Sophia had gotten rid of Fen and Maya because they teased her too much and decided to take it easy for a while. While being bored, she noticed that the concentration of ambient magic around her had significantly increased. Using the chance of being alone, the blonde tried to confirm the idea of magic being conscious and/or sentient like she thought to have found out the last time she was in Mira’s domain.
“This really is something.” The tiger was still alone with the pink and purple particles dancing around her as she continued to have trouble wrapping her head around her findings.
“I’m starting to understand why Mira’s keeping this or you a secret, though.” She smiled at her surroundings. “It’s really hard to believe. Magic works completely differently from how everyone thinks it does. I’m sure I’m still missing a lot, too! I see how it would be too much. It’s beyond amazing but also almost impossible to comprehend. The current system, once everyone gets rid of the self-imposed elemental restrictions, works well enough, after all."
Seemingly listening to her, the particles changed the way they moved every time the tiger got a little further with her theory. Once she stopped talking, some of them got closer to Sophia and messed a little with her hair and clothes.
“Hey!” She lightly swished them away. “No touching. Especially no lifting of the skirt!” Saying so with a teasing voice, the tiger patted down her skirt, only to be immediately met with a strong gust of wind right to her face. It seemed like they didn’t like the unjustified sexual harassment claim. After all, the blonde’s skirt never had moved a bit when they were messing with her.
“Ahaha, I’m sorry~.” The tiger lightly apologized. “You saw a lot of me already, so you know that I like to tease!” She didn’t feel sorry at all. “Anyway, you don’t really care how you’re, uhh… used, aren’t you? You’re just happy to have fun, right? Me being able to see and interact with you all is just one of the best fun you can have, I guess? I’m having a lot of fun, too! Let’s play lots!”
Liking that a lot, the pink and purple magic particles got excited once again. They energetically swirled around in the air while even more ambient magic joined from other places in the jungle.
“Someone’s eager, huh?” Sophia enjoyed seeing their reaction. “Mhm, earlier, I saw you all using actual magic, not just changing properties to help nature grow. Does that mean we can do stuff together without me using my authority on you?”
To answer her question, they formed a small orb of water roughly a meter away from the tiger and slowly moved it closer to her face. “H-Hey!” She quickly swished it away before it could hit her. "Also, it's unfair that you lot can tease me but then get upset if I do the same!"
Not pleased about having been called out, the tiger was attacked by another gust of wind. “Ah, so that’s how it is, huh? I guess my hairdo will suffer a lot in the future.” She had no intention of fully stopping the teasing. “Alright, anyway, if magic can be used without the direct input of someone’s authority, can I ask you to make me a nice mountain around here? I'm not really a fan of my domain being so flat! It would be great to get some diversity in the terrain.”
Nothing happened for a little while. Then, most of the particles grouped together and collectively moved from left to right several times. “Huh?” Sophia looked confused and tilted her head. “Wait, so you can do whatever you want, but you don’t respond to doing something for others if they don’t use their authority?”
Right after, the ambient magic moved up and down a few times before energetically swirling around the tiger again. “Well, it was worth a try. I can see why you’d say no to it, though. It would be too much power, after all." She was quite disappointed but by no means mad about it. “How about I give you free reign over my domain? No logical restrictions. The only rule is that it must be at least somewhat cute!”
The magic particles, every single one of them, instantly and completely stopped moving once they heard these words. “Oh, it seems like I piqued some interest, huh~?” Sophia tried her hardest to look and sound as smug as possible. “HEY!” Naturally, she was immediately hit with another strong gust of wind. “I don’t care!”
As an answer to her defiance, the tiger was pummeled by even more wind, but the pink and purple sparkles also became lively again. They rapidly encircled the blonde once more and spun around her so fast that it almost seemed like she was in the eye of a very fancy tornado. “I like how, while you aren’t able to speak, you’re still so easy to read.”
In response to that, they seemed to be getting impatient as they only increased the speed they were swirling around Sophia. “Calm down, I’ll get to it in a moment!” She let out a small chuckle before continuing. “Mira told me that you and nature are very tightly connected. Plants generate more magic, and you transform and create more nature to promote even more growth. A win-win for everyone.”
Some of the particles stopped spinning around her and moved up and down a couple of times. “Exactly, but the results of this symbiosis are kinda normal. The magic-boosted plants are still just regular old plants, just bigger or denser grown. Trees that make your neck hurt when you try to find out how tall they are are cool but also not that special once you get used to them. How about something actually exciting for a change?”
Feeling deeply offended over having been called boring, the particles stopped swirling around the girl and took some distance as well. On top of that, she was once more hit by a few wind attacks. “Hey! I didn’t call you boring! I just think it would be nice to do more things out of the ordinary!”
Hearing that, the ambient magic calmed down again and returned to their usual gentle swishing. “Something more fantasy-like would be sooo much fun! If things get overgrown already, why not a forest of nothing but massive mushrooms? Green or brown trees? How about different colors? Purple trees would be amazing! No, a whole forest in that and similar shades! Completely useless bioluminescence in all sorts of plants to make the area glow! Maybe even based on actual light generated from infused magic! Glowy orbs everywhere! Not just flora with unusual sizes, but completely unbound by their normal properties!” She was getting very excited about her ideas.
It seemed like Sophia wasn’t the only excited one, either. Half of the pink and purple had already disappeared into the jungle while being accompanied by construction-like noises. At the same time, the remaining ambient magic began to swirl around the tiger once more. “You like that?” The blonde was smiling again. "Just remember the requirement to be at least somewhat cute, okay? You don’t have to do what I suggested, either. It was just a reference for you to work with. Do whatever you think is fun! Anyway, everyone still here, go and play with your friends!" She pointed at the jungle before her, and the remaining particles also immediately left.
Sophia waited there for about an hour to see if the ambient magic needed her for anything, but she eventually decided to head out and reunite with Fen and Maya.
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“Is there anything new showing up on your detection already…?” The duo was still fighting their way through the undergrowth when the cat-girl asked for an update.
“It’s hard to tell.” The wolf shook his head. “The ambient magic is becoming denser, though. It makes it even more impossible to see anything, but as you mentioned before, if the magic's getting denser, we’re on the right track!”
“You’d think so, right?” The blonde’s voice joined their conversation from behind them.
“Exact- HUH?!” Maya first nodded before quickly turning her head. “Sophia?!”
“A good day to you two idiots~.” Still being in a great mood from earlier, she playfully greeted them.
“How are we the idiots here?!” As Fen was already used to her popping out of nowhere, he jumped straight to the point.
“I think it’s pretty stupid to walk in the exact opposite direction of your goal for hours with such confidence.” Sophia’s expression turned smug. “You’ve been getting further away from the cottage or me the entire time. In fact, you’re heading right for the core of the jungle.”
“Fen!” The cat-girl immediately glared at him.
“What?!” He met her stare. “You’re the one who suggested following the higher magic readings."
“A-Ah.” She quickly turned her head away. “It’s all your fault in the first place!” Maya then proceeded to glare at the tiger.
“True!” Fen could agree with that.
“You two were the ones teasing me without a break.” The blonde, however, did not agree.
“Ah.” This time, both turned their heads away.
“Anyway, did you two have a good time together?” Sophia didn’t want to keep going with the topic. She had already long since stopped caring and was in a way too good of a mood after the earlier events with the ambient magic.
Afterward, the duo explained their arduous journey while making sure to complain as much as possible. Though, it was more than obvious that the tiger didn’t care the least bit about it and was just happy to hear that the two seemed to have bonded a lot.
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Sophia and magic will become the bestest of friends~
I can’t wait for Mira to find out what Sophia did. Somehow managing to trick magic into improving her domain without spending authority. Even if that is never how she would word it and it would never have worked if she had that intention in the first place.
@Jessy I think she'll just chuckle and say (in another "overseer training") that Sophia discovered more of the secrets and that she (Mira) will need to talk with magic about not giving anything away...not that she's any better about it.
@Jessy Well, in theory, it's kinda prepaid right now because there's little "naturally" generated magic in Sophia's domain yet. Most of it came from the "Sophia Tax" (the group having to pay with their internal magic).
Magic even denied her, too, when she tried the idea. She did manage to guide it into a direction, though. Something that will likely prevail once the percentage of natural magic increases. The cute part aside, it's more of a thing of Sophia having the same alignment as magic.
She just gave them the okay to go wild, while others probably would've imposed more rules.
@Teanam That sounds like its the best way to go about things honestly.
Maybe we need a short cutaway at the beginning of the next chapter with Mira suddenly feeling something is about to go horribly wrong. she would be able to tell Magic is excited, and probably deduce something has happened. if not realize that magic has free reign to do what it wants with freely given authority.
@Jessy Mira's fairly "blind" in Sophia's domain, so it could take a while before she notices. She isn't that often in her domain, either. Especially not roaming around.
That's good, though, because it will be too late then xD