Maya wanted to try out some advanced magic Fen had used before while exploring the jungle. Which went well. She overdid it a little and made a small mistake or two, resulting in almost burning them alive. Luckily, Sophia saw this coming and made sure to protect them so that they were in no danger at any point in time.
“Alrighty, this will make a fine place for a small lake~.” The tiger finished inspecting the area Maya burned down and reunited with the other two. “Have you calmed down by now?” She then faced her cat.
“…” The girl in question wasn’t sure what to say.
"You know, if you get upset every time you almost die and or kill someone while having fun with magic, the future looks bleak.” Fen wasn’t necessarily helpful, either.
“I’m sorry about not being indifferent over such a topic!”
“Well, she’s at least still quite lively.” Sophia liked her strong reply. “How about, instead, you just stop being so overconfident and listen to others?” She paused for a moment. “And, this coming from me, has to mean something!”
“It means a lot!” The wolf agreed with her.
“How are you two able to get over something so easily?!”
“Experience.” Fen and the tiger were in perfect sync.
“You learned how to use magic a year ago!” Maya glared at Sophia again.
“And how often did I almost kill me and or others, including this whole content, during that year already?”
“Do NOT look so smug while admitting that!” The cat-girl’s glare intensified.
“I thought we wanted to be more easygoing?” There was not a shred of remorse in the blonde.
“…” Maya went silent again. “We also agreed that I’m allowed to punish you if you overdo it."
“Feel free to do whatever you want tonight~.” She was up for the challenge. “Though, you are the one who almost killed us today. Does that mean that I get to be the top?”
“…” It didn’t take much for the cat-girl to go silent again.
“I thought we were trying to build her up again?” Fen was a little confused over her way of doing things.
"Don't worry, the best way to cheer up Maya, is to get her laid."
“I see.” He decided against engaging further in this topic.
“Idiot…” The cat-girl’s expression slowly softened up. “She’s right, though.” She then smiled at Fen. “There are no better ways for that when it comes to me.”
“I don’t need to know that.” He shook his head. “I don’t want to know that.”
“Better now?” Sophia thought it was time to get back on track.
"A little.” Maya nodded. “Tonight will include a lot of action, though!”
“Sure~.” She wasn’t against it. For reasons.
“You two are way too horny…” Fen gave up on them. “Anyway, are we good now?”
“At least better.” The cat-girl still wasn’t completely over it.
“Fair enough.” He nodded. “Enough to continue, though?”
“As long as you take the lead for a bit longer.” She didn’t feel like immediately using magic again.
“Okay.”
“Could you continue with the path on the other side of the clearing?” Sophia addressed the wolf. “I want to integrate the future lake into it.”
This text was taken from Royal Road. Help the author by reading the original version there.
“Sure thing!” He nodded. “I think I’ll also do something else besides fire for a change.”
“I love the sound of that!” The tiger was happy about the change of plans. “Let’s go!”
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The trio arrived on the other side of the charred and burnt clearing in no time at all, and Fen quickly started getting ready for even more magic.
“How would you feel about a random, maybe slightly erratic path, my dear?” He addressed Sophia with a playful tone in his voice.
“I am intrigued.” The blonde nodded. “As long as it looks somewhat natural.”
“That lies outside of my powers.”
“What are you up to?”
“I want to make a small tornado and see what happens inside a jungle!”
“…” Sophia paused for a moment and just looked at him. "Maya just exploded a big portion of it, and now you want to finish it off?!" She did not like his idea.
“If your jungle can’t endure a little wind, it doesn’t deserve to survive.” Fen just stared at her. “Only the strong shall live!”
“The jungle is only a day old!” She stared back. “You don’t expect from a baby that only the strong survive, do you?!”
“Of course I do!”
“Maya!” Hearing that, the blonde immediately faced her. “Once we are at that point, Uncle Fenny is not allowed to get closer than five meters to our daughter!”
“Agreed!” The cat-girl felt the same.
“Hey!” Uncle Fenny didn’t seem to like that. “Also, a child between the two of you? She’d easily be able to survive a tornado or two!”
“50 meters!” Sophia quickly reevaluated her earlier decision after hearing this.
“500 meters!” Maya was even harsher. “I’ll also tell Aura about this!”
“That’s a great idea.” The tiger nodded a few times. “I’m sure she’d love to hear that!”
"A-Anything but that!” The wolf started panicking. “She’ll kill me!”
“That’s the point.” The cat-girl smiled at him.
“You little-!”
“Glad you’re feeling better.” Sophia liked that Maya returned to her usual self after the earlier incident.
“Yeah, I’m not as shaken by it anymore.” She nodded.
“Great!”
“I hate you two.” Having enough of them, Fen returned to his magic. He took a few steps back, away from the jungle, and began to concentrate for a moment. Immediately after, strong winds formed in front of him, which then quickly started to swirl around and grew in intensity. Once it reached a height of about five meters, the wolf opened his eyes again, and the miniature tornado, albeit much more violent-looking than a regular one, made its way toward the jungle.
The moment it made contact with the overgrown flora, it shredded it to tiny bits, and various plant matter got thrown all over the place while the tornado was eating its way deeper inside. Soon enough, you could only hear branches breaking and plants being destroyed as the tornado disappeared into the hole it had created as it was taking turns instead of going straight. Only very few things are being straight in Sophia’s domain, after all.
“Okay, I do kinda like that.” Sophia watched the tornado making its way through the undergrowth with a curious expression. “It looks nice and natural, too~.”
“Yeah, it looks pretty fun!” Maya also liked it. “It also looks much safer regarding collateral damage.”
“It’s much easier magic, true.” He nodded. “About as effective for the job, too.”
“Want to try it, too?” The tiger wanted to get her back to playing around with magic. Especially when it’s not fire that could burn down her jungle.
“Hmm.” She tilted her head. “I’d like to see Fen do it one or two more times first. My big magic skills seem to have gotten a little rusty during the winter. Once I feel confident again, I might want to try again if that’s okay.”
“Sounds like a plan to me!”
“And more tornados for me!” Sophia and Fen liked her suggestion.
“And once I’m feeling de-rusted, a good old fire tornado like the good old times might be fun. Normal fire, not the fancy one from earlier.”
“Ohh!” The wolf was a big fan of that, too.
“Take it easy, girl!” The blonde wanted them to let go of playing with fire inside the jungle already.
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Once everyone got a good laugh out of that, the group kept going and chased after Fen's tornado, which had been eating its way through the jungle for the past couple of minutes. It had been quite effective, as well. The entire undergrowth had been turned to shreds and disappeared along the path it had created. Only the bigger trees were left. While mostly intact, they did have some cuts in their barks, though.
“I’m not one for self-praise, but I want to say that I did a good job here.” The wolf sounded quite proud of himself.
“I have to agree.” The tiger nodded. "The shredded pieces of plants aside, this natural-looking path through the jungle is exactly what I wanted from the very beginning! I guess the plant bits aren’t even a bad thing in the first place because they’ll become good fertilizer later on!”
“I’m missing the ash and burnt bits, but it’s not bad.”
“That’s the best part!” Sophia glared at the cat-girl.
“Debatable.” Maya shook her head. “Again, it seems much safer, though. And, after my earlier mishap, it’s a fair trade for now. Fen, please keep up the work and continue like that for a while, so I can make sure to relearn it~.”
“Gladly!” He liked her praise. “In return, you’re going to decide which way I’ll send the wind. The initial direction, at least.”
“Sounds fun! Sophia, which way is the core of the jungle again?”
“This way!” She pointed to her left.
“Alright, let’s go that way!” The cat-girl pointed in the exact different direction.
“Happy Maya is the best Maya.” Fen and Sophia were on the same page.
“Idiots…” She started blushing a little.
Once a course of action was decided on, the wolf created another tornado, and the group continued their exploration.