Sophia, Anna, and Chloe finally left the underground hot spring they found and continued their exploration of the crystalized tunnels under the cherry blossom forest. After a little while, they came close to the surface again and found a small cave with a massive crystal cluster, many plants and a partially open roof leading to the cherry blossoms and took a better look at it.
“This is such a nice cave!” Anna was a big fan of the place they found.
“Yeah!” Sophia felt the same.
"I like the hole in the ceiling and how we can see the cherry blossoms from below." Chloe thought so, too. "Let's just hope it's stable enough to support the trees so that it doesn't cave in and crush us."
“Oi!” The tigers didn’t appreciate that.
“I’m sure it’ll be fine~.” The fox smiled at them before getting closer to the massive light-pink crystal cluster in the very middle of the cave that was about five by five meters wide. “This looks kinda important, doesn’t it? Or ominous. I haven’t decided yet.”
“Would you stop already?!” The blonde glared at her. Blu, sitting on her shoulder, also shook its head a few times.
“It’s pretty fun, but I’ll try~.”
“Have you been hanging out with Maya lately?” Sophia tried to find out why Chloe was being like that, and this was the most logical explanation.
“Every now and then, yes.”
“Ah, I see.” She nodded a few times in understanding. “Regardless, you do have a point.” The blonde moved closer to the crystal cluster. “The important part, not the ominous one.”
“How so?” Anna also joined them and looked at the massive crystal, as well. “It looks fancy, but other than that?”
“It feels important!” Sophia and Chloe synced up.
“I see!” The princess nodded in understanding while her expression made clear that she had no idea what they were talking about.
“Blu, what do you think?” The blonde turned her head a little to glance at the parakeet on her shoulder. It then looked back at her while tilting its head. A few moments later, it flapped its wings and took flight. In the air, Blu flew a few laps around the massive crystal cluster before landing on top of it. The second the bird touched it, the entire crystal instantly began to shine in a bright white light. Immediately after, Blu returned to Sophia’s shoulder.
“Ahh, now I see how it feels important!” The tall tiger watched the spectacle with great interest. “That was quite something!”
“That’s one way to put it.” The shorter tiger felt similarly about it.
“Wait a moment,” Chloe tilted her head while she looked at the crystal with a concentrated expression. “I think it’s radiating magic power now?”
“Huh?” Hearing that, Sophia also gave it her full attention. “Oh, you’re right!” She noticed right away after having taken a better look. “Blu, what did you do?” Unfortunately, the parakeet only looked away when asked. “You little…” She knew full well that the bird knew exactly what was going on.
“Any idea what just happened?” Anna got closer to the crystal and put her hand on it. At the same moment, it started shining again, although in a way paler light. “E-Eh?” She immediately pulled away her hand. “It felt like it was sucking out my magic!”
“Seriously?!” Interested in that, Sophia did the same as her fellow tiger and also touched the cluster. “Woah!” The instant she did, it lit up again. It was still nowhere near as bright as when Blu did it, but it was a noticeably stronger light than Anna’s.
“Does it react to the individual authority?” Chloe tilted her head. “It would explain how our super bird almost blinded us and how Sophia’s reaction was much brighter than that of Anna.” Saying so, she couldn’t help herself and also placed her hand on it. Just as the other times before, it immediately began to glow once more. The intensity was somewhere in between the other two girls. “Well, that confirms that idea.” The fox kept her hand on it for five seconds longer before removing it. “Also, that little moment just now took around ten percent of my internal magic just like that!”
Stolen story; please report.
“That much?!” The blonde’s eyes grew wide. “Wait, was the light intensity really our internal power?” She tilted her head while looking at Chloe. “Yours was right in between Anna’s and mine. Aren’t you supposed to be closer to me?”
“Have you paid any attention to your own authority lately?” The fox just looked back at her.
“Yeah,” Anna nodded. “I’m not that good at sensing it in great detail, but you almost have twice as much magic as Chloe.”
“Eh?” Sophia got only more confused and stared at the pink girl for a moment. “When did you lose that much of your power? Did you share your magic with someone like Steph and I did before?”
“It’s not me who lost authority, you know?” She lightly shook her head. “You gained an absolutely significant amount instead. You’re almost on the level of Aura already. At least on the detectable level. We both know that you’ve been way above her for a long time already because you have overseer authority in you, which is more effective.”
“HUH?!” The short tiger got loud. “When did that happen?! Also, why did no one tell me?!”
"We figured you'd already know but also have no idea how or why it happened." Anna looked at her. "That's why we decided to let it be.”
“Ehh…?” She wasn’t a fan of the reasoning.
“For the when, it started happening after we left the capital.” Chloe just continued. “It made a massive jump a few days ago, though.”
“So, during and after the cherry blossom forest?” Sophia tilted her head. “I hadn't noticed at all! I was super busy, but still! Hmm… Why?” She only got more confused. “I’ve been using my authority non-stop by creating as much ambient and raw magic as possible, but that shouldn’t have that much of an effect!”
“See, that’s why we didn’t ask!” The princess smiled at her. “We knew you wouldn’t know.”
“Why does that sound so rude?!” The blonde still didn’t like it.
“My theory is that it’s related to your domain.” The fox still took a guess. “I mean, that’s the only thing to make any sort of sense.”
“Oh!” Anna clapped her hands. “Do you think they’re linked?” She looked at Chloe. “Like, whenever the domain grows, she does, too. The cherry blossoms and the whole area here, in general, were quite the leaps, right? Sophia’s powers making a leap during the same time sounds like it would make sense, doesn’t it?”
“…” The other three, Blu included, just stared at her.
“W-What?” She didn’t appreciate their stares.
“I hadn’t thought about that idea at all!” The fox seemed impressed. “It’s such a good theory, though! It works so well, too! The overseer domains have to have some special features we don’t know about yet. Something like this would fit in perfectly!”
“Really?” Sophia wasn’t so sure about the theory. “Don’t you think Mira would’ve mentioned that when she explained the domain and how it works to me?”
“Mira?” Chloe stared at her. “The one who didn’t tell me that she’s my mother for almost 20 years? The one that loves to be entertained by only giving partial information about a situation because she wants to see how it turns out? The one that only explains things after we managed to get about 70% of the way there ourselves?”
“You win that round.” The blonde had nothing to say there. “Also, you’re still salty about the mom part, huh?”
“I obviously am!” She nodded a few times. “I love her, though, and I’m feeling close to her again, so it’s mostly fine. The same goes for Feyfey. I’m still upset that the two hid the fact that we’re family for so long, but they had their reasons. Stupid reasons, but we went over that enough already.”
“Well, that much is fair.” Sophia couldn’t blame her for it. “Anyway, do you two really think I'm linked with my domain in such a way, and my powers grow when it grows…?"
“Yes!” They were very convinced of what they had just come up with.
“It definitely would be amazing!” The blonde was starting to like the idea. “That means everyone has to start pumping their magic into my domain constantly! The Sophia Tax will be significantly raised!”
“Oh no, she’s drunk on power!”
“I knew this day would happen eventually.” Chloe and Anna just looked at each other.
“What’s that supposed to mean?!” The short tiger glared at the princess. “If I have more magic, I can make the domain even better, meaning you all can do more fun stuff in here, too! Also, I want to boost everyone’s powers! Especially those of Ari and you, Anna!" She faced the princess. "You have so many great ideas, and our jaguar also shows some very promising things when using magic, so I want to see you at full power! I don't want to be the only one to grow in power! Everyone, at least to some degree, should grow with me! Right now, I couldn’t even create a forest the way I wanted it to be in one go, so I first have to get a lot stronger before I can do that comfortably!”
"Aww!" The girls were touched by her intent. Blu also happily chirped while flapping its wings a few times. The bird also liked how she was treating magic and its powers.
“Well, I’d still say I’m selfish because a big part of my motivation is my domain, but thanks for the reaction!” Sophia smiled at them. “Being able to make you all have more fun is also quite important to me!”
“Don't ruin it now.” Chloe slowly shook her head.
“Yeah!” Anna agreed with the fox. “Although, if one of the side-effects is me receiving a lot more magic power to keep, I’d even support you if your goal is world domination!” The tall tiger was even more selfish.
“I’m literally building my own new world right now, so…” Sophia scratched her cheek. “I have no interest in the outside world in that regard, but you aren’t exactly wrong? Worldbuilding, what we've been doing non-stop lately, sounds better, so I'll choose that.”
“Close enough of a distinction! Let’s go!” The princess energetically raised her arm.
“Sure, why not!” Chloe just shrugged. “Let’s go!”
“Let’s go!” Sophia and Blu also raised their arm, respectively wing.
Afterward, more motivated than ever, the group continued to study and experiment with the crystal cluster to find out what was going on with it and why it was hungry for magic.