BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Cæ coursed through the air as he launched fireballs, boulders, and beams of light from across the battlefield, ravaging them with extraordinarily intense barrages of attack. Simultaneously, the magic barriers of heaven and earth protected him from the retaliation of the enemy apprentice mages.
With a single wave of his hand and several magic circles, he launched several attacks upon the apprentice mages in the distance, hiding behind rubble and broken abandoned buildings. The bright morning Sun illuminated the entire battlefield, revealing their locations quite clearly even from a distance.
That was all that Cæ needed.
His magic was swift and powerful, landing barrages of powerful attacks accurately and upon their enemies, as the latter began slowly retreating, and the security team began advancing, securing more and more safe territory.
And yet, the security team advanced faster than the enemy apprentices retreated. The latter retreated backwards, taking only one step back for every two steps that the security team of the Elendir Institute of Magic moved forward, causing the distance between the two groups to shorten.
The apprehended Skullfuckers gang members had long dispersed from the very moment magic attacks began, understanding that this was a conflict that was well above their pay grade.
Meanwhile, as the apprentice magetants of the Elendir Institute of Magic continued advancing bit by bit, closing the gap between them and their enemies, the testing teams behind them rapidly advanced, quickly administering tests to all the civilians in the area who cowered from shocking magic battles that had unfolded.
The apprentice mages of both sides fought on the streets of the slums, treading across the mud paths in between battered buildings, while they concentrated their power upon each other. Neither the Institute forces nor the Colohen Mafia wanted to inflict harm on the people of the slums, and their battle reflected as much.
For the former, the people of the slums were often their only sources of labor, capital, and even their markets to a certain extent. They also allowed the Colohen Mafia to hide from the authorities amid the slums better.
The Elendir Institute of Magic could afford to deal with the legal firestorm that would come with civilian deaths in the slums. Not to mention, the slums were to be the avenue of talent acquisition for the Elendir Institute of Magic.
Thus, the conflicts between both sides remained on the streets and focused on each other rather than simply spreading wanton destruction about the streets. The distance between the two sides continued to reduce while the security team advanced faster than the enemy retreated, showing a clear willingness to engage in mid-range and even close-quarters combat.
The bright light of the morning Sun pierced through all the dust that the conflict had lifted from the mud paths of the slums. The air tingled with peril as the apprentice mages of the security team launched barrages of long-range spells of different kinds, while protecting themselves from the incoming volleys.
WHOOSH
Several magic circles emerged before Cæ's face with an elegant wave of his wand.
With stunning speed, a barrage of boulders, a powerful gust of wind, a beam of light, and even a blazing fireball appeared around him while he floated in the air. The faint murmur of an incantation accelerated the magic attacks towards his opponents at great speeds.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
His attacks coursed forth, slamming into prepared barriers of shield emerging from within the ground beneath them. Several magic circles emerged before the apprentice mages as they unleashed a maelstrom of attacks upon their enemies.
And yet, Cæ was able to read their magic circles like a book.
Even before the attacks commenced, he had already begun to evade them.
WHOOSH WHOOSH WHOOSH
He coursed through the air as he wound about the incoming attacks with stunning accuracy and precision, much to the surprise of even the apprentice mages of the Elendir Institute of Magic.
Flight magic itself required years of training before one could obtain the needed proficiency to become a licensed flier. Using flight magic in actual travel and locomotion across the city also required a lot of experience to get used to.
However, using flight in combat was a whole different beast altogether, requiring more than five years of training to achieve on average.
And yet, they watched Cæ, someone with only a year of magic training, predict the incoming attacks with expert judgment and shocking mastery.
It was unbelievable.
They had heard that he was a genius who was especially gifted in combat magic, but even then, it was truly stunning to witness just how high his combat efficacy was.
And yet, he was still relatively new to serious combat magic.
The skirmishes that he had partaken in since the slum talent acquisition commenced were among the first instances of combat magic that he was familiar with.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
His eyes sharpened with grave severity as he found a huge barrage of attacks converging on him exclusively.
He had strayed too far from the security team, as in his evasive approach to the enemy mages, making him a weak target.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
"Rgh…!" he gritted his teeth, falling to a knee as his defense faltered under the powerful attacks, saved only by the Fyreveil raiment artifact that clad his entire body.
Heavy boulders with great momentum, flames of great magnitude, winds of great pressure, and beams of light of great intensity converged upon him, threatening to crush them where he stood.
And yet, they never reached him.
WHOOSH
In the blink of an eye, a powerful wave of water emerged from behind him, swallowing up all the attacks in the blink of an eye while crushing them effortlessly. A single spell so powerful that it effortlessly snuffed out the enemy attacks in the blink of an eye.
STEP
Cæ's gaze fell upon the extensive magic raiment of the magetant who had arrived before him protectively.
A senior mage.
He turned to gaze towards Cæ with a knowing expression.
"I understand that you are eager to ensure that the operation is a success, Director Cæ, but it is foolhardy to throw yourself against your enemies in the hopes that it will help you achieve your goal faster."
His tone was strong.
His presence was heavy.
He was a senior mage.
Not just any senior mage, but a trained elite senior mage of the Elendir Institute of Magic.
His baggy raiment glowed with blue runes and magic circles while the staff in his hand sparkled with power.
THUD
He slammed the staff upon the ground as a complex sixth circle spell appeared before his eyes.
Chills crawled across Cæ's skin as his eyes widened with shock at what unfolded the very next moment.
A large flood of water emerged from the tip of the staff, blasting forth with great force and momentum.
And yet, the water strangely remained away from the huts and the homes and instead rampaged down the mud paths of the slums with great speed, reaching the hapless enemy apprentice mages in a matter of moments.
The enemy apprentices gritted their teeth, struggling and failing to contain the sheer power of the senior mage.
Despite a joint earth barrier spell with the Fundamental Form of Change and Manipulation fueled by many apprentices, they were unable to fully defend against the powerful spell of water, leading to many of them being swept away by the powerful flood of water.
This was the gap between apprentice mages and senior mages.
The latter was an order of magnitude more powerful than the former in both eidos mastery and mana-motive force on average. It took a dozen apprentice mages just to tentatively match a senior mage, and even more actually to emerge victorious.
And yet, the Elendir Institute of Magic was far from the only side that was able to deploy senior mages.
RUMBLE
Tremors passed through the earth as a large crack in the land emerged some distance away, as Cæ sensed a powerful spell manipulating the earth element on a scale unlike anything he had ever seen in his entire life.
The crack in the land swallowed up all the water, draining the slums of it.
The hapless enemy apprentices previously swept by the flood emerged from the waters, gasping for air as they were unceremoniously scooped up by several floating fingers in the distance.
With just a single glance, he could tell.
They, too, were senior mages.
The leader of the magetant security force of the Elendir Institute of Magic sharpened his eyes. "…You handle the apprentices. We will handle the seniors."
Cæ nodded with a serious expression.
"Understood."
What proceeded was a proper battle.
The security force, as always, continued advancing, attacking, and defending.
The enemies continued retreating even as they continued applying sustained and heavy pressures on their opponents.
And yet, the security force of the Elendir Institute of Magic never cracked as the enemy forces were clearly hoping for. The senior mages held off their opponents while the apprentice mages, along with Cæ, fought hard and long against their slowly retreating opponents.
After his initial fiasco, he held off his aggression and remained with the group of apprentice magetants that comprised the security teams, gaining more experience in how mages often fought.
While he gained precious experience in battle, the testing teams behind them rapidly conducted their operations on the citizens of the slums in the areas that were secured by the expanding and advancing security team.
The testing teams ensured that they were at least one block behind all the combat, armed with magigear that would protect them even in the event of a stray somehow reaching them that far out.
The citizens of the slums, all largely skewing young and within the demographic that the Elendir Institute of Magic was looking for as freshmen, were shaken. While this particular district was deeper and was not unaccustomed to serious conflicts, the conflicts between the mages were unlike anything they had ever experienced in their life.
The flying boulders, beams of light, powerful gusts of wind, and even the powerful fires and infernos that they launched upon each other. Attacks that miraculously didn't hit any of the civilian huts or people, much to their absolute astonishment. The mages remained airborne, keeping most of their attacks off the ground so that they could each ensure that the damage to the slums was minimal.
After the testing team was done with the citizens of the slums, came the third set of operations.
"Would you like a Haven for 999 leenars, miss?"
"Perfect for the monsoons!"
"It's entirely waterproof and has great ventilation while also providing you with a roof that won't kill you in your sleep!"
The sales team followed up, marketing and selling Havens to the people of the district.
They didn't need to do any promotion or marketing in the districts ahead of their sales this time due to the fact that word of the Havens in the slums had already begun spreading organically by virtue of word of mouth.
This was especially the case in the slums where the people were more connected to their surroundings and the people in their environment due to the absence of the maginet. News of the affordable, small, but safe and even comfortable housing unit that had become very popular in the slums had begun to be known increasingly, lending them more credibility when their targets had clearly heard of them.
And thus, Trinity Housings sold almost a thousand units in one day in just one district alone.