These past few days, because of the rampaging beasts, all the elderly, women, and children in the village have had to stay indoors to avoid any accidents. However, Gaia, the most restless little troublemaker, just refuses to stay put in the house, constantly darting and jumping around the village.

Gaia has no parents, and no one in the village knows where this kid came from. But the people here are all simple and kind-hearted—this family took care of him for a while, that family looked after him for a bit—and together they raised him until he was eight years old. In the end, he settled down at the village chief’s house as an adopted son.

Little Gaia may be mischievous, but his adorable looks and sweet little mouth make him very likable. All the villagers treat him very well; you could say they all see him as their own child...

It hadn’t been long since the incident where Shade was able to release battle energy, when another event that shocked the entire Matt village occurred—and this time, it happened to little Gaia.

“Did you hear? Not long ago, Lord Bruce passed through our village. He’s the most respected mage in several nearby towns. That kid was curious and ran over to block his way, and accidentally knocked one of his magic orbs to the ground. The kid picked it up with his hand, and guess what happened next... Ta-da! The magic orb actually lit up! It was that kid’s hand—when he grabbed it, the magic orb lit up! The mage was surprised too, and in the end, he told the village chief that this child might be able to become a mage! A mage!”

This news spread through the village in an instant. Almost every family went to the village chief’s house to see what was so special about the kid who could practice magic. Of course, it was just psychological—after all, everyone in the village had helped raise Gaia, so they knew exactly what he looked like and if he had any special traits. But now that he’d been labeled a mage, it seemed like the little guy had suddenly become extraordinary.

Matt has a history of several hundred years. There have been a few swordsmen from time to time, but never a mage. Overnight, little Gaia’s status soared, completely overshadowing Shade.

In these past few days, little Shade even got into a fight with little Gaia. But Gaia didn’t earn the title of little tyrant for nothing. Even though Shade could release battle energy, it was as weak as a gust of wind and didn’t do much. Shade ended up exhausting himself trying to use battle energy and was knocked down by Gaia, suffering a miserable defeat under a flurry of punches and kicks.

These two kids have been bickering since they were little, so fighting isn’t anything unusual. If the villagers saw the two little rascals tussling, they usually wouldn’t interfere—once they got tired, they’d stop on their own. But now things were different: one was a mage, the other a swordsman. If they accidentally hurt themselves and lost their magic or battle energy, that would be a huge loss.

So the village chief even gave special orders to keep an eye on these two, especially Gaia, the little tyrant. If this mischievous kid accidentally wandered outside the village and got snatched by a beast, they’d lose the only mage in the village’s history.

The days of wild beasts running rampant in the Laris Mountains weren’t over yet, and the village chief was anxious. He wished he could load the two kids onto the old ox cart right now and take them to town to have their magic and battle energy talents evaluated.

……

That day, little Gaia was caught running around the village again and dragged back into the house by the village chief. The house was very simple, with just a bamboo bed and a window—nothing for little Gaia to mess around with. Seeing that it was already late, he could only go to bed early, planning to sneak out and play again tomorrow.

Little Gaia fell into a deep sleep just like that. He didn’t know how long he’d slept when suddenly there was a loud commotion outside the village, even some unpleasant screeching sounds. The noise woke little Gaia up. Rubbing his sleepy eyes, he wanted to go out and see what was happening, but just then, Uncle Jill rushed in, panting, with the still-sleeping Shade and the girl from the Phil family in his arms.

“Gaia, get up and come with me,” Uncle Jill said anxiously. He wanted to pull the little guy out of bed, but his hands were full with two kids.

“Where are we going?” Gaia asked groggily.

“To town! Don’t you want to be a mage? I’m taking you now. Hurry, or we’ll miss the ox cart,” Uncle Jill said, his eyes darting and his brows tightly furrowed, looking very anxious.

As soon as Gaia heard this, he jumped out of bed. Becoming a great mage was his biggest wish right now, so he didn’t think much about it. He quickly got dressed and trotted after Uncle Jill.

“Uncle Jill, why is the village so noisy?” Gaia asked as he followed Jill out the back of the house and around to a small tunnel on the side of the village.

“A few beasts attacked the village, but it’s nothing—they’ll handle it... Don’t ask so many questions, hurry! Crawl in, and once you’re out of the village, don’t look back. Run straight ahead. There’s an old horse cart there—wait for me beside it. Go!” Jill urged him, sweat already covering his dark cheeks.

“Why can’t I look back?” Gaia asked, puzzled.

“When I say don’t look back, don’t look back! If you dare look back, I won’t take you to town, and you can forget about becoming a mage!” Jill suddenly shouted angrily.

Gaia was scared and didn’t dare ask again. He crawled into the tunnel, rubbing his little fingers, and did his best to crawl forward. The tunnel was very small—only children could fit through.