Insufficient balance

  An old magician wearing a white magic robe walked up to me.

  "Don't be sad, kid. Let me take a look at your Fantastical Beast. Maybe it can still be saved."

  "Is it? Here you are." I hope so, you've finally come back to my side again.

  "No matter what, you have to save it, as long as you can save Xiao Jin, I don't care about anything else, please." I grasped the old magician's hand, pleading helplessly.

  The old magician didn't answer me, he placed his hand on Xiao Jin's body, and a soft white glow slowly emerged from his hand, not dazzling at all, very gentle. In a moment, the white glow enveloped Xiao Jin's entire body, similar to my Yuan Ling recovery technique, but seemingly with some differences.

  After a while, under my anxious waiting, the old magician took his hand off Xiao Jin's body and sighed.

  I was immediately knocked back into the depths of despair. "Is it impossible? Is there no hope of saving him?" I asked anxiously.

  "Kid, don't be in a rush, listen to me. Your contracted beast is the best growing-type I've ever seen. You shouldn't let it out when it still can't protect itself. Didn't your previous teacher tell you that?"

  I hung my head in shame, "I told you, I was so excited that I forgot."

  "Don't blame yourself, you made your own trouble and you have to bear it."

  "Is Xiao Jin still salvageable?"

  "It can be said to exist, it can also be said not to exist, mainly depends on yourself." The old magician looked at me with profound meaning.

  "What? Tell me quickly what to do."

  "The current situation is that I just checked your contracted beast and the physical damage has been healed by your Yuan Spirit Recovery Technique, but it exhausted its life force in the final attack of the Sea Day Beast. The main problem now is to provide it with a long-lasting life force and awaken its spirit."

  Seeing the old magician stop, I hastily interjected: "Then what should I do?"

  "Before I tell you how to do it, I have a question for you."

  "You asked."

  "Do you love your fantasy beast?"

  "Of course I love him, Xiao Jin is just like family to me." At this point, my eyes turned red again.

  "Alright, so you're willing to give up everything for it, even your life?"

  "I said without hesitation: 'I'm willing, as long as it can revive me, I'll do whatever it takes.'"

  Looking at my determined expression, the old magician showed a hint of approval in his smile. "Good, very good. If you want to revive it, you must give it vitality. In other words, you have to make it a part of your body and then use your spirit to awaken its spirit. This is something only you can do."

  "Give it my vitality? How can I do that, and what will be the consequences later?"

  "If successful, there are a few things I can be certain of. Firstly, you will no longer be able to contract with other magical beasts. Secondly, it will become your bonded beast, and if you die, it will definitely not survive either. As for the third..." The old magician paused, "Your life force will be halved."

  "Divide by half, I understand the first two, but what does divide by half mean and how is it divided?"

  "In other words, your original lifespan was 120 years (the average human lifespan), but if you give it the power of life, your lifespan will be 60 years. Are you willing to trade 60 years of your life for its revival? This is the most important thing."

  I took a glance at Little Jin, its body was still as white as before, but the golden stripes seemed to have lost their usual luster. I stroked its head gently.

  I replied with an unusually firm tone: "I'm willing." From this moment on, the Son of Light and his lifelong most intimate companion, as well as comrade-in-arms, made an eternal unchanging contract.

  "Good child, you haven't disappointed me." The old magician sighed and said. "Don't worry, I'll try my best to find a way to restore your life force later. Let's begin now."

  I nodded.

  I was taken by the old magician to a small, uninhabited cottage on campus, where the old magician cast a thick seal outside.

  "We're starting." The old magician nodded at me.

  I held Little Jin and walked to the center of the house, where the six-pointed star was located. I carefully placed Little Jin in the center of the star, looked at it with deep affection, raised my head, stretched out my arms on both sides of my body, and began to chant the only magic spell I had ever cast in my life - Life Sharing.

  According to the old magician, this was a very ancient magic that he found in an ancient relic, at that moment on a stone tablet. He had never used it before and didn't know what would happen as a result. However, what he didn't know was that using this magic would be my greatest help in becoming a great wizard later on, because while using this magic I grasped the true essence of light elements - love and sacrifice.

  "Oh, great God of Genesis, I request your assistance. With your infinite power, open the fountainhead of my life. I wish to form an eternal and unchanging contract with the being before me, sharing my life with it. Contract."

  As I chanted, a white glow began to emanate from my body, initially soft and gentle. As the light intensified, it gradually became dazzling, until I was enveloped in a brilliant white radiance that obscured my physical form. The white light grew stronger and transformed into a golden hue, rendering me an image akin to a miniature sun. At the peak of this golden radiance, a beam of golden light shot out from the center of my brow, illuminating a small golden entity. Under the illumination of the golden light, its body gradually became indistinct before merging into a single, unified golden glow. This merged light slowly drifted away from the ground and then suddenly re-entered my body through the center of my brow.

  The halo on my body gradually faded away, I felt extremely weak, but at the same time, I also sensed Xiao Jin's presence. In my heart, I softly called out to it "Xiao Jin, come back." The golden light that had entered my body trembled slightly, and then, a warm confession came from the golden light. I knew, I succeeded, my Xiao Jin... it was back. I peacefully closed my eyes and fainted.