 30%. The rate is determined based on your credit limit, the amount to be loaned, and the loan term."

"The more money borrowed, the longer the loan term, the higher the interest rate."

"For example, the maximum loan amount for a First Circle wizard is two million magic stones, so the annual interest rate would reach 30%. However, generally speaking, such high amounts require collateral. Once they miss a payment for even one month, our bank will immediately confiscate their collateral."

"Before the loan is fully repaid, we also won't provide a second loan to a wizard."

Fischer said mysteriously, "Of course, these are loans within the legal scope. Those small banks, as well as private loans, have fewer restrictions and higher interest rates, but can break through some laws... Moreover, some loans don't look at your credit or cash flow."

Locke nodded slightly. He had done some homework before coming.

Why many First Circle wizards ended up becoming debt slaves was because they started with just small loans. At that time, because of the White Wizard Association's restrictions, within the small loan range, the interest rates were still relatively reasonable.

Then, these wizards would immediately start large loans, and because the interest rates for large loans became very high, directly reaching 30%.

But soon, they would leave the regular Big Five Banks due to funding shortages and start contacting those private small institutions. Then the loan amounts and interest rates would get higher and higher. Because they couldn't repay, they could only use loans to support loans, eventually becoming debt slaves.

But as long as loans were kept within certain limits, they were essentially beneficial.

They could increase spending and solve urgent needs. After all, everyone would have times when they temporarily lacked money and needed funds to operate.

Sometimes you just needed a small amount of money to get things running, and the economic crisis could be overcome. If you couldn't get it running, all your industries would have to be used to pay off debts.

Therefore, the Big Five Banks' loan services were, to a certain extent, very beneficial to the wizard world.

They could give you some flexibility when you needed money.

But human greed was always insatiable, and ultimately this greed would kill them.

Some wizards would view the money they could loan as part of their own money, but this was precisely a dangerous perception.

Because loans were essentially advancing money you would earn in the future. Every penny you borrowed through loans would not come free.

Locke thought for a moment. If he took out a loan of five hundred thousand magic stones, the interest would be twenty-five thousand magic stones. But this way, he could gather the money to first purchase the Four Elements Ring and plant the Ancient Life Tree seed in his Forest Sanctuary.

Once the Ancient Life Tree was planted, his Forest Sanctuary would be strengthened to a height that even its creator, Wizard Lewis, couldn't have anticipated.

Moreover, with the Four Elements Ring, he could do much more. He could start experimenting and conceptualizing the prototype of his Grand Magic in advance within his Druid's Ring.

He was already a First Circle crystallization stage wizard. He could indeed start reviewing materials and begin accumulating knowledge, which was better than scrambling when the time came.

The interest of just twenty-five thousand magic stones, honestly speaking, was indeed not high.

Almost like getting it for free.

Whether out of necessity or wanting to understand the Goblin Bank's loan process and become more familiar with how wizards in Cloud Marsh Wetland did things, Locke felt it was necessary to take out a loan once.

Locke nodded and said, "Alright, then I'll take out a loan of five hundred thousand magic stones."

Goblin trader Fischer's face immediately broke into an even bigger smile. "Esteemed customer. This is the contract."

"I'll go get you fifty magic crystal cards."

"By the way, would you like to purchase some insurance? We have all kinds of insurance here..."

Locke was somewhat speechless and said, "That won't be necessary for now."