The group had explored the cottage Sophia stole before, and everyone chose a room to stay in for the time being. Yes, there were no issues around it whatsoever. Afterward, Sophia started asking Mira about some essentials to make her domain more hospitable by adding a sky, day and night cycle, and many other things to get rid of the all-white nothingness.

“Okay! Teach me everything!”

“Are you alright with just the two of us?” Mira glanced at the overly excited-looking blonde tiger next to her.

“Why would I not?” Sophia tilted her head. “Also, everyone else seemed busy. Steph and Anna were still bickering over the rooms while Ari tried to act as an intermediary between them. Chloe and Fey wanted to do something, too, and the wolves wanted to take a nap. Maya simply didn’t want to deal with whatever would happen if the overseer of magic tried to teach me something."

“Fair enough.” She nodded a few times before looking around in the area. The two were in Mira's place right now, in front of a small house in a little clearing in the middle of a massive jungle. “Where do you want to start?”

“The sky!” The blonde looked up and pointed at the starry night sky. Here, too, the sun had long since set.

“It’s all fake.”

“Really?”

“Yup.” The many-tailed fox nodded. “Created with magic, that is. Obviously, there are no actual stars or planets inside my domain.”

“That makes sense. I would’ve thought it’s somehow linked to the real world, though.”

“No, it’s an artificial recreation. In the grand scheme of things, it’s basically a drawing painted on the ceiling of my domain using magic. A huge drawing, I guess. It slowly rotates across the ceiling and simulates the day and night cycle with the help of light-based magic.”

“Wow!” Sophia sounded quite impressed. “How do I do that?!”

“I don’t think you or your domain are ready for that just yet.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” She did not like that reply.

“It’s doubtful your authority is high enough to maintain it. The levels of raw magic inside your domain aren’t high enough, either.”

“Admittedly, my powers are nothing compared to you, but Canir was quite generous, no? I should have enough authority to put a painting on the ceiling of my domain, shouldn’t I?”

“This world isn’t a planet, but a flat plane of infinite length or dimensions. There’s no curvature of the land.”

“…” It seemed like the blonde wanted to make a comment about something. “No, that’s too cheap even for me.” She decided against it. “Wait, what does the flat-earther’s wet dream have to do with my lacking authority over magic?”

“The painting has to be hundreds of kilometers long in every direction for the illusion to be convincing. If you add the day and night rotation, it has to be many thousands of kilometers. That will need a lot of authority, and it's not even including the movement and the added changes in lighting and temperature. It doesn’t quite matter right now, but once you introduce more flora and fauna to your domain, this circle also has to be running when you aren’t there to see it. Otherwise, the plants and animals will quickly die off.”

“Wow, I hadn’t thought that far! I definitely would love to get a ton of animals and a jungle that would make yours here pale in comparison!”

“I like the levels of motivation!” Mira gave her a thumbs up.

“Still, isn’t there a light sky I can use in the meantime? How do I even increase the magic in my domain in the first place?” She started looking around. “Here, there’s so much raw magic that I can see it sparkling everywhere. I love the purple color~.”

“Filling your domain with raw magic is fairly easy, but it's quite time-consuming. Especially in your case, as your authority over it, in overseer terms, is quite low. Long story short, you flood your domain with the raw magic inside you and then let your authority reset outside of it. Rinse and repeat.”

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“That’ll take forever!” Sophia didn’t like the sound of it.

“Well, there’s a lot of work involved in creating and managing your own domain.” The teal fox smiled at her before gesturing around. “It’s quite rewarding, though.”

“I can see that!” She also started looking around again. “Is there any way to speed it up a little?”

“The best thing to start would be increasing the flora, I guess.” Mira gestured at the jungle around them once more. “You’ve grown a few trees with the use of raw magic before, right?”

“Yeah, it’s been quite a while, but the group and I ended up creating a small magical forest thanks to it. It’s amazing there!”

“You should do the same in your domain. Plants are amazing at sponging up and distributing elemental magic.”

“Elemental?” Sophia tilted her head.

"Depending on the situation, it's a better description for raw magic. Don't worry about it."

“Ah, I see.”

“Flora infused with elemental magic also constantly generates more of it while changing and influencing its surroundings.”

“Ohh, is that how our few trees turned into a full overgrown forest?”

“Yes.” The teal fox nodded. “The more flora you grow, the more elemental magic will be generated. If you and your friends expend your authority a couple of times to create some trees each time, it will soon become a decent starting point to shape your domain. As an added benefit, if you supply flora with enough magic, it doesn't require natural light to survive. It will just work fine with your all-white background right now.”

“That’s perfect!” Sophia’s eyes started sparkling before she focused on Mira and showed her a great smile. “The amazing overseer of magic is my friend, too, right~?”

“Isn’t that nice?”

“Very!”

“Haha, you sure are a sly one.” She had to give it to her. “Well, if I later get to boast that I was of significant importance in starting your legendary domain, I guess I can spare a square kilometer or two of my jungle here.”

“Thank you very much!” The blonde was very happy about that. “I’ll even ignore the other part you just said because I can’t wait to improve my place!”

“That’s the spirit!”

“By the way,” Sophia started looking around again. “What is going on with the raw… or elemental magic around here?” She focused on the highly concentrated pink and purple magic particles around her. “Why does it seem excited? In a way, it almost looks like it has a rhythm and is dancing around us."

“They’re happy that you want to play with them so much, and in interesting ways, too.”

“Ohh! Wait, what…? Who are they?” The blonde looked confused.

“Magic, of course~.”

“Ehh? Huh? Don’t tell me magic has an actual consciousness?”

“…” Mira paused for a moment. “I think I shared too much information just now. Please forget about it~.”

“No way!” She got very excited. “Magic, if you understand what I’m saying, do something!”

“That’s not how- Ah.” The teal fox wasn’t able to finish her sentence because the pink and purple magic particles became even more active and began swirling around Sophia, almost encasing her in a whirlwind.

"This is amazing!" The tiger held out her arms and hands, and the magical particles immediately flew around them, too. “Does that mean they like me?”

“…” Mira did not answer her.

“I loved magic since the first time I witnessed it, so if it really can feel and express some sort of emotion, that would be the best thing ever!" Her excitement was rising even more. "I wanna be friends! Can I befriend magic?!"

“…” The teal overseer continued to stay silent, but something or someone else wasn’t on her side. Even more purple magic particles came out of the surrounding jungle and also gathered around Sophia. Her entire surroundings had turned pink and sparkly.

“This is the coolest! Is there a way to talk with them?! It’s obvious that they understand me, but I want to be able to have an actual conversation with magic?!”

“Sophia,” Mira eventually looked right at her. “I can’t tell you that. My playful little reply earlier already led you to discover way too much. Not even Fey, my partner I have a child with, knows that part about magic. It’s also not quite as you’ve pictured together, but… No, I’m not giving you even more pointers here.”

“That’s no fun!” The tiger started pouting. “I wanna befriend magic!”

“Haa…" She sighed while glancing at the pink and purple particles dancing around the blonde. “If it is possible, it’s for you to find out on your own.”

“Fair enough.” Sophia seemed to be okay with that. “Challenge accepted!”

“Also,” Her expression turned serious. “Keep this to yourself for the time being.”

“Okay!”

“From everyone in your group included.”

“Eh?”

“The world isn’t ready for the implications this possible revelation could have.”

“I mean, it’s absolutely amazing, but is it really that much of a big deal?”

“Even Canir does not know about this.”

“WHAT?!”

“He is aware of the basic concept and how it resolves around authority, as that is how magic works everywhere. This magic goes some extra steps, though.” She pointed at the pink particles that were still swirling around the tiger.

“Even so!” Sophia raised her voice. “How come he doesn’t know something this important?!”

“Because I never told him.” She shrugged. “He doesn’t actively use the magic of this world because he doesn’t need external influence because of the massive amount of magic inside of him. He has no need to use his authority, which works well for him as that keeps his footprint in this world low.”

“Okay…?” The blonde wasn’t sure she could entirely follow her.

“My dear friend, the overseer of flora and fauna, knows about this specialty of this world's magic because our fields of expertise are quite interwoven and reliant on each other, but other than her, no one knows about this. It’s that much of a secret.”

“W-Wow.”

As Sophia needed a moment to wrap her head around what she just learned about magic, the duo decided to take a quick break to reflect on some things.