Chương 387: Heading Back In

"How long do each of you get inside the labyrinth?" Damion asked the S Rank mages.

"Two weeks," Mage Fletcher told Damion.

"Except for Mage Chaparro. As a Light mage, and not as adept at combat, she will get three weeks."

"That is generous," Damion told them. He understood why, if the Light mage did not strengthen her core through spell casting, it would take longer to strengthen it through oversaturation.

"Is there any news on a branch manager for the Adventurer Association?"

"Not as of yet. The Adventurer Association always promotes and assigns people from within. Us placing restrictions on the position has upset their established order and ruffled more than a few feathers. That, combined with nobles in the Association sabotaging our efforts to reach a resolution, has left us in a bind. We can't very well open the gates to the city without access to the Adventurer Association and their database and banking services."

"Trying to run everything ourselves from tablets will exhaust us and cause problems the longer it goes on," Mage Strand added.

"And none of you know a suitable candidate?"

"I am afraid that the number of A Ranks in the Adventurers Association that have children eligible to enter Avalon in the new year is short. And they are all under contract where they are. Without the Adventurer Association giving them approval, it is impossible for them to take our open position," Mage Levine told him.

"What if we relax the requirements slightly?"

"We've already decided not to allow a branch manager that would not be going into the labyrinth. The condition of their children attending our school should be enforced. If we make an exception for one, everyone else will want an exception too."

"I'm not saying we relax the requirement. I'm saying we allow childless people to apply."

"Childless?" Mage Levine questioned.

"How is that any different?"

"Because we keep in place the requirement that their future children will attend our school."

"You want to open recruitment to people with no children, on the promise their future children will attend our schools? What if they are no longer the branch manager when they have children?"

"I'm sure that clause can be worked out. Maybe say, if they are no longer the branch manager and no longer reside in Atlantis or any of our Zones of responsibilities then the requirement is waived."

"Zones of responsibilities, you thinking of starting up Green and Yellow Zones already? We haven't even finished building Atlantis yet."

"Construction will continue, eventually, we will reach the point where expansion into the wild is mandatory. It may take a hundred years, but mages can live long enough that the clause may prove useful in the future."

"I think we can make these concessions," Mage Levine said while the other S Ranks nodded their heads. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

"Great. I don't really know anything about managing a city, so I hope I can rely on all of you."

"We're in the same boat kid," Mage Strand smirked.

"We all pursued power to reach our level. Administration is not easy, but for now, we can't leave it in the hands of others. Don't worry though, with the way the council is set up, an S Rank and yourself in the labyrinth most of the time, any issues we aren't sure on we just fall into a deadlock."

"I take it then that two of you did not want the Mage Association here?"

"Right. We were stalling until Mage Teft came back. She is more than willing to upset the Mage Association. However, since you have already made most of them upset yourself, we figured it would be fine if we voted to follow your lead."

"Well, now that I know the city is in good hands, let me go see a man about an artifact," Damion said as he hurried out of the council chamber. An hour later he was on his way home with a set of training bangles on his arms and legs. As soon as he bought them from Flannery he upgraded them to B Rank and began using them right away.

The sudden increase in resistance while walking was ridiculous, but having been through this as a teenager, he knew how quickly this would begin to improve his physical abilities and by extension his magical advancement. When he arrived home he found a box of cores waiting for him. His spoils from his last run. Damion had the Magic System convert all of them except the Ice affinity cores to credits, adding 44, 900 credits to the System Shop.

After feeding one of the B Rank Ice cores to Phil, Damion headed inside to spend the rest of the day with his family. In the morning, Damion, Elicia and Phil headed to the labyrinth and to Damion's surprise, there was a crowd of people preparing to go in. He also saw a number of people holding tablets and had Flannery's version of his auto-mapper on belts, helmets or even hooked to their armor. It appeared the labyrinth was finally opening.

One key element Damion noticed among all the adventurers preparing to go into the labyrinth was that they were almost all C Rank and under. Of all the people he checked with True Sight, there was only one B Rank mage, and she happened to have the Transformation affinity.

"Hello again, Mage Wells" Mage Parivar greeted. Damion was a bit surprised to see the Transformation mage preparing to go into the labyrinth and even more surprised to see the outfit she was wearing. Instead of armor, mage robes, or even boots, Yara Parivar wore a skintight jumpsuit that started at her neck and covered her completely, leaving only her hands and feet free. The suit was similar to the cooling undersuit he wore under his armor for desert and other high temperature environments.

True Sight told Damion the outfit was an A Rank artifact that would stretch, shrink and otherwise conform to the wearers' shape. Considering her affinity, Transformation, Damion thought it likely the suit was needed to avoid destroying clothing, however, it was quite eye catching, and more than a few adventurers were drooling over her very visible figure.

"And you are?" Elicia cut in before Damion could respond.

"Yara Parivar," she greeted with a hand extended to Elicia.

"Elicia Wells." As the two shook hands, Damion could not help but feel Elicia's sudden territoriality was a bit amusing. Though her introducing herself as his wife was unexpected, he felt it was right. The problem was, she did it within earshot of half the adventurers in the area. Some of these people Damion knew were from the Protectorate, so it likely did not matter, but he suspected that more than a few of the other adventurers let into the city were spies sent by noble families.

This meant that news of Elicia resurfacing and likely his family and child would soon be making its way around the noble circles.

"It is very nice to meet you, Elicia. I just met your husband yesterday at the city council. He has quite the astute perception of politics." Elicia gave Damion a sideways glance and wondered if Mage Parivar was talking about her Damion or some other person. For the life of her, she could not see Damion navigating a political arena.

"Is that outfit really appropriate for going into a labyrinth?" Elicia pointedly asked.

"Necessary for my affinity, I'm afraid," Mage Parivar answered, before leaning in close to say softly, "Without this outfit, I might find myself completely naked after I use any of my spells." Both Elicia and Damion suddenly blushed and were thankful when the attendant announced the labyrinth would now open.