While the group was exploring the mountain range, Sophia decided to start cheating to make some better progress. She took one of her portable portals and used magic to throw it to another mountain that was further away. Thanks to that, the group could instantly travel there instead of descending from their current location, walking through a valley, and climbing another mountain over 3000 meters tall.

“Hah~.” While the group was having an action-paced exploration, Ari and Fen were having a much more relaxed time.

“I told you a nap was a good idea.” The wolf looked at the jaguar sleepily rubbing her eyes before stretching while she was still leaning against his side.

"…" Ari didn't answer at first, only letting out another yawn before stretching herself further. "I-I guess."

“You would sound a lot more convincing if you didn’t look so comfortable.” He just continued to stare at her.

“…” She went silent again while her cheeks turned a little red. “How long did we sleep?”

“That’s a good question.” Fen looked around for a moment. “I honestly have no idea. Normally, I would be able to tell from the position of the sun, but as the lighting doesn’t change in this place, I have no answer. My usual naps last for around three hours, so if I had to take a guess, it would be around that much.”

“I see.” She nodded once while still looking rather sleepy. “Do you think the others are back already?”

“I highly doubt it.” He shook his head. “I’m pretty sure Sophia would’ve come to get us already, then. After all, she would know where we are right now.”

“Yeah, you’re right.” She agreed with his explanation. “That’s good.”

“Shall we take another nap?” Fen still seemed tired.

“I-I think I’ll refrain from it for the time being.” Even though she said so, she still sounded ever so slightly reluctant.

“I see.” He, too, sounded disappointed about it.

“Instead, how about we go and see if our new area grew?” Ari needed an excuse to get up. “It’s been a few hours since we last looked.”

“Fine.” Fen didn't sound overly happy about it, but he was still curious about it, too.

----------------

They eventually and very reluctantly got up, stretched themselves some more, and lazily walked towards the area the two used their magic to grow Fen’s forest bigger a couple of hours ago.

“Oh!” Once they arrived in the new area, Ari finally fully woke up, and her eyes grew wide. "It worked!" She noticed that there were many new trees around them that weren’t there at the beginning of the day.

“It sure has.” The wolf was also looking around. “Thanks for focusing on the maple trees, by the way.” He noticed how Ari had primarily grown them in the new area after he mentioned liking them the most.

“You are welcome~.” She smiled at him in return. “How do you like the rest of it?”

“It turned out great!” Fen sounded happy. “The trees are nice and densely grown without being too big. Enough light for a good feeling inside still makes it through the canopy, too. Though, it’s kinda interesting that that the ground around here is so much mossier. I wonder how that happened.” He looked at the ground in front of him, which was completely covered in a thick layer of moss.

"That's indeed weird." Ari looked at her feet and noticed how they were lightly sinking into the soft green carpet. “Maybe a patch of moss in the old area sponged up more magic than it should’ve?”

“Your guess is as good as mine.” He had no better explanation, either. “It would be great if it’s that easy, though.”

“You like the moss?” She was wondering why he thought it was great.

“Absolutely!” He nodded. “It’s nice and comfortable! Sleeping on it is the best when it comes to staying in a forest.”

“Everything comes back to naps with you, huh?” Ari lightly rolled her eyes.

“They are very important for a healthy lifestyle!”

“Are they now?” The jaguar didn’t believe him.

“How are you feeling right now?”

“Great, why?” She tilted her head.

“Nice and rested? Feeling healthy and full of energy?”

“Pretty much?”

“Right after the nap we had just moments ago?” His voice was overflowing with sass.

“I know why you and Sophia get along so well.”

“Because we know how to live life to the fullest?”

“…” She paused for a moment. “Yeah, sure, let’s go with that.”

“Do you not agree that it sounds very comfortable?”

“Well,” Ari looked down at her feet again and noticed the spring in her step as she put some force on the moss. “I guess you might have a point. I mean, the other spot already was a little mossy, and it was nice to sit on, so…"

“See? Was it that hard to be honest?”

“I don’t want to hear that from you!” She glared at the wolf. “Sophia and Aura are constantly teasing you about not being honest, too!”

“Was there really a need to go for such a low blow?” He turned away his head.

“You started it.” Ari wasn’t going to apologize.

“How about we drop the topic? We had such a relaxing thing going on, after all.”

“I like that idea!” She nodded a few times. "Okay, should we expand the forest a little more, or do you have different plans for it?”

“A little bit bigger would be nice, but I also want to add some other things, so it shouldn’t become too massive. It should be a small oasis, after all.”

“Oh?” The jaguar got interested in that. “What other things are you planning?”

“I’d like to have a river going through the forest here. Flowing water has a really pleasant sound, which will help make it even more comfortable and relaxing around here." Fen was going all out to make his napping place as perfect as possible. “A small lake it leads to would be nice, too.”

“We should’ve done something together way sooner!” Ari smiled at him. “That sounds lovely!”

“Glad to hear.”

“Let’s go!” She got very motivated over it.

----------------

Having come up with a plan, the two got to work. Ari used some more of her raw magic to dispense it in her surroundings in order to let the flora grow better. While she was doing that, Fen was a little more destructive. With the help of earth-based magic, he dug a five-meter-wide and two-meter-deep trench through the entirety of his forest from one end to the other. Trying to make it seem somewhat natural, he added many twists and turns so that the riverbed wouldn’t look too weird.

“Mhm, it looks like the lake has to wait a little longer.” Sounding a little troubled, Fen looked at the end of the riverbed at the outskirts of his forest.

“What’s up, big guy?” Ari joined him a few moments later and tried to find out what he was doing. “Good job on the river, by the way, it’s looking good already.”

“I’ve run into a bit of an issue.” He then gestured in front of him. His riverbed was around two meters deep and led out of the forest where he planned to create a lake. Unfortunately, as the forest ran out, the layer of dirt below it ran out, too. It just slowly transformed into the all-white floor of Sophia’s domain at some point. “I can’t dig through that.”

“Ahh.” The jaguar scratched her cheek. “Do we need to grow the forest in that direction, too? So that we can dig down?”

“It needs to get something, that is true, but while digging the riverbed, I noticed that this weird white floor is also under the whole forest. It was around three meters deep, more than enough for a river, but a lake needs to be a lot deeper!”

“That’s true.” Ari nodded. “How does all that work in the first place? How does the white stuff turn into dirt?”

“Beats me.” He had no explanation. “Magic, I guess.”

“The overseer kind on top, huh?”

“That appears to be the case.” Fen thought so, too. “I guess I have to ask her to make a lake-sized hole in the ground for me.”

“Mhmm.” Ari tilted her head. “If I remember right, oak trees have pretty deep and expansive roots, right?”

“It at least seemed like that when I dug some out while making the riverbed.” The wolf nodded. “Why?”

“It also feels like the white floor gets replaced by soil depending on how much the plants need it, right?”

“That could be an explanation, yes.” He then looked at her. “Do you have an idea?”

“Maybe?” Ari wasn’t entirely sure yet. “If we take a single oak sapling and put it in the middle of where you want the lake to be and grow it, the white floor will be replaced with soil. The bigger the tree, the more of the white will be replaced.”

“So, we should make a gigantic oak tree in the hope the roots will also become massive and replace much of the white under it?”

"Yes." She nodded. "Afterward, we get rid of the tree, and just a massive hole should remain.

“Interesting.”

“It’s either that or asking Sophia.”

"I'm quite partial to trying it out ourselves first before that.”

“Hehe.” Ari let out a small chuckle. “We don’t want to give Sophia that satisfaction, do we?”

“Exactly!” He thought the same.

Once they decided on a course of action, the two got a spare oak sapling and put it in a spot where Fen wanted the lake to be. Obviously, the duo made sure to have enough distance from the forest so that the massive growth wouldn't accidentally spread to it. After having bathed the sapling in a generous but not too over-the-top amount of magic from both, they returned to the forest and began filling the riverbed with water so that it would turn into an actual river rather than just a trench.