The moment he gave the command, the security team first headed out, expanding slowly as they deployed their enchanted surveillance scopes that allowed them to be able to surveil the area for potential threats.
The enchanted divination items were specialized for detecting magical energy in other enchanted devices, such as magiguns, as well as mana-rich substances in the immediate vicinity. It also allowed them to sense mana being deployed by mages in magic spells within fifteen meters of the security team, affording them some ability to foresee threats ahead of time.
Of course, they were far from fool-proof and were hardly the very best, but when it came to divination magitechnology, it was still not something that could be easily overcome for conflicts below a certain scale.
And even in the case that they somehow managed to fail in detecting a hostile agent, the students were garbed in protective artifacts, even if not the highest of grades, that made it quite challenging to hurt them without some serious magic firepower.
The security team did not stick with the testing teams that would soon follow. Instead, they operated by clearing areas after areas, coordinating with the surveillance data gathered by the OpSec team operating within one of the trucks, and deploying the Elendir Institute of Magic's long-range surveillance magitechnology.
It was an expensive operation considering that the goal of the operation was just talent acquisition. If not for the Elendir Institute of Magic, such resources would never be pooled into the slums' talent acquisition.
However, the Elendir Institute of Magic could afford it.
And it had much to lose if the operational security of the mission was compromised and the precious students got hurt.
It would be politically damning for Headmistress Lenolia, so much so that the board of directors of the institute would have enough justification to have her resign. The students of the Elendir Institute of Magic weren't just students.
They were the most talented magelings of the entire nation.
And magic talent was one of the most important resources of a nation in the world of Alaria; There were many nations that even regarded magic talent as more important than magical energy, which was the foundation of modern civilization.
The death of a single student was painful.
Not to mention, it reduced the allure of the Elendir Institute of Magic in the eyes of the prospective students with the talent to get into the institute, which was also very painful considering the sheer capital that the Elendir Institute of Magic poured into maintaining its attractiveness to prospective students.
That was why Headmistress Lenolia had approved many security measures, even if they were expensive and ate into the initial budget that she had provided Cæ with.
The security team rapidly scouted a block of slum houses as they slowly expanded.
The residents of the slums were clearly not pleased by the arrival of not just the convoy of big, domineering trucks but also the profoundly scary security team that continued expanding into the slums.
They flicked a thumbs-up to the testing team after one block, clearing a small local area of any threats.
"Block one, clear."
The magically distorted voice of the team leader emerged on Cæ's commpad.
He immediately turned to the testing team with a swift nod.
"Commence testing operations."
"Yes, sir."
Immediately, several teams scurried from within the makeshift base of the operations, equipped with the testing kits and storage briefcases.
STEP
KNOCK KNOCK
A senior student of the task force, accompanied by an assistant, wore a smile as she knocked on the brittle door of the first house. "Is someone that? May I please have a minute of your time?"
CLACK…
The door creaked open just a tiny crack as an older woman gazed at the student with wary eyes, sizing the two individuals from the Elendir Institute of Magic with clear suspicion. "Who are you people? Why have you come to our district?"
"My name is Nambia, and I'm here from the Elendir Institute of Magic to provide you and your family with an opportunity to test your magic aptitude in just thirty seconds," she smiled pleasantly, showing her official badge and identity card from the Elendir Institute of Magic to the woman. "If you have the needed magic aptitude, then you will have the opportunity to learn magic!"
The woman frowned.
She clearly didn't believe a word that Nambia said.
While it was unlikely that this was just a simple scam, considering the sheer amount of capital and resources these strange people had at their disposal, she clearly didn't trust the people at her door.
"Scram, not interested."
"We offer money!" Nambia barely managed to squeeze it out before the woman could slam the door in her face.
The woman's eyes lit up with a faint hint of interest. "…How much?"
"One learner for thirty seconds of your time," Nambia quickly offered, expecting the woman to laugh at the offer and close the door anyway.
Instead, the door opened more as the woman seemed interested in the offer.
One leenar may have been insignificant in the inner city, but it had more weight in the slums.
As the door opened, Nambia got a clearer view of the inside of the little hut that the woman lived in.
It was decrepit beyond words could describe.
She didn't even know that it was possible to live in such a place for one's entire life.
The walls were filled with cracks across the walls, while the tiles on the floor were cracked and broken. The wood across much of the foundations of the hut was rotten from the heavy rains of the monsoon leaking in through insecure housing.
Inside, an old man slept upon a torn, dirty mattress in the corner of the building while several children played on a strangely out-of-place mini-house.
No, it seemed like a micro-house in her eyes.
It had a classy blue and white exterior.
Several children played on it, enjoying themselves with the fascinating product with innocent joy and laughter.
On the other end of the hut was a young girl trying to read a dusty, scrappy book in candlelight.
The woman herself looked unhealthily thin, with a gaunt face and skinny limbs. She had heavy, dark bags lurking beneath her eyes as she studied Nambia's face carefully.
"…What do you want us to do?"
Nambia smiled, pulling out a little magic artifact, a crystal ball embedded in a little circular surface with runes and magic circles along its surface, glowing with magic power. "We will just need to have any person between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five to place their hands on the crystal ball for thirty seconds."
The woman sharpened her eyes with suspicion. "…And what will that do?"
"The magic artifact will tell us whether she has the talent we are looking for."
The woman furrowed her eyebrows. "…And if she does?"
"We will offer her an opportunity to study in the Elendir Institute of Magic and master magia."
The woman stirred at Nambia's words as her expression softened.
She understood enough about the modern world to understand that anybody who gained proficiency in magic was essentially nothing short of a god from the perspective of someone as impoverished as her.
"…Is it safe?" the woman gazed at the artifact with wary suspicion.
"Of course," Nambia replied, placing her hands on the artifact to prove it.
"…Someone between sixteen and twenty-five," the woman murmured as she turned towards her daughter sitting in the corner, reading a book with as much concentration as she could.
"Sitta," the woman called out to her daughter.
The girl looked up at her mother with curious yellow eyes.
"Come here for a minute and put your hand on this… thing."
The girl frowned with a hint of confusion, but promptly got up, running over to her mother at the door. Her eyes lit up with curiosity as Nambia patiently gave the girl basic instructions, while paying the mother a single coin before the girl followed through with the instructions.
PAT
The girl placed her hand on the little artifact as the crystal ball started glowing, much to the alarm of the mother, who watched carefully and closely at the process.
VMMM…
The artifact simply vibrated briefly before shutting off.
"…Hm, what does that mean?" the girl asked with a curious expression.
Nambia heaved a soft sigh, smiling sweetly at the young sixteen-year-old. "I'm sorry, but you don't have the talent needed to be accepted into the Elendir Institute of Magic."
What was unfortunate was that the girl still had the barest modicum of talent, based on the reading that the artifact gave back, she may have been able to get into some of the weakest magicademies, but she would have no opportunities for scholarship.
And with their financial situation, paying for the fees was essentially impossible.
It was in that moment that the twenty-two-year-old senior student felt profoundly privileged.
Having spent six years in the Elendir Institute of Magic surrounded by the rich, she had come to harbor a lot of resentment, frustration, and jealousy towards these profoundly privileged former nobility upper-class students. The sheer opportunities and benefits they had were things that she dreamed of having.
And yet, when she beheld the heartbreaking level of poverty that she saw in the home of the people of the slums, she couldn't help but feel extremely guilty for ever having the jealousy that she had.
She may not have been born to a billionel or even millionel family, but at the very least, she had the opportunities to get a good education, be raised in a decent environment, and had a fair opportunity to realize her potential at the Elendir Institute of Magic.
Even as she gazed at the yellow eyes sparkling with curiosity within the adolescent before her, she knew that this girl would never have the opportunities that she had.
"I'm sorry for the inconvenience," she managed to squeeze out. "Thank you and have a good day."
Even as she tried to move on, the young girl smiled, waving her away. "Bye-bye!"
Nambia felt a profound melancholy gripping at her heart as she pursed her lips, continuing with the scouting operations, knocking on the next door as they quickly made their way from house to house, spending no more than a minute per house.
The results, of course, were very disappointing.
After all, talent good enough to be accepted into the Elendir Institute of Magic was in the very top zero-point-one percent of the magic aptitude. Their restrictions of limiting scouting applicants only to people between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five were very difficult, making their success rate even lower than it would have been had they begun checking adults.
Of course, there was the temptation to also include adults into the search and accept them anyway, however the rate of growth was limited past the age of twenty-five, compared to when one was still developing, canceling out their raw magic aptitude.
Cæ was one of the few that, despite being close to twenty-five, shot past his magic training and growth at extremely high speeds only seen in geniuses who were prodigious and young.
Three hours passed as the scouting teams each went door to door across the entire district while approaching each and every adolescent who fit the age requirements.
By the end of the entire operation, they had failed to find a single person with the magic aptitude needed to enter the Elendir Institute of Magic.