Chapter 13: The Pet Contract

As a Level 2 spell, the Heavy Rain spell was far from simple. Besides causing heavy rainfall in a short time, the raindrops could also inflict varying degrees of damage based on the mage's magical power. Although Natasha and Zona's magical power was not high, and their raindrops couldn't deal significant damage to the wind wolves, the impact was still quite painful.

With three sides—front, back, and left—made difficult to traverse by the Earthquake spell, the wind wolves had no choice but to charge up the hill under the lead of a particularly large one. This path was deliberately left open by Lin Yuan. The muddy ground wouldn't truly stop the wind wolves; if all sides were blocked, they might simply run off elsewhere. By leaving one path, he gave them no other choice.

This was also an opportunity for Lin Yuan to train his students. After all, facing hundreds of wind wolves with just over thirty people was no easy task.

"Katusha, take charge of defense! Red, Vince, cast fire walls! Everyone else, choose your own spells!" Seeing the wind wolves about to charge, Lin Yuan shouted commands.

A faintly blue protective shield appeared in front of everyone. Though not large, it perfectly covered the direction facing the wind wolves. Though it looked thin, the wind blades from the wind wolves only rippled it slightly.

Lin Yuan nodded. Katusha was indeed an 8th-level Water Mage; her Water Ripple Shield alone demonstrated her strength.

With Katusha's protection, the students had no more reservations. The glow of magical elements gathered in their hands continuously lit up, and various colored spells poured down the hill, hitting the wind wolf pack.

"Students, remember, magic power is MONEY! Pay attention to accuracy!" Seeing many spells falling beside the wind wolves, Lin Yuan couldn't help but shout again.

Reminded by him, the students indeed began to focus more. Although the speed of casting spells slowed down, the hit rate increased significantly, and the speed of killing wind wolves became even faster.

With several fire walls on the hillside and the particularly muddy ground, the wind wolves, despite their speed, couldn't charge up. They could only keep firing wind blades. However, these wind blades were too weak to pose any threat to the Water Ripple Shield.

Seeing that the wind wolves couldn't do anything to them, the students gradually became complacent. A few of them no longer hid and stood up to cast spells vigorously.

Lin Yuan, however, didn't dare to relax. When the wind wolves charged earlier, he had seen clearly that they weren't just a disorganized mob. They charged in an orderly manner under the leadership of what seemed to be their leader. Moreover, when attacked by spells, some wind wolves didn't die instantly. These lucky survivors had retreated to the back of the pack, with only fully intact wind wolves at the front.

Just as he was marveling at the wind wolves' intelligence, the leader, who had been hiding in the pack, suddenly stood upright and let out a long howl. The wind wolves seemed to receive some command and turned around in unison, running down the hill at an even faster speed.

"Not good, they're trying to escape!" Lin Yuan was stunned for a moment, then reacted quickly. "Fasno, take the wind mage group and follow the wolf pack, but remember not to engage them directly. Just leave a mark and wait for us to catch up."

"Got it." Fasno nodded and led a few students who practiced wind magic, using Wind Riding to follow the wind wolves from a distance.

Leaving one student to report to the farm owner and to collect the wind wolves' carcasses, Lin Yuan followed the marks left by Fasno with the remaining students.

The marks left by Fasno showed that the wind wolves had gone north. After chasing for about ten miles, a small valley suddenly appeared ahead. Several figures stood at the entrance of the valley—it was Fasno and his group.

"What happened? Where's the wind wolf pack?" Lin Yuan asked.

Fasno pointed into the valley. "They all went in. The situation inside is unclear, and I didn't dare to follow further."

"You did the right thing," Lin Yuan nodded in agreement. Turning to Katusha, he said, "Teacher Katusha, I'm afraid I have to trouble you again."

"I really am the workhorse here," Katusha complained with a smile. A few days ago, when the students were on tasks, Lin Yuan would always have her follow a few students who might encounter danger. As a result, she had to run around every day. Nevertheless, she still cast a water shield on herself and entered the valley.

After a while, she came out again, her expression somewhat puzzled.

"What's the situation inside?"

"It's hard to describe. You'll see for yourselves."

Seeing Katusha lead the way, everyone followed her through the two large rocks at the valley entrance.

"Wow——"

As soon as they entered the valley, many students couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

The valley didn't look like much from the outside, but once inside, they discovered that the space was incredibly vast. The mountain walls extended from the valley entrance, and at the widest point, they seemed to stretch out of sight. The valley was still dominated by grasslands, but at the center was a lake with a diameter of at least 1,000 meters. From a distance, it looked like a sapphire set in the middle of the valley.

There were no wind wolves in the valley as expected. Instead, a herd of wild horses was galloping by the lake. Upon seeing the crowd, they didn't seem very afraid. The lead horse even approached a bit, tilting its head as if to observe the group.

"I've lived in Winden City for so many years, and I've never heard of such a beautiful valley here," Vince muttered.

"No wonder. It's almost a hundred miles away from Winden City. It's not surprising that it's unknown," someone else replied.

Lin Yuan naturally didn't doubt Fasno's ability. If he said the wind wolves had entered the valley, then they must be there. It was just that the valley was so large that it was hard to tell where the wind wolves had gone.

"Teacher, look," Zona suddenly squatted down and called out.

Following her finger, Lin Yuan saw patches of blue marks on the green grass, which looked like something had dried up and left behind.

"This is probably the blood of the wind wolves," Fasno said. "We saw quite a few when we were chasing them."

"Alright, let's follow this trail of blood and keep going," Lin Yuan decided.

The blood trail extended through the valley, winding around the large lake in the center and heading towards the mountain wall on the left. Following the trail, they found a cave entrance about two meters high in the mountain wall.

"It seems the wind wolves are in here. Let's go in and finish them off so we can complete the task," one of the students said, eager to end the night's chase. The sun was about to rise, and everyone was tired but hopeful that the task would soon be over.

However, just as they were about to enter the cave, a low growl came from inside, and a particularly large wind wolf slowly emerged.

"Be careful!" Lin Yuan quickly shouted, signaling the students at the front to step back.

"Wait, teacher, it doesn't seem to have any malice," Natasha suddenly grabbed Lin Yuan's arm, stopping him from casting a spell.

"Huh?" Lin Yuan looked at Natasha, puzzled, but she didn't seem to react.

Natasha stared at the wind wolf for a moment, then took a few steps forward.

"Natasha, come back," Lin Yuan started to move towards her, but Katusha held him back.

Lin Yuan looked at Katusha questioningly, but she just shook her head, signaling him to stay put.

Natasha walked up to the wind wolf, which didn't make a move. She squatted down and looked into its eyes for a while, then suddenly placed her hand on its head.

Just as everyone was confused, a faint green light burst from Natasha's palm, enveloping both her and the wind wolf. A strange magical circle appeared between Natasha and the wind wolf. Both of them blinked simultaneously, and after a flash of green light, the circle split in two and was absorbed into Natasha and the wind wolf.

"Indeed, it's a pet contract..." Katusha murmured upon seeing this.

"Pet contract? What's that?" Not only Lin Yuan but also the other students were curious.

Katusha glanced at Lin Yuan and suddenly smiled. "You've been learning magic for such a short time that you haven't even mastered elemental magic yet. It's normal not to know anything beyond that. A pet contract is essentially an agreement between a magic beast and a mage, making the beast the mage's pet. However..." Katusha shook her head again and didn't continue.

"Well, teacher, the wind wolf issue has been resolved," Natasha immediately reported the good news to Lin Yuan after the magical circle disappeared.

"Oh? How was it resolved?" Lin Yuan was very curious about the pet contract, but Katusha seemed reluctant to talk about it. The best way was to ask Natasha directly.

"Xiao Bai said that as long as we spare its kind, it will ensure they won't harass the farm anymore."

"Xiao Bai?" Lin Yuan pointed at the large and imposing wind wolf, unable to suppress a chuckle.

"Yes, the name I gave it," Natasha replied, coming over and hugging Lin Yuan's arm, shaking it a little with a hint of coyness. "Teacher, let's just spare them, okay?"

"Sparing them isn't difficult, but how can you ensure they won't attack the farm again in the future? You know they were raiding the farm because they were short of food. Even if we let them go now, they'll still attack when they're hungry," Lin Yuan reasoned.

Natasha squatted down again and "negotiated" with Xiao Bai for a while.

"Xiao Bai says that they've only temporarily migrated here and will leave after a while. This place isn't suitable for them to live in. The cattle and sheep they've taken these days should be enough to eat, and they won't go back," Natasha reported.

Lin Yuan couldn't help but look at Xiao Bai a few more times, thinking that this guy, whether or not he was a Magic Beast, had an unusually high IQ.

"Alright, since it says so, let's just trust it for now. Students, we can go back and complete the task," Lin Yuan decided.

On the way back, Lin Yuan naturally didn't miss the chance to ask Natasha about the pet contract. However, to his surprise, Natasha herself wasn't very clear about it. She only knew that when the wind wolf appeared in front of her, a voice had sounded in her head, and she immediately understood that the wind wolf was speaking to her. As for why only she could hear it, she had no idea.

"A natural contract mage," Katusha interjected upon hearing this. "Judging from this situation, Natasha must be a natural contract mage, someone who can innately communicate with Magic Beasts. It's just that there are very few such people, and they generally don't have much combat ability themselves, so they're rarely known."

"What do they mainly do then?"

"Usually, a contract mage can make a soul contract with a chosen Magic Beast and then use it for battle. However, the conditions for a contract mage to make a contract with a Magic Beast are very strict, and at the same time, they can only make a contract with one Magic Beast at a time. Therefore, contract mages are very selective about their pets. A powerful contract mage's chosen Magic Beast is at least a Level 6 Magic Beast..."

At this point, everyone couldn't help but look at Xiao Bai again.

Although Xiao Bai was the leader of the wind wolf pack, it was still just a wind wolf. Besides being larger in size, having better strength and speed, and being able to cast a few more wind blades, it was still only a Level 1 Magic Beast and had nothing to do with the word "powerful."

Natasha's face, however, showed no disappointment. She patted Xiao Bai's head and laughed, "Anyway, this was just an accident. Besides, I like magic the most. It doesn't matter whether I'm a contract mage or not."

Although it was a bit of a pity, everyone understood Natasha's thoughts. After all, as long as one didn't go around picking fights, whether a pet was powerful or not really didn't make much difference.