Chapter 1615: No Time to Die (Part 14)

Unsurprisingly, the development of the tourism industry was also good for the construction of the magic academy, or rather, good for the construction of all schools in Cat Getan.

The most important goal of industrial development is to liberate productive forces. Income that previously required three people to work hard to barely make a living can now be earned by one person. The remaining two people can naturally seek other paths. When family income increases sharply, the children in the family are naturally the first to be liberated.

In the past, Cat Getan didn't have any rules about not hiring child labor. Except for very young children, as long as they could run and jump, they could help the family. Helping in the kitchen, doing odd jobs, or even driving to deliver goods, they could all do.

But setting up a stall was clearly not a job that required a lot of manpower, especially setting up a stall to sell tourism souvenirs. These things weren't heavy, and besides being a bit fragmented, they didn't consume much physical strength or energy. Most of the time, you only needed to leave one person to watch the stall. Even when the passenger flow was relatively large, one person selling goods and one person checking out was completely enough. Then, children could naturally go to school.

The yearning for a better life is the greatest driving force for people to move forward. Although selling goods at a stall is good now, no one doesn't hope that their children will be the people buying goods in the future.

Wearing exquisite and expensive shirts, with a wife who is also well-maintained and beautiful, and a white, tender, lively, and cute child, the whole family comes out for tourism with leisure and elegance, buying dozens of dollars of souvenirs without blinking an eye. Although not everyone obtained such a life through reading, at least they have to read a technical school to have the possibility of distinguishing between workdays and holidays. Directly dropping out of school to join a gang doesn't have such rules.

Regardless, the recruitment day for the magic academy finally arrived. Teachers and professors released the bats they had prepared long ago from the school. They would fly to the real world through Cat Getan and specialized magic channels, and deliver the admission notices to the children's hands.

This process indeed couldn't be called beautiful, because bats as creatures indeed couldn't be called cute. But this could indeed effectively lower the children's psychological expectations, letting them not have too many beautiful fantasies about the magic world, because whether now or in the future, magic in the DC world must be accompanied by pain.

The number of children in Cat Getan who received admission notices to the magic academy was beyond imagination. This dark city always nurtured many dark seeds. As long as that kind of bizarre dark curse wasn't lifted for a day, Cat Getan would always be the eternal home of black magic masters.

And the reason why Cat Getan's admission rate was high was also related to the acceptance level of Cat Getan parents. This city was invaded by darkness every three days and attacked by demons and ghosts every five days. Citizens had seen too many scenes related to magic.

They knew very well that magic was real in this world, but because they knew too much, they had no awe for it. To put it bluntly, most of the demons that invaded Cat Getan left crying. Whoever saw it would find it hard to feel awe.

Cat Getan parents saw magic more as a craft that could save their lives. If they were really not good at studying and still had to join a gang, wouldn't they be able to block more bullets if they knew magic? If they happened to be good at studying and became magic masters, wouldn't they be even more worry-free about food and clothing?

Based on pragmatism, 80% of parents agreed to their children's enrollment. Although they had complaints about the boarding school that let them go home by semester, thinking that they provided food and housing and could learn things, parents still bought the items needed on the enrollment list and sent their children to the designated gathering point, which was a small square next to the Cat Getan River.

Enrollment almost didn't require buying anything. Clothes, bed sheets, quilt covers, and changes of clothes were all issued by the school. Just bring a few changes of underwear. The most important thing was to bring a note with the home address, otherwise, the bats wouldn't be able to find the way when sending letters back.

The gathering was at 8:00 AM. The weather was still gloomy, and no sunlight could be seen. The children were like chicks that had just broken out of their shells, being herded into lines by parents and teachers.

The vast majority of children here were aged between seven and eleven, and some gifted ones were only five or six. They would be divided into three grades, undergoing seven years of basic education and three years of higher education, graduating at seventeen or eighteen.

As far as the current situation is concerned, the employment direction of graduates within at least the next ten years will be rebuilding the order of the magic world and maintaining the Earth's magic defense network. After that, it is possible to form official organizations in the magic world, or stay at school to teach, build schools, etc.

Because the first day of enrollment was inevitably busy, many professors from Cat Getan University came to help, including Victor and Anna. Although they knew nothing about magic, they had some experience in managing students.

The children were brought to the edge of the river beach where the Cat Getan River was located in the center of the city. Master Night waved his hand gently, and the river surface flashed with sparkling light. Then he took the lead and stepped into the water surface. The children widened their eyes in surprise, not understanding why he suddenly wanted to jump into the river.

But when Jim stepped down, he didn't wet his clothes. His whole person slowly disappeared beneath the water surface. It didn't look like sinking, but like walking into a new world.

Following closely behind were Constantine, Zatanna, and other magic world figures, while professors from Cat Getan University led the children to walk in in lines.

The few out-of-town children appeared terrified and uneasy. They couldn't understand everything happening in front of them, but many local Cat Getan children were already eager to try. After all, they often went swimming in the river when the weather was hot. When they dived in, it was much more fierce than this.

The slightly older Cat Getan children called friends to walk forward. And when stepping into the water surface, they were shocked to find that they didn't feel the coldness of the river water in the past, but more like stepping into a viscous substance. As they continued to move forward, the viscosity became heavier, followed by a sense of weightlessness that made the world spin.

The feeling of weightlessness lasted for less than a second, almost an imperceptible moment for the human brain. The next second, their feet landed on solid ground, and then they found themselves standing on another river surface filled with fog.

The entire inner world was filled with white fog, appearing very humid, but it wasn't dark. Instead, it was much brighter than the outer world. This white fog seemed to carry its own light, making the world appear light and dreamy.

The children walked from the solid lake surface to the shore in a daze, looking at the familiar yet unfamiliar buildings in the distance. Even the boldest children became a bit reserved.

More and more familiar faces appeared. The arrival of the professors made the children a bit quieter. They gathered into teams on the lake surface that looked like ice, and then were led by the professors toward the magic academy.

Cat Getan Magic Academy was a courtyard-style manor castle. Just as Strange evaluated, Schiller partially borrowed the structure of Hogwarts, but didn't add so many fantasy elements, because the magic in this world indeed wasn't that beautiful.

After the children walked in from the castle gate, they saw a wide Gothic-style auditorium. All the children added together were about three hundred people, divided into three teams according to different grades, neatly lined up in the center of the hall.

"Very happy to see you, children. I am Master Night, Jim, and also the acting principal of Cat Getan Magic Academy. Because we indeed can't select a qualified principal now, perhaps he will emerge from among you in the future."

Jim showed great patience for the children. He stood on the podium at the very front and said with a smile, and his words immediately triggered a burst of rustling discussion below.

"I believe everyone has already seen some precautions for entering the academy on the admission notice, but there are some details I still want to emphasize to you. Now you have about three hours to visit your dormitories, put away your luggage, and collect school uniforms and daily necessities. After you are basically settled, there will be a welcome banquet at dinner time. By then, you will meet the professors of every course."

"Believe me, this is absolutely a wonderful encounter. You will never have seen so many strange people in the magic world. Of course, there may also be some familiar faces, especially for the energetic little calves in the local area. Don't shout out of surprise and spray your food."

Some bold children laughed out loud, and others were shouting "Do you think we are three-year-olds?" The atmosphere became more active, and the previously reserved and tense atmosphere was dispelled.

"Then the work we have to do now is to divide your colleges. In the process of basic education, you will be divided into three colleges. The dean of each college will open a special course different from other colleges. Everyone can go to take any dean's class, but students of this college can get more preferential treatment in this professional aspect."

"Now you may be more interested in one of the colleges, so sign up boldly."

"But in the first three months of starting to learn, everyone has to take all courses. After three months, there will be a round of assessment. At that time, everyone can readjust the college according to their interests and abilities, and the dean will also select you according to your grades. This is a two-way choice."

"One year after starting to learn, there is another opportunity to change colleges. However, this time the difficulty of the exam to transfer to another college will increase, and starting from scratch in another college isn't a simple matter."

"Come on." Jim nodded to Madame Xanadu standing on the side. Madame Xanadu waved her hand gently, and one white paper after another flew out from the door of another room, falling in front of the children.

"Use your fingers to write the name of the college you want to go to on the white paper. Then listen carefully, the colleges you can choose are the Magic Power College, the Magic Craft College, and the Magic Theory College..."

The names of the colleges were very straightforward and easy to understand. Even these children could hear the general tendency of the college majors. Someone raised their hand to reconfirm. No matter which college they were in, they could take any class. Thus, the children started discussing which college they wanted to choose.

Madame Xanadu cleared her throat and then said: "Children, I must remind you that the teaching and accommodation conditions of each college are different. Because the Magic Craft College often conducts experiments and preparation, and the school's laboratory and alchemy item warehouse are underground, the dormitories are also arranged underground."

"However, don't worry, because there is magical magic, so the dormitories won't be damp and cold. At the same time, the distance between the Craft College's dormitory, classroom, and laboratory is the closest. If you move fast, you can get to the classroom in three minutes after getting up."

Below, some children immediately exclaimed. At their age, the biggest difficulty in going to school is getting up early, especially some local Cat Getan children who don't care whether they can be exposed to the sun are particularly moved.

"The dormitories and classrooms of the Magic Theory College are in the circular French-style tower area on the east side of the courtyard. The dormitories are on the top floor of the mage tower. The advantage is that the view is broad and the sunlight is sufficient, but before you learn to fly, I'm afraid you can only climb the stairs."

Immediately, some children were moved again, chattering and discussing with their companions whether it was worth climbing the stairs every day for the bright and clean dormitory. ===== CHAPTER 1616 =====