Previously, because he was proud of his status, he had never harbored any fantasies about those lovely girls. But now things were different—they actually took the initiative to talk to him, which greatly satisfied Gaia's childish vanity.

Among these girls, Gaia became acquainted with a beautiful girl named Millie. She was also a first-year student, and even in the same class as Gaia. After she managed to cultivate a cyclone, Millie often sought out Gaia, hoping he would teach her some tips. This process inevitably involved the kind of precocious ambiguity unique to children.

Gaia was so young that he couldn't possibly understand what love was, but he had read too many stories about the romantic adventures of magicians. So, in a muddled way, he started "dating" this girl named Millie. Of course, this so-called dating was just a way for children to pretend to be mature; they simply enjoyed playing together, and there was no real affection involved.

Millie, for her part, was happy to agree to this so-called "relationship" because Gaia could teach her the tricks of practicing magic. And so, our adorable protagonist experienced his sacred first love at the age of nine.

Whether it was the friendly attitude of those around him or the slightly ambiguous closeness of Millie, nothing could compare to the joy of taking a big step closer to becoming a real magician. Tomorrow, after signing the contract, he would become an apprentice magician. If he was lucky and could soon sense and capture the wind element, he would be able to cast wind magic like Abby. Having spent some time at the magic academy, Gaia had often seen those upperclassmen casting spells. Whenever they chanted stirring incantations and unleashed dazzling magic, Gaia always showed deep envy and longing.

That night, Gaia couldn't sleep at all, not even able to focus during meditation. He would occasionally grin foolishly or even shout out loud, making Tris think the boy had gone mad from overexcitement.

The difficult night finally passed. Gaia couldn't wait to put on the only piece of clothing he owned that looked halfway decent and eagerly ran to Teacher Mitchell's house. When he arrived, the mage Mitchell had just woken up.

"Gaia, don't be in such a hurry. Let me first explain what the contract is all about." Seeing the little fellow so anxious, Mitchell felt quite gratified and, wanting to tease him a bit, spoke slowly and deliberately.

Gaia opened his eyes wide, looking as if he was all ears. Over the past half year, he had indeed read quite a few books, but not much about contracts. All he knew was that in the Zachariah Empire, almost every magician would sign a contract with the god Rosa. As for why the contract was necessary, he had no idea.

"Let me tell you about our world first. The most mysterious and dangerous place, the Magic Beast Mountains, lies at the very center of the Eden Continent, occupying a vast area. The Magic Beast Mountains extend in all four directions across the continent, with ridges that divide Eden into four sections. Naturally, this division led to the emergence of four great empires on the continent. Our Zachariah Empire is located in the southeastern region of Eden."

Mitchell spoke slowly, glancing at Gaia as he did so. Seeing that he was listening intently, he nodded in satisfaction and continued.

"No matter which empire they come from, all people are children of the gods, just governed by different deities. The god we worship, Rosa, is the deity who rules over our empire. Of course, there are some heretics who do not worship Rosa, but that's not unusual, since everyone is free to believe as they wish. Some people don't even believe in any gods at all."

As he listened, Gaia started to feel a bit confused—Magic Beast Mountains, four great empires, worshipping gods, freedom of belief... As someone born in the countryside, he felt completely lost, and gradually grew impatient. He spoke up: "Teacher, please just let me sign the contract with the god quickly. After that, I still need to sense the wind element."

"Haha, look how anxious you are! All right, all right, you can learn about those things later." Mitchell laughed heartily. Over the past half year, Mitchell had grown very fond of Gaia. Although the boy could be a bit mischievous at times, he was very respectful to his elders and extremely diligent in his magical studies.

As he spoke, Mitchell had already taken out a glowing scroll from his sleeve. The scroll was exquisitely crafted, with strange patterns carved on it, and a holy light flickered within the designs. In that instant, Gaia seemed to be entranced by its mesmerizing colors.

"Come, stretch out your hand, drip a drop of blood, and then repeat after me..." As Mitchell spoke, he waved his large hand, releasing a green wind blade that gently cut a shallow wound on Gaia's index finger.

At this moment, Gaia was so excited that he didn't feel any pain at all. He even squeezed his finger roughly, hoping more blood would drip onto the contract scroll.

Finally, a drop of bright red blood fell onto the contract scroll. At that moment, the drop of blood seemed to come alive, flowing along the patterns of the contract, quickly covering them in red.