Anna went to visit Mira because she wanted to get better at using magic and learn a few tricks to finally start building her biome in Sophia’s domain. She was hoping to use the magic crystal that stores magic, and while it was possible, it turned out that other options seemed to make more sense for the situation. To use them, the princess needed to get better at feeling magic, and the overseer decided to give her a little training session.
“Are you ready to learn something~?” The two went to an open field in the overseer's domain, where Mira smiled at the princess before looking in the far distance to her left. "Just in time, too."
“I’ve never been more ready to learn!” Anna reacted with a big nod while ignoring the cryptic part of the overseer's question. "Admittedly, that's not a high bar, but ignore that!"
“Haha.” Mira let out a small chuckle. “The goal is to make you understand and read magic levels in the area, so you have to concentrate a lot. I hope you’re prepared.”
“Concentrating isn’t one of my strong suits, but I’ll give it my all and then some extra on top!”
“Your motivational levels are definitely up there, though.” The fox smiled at her. “Okay, for starters, try to tell me how much magic is in the area around us right now.”
“Mhmm.” Anna looked around before closing her eyes and pausing for a moment. “I don’t think I can feel anything at all.” She eventually shook her head.
“Well, that’s a good start.” Mira gave her a thumbs-up. “When we got here, I removed the entirety of ambient magic around here. So, there is nothing for you to feel.”
“Yay, I guess?” The tiger tilted her head. “The question is if I would’ve felt anything even if you didn’t do that, though. I can’t say I ever felt magic in normal areas before. Only when being in your domain or certain places in Sophia’s.”
“There is a difference between feeling nothing and not feeling it. The former comes from there being nothing, while the latter can be explained by being used to it so that you aren't conscious about it anymore. Like breathing, for example. Most of the time, you just do it, but once you focus on it, it suddenly becomes a conscious thing.”
“Makes sense.” Anna nodded. “Could you change the magic around us to regular levels so that I can try and feel a difference?"
“That was the plan~.” Saying so, the overseer blinked once. “Okay, done~.”
“So quick!”
“I’m not the overseer of magic for nothing, after all.”
“Ah, right!” The princess had forgotten about that for a moment. “Alright, let’s see.” She then closed her eyes and concentrated for a little bit. “Hmm, it still feels like nothing, but more of a familiar nothingness, I guess?” She looked confused when she opened her eyes again.
“Good.” Mira smiled at her. “If you feel a difference, that’s a good sign. The familiarity of nothingness comes from your body being used to it, as I mentioned before. It simply ignores this level of magic.”
“I’m not sure if you’re just giving me too much credit, though.” Anna didn’t feel like she was understanding much.
“That’s unlikely.” She shook her head. “I can see your potential, and let’s just say that you’re an excellent fit for your group.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Alright, let’s increase the ambient magic and see what happens, okay?” The overseer ignored her questioning expression and closed her eyes for a second. “Okay, try and guess what I did.”
“Mrmm.” She first growled slightly over the evasive fox before doing as told and began to concentrate once more. “Could I get a hint on how I should focus on the magic?”
“Magic is power, among many other attributes, so try to see if anything feels more powerful than usual.”
“Power, huh?” With her eyes still closed, Anna turned around on the spot a couple of times to feel her surroundings. “I feel more powerful in certain areas in Sophia’s domain, like in the cherry blossom forest or in the area around your cabin, but right now and here…?” She tilted her head and paused for a second. “The air maybe feels a little richer, if that makes any sense to you?”
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“It does.” Mira nodded. “It was a subtle increase, so it might’ve not been enough to make a meaningful distinction for you. Okay, try again now. I changed it a little more.”
“Let’s see.” This time, the princess went silent for two whole minutes. “Hmm, I still wouldn’t call it powerful, but it feels quite nice! Like, it’s comfortable to be here? More akin to being loosely wrapped in a fluffy blanket if I had to describe it.”
“That’s an interesting take.” The overseer looked at the tiger. “I like it, though.”
“How much higher is the magic around us right now?”
“Around double the usual amount.”
“And it only feels like a comfy blanket to me?!” Anna was disappointed in herself.
“To be fair, Sophia’s forest is several hundred times above the usual level, and my cabin area is in the high four-digit area."
“Ah.” The tiger went silent.
“Doubling the ambient magic sounds like a lot at first, but it’s actually a very subtle change in reality.” Mira was smiling again. “In fact, I only wanted to test and see if you feel anything different at all on this level. I’m surprised you could differentiate it to such a level already.”
“Really?!” Anna’s face lit up.
“I told you that you have potential~.”
“Let’s go!” Her motivation reached a new high.
“Alright, let’s try something more tangible next." Saying so, the teal fox closed her eyes, and immediately afterward, a pure white dome with a diameter of 100 meters and 50 meters high enshrouded them. The ground below then had been replaced by it, as well. “This is the base of domains. It's the same thing you see all over Sophia's place because she's not able to fill it yet. Right now, we're disconnected from the rest of my domain, and I’ve set it up in a way that magic can’t cross the dome.”
“Okay?” Looking rather confused, the princess tilted her head. “The feeling of the comfy blanket is gone, too. It’s back to nothing again.”
“Yes, there’s currently no magic inside this dome.” She nodded. “It’s your turn now.”
“My turn?!” The surprised tiger pointed at herself.
“Exactly~.”
“What should I do?”
“For starters, release all of your authority, and we’ll continue from there. It’s the same as when you want to grow a sapling, just without thinking about the flora part.”
“Sounds easy enough.” Nodding once, the princess immediately got to work. “Alright, done!” It only took her around a minute to get rid of her magic. “What now?”
“Here, have it back~.” Mira then snapped her finger.
“Eh?” The princess jumped in response. “My magic is back!”
“I’ve reset your authority, yes.”
“You can do that?!”
“Again, overseer of magic and all that~.”
“Ah, right!” It had slipped her mind again.
“The magic of your initial authority is still in the area, though.” Mira gestured around them. “How much more than the usual ambient levels is at the moment?”
“Will the amount of my authority even make a dif- wow, okay!” The princess wasn’t able to finish her sentence before noticing the change. “It feels like a lot more than when you doubled it earlier!”
“How much do you think?”
“Hard to say.” Anna tilted her head. “It’s like two or three times as intense as the comfy blanket feeling from earlier.” She scratched her cheek while thinking about it some more before settling on something more definitive. “If I had to take a guess, it feels like ten times as much as the normal nothingness. Give or take two, I guess.”
“Ohh!” Mira clapped her hands. “That’s pretty much spot on!”
“Seriously?!”
“It’s 9.84 times as much, but there’s no need to go into that much detail. Not many are capable of sensing magic like that. Let's keep going and make the feeling stick.”
“Absolutely!” Anna immediately began to release her authority once more, but she soon noticed something odd. “I’m done, but it somehow felt like it took a lot longer to release my magic.”
“Again, nicely done noticing that.” The teal fox gave her a thumbs-up. “I was sneakily resetting your authority while you were releasing it.”
“Why?”
“To keep things interesting, of course.” She looked a little cheeky. “Also, the ambient magic would’ve simply doubled with your authority flooding the area a second time. Now, you have to actually feel the real amount.”
“So unfair!” Anna’s expression turned into a pout. “Well, it helps to learn and understand it better, so I guess that's fair." She changed her mind after thinking about it. “Okay, let’s see. It’s still a lot less than Sophia’s forest, so you didn’t go completely wild.”
“I mean, it would’ve taken you like half an hour of constant releasing your authority to get close to that level, so you’d definitely stopped in the middle of it.”
“Fair enough.” The princess nodded. “So, it definitely feels like more than double as before, but the exact number is even harder to guess than the last time. I’m inclined to say that it tripled from before, so around 30 times the base level?”
“Try a little harder.” Mira didn’t seem fully content with her guess.
“Mhmm.” The tiger scratched her cheek while walking around in the area for a little bit to get a better reading. “It could be as much as 35 times the amount, but I’m fairly confident that it’s not more than that.”
“30 times was the correct answer.”
“Hey!” Anna got loud. “Not cool!”
“It’s all training~.”
“Is it?” The tiger raised an eyebrow. “Why does it feel like you’re just having fun with me?”
“Must be your imagination~.”
“Really?” Anna didn’t buy it.
“Yes.” Mira just nodded. “Let's continue.”
“Okay.” Even though she was still dubious of her motivation, the princess agreed because she knew that she’d greatly benefit from it regardless.
After a short break, Anna continued her training for a reasonable amount of time while Mira was giving her clues, resetting her authority, and obviously teasing her a lot.