The next morning, Agatha received a delicate parchment scroll from Roland.

"What's this?"

"A contract. Once you press your handprint on it, you'll officially be a member of the Witch Union."

She unfolded the scroll and examined its contents in detail, then asked in surprise, "That's it?"

"Hmm?" He seemed not to understand her meaning. "What do you mean, 'that's it'?"

"The constraints above are meaningless," Agatha pointed to the 'Terms of Service' line. "It only mentions that I shouldn't betray Border Town without violating mutual consensus, but there are no restrictive measures. If I really wanted to betray, I probably wouldn't feel any psychological pressure. Moreover, the wording above is too imprecise. Is this really a contract?"

"Well, I just wrote it down casually at the time, it's just a formality," the Prince nodded, not seeming surprised. It seemed she wasn't the first to point out the problems with this contract.

"A formality riddled with loopholes." She secretly grumbled to herself, poked the inkpad, and pressed her handprint. The alliance contract had very few requirements for both parties. According to the clauses, she wouldn't feel any significant changes after joining. Although she felt it was a bit redundant, she felt a lot more relaxed.

She said she was cooperating with mortals, but she knew in her heart that this gray-haired man was the actual leader of the Witch Union. If she had to serve a mortal with the same respect as the Union's senior management or the Three Cities' Lords, she might find it difficult to accept. As it stands, at least she had considerable freedom.

Roland put away the parchment scroll and asked curiously, "In Taqila, what were the constraints on the contracts like?"

"You only need that when recruiting mortals, and they range from *punishments to mental torture," she curled her lip. "As for us, we don't need to sign such things. The Union is a lifetime commitment. Once you join, the only way out for a defector is death."

"Alright," he took a breath. "Welcome to the Witch Union. Remember to come to the castle garden after breakfast. I need to fully test your abilities."

……

The ability test was simpler than Agatha had imagined. She demonstrated the various characteristics of her ability in front of the Prince, and then answered a few of his questions, and that was it.

"Magic power manifests as a cyan pentagonal prism, with a medium capacity. The type is Summoning, and the ability has evolved once. The initial effect was to create low temperatures, and after the evolution, it can achieve room-temperature solidification, a very convenient ability," Roland asked after recording, "How did you make your ability evolve?"

"Constant practice and a moment of chance enlightenment," she said proudly. As the youngest Advanced Awakened, everyone in the Union called her the 'Genius of Taqila' at the time. "I tried to lower the temperature every day to make water freeze quickly. Until one day, I witnessed a witch who controlled flames melting a lead cake into liquid, and the lead water began to boil as the flames continued to roast it."

"This scene made me realize that perhaps all things have three states: gaseous, liquid, and solid—lead is solid at room temperature, but it can also be turned into gas if the temperature is high enough; water is liquid at room temperature, and it will solidify into ice if the temperature drops."

"Then, can the gas that is gaseous at room temperature be frozen if the temperature is low enough, just like lead?"

"I used my ability with this thought, and I quickly felt a completely different change in the magic power in my body, and finally advanced to become an Advanced Witch. This enlightenment was also recorded in *The Universal Principles of Magic*."

In fact, she was the youngest recorder in the book. Even the Three Seats praised her at the time, believing that this enlightenment was not only very enlightening for witch advancement, but also of great significance to real-world research. But when she solemnly said this, the other party's expression was quite calm.

"I see," the Prince nodded. "What is *The Universal Principles of Magic*?"

"Wait, aren't you...surprised?" Agatha asked in surprise. "This world is full of gas. It seems ethereal and weightless, but in reality, it can be turned into flowing water, and it can also be turned into solid ice."

"It's a pretty normal phenomenon, and there are many kinds of gases, each with different boiling points and melting points," Roland shrugged. "Why should I be surprised? This content is considered common sense in *Basic Principles of Natural Science*."

"..." Agatha suddenly felt a little stuffy in her chest. She took two deep breaths. "Okay, I will study this *Basic Principles of Natural Science* carefully."

"Then *The Universal Principles of Magic*—"

"It's a record of the enlightenment and experience of all Advanced Awakened abilities' evolution," she said unhappily. "However, the abilities of witches are different, and it is difficult to achieve advancement through imitation and reference. Naturally, it is not as good as your *Basic Principles of Natural Science*!"

"Did I say something wrong?" The Prince looked puzzled.

"No, I'm too arrogant," Agatha felt even more suffocated.

"Ahem," probably seeing her unhappiness, he changed the subject. "You just said that the abilities of witches are different...among the thousands of witches in the Union, is there no one with the same ability?"

"No," she replied stiffly. "The Secret Society believes that the form of magic power determines ability, but no two witches have the exact same form of magic power."

"But when you saw Anna before, you immediately thought it was a flame-type ability."

"This is just a common way to classify it, which is simple and easy to understand. Abilities that emit light and heat can be called flame-type, but as magic power grows, solidifies in adulthood, or advances to awaken, seemingly identical abilities will undergo great changes. Even in the initial stage of flame, some witches are good at controlling temperature, while others have stronger flames, and some can project them out. Even if you can't see the difference for the time being, it is caused by insufficient observation methods," Agatha said. "The Secret Society's classification method is more formal, and it is roughly the same as yours in general."

"Also three categories?" Roland asked.

"Four categories. The main difference is in the Summoning type—the Secret Society divides it into two types, one is called Mana, and the other is called Shaping. You should be able to understand the difference between them from the literal meaning."

"Mana refers to summoning like Anna's, which requires continuous consumption of magic power and disappears once the magic power stops, while Shaping refers to summoning like the coating drawn by Soroya, which can exist for a long time?"

"Although I don't know exactly what Soroya's ability is, it's about that meaning...those that can exist for a long time can be regarded as Shaping Summoning, such as my room-temperature solidification."

"Understood," Roland also recorded this information. "Today's test ends here. As usual, when I don't assign tasks, you can practice your ability on your own, but I think there is someone who might need your help urgently now."

"Who?"

"The Chief Alchemist of Border Town, Kaimo. Streel."