The group learned about plant mutations and crystallization and how it can be done by exposing flora to too much raw magic. Sophia and the other girls got very excited about this and wanted to try it out immediately. Unfortunately, getting a specific mutation is not easy and needs a particular biome or type of plant to increase the chances for it to happen. Because of that, they decided to search for a swamp because that apparently increases the likelihood of a bioluminescent mutation.

“Oh, there really is a shrine of Canir here now.” The group had returned to the place where they had left off in the regular world the other day using Sophia's portals, and Ari immediately noticed a certain change in the environment.

“Yup.” The blonde nodded. “That’s the one Mira hid in the jungle she gave me.” She lightly glared at the overseer before continuing. “And no, I’m not going to do anything with that. It’s going to stay here.” She pointed at the shrine in the middle of nowhere.

“I wasn’t going to say anything.” The jaguar shook her head. “Actually, there are many shrines of Canir out in the wild that no one can explain why they're in those specific places. Yours will fit right in."

“Good!” Sophia was glad about not having gotten a lecture. “Hmm…” She then looked at Mira again. “Could it be that I wasn’t the first one with the idea of booting his shrines out of their domains? Have other overseers, or people with their own domains, done the same? His shrines being in places that make no sense, is quite suspicious, after all."

“I would not be surprised if that’s the case.” The teal fox couldn’t deny it. “Personally, I sealed the area around the shrine, but I can see this option being viable, too.”

“If you sealed it, why did you give it to me?!” The blonde raised her voice.

“Again, because I thought it would be funny~.” She just smiled at her.

“Grr!” Sophia growled briefly at her before turning her attention to Fey. “You have 56 minutes left to find us a swampy area.”

“55.” Steph slightly corrected her.

“Shush.” The full glared at the sisters. “You know that hurrying me will only lead to the exact opposite of what you want.”

“I mean, you did sound quite confident when you announced it.” Chloe faced her mother. “You have to follow up on it now.”

“Haa.” Fey let out a sigh. "Having raised you, I really should've learned how to keep my mouth shut by now."

“You didn’t, though~.” Steph smirked at her. “And so, let’s go!”

“One day, when no one’s watching, I’m going to set you on fire.” The full did not appreciate the dog’s comment.

“You will not!” Chloe did not appreciate her comment, either.

“I absolutely will!” She stared right back at her daughter.

"Well, it wouldn't be the first time, so it's fine~." Steph didn't seem bothered by it.

“H-Huh?!” Chloe’s eyes turned wide as she turned to look at her girlfriend.

“Fey’s been teaching me the correct usage of magic, right?” She smiled at her. “Mom’s either a lot worse at controlling her magic than she claims to be, or all those times my hair and tail got singed during the fire sessions were on purpose~.”

“Hey!” Mom glared at the violet dog. “You’re 100 years too early to call me that!”

“Oh! An actual number!” Steph’s expression turned the smuggest yet. “I can work with that!”

“Grr!” She just growled at her.

“I love how well they get along!” Chloe had her very own interpretation of the exchange.

“I also would’ve set her on fire a couple of times.” Ari sided with Fey.

“Thank you very much!” She was happy to have at least one supporter. “Anyway, let’s go and get over with it.”

“You’re so soft on them~.” Mira liked how she caved in at the end, anyway.

“I don’t want to hear that from you!”

“Hehe.”

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

The group finally got going and left the Canir shrine in the middle of nowhere behind. Navigating the area for a while, Fey eventually led them into a densely grown forest and kept going in there for about 20 minutes.

“I told you so.” Sounding even more smug than Steph earlier, the red full gestured at a murky-green pond in the middle of the forest, which was surrounded by a swamp-like area, trees covered in moss and overgrown with mushrooms.

“Ohh!” The sisters and Chloe simply started clapping their hands.

“Why is it so hot around here?” Maya noticed something else of interest. “Well, not exactly hot, but quite a bit warmer than it should be. Mushrooms aren’t supposed to grow like that during spring, right? The trees are already fully covered in leaves, too.” She made a slight pause before continuing. “Okay, we just grew a fully overgrown jungle in Sophia’s domain, but that’s a different topic.”

“That’s a good question!” The jaguar nodded a few times. “Everything else, outside the domain, was just starting to grow or blossom.”

“Feyfey, explanation, please!” Chloe then faced her mother with expectant eyes.

“Why me?”

“You’re the one who guided us to this place.” Steph looked at her with the same expression. “It’s only natural, no?”

“Hmm.” Not being able to say anything against that, Fey started surveying the area for a little while. “It doesn’t feel like there’s any excess magic that could be a cause for the elevated temperature.” She walked around for a bit longer and then looked down at her paws. “The ground around here feels a lot warmer than usual. There might be some sort of increased thermal activity in this region, and it's strong enough in this region to increase the temperature above ground enough to make the current state possible.”

“Sounds like it would make sense.” The blonde nodded a few times. “Maya, write that down and add it to the list of things I want to do in my domain!” She smiled at her secretary.

“Will do!” The cat-girl nodded, but she had no intention of writing anything down, just like she always does when urged to do so. Her job as a secretary wasn’t a mutual agreement, after all.

“Thermal activity?” Anna tilted her head. “Wait!” She then got loud. “As in a volcanic area?! We’re still super close to the capital, though! Isn’t that dangerous?!”

“Ohh!” Chloe and the sisters had the same reaction again.

“Hey!” The princess glared at them. “No getting excited over that!”

“I highly doubt it.” Aura addressed the concerned-looking tiger. “There are no signs of volcanic activities around here. No earthquakes, no geysers, smells of escaping gases from the underground, or any fissures in the earth that would indicate something busy underground.” She tried to calm her down.

“I-I see!” It worked on the princess.

“My guess,” Fen continued. “I’d say that there’s a huge underground lake in the area, which reaches deep enough to touch hotter rock. It’s active enough to heat up the area, but there's no pressure because there are none of the things Aura mentioned. It should be harmless.”

“Good!”

“You two sure know a lot about this.” Sophia was impressed by the wolves.

“Because volcanoes are awesome!” The two synced up perfectly while seeming to be quite excited all of a sudden.

“Ahh, I remember now.” Fey, on the other hand, sounded rather tired for some reason instead. "Back when I was last traveling with them, we visited a volcanic area with an active volcano, and they got really into it. I was rather tiring…”

“That was the best!” The wolves seemed to remember it, too. “Let’s go and find a volcano now!”

“Let’s go!” The sisters and Chloe, once again, were directly onboard.

“But not here!” Anna got loud again. “Otherwise, count me in!”

“Is there really no chance that this area has actual volcanic activity?" Ari, the levelheaded one, wanted to ensure the capital was in no direct danger.

“There’s no no chance, but it’s highly unlikely.” Fen faced her. “There’s no place in the world where there is no chance, but the signs indicate heavily against it.”

“Good!”

“Want to make sure it’s safe?” The blonde smirked at the royal couple.

“How?” They just tilted their heads.

“Hehe!” Sounding extra smug, she then lifted her hand. Immediately after, the whole area started to rumble before a massive hole appeared before them. "Underground adventure!" The tiger pointed at the pit. Upon closer inspection, rather than just a vertical hole, it seemed more like a tunnel seemingly going on forever into the depths at a slight angle.

“You’re the absolute best!” Steph, the dog-girl, looked very moved by her sister's digging skills. “Best adventure yet!”

“What she said!” The wolves quickly agreed with her.

“Oh, I really liked that massive underground lake beneath the capital!” Maya also was a fan. “It was super beautiful, and it would be fun if there’s something similar here~.”

“There’s a lake under the capital?!” The eyes of the princess turned wide after hearing this news.

“Yeah, it’s part of the dungeon there.” The cat-girl answered her without thinking. “A-Ah.”

“THERE’S A DUNGEON?!”

“Let’s go!” Not wanting to deal with that, Maya simply started walking and entered the newly created cave.

“LET’S GO!” The dogs, even though two of them were wolves, immediately ran after her.

“Wait a moment!” Anna also followed them.

“Haa…” Fey sounded even more tired.

“Adventure!” Her daughter was the exact opposite and urged all the remaining people of the group to also enter the tunnel.

Before Sophia followed suit, she collected a few samples of the swampy area for her domain to experiment on later before she and the rest finally disappeared into the newly created hole made by her.

 

 

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