Proving one's status starting with magical girls

The weather was gloomy on May 4th.

Thick, dark clouds hung over the city, and a cold wind howled, whipping up the hems of pedestrians' clothes.

Before long, the cold rain began to fall in a fine drizzle, like a pine forest, and people hurried by, hoping that the rain wouldn't be too heavy.

But the weather was not as we wished; after the drizzle came a torrential downpour, and the storm shrouded the whole world in gray.

Rainwater flowed down the buildings along the street, and puddles quickly formed on the road.

The traffic flowed back and forth on the road, with the sounds of horns mingling with the heavy rain.

Li Jiangqun stood under the bus stop, looking at the torrential rain with some worry.

Everything was fine when I left, and the weather forecast was all normal, so why did it start raining heavily as soon as I arrived at the station?

Just as she was wondering if covering her whole body with magic would prevent her from getting soaked, she caught a glimpse of a familiar figure slowly walking towards the school with an umbrella.

The girl's eyes lit up, and without caring how heavy the rain was, she immediately rushed into the gray rain curtain.

"Jiang Qun, my classmate?"

Looking at the slightly disheveled girl in front of her, whose school uniform was soaked by the rain, Wang Fanfan's tone was somewhat surprised.

"Fanfan, good morning!"

Despite her disheveled appearance, Li Jiangqun greeted everyone with a smile.

From the former's perspective, this usually very lively girl's top was completely soaked and stuck to her body, with strands of hair sticking to her forehead; she could be described as a drowned rat.

"It's raining heavily today," Wang Fanfan said casually, while moving the umbrella towards the latter.

"Yeah, it suddenly started raining heavily. Luckily, Fanfan was here, otherwise we would definitely be late."

Li Jiangqun said with a smile.

"Do you need to change your clothes?" The short-haired girl pointed to her school uniform.

Under the girl's astonished gaze, she explained, "I can transform and fly back to change my clothes later."

"You know, I'm in the student council, no one will say anything if I'm late."

"Thanks, but it's not necessary to go to such lengths."

After softly uttering these words, Li Jiangqun circulated her magical power, and a moonlit glow covered her entire body. When the moonlit glow dissipated, her clothes were completely dry.

She didn't care too much about revealing her magical powers. After all, she had been summoned by the Countermeasures Department twice. Some things were hard to explain, so she might as well just explain them.

That's right, I, Li Jiangqun, am going to become a magical girl cultivator!

"Wow, what a convenient ability."

Wang Fanfan said expressionlessly, clearly aware that she possessed special powers.

"Can't magic do these things?" she asked curiously.

"Sure, but only after you've transformed," the girl replied.

"Before transforming, magical girls cannot use magic; only familiars can use some simple magic."

"But Jiang Qun-kun, you should be able to see my familiar, right?"

She pointed to the golden hamster perched on her shoulder.

Li Jiangqun nodded.

"Being able to see familiars means that you, Jiang Qun, have the potential to become a magical girl."

The rain was getting heavier, and the two of them walked under the same umbrella on the road with some puddles. She didn't even turn her head when she said this.

"Tigi can smell the scent of a contract on you, though it's very faint, it's definitely a contract!"

The golden hamster added, raising its tiny paw.

"contract?"

Recalling the scene of her first transformation, the girl was somewhat confused.

Where is the contract?

If she had a contract that would allow her to transform into a magical girl, would she still need to train so hard every night?

The girl thought indignantly, while Wang Fanfan continued.

"Actually, Jiang Qun, you can transform, but you don't have a contracted beast or a Seed of Hope for transformation, right?"

The girl thought for a moment, and realized that her master hadn't mentioned having a contracted beast.

"...There are some differences, but they're roughly the same."

"By the way, Fanfan, I'd like to ask, can you transform using someone else's Seed of Hope?"

Wang Fanfan thought for a moment.

"Strictly speaking, yes, but it depends on the compatibility of my contract with that Seed of Hope."

"Contract compatibility?"

This time, it was the familiar hamster's turn to explain to the girl.

"Yes! The magic in Magical Girl Contracts has attributes."

"Tiji and Fanfan signed an elemental magic contract. If Fanfan transforms using someone else's Seed of Hope, it can only be a Seed of Hope that has a contract with elemental magic."

"If it were a magical contract with one of the other two sages, Fanfan wouldn't be able to transform even with the Seed of Hope!"

Wang Fanfan seemed to be deep in thought.

"So, Jiang Qun, which type of magic contract did you sign?"

Could it be related to this special power you possess?

You can't possibly be cultivating immortality, can you?

"Which one?" Li Jiangqun pondered as she walked under the umbrella, the sudden raindrops wetting her canvas shoes, but she seemed oblivious.

Her master told her that she was cultivating the Taiyin path, one of the three Yin paths.

If she signed a contract, then the magical contract should also be related to the Yin.

It's just a magic spell and a magical power; Li Jiangqun finds it hard to connect these two very different things.

"If I had to say, it might be related to the moon," she said.

However, upon hearing her words, the familiar hamster immediately looked confused.

"The moon? Moon magic? But moon magic is controlled by the Dark Lord, isn't it?"

"Magical girls cannot use moon magic."

"Huh? Why?"

"Because the Lord of the Dark Realm perished in the war between the sun and moon in the magic world."

"The Dark Lord's moon magic is currently controlled by the Blood Duke and the Despair General, disciples of the Archangel, but how could they possibly contract a magical girl?"

Tiji's tone was full of confusion.

The Great Sage once told these newly born angels about the war between the sun and the moon that swept across the entire magical world.

At that time, the fragile balance that the magical world had maintained for so long was broken.

As a result, the Kingdom of Despair and the Kingdom of Magic engaged in a protracted and brutal war at the central border of the Magic World.

Countless angels, both good and evil, perished in this war. A third of the magical world was shattered, and it is said that even the material world was significantly affected.

Meanwhile, the leaders of the two sides, the Lord of the Black Realm and the Lord of the White Realm, engaged in a fierce battle in the outer space outside the Magic Realm in order to avoid affecting the Magic Realm.

The great sage did not elaborate on the process, but only told it the final result.

—The Black Realm Lord fell, and the White Realm Lord was also seriously injured as a result, and has been sleeping in the kingdom ever since.

Later, amidst the turmoil in the kingdom, it was the three great sages who maintained the situation, while the Kingdom of Despair gradually disintegrated amidst the internal struggles between the Grand Duke and the General, eventually becoming the precursor to the Archangel's Apostles.

As is well known, the Archangels are the mortal enemies of magical girls, and the few times the Grand Duke and the General have taken action have all been to corrupt magical girls.

Forget about contracted magical girls, they'd probably have already fallen into witches the moment they signed the Moon Contract.