The first success in scouting a resident of the slums came as a breath of relief.
The middle-aged mother, standing behind her son, seemed to understand exactly what this meant for the future of her son.
"…Does he have the needed aptitude?" she asked with a stunned tone.
Her hands were on her son's shoulders protectively.
The air was heavy.
The young adolescent gazed back and forth between the testing team and his mother, evidently confused about what they were talking about.
"Yes, he can," Cæ confirmed with a gentle tone. "With his talent, he can become a fine mage as long as he puts in the hard work and effort."
The older woman's eyes watered up with ecstatic disbelief as little dimples of joy appeared on her face.
The young teenager's green eyes widened with a stunned expression at his mother's expression. "Mom…?"
"You get to study magic!" his mother squealed with delight. "It can change your life! Our life!"
Her son grew bewildered at his mother's expression as he turned back to Cæ and the testing team that had administered his test and verified his talent.
"Magic…?" A shaky whisper escaped him. "I… I can become a mage?"
Cæ nodded with a knowing gaze as he understood the boy's flummoxed expression.
It was very different from the reactions of boys his age who were told that they had magic aptitude.
The reason was very simple.
Magic was such a distant and unfathomably unapproachable field for the people of the slums that it didn't even fall within the realm of things that people of the slums dreamed of. Leading a better life, living in the inner city, having access to resources and luxuries, safety and order… these were things that the boy had grown up wishing he could have.
And now, he was told out of nowhere that he had magic aptitude, something he didn't even understand due to how detached the slums were from the culture of magic and magitechnology.
It wasn't an exaggeration to say that he didn't even understand what magic was.
Or what it could do.
He didn't have access to the maginet that allowed him to see footage of mages making things float or setting things on fire. And obviously, he hadn't seen anything like it in the real world either, for there were no open mages practicing magic out in the open in the slums.
Even as Cæ looked at the young adolescent trying to understand just what the hell all of this meant for him and his future, he could see a flicker of himself in the past.
"Your life has changed forever."
Cæ's firm, but uncharacteristically soft voice drew his attention as he gazed at him with dichromatic gray eyes.
The teenage boy turned towards Cæ with a wary expression.
Cæ's intense, serious presence and his intimidating scars and dichromatic gray eyes were too unnerving for the young adolescent to feel comfortable around him.
"Don't you want to live a better life?" Cæ asked with a coaxing tone even as the look in his eyes grew gentle. "Don't want you to give your mother and your siblings a better life?"
Cæ could see the toddlers within their decrepit hut, playing inside, none other than a haven unit.
The adolescent stirred at Cæ's words.
A glint of determination appeared in his eyes.
"…Can I really do that?"
Cæ nodded. "As long as you are willing to work hard."
"…Then I'm in."
His tone was admirably determined.
A small smile cracked at the edge of Cæ's mouth before he turned to the testing team. "What's your name?"
"Lemil," the adolescent replied firmly.
Cæ turned to the testing team. "Begin debriefing young Lemile here."
The testing team nodded eagerly. "Yes, sir."
It wasn't too long before they were invited inside,e taking out pamphlets and producing infographics to help explain what exactly the young lad was getting himself into. There was no doubt that he would be joining the Elendir Institute of Magic simply because the mother, in this case, had the necessary knowledge to understand just how large an opportunity this was.
Even if young Lemile only succeeded in becoming an apprentice mage, there was no doubt that that alone would be game-changing in the world. Almost all mages eventually entered the upper-class of society in time, though apprentice mages entered the very bottom echelon and only after working for many, many years.
That alone was a revolutionary opportunity for him and his family to escape poverty and the slums.
"Why didn't you try convincing them with any of the benefits of magic?" Sorenon asked Cæ curiously once Cæ got back to base, shifting his glasses. "Wouldn't that have excited the kid more?"
Cæ shook his head. "He doesn't have the context needed to get excited by magic. A lot of people in the slums don't. I was that way, too."
"Ah, I see," Sorenon remarked. "That does make sense. I do wish that the people of the slums had more of an opportunity!"
BANG BANG BANG!
Sorenon froze where he stood as several loud bangs in the distance came from where the security team was a block ahead. The air grew perilous as a rapid magigun shoot-out began taking place at the very forefront of the security team that patrolled the expanding perimeter.
BANG BANG BANG!
"Get back," Cæ growled as he surged forth, as he left Sorenon behind. "Make sure you stay as far as possible from the frontlines of the security team."
The testing teams, to their credit, rapidly followed protocol despite panicking upon the introspective attack. The people of the slums closed their doors shut, having previously watched the scouting team conduct their operations out in the open with curious expressions.
BANG BANG BANG!
The magigunshots began growing more frequent as the battle between the security team and a hostile party began escalating in intensity. Several magic circles appeared before Cæ as he began chanting an incantation under his breath.
WHOOSH!
His feet lifted off the ground as he surged across the narrow paths of the slums, winding about its thin alleys before reaching one of the points of the security perimeter that was under attack from aggressors.
BANG BANG BANG!
The non-magic security team was engaged in a shoot-out with another armed force. The security perimeter had perched itself behind abandoned huts, boxes, or anything they could find that could serve as even a small amount of cover.
The hostile armed force was perched atop buildings and other planned hiding spots from which they fired away at the expanding security perimeter. Their absence of magic vests made them very visibly distinctive from the black magical combat suits of the armed security team of the government.
WHOOSH
Cæ surged into the air smoothly as he looked down on them with fierce, murderous eyes that sent chills down the spines of the hostile armed force that immediately shifted fire towards him, hovering ten meters in the air.
BANG BANG BANG!
And yet, it didn't so much as dent his shield.
There were barriers, substances, and even objects that could impede ordinary magigunfire and serve as a defense like walls made of concrete cement or steel that were very much within Cæ's current purchasing power.
And thus, according to Merlin's Law of Conservation of Value and the law of mana-value equivalence, Cæ had more than enough mana to create barriers that could protect him from the magigunfire for a short period of time.
And that was all that he needed, for his incantation was complete.
"…ᛁᚾᛋᛖᚱᛏ ᚱᚢᚾᛖᛋ."
His pupils dilated as the incantation formed the eidos within his mind, allowing him to cast a powerful magic spell.
BOOM!
A powerful gust of wind swept over the attackers, blasting them with heavy momentum.
"Aaaahh!"
"Rgh!"
Cæ restricted his power to ensure that they were just launched a great distance, enough to break a limb or two, but not kill or cripple them.
In the blink of an eye, Cæ had wiped out one of the armed forces that had engaged the security team. The agents of the security team couldn't help but regard Cæ with an appreciative tone, willing to personally contribute to the operations despite being the leader.
STEP
A mage of the magical security arrived several seconds later, garbed in a full-body mage raiment, glowing with runes and magic circles, and a wand in his hands, gazing at Cæ with a knowing expression. "I see you have already cleaned up this particular armed force, Director Cæ."
Cæ tuned towards him with a pointed, sharp gaze. "How many armed groups are there?"
"Were there," the mage corrected, his situational awareness still alert as he kept an eye on their surroundings. "My colleagues have dealt with the others, and we have successfully repelled the attack and have apprehended the offenders."
Cæ frowned.
Not because he wasn't happy that the attack was rapidly crushed by their mages, but because he didn't understand how it could possibly be this easy. Assuming that this attack was staged by either the Colohen Mafia or upper-class families who were against the program, then they could surely do better than this.
"We will continue scouring the area in search of hidden threats, as per protocol, director," the apprentice mage told him as he slowly rose into the air, before flying away as several more magic circles appeared before him, helping him cast more magic.
Cæ nodded, as his gaze shifted back to the armed force that he had easily defeated.
"Ugh…"
"Rgh…!"
"Argh!"
They were in pain, and the security team couldn't be bothered with tending to their comfort or their pain, considering that they had tried to kill them. The security teams meticulously fastened enchanted handcuffs to keep them restrained, but also unable to even move.
With just a single glance at the casual attire that the men of the hostile armed force wore, Cæ could tell that they weren't particularly sophisticated or competent.
Even the magiguns that they got their hands on were of a low quality.
Cæ instantly understood that this was not a serious attempt to harm the slum talent acquisition team.
The purpose of this little attack was simple.
"Intelligence…"
He suddenly grew alert as his attention returned to his surroundings, scanning the slumscape in his field of vision, illuminated by the evening Sun, with sharp eyes. If his inference was correct, it meant that someone was watching them and their response to the attack.
The air tingled with tension.
The atmosphere grew electric as Cæ began searching for the spy that he was certain was watching all of them.
"Hehehe, the young man is sharp, I will give him that."
In the distance, a young woman watched the task force operating as they swiftly dealt with the hotch-potch mess of shooters that had been sent their way, observing their security protocols, their numbers, and most importantly, Cæ himself.
She leaned on the wall inside a deserted hut, observing the task force with a magic circle hovering right before each eye, supplying a visual feed of the various operations of the task force.
Her garb was a magical raiment, with encrypted runes and magic circles glowing atop the garb.
His long curly black hair extended all the way to his shoulders beneath the dark hood that covered his head and deep red eyes. She simply stood there, out of perception, observing the operations of the task force with scrupulous scrutiny, recording all the data that she needed.
Divination magic was the foundation of magical espionage in the Age of Magic.
Compared to the little probing instruments, the gang members who had been made to attempt it, she was a professional. She gathered data that would allow them to identify and target the weaknesses and vulnerabilities in their operations.
The attack wasn't even an attack.
It was a reconnaissance operation.
And a warning.
"You better stop now while you and your friends are still alive, young man…" The black-haired woman eyed him in her divination magic spell with an eerie smile. "The Underworld is not forgiving. And neither are the families you hear pissed off."
WHOOSH
Just like that, she was gone.