After a day of continuous high-speed exploring as a punishment from Sophia for having been teased so much the day before, the group finally stopped after the sun had set. However, rather than immediately heading back to the cottage in the blonde’s domain, they found a nice little spot next to a river together with a few trees and decided to stay there for a while.

"Alright, that should do it!" Sophia had just finished lighting the campfire with her magic and the wood they gathered before. “It’s been way too long since we last did this! Well, it’s still too cold for camping, but relaxing around a fire is a good start!” She then smiled at everyone gathered in a circle around it.

“I’d like to disagree with the cold statement, but I guess your cat-brain tolerating even this is all I can ask for at the moment.” Steph lightly shook her head. “What do you thin- Ah.” She looked at Chloe for confirmation, but the fox wasn’t able to answer.

“…” She, as well as Anna, had gotten comfortable under a tree and had already fallen asleep with their back against it. Not only that, but the girls were also leaning against each other, with the princess having put her head on top of Chloe's from the side, thanks to the massive height difference. They were the tallest and shortest in the group, after all. The two most likely ended up in that position because they relaxed and fell asleep the moment they sat down.

“Someone ran out of steam, huh?” The blonde looked at the calming sight with a warm expression.

“They ran out of steam seven hours ago.” Maya lightly rolled her eyes. “I, too, am quite tired at this point.”

“And I’m dead!” Ari got loud, and while looking extremely tired, she sat down next to Anna and leaned against her free side. “Good luck making any progress tomorrow! I’ll be sleeping all day long! Just as much as these two will!” She pointed at the two already sleeping girls to her right.

“Ahaha,” Sophia scratched her cheek. “I guess it’s domain day tomorrow. Perfect time to start my own little projects in there!”

“I’ll make sure to burn it once you’re done.” The jaguar’s mood was a little sour.

“Note to self, don’t tell Ari where I go.”

“Don’t worry, I’ll find it.”

“Okay, then I’ll go far enough for you to only reach it with a week’s worth of constant running.

“…” The jaguar glared at her. “I hate you.”

“Always love to hear it~.”

“Oh!” Hearing that, Steph perked up and pointed at a larger forest not far away from where the group was resting. “Can we, uhh… borrow some fir and spruce trees from over there? I wanna do some experimenting, as well!”

“Sure!”

“I want some, too!” Aura joined in on the fun. “I noticed some pines in there, too!” She also looked at the forest the dog-girl was pointing at. “I want to make the most massive and best-smelling forest ever!”

“Of course~.” Sophia was a fan of their enthusiasm. “The biome ideas are a little too temperate for, especially whatever Steph is going to create, but diversity is great, and I do love the smell of pine!”

“Let’s go!” The duo was very motivated.

“Hehe." The blonde smiled at them but then changed her attention to Mira. “How does that even work?”

“How does what work, my dear?” The overseer tilted her head. “You need to be a bit more precise.”

“I get how trees and other plants grow with magic. Well, sort of, but let’s not go there for now. What about the soil, though? I noticed that the forest Maya and Ari had grown massively in size this morning. It even covered areas that were previously only the all-white nothingness of my domain. Where does the ground come from?”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

“Magic~.” Mira smiled at her.

“I’m more and more seeing why you get upset when I use that reply.” Sophia looked at Maya with a slightly apologetic expression.

“As long as you understand.” The cat-girl nodded a few times.

“You need a bit more precise, my dear.” The blonde threw Mira’s words right back at her.

“Good comeback.” The teal fox had to give it to her. “It’s one of the many specialties of overseer domains. Magic can be controlled down to the elemental level, and I don't mean fire or water here. Raw environmental magic combined with the magic-infused flora is somewhat symbiotic. Excess magic will be turned elemental and converted into soil and other important things to nurture even more trees and plants in return, which will lead to a higher magic concentration. It’s a never-ending circle.”

“Wow!” Sophia, Steph, and the wolves had the same reaction. Chloe probably would’ve, too, but she was fast asleep and hadn’t heard a single word.

“You understood that?!” Maya and Ari, who was still awake while leaning against her tiger, also reacted similarly.

“Not at all!” The sisters shook their heads. “It sounds super cool, though!”

“Ahh.”

“Long story short, more than just adding outside stimulation in the form of plants, landmarks, and general environment, with enough environmental or raw magic, your domain itself will turn alive over time. Everything flora and fauna require will eventually be produced by magic by turning elemental."

“Ohh!” The sisters nodded in understanding.

“You still don’t get it, do you?” Fey slowly shook her head while looking at the two.

“More than before, but still no!”

“About what I expected.” The full fox lightly rolled her eyes. “Well, this is something else entirely, so it's indeed rather unbelievable." She couldn't blame them for it.

“Wait a moment!” Sophia raised her voice. “If elemental magic can create everything that is needed, can it create or turn into diamonds, too?! That's just carbon, after all.”

“For what would diamonds be needed?” Mira couldn’t follow her.

“To sell and fill my pockets!” The greedy side of the blonde showed.

“What a shrewd girl you are.”

“Thank you very much~.” She took it as a compliment.

“I mean, it’s not impossible, I guess…?” The overseer scratched her cheek. “It’s quite complicated, though. Elementals act and form after their surroundings. You know when they’re needed to further improve the magical satiation, not the contents of your wallet.”

“Ah.”

“Completely ignoring the moral aspects of it, as well.” Fey added her own bit.

“True…” Sophia sounded ever so slightly disappointed. “Well, I guess if magic is being so kind to create a new world in my domain, I can’t really complain, can I? Thank you very much, magic~! I look forward to whatever you have in store for my domain!" Her thanks was directed in no particular direction.

“So, long story short, we only need a few samples of a biome to grow it bigger as magic nurtures any expansion needed to make it as big as possible?” Steph tried to understand it, as well. “Mainly for the flora to generate even more magic in return?”

“Pretty much.” Mira nodded. “For the most part.”

“Let’s go!” It was all the dog-girl needed to hear. “I’m going to go so overboard that the magic in Sophia's domain can't even comprehend what's happening!"

“I look forward to seeing your exploits~.” The teal fox smiled at her. “I have to warn you about the downsides of your plan, though.”

“Downsides?” The dog-girl tilted her head.

“The higher the magic concentration, the warmer a place usually is. It’s faint, but an abundance of it has that effect on its surroundings. That’s why the main areas of my domain are extra cozy, too.”

“And here I thought it was impossible to like my beloved magic even more!” Sophia was a big fan of this information.

“There might be a chance I like magic 1.2% less now…” Steph thought otherwise. “Well, I’m sure there are countermeasures for that, right? I mean, I can use magic to make it colder, so it can certainly be used on a larger and automatically, can’t it?”

“Only one way to find out~.” Mira smiled at her again.

“Only one way to find out!” She liked the challenge.

“Yeah, Steph’s playground will definitely be placed as far away as possible from the center of my domain.” The blonde had a bad feeling about her energy.

“More space to go wild!” The dog-girl, if anything, was happy about it.

The group kept relaxing around the campfire for a good while longer, but once Ari followed after Anna and Chloe, namely also succumbing to her exhaustion and falling asleep, everyone decided to return to the cottage. Before that, while Maya, Mira, and Fen, on his back, carried the sleeping girls through the portal, the sisters and Aura made a short trip to the nearby forest.

After all, Steph and the female wolf wanted to get some needle leaf trees like pines, spruces, and firs for their domain projects. The blonde still wasn’t the biggest fan of their ideas, but she liked the idea of having as much diversity in her domain as possible. That, and she, too, was an enjoyer of the way pines smell, so she could especially accept Aura’s plan of creating the biggest and best-smelling forest in existence.