As a fairly successful merchant, Nahekt also had his own shop in the city.
After asking Alaric whether he needed an arranged place to stay and being refused, the two parted ways in front of the shop.
"Honorable Mr. Thoth," Nahekt bade Alaric farewell with a reverent attitude, "it has been a great pleasure to meet you.
Although I believe that mortal affairs pose no difficulty for you, if you intend to travel through Egypt, I still wish to say, at any time, you may command me. I will always look forward to doing anything for you."
As he spoke, he took a golden amulet from his pocket and placed it into Alaric's hand.
"Please accept this amulet. It bears our family's emblem.
Our family's caravans have shops in all the major cities of Egypt, and those shops carry the same mark as this amulet, it's very easy to recognize.
If you ever need anything, you can use this amulet to command any member of our family to do whatever you require."
Looking at the earnest expression on the man's face, Alaric thought for a moment, then accepted the amulet.
"Then I shall accept it without further refusal," he nodded to Nahekt.
"Thank you for guiding me all the way to Memphis. In the name of Thoth, may wisdom forever accompany you."
Alaric's final words were a blessing.
Although he himself was a powerful mage, he also possessed other identities beyond that.
Because he was favored by numerous goddesses, his body bore blessings from various divine beings.
These highest-tier blessings allowed him to exist at a level equivalent to the chosen of several goddesses at once, or even higher.
One must know that so-called Chosen were already the highest-ranking beings among a deity's followers.
Someone like him could, on occasion, bestow blessings in a god's name upon one or two people without issue.
He could even do so in his own name, without invoking the name of any goddess.
Sure enough, after Alaric spoke the blessing, Nahekt suddenly felt his mind become clear, his thoughts more agile than before.
In short, his intelligence had increased.
Nahekt was a merchant, and merchants naturally had to calculate accounts frequently.
Doubting whether his sensation was merely an illusion, he immediately took out his ledger to test it.
Then he discovered that complex accounts which previously required a fair amount of time to calculate could now be solved instantly with a single glance.
Such an effect was only natural, after all.
At its core, this blessing came from the Goddess of Magic, Hecate, whose blessing of wisdom granted tremendous enhancement to logical thinking, because magic, after all, also required mathematical knowledge.
"Truly the power of a god," Nahekt exclaimed. "It seems my decision was indeed correct. This truly is a real deity."
Thinking so, Nahekt wished to express his gratitude and offer worship to the god named "Thoth."
However, when he turned around, he discovered that the man had already vanished.
"As expected of a god's methods, truly mysterious."
With that thought, Nahekt resolved to record his encounter in his family genealogy and have it engraved in his tomb in the future, after all, not everyone was fortunate enough to encounter a true god.
At this moment, Alaric had long since left him behind and returned to the city's main avenue, intending to take a look at the temples.
As mentioned before, in many cases, magic originated from divine arts, with divine arts serving as humanity's initial enlightenment into mysterious powers.
And depending on how different divine domains utilized divine power, the magic derived from those domains would also differ.
In the future, these magics would gradually form distinct magical theories, becoming the foundational frameworks of various systems of magic.
Alaric had two purposes for coming to the Egyptian divine domain. One of them was to study the divine arts here and learn new forms of magic.
Egyptian magic was generally renowned for runes, curses, and soul manipulation, achieving remarkable accomplishments in the control of souls.
Additionally, their light magic and positive energy magic were uniquely developed, naturally stemming from Egypt's chief deity, the sun god Ra.
Alaric felt that although true magic had not yet appeared here, researching divine arts would still be of great benefit to his magical studies.
However, just as he was about to head toward the center of Memphis to observe the temples there, a sudden commotion arose from the direction of the city gate.
Alaric turned his head to look, only to see that the bustling gate area had spontaneously cleared as people made way.
Then, a massive procession gradually entered through the city gate.
At the front were soldiers wielding battle axes, these axes were known as duckbill axes, their shape resembling a small, shallow curve extending from a stick.
Because the blade's striking surface was relatively small, it could easily penetrate an opponent's body and cause severe bleeding.
However, these soldiers' axes were all golden, clearly more decorative than practical.
Indeed, the soldiers were bare-chested, wearing leather shorts adorned with golden ornaments, and their faces were covered with masks shaped like tigers and wolves.
Behind them followed soldiers armed with golden curved swords, golden war hammers, and bows.
Without exception, they were bare-chested, clad in leather trousers, and wore masks shaped like various animals.
Of course, their lack of armor was not merely decorative, but a long-standing tradition among Egyptian soldiers.
Although ancient Egypt's civilization was extraordinarily brilliant, especially in architecture, which could be considered one of Earth's great wonders, their development in warfare was rather slow.
Axes, hammers, spears, and curved swords were their most commonly used weapons, while their archery was also quite primitive, effective only at close range and with limited accuracy.
As for armor, it was even rarer.
Some soldiers wore leather garments and carried leather shields, but most usually wore nothing more than a pair of leather shorts, and some even charged into battle nearly naked.
However, none of this had anything to do with Alaric. He simply stood among the crowd, watching the procession with interest.
With so many lavishly adorned soldiers as escorts, the person they guarded must certainly be a major figure, perhaps a powerful minister or a high priest.
Very soon, Alaric saw the central figure.
Behind the soldiers was a group of people dressed in white, carrying a large palanquin. Seated upon the ornate palanquin was a woman.
She was a beautiful woman with bronze-colored skin, neat long purple hair, and a splendid golden crown upon her head.
She wore a golden necklace in the ancient Egyptian style, and various other magnificent golden ornaments adorned the rest of her body, making her appear radiant with golden light.
Yet this lavish gold did not make her seem vulgar. Instead, it accentuated her noble and divinely infused aura, especially the golden hawk-headed scepter in her hand, which radiated an air of authority.
Her clothing was extremely revealing, or rather, Egyptians in general dressed lightly, consisting only of a white chest veil and a purple lower garment, causing her round, lovely, voluptuous, and sensual body to appear faintly through the fabric.
Her appearance was exceptionally beautiful, especially the adornments atop her head shaped like jackal ears, which moved gently with her breathing, making her seem all the more adorable.