Sophia met up with Mira, and the two talked about the blonde's newest discoveries about magic. Wanting to find out if and how the expressive magic particles she loves so much can acquire a physical body, the many-tailed fox eventually caved in and showed the blonde what environmental magic can transform into under the right conditions. Learning what those conditions are, only made Sophia even more aware of how little her powers really are, though, as the overseer just casually used 4,000 times the tiger’s power to create a small bird from magic.

“You okay?” Mira smiled at the tiger while she was gently petting the blue parakeet she just created.

“I don’t think so.” Sophia lightly shook her head. “W-When did the power scaling get that out of hand?!”

“It’s always been like that.” The teal fox kept smiling. “I told you before that your personal authority is nowhere close to becoming an overseer.”

“I know, but… 4,000 times my magic just like that?” She looked quite dejected. “I don’t even feel like you radiate any noticeable less power now after doing that.”

“Because I don’t.”

“Ah.”

“But, to be fair, I’m a special case in that regard.” Mira didn’t like her looking like that. “You do remember that I’m the overseer of magic, right? I have near limitless authority over it. You would've noticed a dent in Canir's powers if he had done this." She gestured at the bird. "Though, yes, it would be a small dent."

“That does make it better!” Sophia started to cheer up. “WAIT!” She then got loud. “Fen and I almost destroyed a country when we combined our authority and caused magic to go out of control! If that little sphere had that much power, then…”

“Oh, yeah, the planet would simply stop existing if that orb would react with anything.”

“DON’T SOUND SO NONCHALLANT WHILE SAYING IT!” The blonde got even louder.

“Don’t worry, environmental magic can only reach a certain density in the regular world.” Mira lightly waved her hand. “The accident you and Fen had only happened because your blank authority, given by Canir, can overrule those limitations. No one besides you and the big boss can push magic over the dangerous threshold density in the outside world. Well, I can, too, but only because I can change rules." She made a slight pause while scratching her cheek. "Domains are a different story, though. Magic has more freedom there. It’s less reactive to go supernova, too. In a way, domains are like a holiday for it where it can let loose. Especially when a certain someone noticed one of magic’s biggest secrets and told them to explicitly have fun.”

“Ehehe~.” Sophia liked the last part. “Also, I see.” She nodded a few times. “Very reassuring, too.” The tiger was glad that the world she came to love wouldn’t so easily explode, after all. “Does that mean I have to take care that no one explodes my domain? Ari and Maya already threatened me with it, but it seems it might actually be possible if they collect some excess raw magic.”

“They can’t.” Mira shook her head. “The owner of the domain has the highest authority over it. If you don’t want it to explode, it won’t. Even I wouldn’t be able to tell magic to go ahead and destroy your place.”

“You love to hear it!”

“You can explode your own domain, though.” The overseer stared right at her. “Especially when you play around with environmental magic density without knowing what you’re doing.”

"A-Ah.” She froze for a moment. “Can’t I just have a nice chat with magic and tell them to not explode my domain even when I mess up?”

“That would work.” Mira just nodded.

“That was easy!”

"You, as the domain owner, can set up your own rules, and magic will abide by them as long as they don't contradict a superior rule.” She added a little extra explanation to it. “It certainly also helps that you can communicate directly with them to get your full and uninterpreted intention across.”

“I did have some troubles with misinterpretations in the past.”

“I know~.” The teal fox smiled at her. “Knowing you, you will continue to do so in the future, too. You're the textbook example of act first, think later, after all."

“G-Guilty as charged.” There was no way she could talk back here.

“If thinking is involved at all.”

“…”

“Anyway, yeah, you should probably do that, telling magic to preserve your domain when you continue to play around like you do."

“That will be the first thing I do when I get back!”

“Good.”

“Speaking of anyway,” Sophia thought it was time to change the topic and pointed at the blue parakeet that had gotten comfortable on Mira’s shoulder while they were talking. “Hypothetically speaking, if I manage to somehow amass 4,000 times my authority and compress it like that ball from earlier, could I do that, too?”

“Yes.” She simply nodded.

“LET’S GO!” That was all the tiger wanted to hear.

“It’s great that you bounce back so easily.”

“By the way, what is that bird?” The blonde pointed at Mira’s shoulder once more, causing the bird to turn its neck to look back at her. It also let out a small chirp while doing so.

“It’s a parakeet.” Mira lightly tilted her head. Curiously enough, the bid did the same. “A blue one.”

“I can see that.” Sophia let out a small sigh. “It looks like a bird, acts like a bird, and sounds like a bird.”

“Because it is a bird.” The overseer nodded. “A parakeet.”

“As I said, I can see that!” The blonde didn’t like that side of her. “You created it with magic! Does that mean it’s a magic bird?”

“It’s a bird that can use magic.” Mira’s wording was a little different. “Show her~.” She then turned her head to glance at the bird on her shoulder. The blue parakeet then flapped its wings once, and a strong gust of wind, way more powerful than it should be able to, hit the tiger full on.

“Whoa!” Sophia’s eyes grew wide as she hadn’t expected that. “Wait, why am I surprised? It’s a being made with magic! It would be weirder if it couldn’t use it!”

“That is correct.”  Mira nodded. “Other than that, it’s an entirely normal bird. Well, aside from the part where it's highly intelligent.”

“Magic can even create life?!” The blonde raised her voice once more.

“I mean, technically speaking, flora like trees is alive, too. Also, have you forgotten about blessing magic? It’s a natural process, but you still create new life with the help of magic, just with a few extra steps. Okay, that’s actually different, more of a conversion into reproductive cells based on your DNA, but you get the gist.” The overseer scratched her cheek. “Anyway, elemental magic has its name for a reason. We all are nothing but elements, either, so it naturally can do that, too. Although, even small birds like this one here are highly complex creatures, and that's the reason they're so expensive to make.” She added some more details. “The sentient side of magic then will then take care of the, well, sentient side of the creature.”

“Wow!” Sophia didn’t know how else to react. "Wait! Are griffins also born from magic, then? They're the only animals I've met so far that could use magic. Well, I mean, Fenny and the others are in their own category.”

"No, griffins are just intelligent enough to understand how to use magic and are granted authority. Any living being past a certain threshold can use it to some level.”

“Ahh, I see!” She thought she was onto something there, but it turned out to be nothing. “I’m not sure if I want to know, but a griffin that was created from magic would've been a lot more expensive than the 4,000 times for the parakeet, right? That's probably how it works, isn’t it?”

“M-U-C-H more~.” The overseer’s expression turned a little mischievous.

“I shouldn’t have asked!” She quickly shook her head. “Let’s do something nicer instead!” Saying so, the blonde’s arm disappeared into one of her small portals, and she pulled a small brown bag out of her storage on the other side. “If it’s a real bird, it should love these, right?” Opening the bag, she then poured a couple of sunflower seeds out of it on top of her open palm. “Here~.” She presented it to the parakeet, which then quickly left Mira's shoulder to fly over to Sophia and landed on her hand. There, it immediately started munching on the seeds.

“Why do you have sunflower seeds just ready like that in your storage?" Mira was surprised by their sudden appearance.

“Why not?” The tiger tilted her head in return.

“Okay, fair enough.” She could find no fault in her reasoning.

“It really is just a parakeet, huh?” She watched the bird that was happily eating the seeds while sitting in the palm of her hand. “Aside from the part where it feels super strong.”

“Well, yeah, it could easily beat you up.” The teal fox smiled at her.

“Eh? It could?!” With big eyes, Sophia stared at the bird. Responding to that, it let go of the seeds for a moment, looked back at the tiger, nodded slightly, and then returned to focus on the treat.

“So smug!” She couldn’t believe the bird’s reaction. “So cute, though!”

“Yes, adorable creatures acting smug always is a sight for sore eyes.” Mira agreed.

“Why did you look at me just now?!”

“Hehe~.” The overseer just continued to smile at the blonde.

“It could beat me, huh?” Sophia went back to staring at the bird.

“You and everyone else in your group.” She nodded. “At once.”

“You’re way too overpowered!” The tiger addressed the parakeet, who in return nodded once more before eating some more seeds. “How intelligent is it really, though? It can obviously understand what I’m saying.”

“You can interact with it the same way you do with the high-density magic particles. It’s still not at the level where it can talk with you, though.” Mira added some details.

“Still no talking, huh?” Hearing the blonde, the bird looked up again while shaking its head. “Well, even so, that’s amazing!” She wasn’t that bothered by it. “It still means I could get a permanent magic friend that I could interact with even when the concentration of ambient magic is too low, right?” The parakeet nodded a few times in return.

“Yes.” Mira also confirmed it. “It can also be used to relay your intended use of magic to get a better efficiency and clearer vision of your plan through explaining it to it.”

“You’re amazing! Best bird friend ever!” Sophia had nothing but praise for the bird as she smiled at it. Responding to that, the bird did a little dance on top of the tiger’s hand.

“Are you happy that I called you friend, or do you want my attention because you ate all the sunflower seeds and want more?" The blonde noticed that they were all gone. Hearing that, the parakeet nodded a few times.

“Magic really has taken a liking to my stupid yes reply to a question where it’s not an option, huh?” Sophia awkwardly looked at the teal fox.

“It appears so.”

Afterward, Sophia fed it some more seed and even added a bit of variety as she had a whole range of them in her storage. She also interacted with it some more to make sure to befriend it properly.

 

 

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