Chapter 292 (Patreon)

Chapter 292

The group started exploring the desert section of the monster country, which was met with much displeasure from Steph and Chloe. Ari didn't like the idea of them creating a blizzard to cool down, so she came up with the idea of creating a massive volcano in Sophia’s domain right next to Steph’s ice kingdom. It started as a threat, but somehow it turned into a promise with Fen, who liked the idea a lot.

“Magic, please!” After having spent the entire day in the desert, the group returned to the cottage in Sophia's domain, where everyone got together in the living room. There, after turning smaller again, Fen sat in front of the blonde, who was sitting on the sofa next to Maya, while wagging his tail so hard that Steph and Chloe were enjoying the strong breeze it produced while sitting on the sofa behind him.

“Same!” While not quite as excited, Aura was also looking forward to it as she sat next to Fen in front of Sophia.

“They’re cute when they’re excited.” Ari and Anna had opted for being extra cozy on the single armchair with the jaguar sitting on the tall tiger’s lap and leaning against her as she smiled at the two wolves.

"I don't even care about the humiliation!" Fen kept staring at the blonde tiger, while his tail wag only increased. “This is literally one of the most important days of my life!”

“Hey!” Aura really didn’t appreciate that.

“What?” He looked back at her. “I did say one of the most important days, right? Not the most important one of my life.”

“Mrmm.”  She grumbled for a moment. “Lucky you.”

“Since when is being honest lucky?!”

“Has anyone decided how much magic they want?” Sophia got back on track as she smiled at everyone while patting Lime and Blu, who were sitting on each of her shoulders.

“I’ll take whatever you’re okay to part with!” Fen was too excited to have demands.

“Before that, I’ve been thinking about Chloe’s and mine situation with Mira’s magic.” Steph had something else to discuss. “I’m slightly concerned that Fey has something against Chloe getting a boost because she’s so protective of her. Your domain has rules against us getting seriously hurt, right? If you apply those rules to yourself, you won’t be able to hurt us, right? You wouldn’t be able to boost us.”

“Ohh, that is a good idea!” Chloe nodded a few times. “Feyfey definitely would protest.”

“Hmm…” Sophia thought about it. “I guess that should technically work, but is that really the right thing to do?” In that very moment, Lime, who was sitting on her right shoulder, rubbed her head against her cheek.

“It absolutely is!” Steph looked at her siter with her infamous puppy eyes.

“Fine…” Using Lime’s reaction as a confirmation, because the birds definitely know if it would work or not, she gave up on protesting. “Both of you are going to protect me from Fey, though!”

“We’ll do our best!” There was no way they could guarantee safety from her after all.

“So, no one here has a clear wish on how much magic they want?” The blonde got back on the topic at hand. “That’s not exactly helpful, you know?”

“Well, it’s like Fen said, there’s no way we could ever put any demands on this gift.” Aura shook her head. “The two of us have trained our magic for… a lot longer than all of you are alive together. Like, a lot a lot. Even asking for 10% would feel pretentious to us as we know how hard it is to get 10% stronger.”

“What she said.” The male wolf agreed with her.

“Suddenly, we’re humble, huh?” Sophia rolled her eyes. “Alright, if no one wants to request anything, I’ll go ahead with my earlier suggestion of doubling Aura’s authority and having everyone else match that. Any complaints?”

“Double sounds good~.” Aura tried to hide her excitement, but her tail was betraying her. Hard.

“Definitely acceptable.” Fen’s tail was wagging even harder.

“Actually,” Ari awkwardly scratched her cheek while looking at the blonde. “I think it’s quite unfair that Anna and I are getting that much, too.” She stole a glance at the wolves before continuing. “Fen and Aura have been practicing magic for longer than my mind can even comprehend. It completely invalidates their accomplishments if I get gifted that much magic.”

“I wouldn’t say no to such a massive gift, but I also agree with Ari in that regard. It has a bit of an unfair aftertaste.”

“I do not care at all.” Fen shook his head. “Even if you two have the same amount of authority as us, it will take you decades at the very least to get anywhere close to us. It’s not the amount of magic that we trained. It’s how to use it. Yes, it will catapult you to the top, but the top is vast. Neither Aura nor I will be mad about your gift.”

“I completely agree.” Aura nodded a few times. “If anything, this will get me more playmates I can train to later fight~.” Her inner predator flared up before she looked at Sophia. “In fact, if you even dare to think about giving them less based on this, I’ll lose all respect for you.”

“I had no intention of doing so.” She shook her head while smiling at the female wolf. “If Ari said that she wants less authority to get used to it more gradually, I would’ve considered it, but this explanation was so bad that I’m thinking about giving her the most authority of all of you.”

“Now, there’s no need to go that far.” Fen wasn’t the biggest fan of that idea.

“Hehe.” The blonde liked his reaction.

“Fine.” Ari gave up. “I just wanted to be nice and respectful, and that's what I get for it…”

“Well, if the wolves are okay with it, I certainly won’t complain!” Anna wasn’t sad about how this turned out for some reason.

“Hold on a moment!” It didn’t take long before the jaguar raised her voice again. “Aura’s has at least ten times more magic?! I still remember the first time you gave me some magic, and how sore I felt, and that wasn't nearly as much. If you double hers and give us the same, Anna and I would get about 20 times stronger! That sounds beyond painful! Didn’t you say that your 50 times growth was the most painful thing you’ve experienced?! You’re a lot more durable than I am, so I’m very concerned!” She was staring at Sophia the entire time.

“Hmm, that’s actually a good point.” The blonde tiger hadn't taken that part into account yet. “Although, Mira said it happened because I forced the magic through me in an instant, because it had to be that way to create Lime. The pain was instantly there, too.” She thought about it a little more. “Blessing or boosting you doesn’t happen in an instant, so it should be fine. As soon as it hurts, we can cancel it, too. I can’t guarantee no soreness, though.”

“I’m definitely going last!” Ari still had some lingering reservations. Putting it into nice words, that is.

“I’m definitely going first!” Fen was the exact opposite of her.

“Aura is going first.” Sophia shook her head. “She’s the benchmark, so I’m going to base everything on her.”

“Hehe.” Her reply was oozing with smugness as she looked at the male wolf.

“Grr!”

“Before that, everyone needs to fully empty their current magic, though. From what I remember from the time with Anna and Ari, that was quite important for it to actually work properly and finish up.” She then paused for a second. “Then again, I might be mixing up something there… Anyway, it definitely won’t hurt, so I’d say it’s the best thing to do here regardless.”

“You just want a little extra raw magic in here, don’t you?” Aura didn’t believe her.

“Fine, keep your magic. See if I care.” The blonde shrugged. “Don’t you come complaining to me afterward, though. Especially if something goes wrong because of that.”

“Fair enough.” She decided against risking it and started releasing her internal authority into the room before the others followed suit. Soon enough, there was a decent number of magic particles around, though only Sophia, Chloe, and Steph could see them.

“Alright, paw~.” Once they were done, Sophia held out her palm in front of Aura with a small smirk on her face.

“No.” The female wolf just stared back at her while slowly shaking her head. “There are limits.” Her pride wouldn’t allow her to do that.

"You can't blame me for it, though, can you?” The short tiger let out a small chuckle. “Would you please put your paw into my hand? I need some proper contact while transferring my magic.”

“Of course.” Nodding once, Aura then lifted her right paw and placed it onto Sophia’s hand.

“Thanks!” She smiled back at her. “By the way, knowing that you can take something and like to experiment, do you mind if I try an idea I had that might let me bypass the recovery and reshaping period to get used to my magic? If it works, you’ll likely be able to use your new powers immediately. If not, well… tell me if it hurts, okay?”

“Don’t make me fall for you now.” This, experimenting, bypassing things, and potential dangers, was exactly Aura’s thing. “Hit me! I probably won’t tell you if it hurts, though!”

“Is there any winning with her?” Sophia looked at Fen while tilting her head.

“Nope.” He didn’t hesitate for a second. “Same goes for you.”

“There was no need to add the second part there.” The blonde didn’t approve of being included there.

“No, there was a need for that~.” Fen shook his head.

Ignoring him, Sophia returned her focus to Aura to start preparing to boost her magic. As she wanted to try a new approach, she needed a moment to get ready for it.