Chương 152: Recruitment

"Are you sure this is a good idea?" Headmaster Sorin asked Mage Teft as she sipped at a cup of tea on the other side of his desk.

"What other choice is there? He needs a challenge to keep him motivated and Argentum does not have any C Rank dungeons," Mage Teft answered after setting her cup down.

"But it is a labyrinth. I've been doing my best to keep a lid on the boy's talents, but in there, open to any adventurer willing to enter… Damion's talents will be quite exposed. The other families won't like that he slipped through their fingers, and they may set up a trap for him to fall into that they conveniently rescue him from."

"They haven't yet. Besides, why are you worried someone will do something to him while he is at school? Silver Spire is a fortress even if the Mage Council themselves came it would not be an easy task."

"Knives in the dark are always more efficient than brute force in these matters. An outsider has no chance, but that doesn't mean one of the families won't bribe a low talent with nothing to lose and everything to gain."

"Damion is capable of taking care of himself. You know as well as I do that once a mage reaches C Rank their body begins to undergo fundamental changes. If he isn't completely immune to people with lower ranks than him already, he soon will be."

"Someone can still use a high Rank artifact."

"Are you worried about someone entrapping him or assassinating him?" Mage Teft asked looking carefully at the Headmaster for signs of deception.

"The families in Argentum are not happy with Damion's arrangement. Even the elders in my own family have started questioning me," Headmaster Sorin said with a sigh.

"Spurred on by the Thorn family no doubt. Is that why your grandson is giving him a hard time? After the power Damion showed in their first encounter Thomas should have given up, but he keeps coming back for more punishment."

"Yes. The elders promised Thomas a great many things, including being selected as the next patriarch. The boy no longer listens to me."

"At the rate he is going he will seal his own fate. Damion is not one to give up or one to follow others blindly. If Thomas had tried to befriend him, there might have been a chance they could be friends, and Thomas could perhaps influence him through that. But antagonizing him, especially when the power balance is skewed in Damion's favor, just is not a smart choice. Your family is probably better off with Thomas knocking himself out of the running for the patriarch position."

Headmaster Sorin only grunted in response to Mage Teft's analysis. It made sense, but he did not want to admit that his most talented grandchild was a fool. By midweek, Damion was not having much luck in locking down his team. At the very least he needed to find a healer, but even after updating his mission post no one expressed any interest in joining. Starting to feel desperate, Damion was on the verge of contacting Arica again to find out if she could get a healer to join them.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. Damion spotted Mage Sorin bullying several Spatial affinity students trying to figure out who had joined his team, but since Arica was not a student, he had no luck in tracking her down. With no one running to join him, Damion was left with only the small victory of Mage Sorin completely ruining his image as his bullying became more prominent.

While Damion ate his lunch, at a table that people now avoided due to Mage Sorin, he was surprised to find one of his classmates approach him. The student, Eugene Hill, was one of the students that Damion had several classes with, he was only a first-year student, but since he had a B Rank Earth affinity he had been assigned the status of an elite student.

"Mage Wells, I was wondering if you still have an opening in your team?" Mage Hill asked quite softly. Despite the young Earth Mage's quiet voice and the den of noise in the rest of the hall during the lunch hour, nearly every head in the hall turned to look at Damion's table.

"Seems we have everyone's attention. Why don't we take a walk." Damion led Mage Hill out of the hall and started heading towards one of the paths around the school grounds that he used for his runs. Behind him and Mage Hill followed their attendants Elicia and Josephine, whom Damion was not familiar with but looked to be about the same age as Elicia.

"So, why do you want to join my team?" Damion asked once they were away from other students.

"It was really Josephine's idea. She thought it would be smart to get to know you," Damion looked to Mage Hill's attendant who just gave a smile.

"Tell me more about yourselves. I mostly need a healer for my run and, honestly, Mage Hill, you are only an F Rank Earth mage. You really won't be much help." Damion could tell Mage Hill's Rank from True Sight. He could also see that Josephine was E Rank, but he did not know her affinity.

"Call me Gene," Mage Hill told Damion.

"You see, I know I won't really be of any use to you, but Josephine is a Light mage. They aren't as good at healing magic as Holy affinities, but she says she should be able to handle any injuries you get in the labyrinth."

"Alright, Gene, call me Damion. I think I can work with you and Josephine. Our Spatial mage will be meeting us at the labyrinth, but we can spend the next few days getting to know each other. How's your physical fitness?"

"What?"

"Going into a dungeon is not easy. You could have to climb walls, jump over ravines maybe even run for your life from something a lot stronger than you. My mission is to clear the first C Rank floor of the labyrinth. For me as a C Rank that is fine, but you are F Rank, you'll need to be prepared."

"Oh. I hadn't thought about that," Gene said looking at his feet in embarrassment.

"Don't worry. The first time I went into a dungeon I got swatted like a fly from one of the champions. We only have a few days to prepare you, but a few days should be enough to at least make sure you don't do anything to get everyone killed."

"What about Josephine and your attendant? Aren't you afraid they will hold you back too? Won't looking after all three of us put you in danger?" Gene suddenly seemed overly concerned with safety and Damion could not help but wonder if he had spooked the kid.

"They are both graduates from Silver Spire and have completed the Wilderness Survival course. I'm confident they can handle themselves. However, we need to make sure you have the proper kit for dungeon. Josephine are you able to handle that?"

"Yes, Mage Wells. I will make sure Gene is prepared for the run equipment wise."

"Good. In that case both of you meet me in the morning for my usual run. You can run with Elicia."

"Is that really necessary? I mean, do you really think I'm going to improve much in just a few days?" Gene asked.

"No, but this is just the first run. I'm sure I will be able to get more runs during the school year, especially with first term break coming up. I want to have a regular team and I think you two would be a good fit, but that means you also need to get working harder at becoming stronger."