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Chapter 666 - Chapter 666: Enrollment

When it came to students, even in the age of mighty warriors and heroes of ancient Greece, within the divine domains ruled by the gods, there were still many who possessed talent for magic.

In fact, it would be more accurate to say that since humankind had only existed for a few generations at that time, the original divine bloodlines had not yet faded.

Coupled with the prolific efforts of Zeus, the great stallion, and his countless descendants, the world of mortals was filled with demigods, those who had inherited divinity but not divinity's authority.

Their children, stripped even of divine essence, were countless in number.

Because of these extraordinary bloodlines, many were born with natural gifts that surpassed ordinary mortals.

For Alaric and Pandora, recruiting students from among them was far easier.

Unlike the modern age of the Type-Moon world, the Age of Gods was rich in ambient mana. Even those with underdeveloped magic circuits could still wield spells.

Thus, when selecting students, Alaric valued intelligence even more than magical aptitude.

Those with strong circuits might find spellcasting easier, but clever minds grasped magic faster and could more readily reach for its higher mysteries.

To the ancient Greeks, however, magic was still a new and unfamiliar force. Few understood it, and that made recruitment difficult.

In this still somewhat ignorant age, many mistook the powers of Alaric and Pandora for divine miracles and worshipped them as gods.

Some even begged to enshrine them in their homes, hoping for their blessing, a situation both amusing and exasperating.

Others saw them as sinister demons, corrupting mortals with forbidden arts.

They believed that any student taken by them would either be devoured by these fiends or transformed into new ones.

To such people, Alaric could only erase their memories and quietly leave.

And then there were those who, despite witnessing magic's mysteries, refused to tread this path.

These were often the children of kings and nobles, already blessed with comfortable lives and bright futures.

Expecting them to abandon their stations to follow strangers to an unknown land in pursuit of foreign knowledge was nothing short of delusion.

Still, during their travels across Greece, the presence of the dragon proved invaluable.

Riding on its back spared them the trouble of flying themselves and also served as an awe-inspiring symbol.

Where many parents had doubted the reality of magic, dismissing it as a laughable trick, one glimpse of the dragon silenced all skepticism.

Who could question the might of one who commanded such a beast?

In ancient Greece, even among the heroes who could single-handedly slay monsters, few could ever stand against a dragon, and none had ever subdued one.

What no hero could achieve, these two seemingly frail magi had accomplished. Was that not proof enough of magic's power?

At last, Alaric and Pandora gathered their first class of fifty magic apprentices.

Perhaps because the great heroes of Greece were so devoted to physical strength, Alaric found that most of these students came from obscure families, craftsmen, scholars, and merchants.

In Greek society, such families belonged to the middle tier. Above them were rulers, whose heirs had no need of magic to secure their futures.

Below them were common folk, who could not spare their children for distant studies, their hands were worth more at home than chasing strange, unseen powers.

Craftsmen, scholars, and merchants, however, had wealth to spare and an appreciation for knowledge.

They respected a path where intellect, not brute strength, could bring power. More importantly, their children were clever.

That said, not all of Alaric's recruits were destined to obscurity.

Among them were three names etched into Greek myth, two boys and one girl.

The first was Sisyphus, founder and king of Corinth, famed in myth for his cunning.

For angering the gods, he was condemned to eternally push a boulder up a mountain, only for it to roll back down each time.

When Alaric found him, Sisyphus was only eleven or twelve, just another overlooked child of a king, with no chance at succession.

Yet he was unwilling to accept such a fate. When Alaric appeared, he seized upon him as the chance to change his destiny, agreeing to his invitation without hesitation.

The second was Tiresias. His mother was a nymph, giving him divine heritage without divinity itself.

Yet he possessed sharp intellect and uncanny foresight. In myth, he would become a renowned prophet.

Alaric recognized in him a rare gift for divination magic and welcomed him as a student.

The third was most peculiar: a girl named Daedalus, daughter of Metion, king of Athens.

When Alaric saw the blue-haired girl, he almost thought he had mistaken her identity.

In legend, Daedalus should have been a man, a great artist, architect, and sculptor, best remembered for building the Labyrinth on Crete, home of the Minotaur.

Yet here, Daedalus was a girl.

Her brilliance, however, was undiminished. When Alaric found her in Athens, he marveled at her crafted puppets and inventions.

King Metion adored his daughter, yet she gave him endless headaches. No matter what scholar or artisan he hired as tutor, within months Daedalus surpassed them. Though only ten, she had already exhausted every mortal teacher, short of divine intervention.

By fortune, though she had not met a god, she did meet a mage.

Gifted beyond compare, Daedalus carried a touch of arrogance. She fancied herself too clever for the world, believing that apart from the gods, no wisdom could defeat her.

But before Alaric, her pride dimmed.

The magic he wielded was beyond anything she had seen, and in every field of knowledge she tested him, she could not pose a single question he could not answer. At last, she admitted it: Alaric was the teacher she had been waiting for, and magic would be her new pursuit.

At first, Metion refused to let his daughter leave with strangers to study magic.

But once he saw the dragon for himself, he recognized the wonder of their art and came to understand his daughter's calling. In the end, he granted his blessing.

And so, Alaric and Pandora's first class of students arrived on the island of Colchis. At last, the magic academy officially began.

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