Chapter 303 (Patreon)

Chapter 303

The group’s boating trip towards the demon continent was progressing smoothly, so Anna and Aura took the off time to go to Sophia's domain and train because the princess wanted to get better at handling her new powers after she was given so much more magic. She was having some difficulties accurately gauging her powers, but she was making rapid improvements with the help of the wolf.

“Desert time!” While the princess was getting her lessons, Sophia and Maya also went to the domain to play, which made the cat-girl very stoked, to say the least.

“You’re extra cute when you’re excited~.” Sophia let out a chuckle while she watched her bouncing around in anticipation. “And your parents really are sure that there’s no sand cat in your lineage?”

“I know, right?!” She reacted with a big nod. “I don’t believe them, either!”

“Ehehe~.” The tiger was a big fan of this side of Maya. “Well, I also don’t have any tiger ancestor, but I think I’m still doing a good job at being one, so…”

“If anything, it’s worrying just how good of a tiger you are.” The cat-girl just stared at her while shaking her head. “Considering that you not only don’t have any striped relatives, but also beastfolk not existing in your world at all.”

“I’ve had the feline grace for my entire life already~.” Her voice turned smug.

“Yes, grace, exactly the word I’d use to describe you.” Maya let out a small chuckle.

“Hey!” The tiger started pouting. "Steph's also a perfect dog, even though it’s the same for her.”

“Fair enough.” The cat-girl couldn’t argue with that. “I guess many animal traits are basically the same as personality traits at the end of the day, huh?”

“Exactly~.”

“I didn’t know that being striped is a personality trait, though.”

“Shush now!”

“Hehe.” Maya liked her reaction. “Anyway, let’s get started on the desert already!” She had enough of the topic and excitedly pointed at the bit of desert that Sophia had rescued from the monster country and placed in her domain, which was right in front of them. It was a few hundred meters of dark orange sand with a few dunes still visible, piling up right before the couple.

“Sure thing!” Sophia gave her a thumbs-up. “Do you have a vision in mind already? Oh, we also still have the desert bit from where we met Kel. It has a bunch of cacti and palm trees that could be useful for decorating.”

“Oh, right! I forgot about that!” The cat-girl clapped her hands. “I also want to get an oasis in the middle of our desert, so those would be very convenient to have!”

“Great~.” The blonde opened another portal right behind them and let the borrowed desert, with the lighter sand and plenty of plant life, such as cacti and palm trees, appear there.

“Let’s go!” Maya got bouncy again.

“Steph’s mood is infectious, isn’t it?” She knew where this catch-phrase came from.

“Steph’s the queen of going, but I’m closely following behind!”

“Sure~.” Sophia smiled at her. “So, how do you want to shape your desert biome?”

“I want it to be as big as possible!” The cat-girl was quite motivated.

"A good start!” She nodded a few times. “The strongest magic user in our core group after me deserves a massive biome! In fact, let's make it the biggest biome after my cherry blossom forest! Not counting Kel and his ocean, by the way.”

“I’m still slightly upset that you boosted my magic more than the others, you know?” Maya looked right at her. “Even after saying that I already was plenty strong.”

“You weren’t complaining about it when I gave you, in your words, the best orgasm you ever had that made you unable to feel your legs for almost a day because I got a little too ambiguous while boosting you.”

“…” The cat-girl went silent while the tiniest blush appeared on her cheeks as she remembered that night. “Okay, it was worth it.”

“Ehehe~.” Sophia stifled a laugh. “Also, as my girlfriend, it makes sense that you have the most power after me.” She then paused for a moment. “Well, not that it matters, or you, I, or anyone else, cares about that sort of thing."

“Yeah, I don’t care in the slightest.” She agreed with the tiger there.

“Okay, anyway, so now that the big part is agreed on, how do you want to start shaping it?”

“Hmm…” The cat-girl looked around while tilting her head. “I think it’s best to start with the oasis? I want that to be in the very center, so it would make sense to build outward from there, right?”

“Sounds good to me!” Sophia liked the plan. “Do you want to make a lake like the one we found Kel in?”

"A lake would be amazing!” She reacted with a big nod. “It doesn’t need to be a kilometer deep, though. Regular lake depth is plenty fine.”

“Fair enough.” The tiger could follow her logic. “Okay, so how about you start using a little water magic to get the lake going? I’ll help you fill it and take care of the depth, but you should be the one shaping it~.”

“Sure!” Maya then immediately started looking around for a good spot. "Is there anything I should consider when deciding on the place and size?”

“For the size, not really.” Sophia shook her head. “Placement, well, it would be best to no do it right here, so we don’t flood the only sand we have right now.”

“Good point!” She hadn’t thought about that and then turned to her right, where there was no sand at the moment. “I’ll start placing water in this direction then!”

“Good idea~.” The blonde smiled at her.

“W-WOAH!” Maya wasted no time and immediately started generating water with her magic. However, she had already forgotten about her boost and increased power again, so things got a little extreme in an instant.

A torrent of water shot out of her hand with the same pressure and force as a firehose. Only that it was multiple meters in diameter. It went on for multiple hundred meters without calming down before it eventually started pooling on the ground rapidly. “W-What just happened?!” She needed a moment to react and turn off the water again.

“Someone used a little too much power in her magic.” The blonde let out another small chuckle. “Happens to the best of us~.”

“Huh? Sure, I used some more power because I wanted a big lake, but I had no intention of doing anything this extreme!” She pointed at the mass of water in front of her.

“We just talked about how I boosted you.” Sophia just stared at her. “How have you forgotten about that again already?! You just absolutely didn’t adjust your power output after now having like five or six times more magic than before.

"A-Ah.” The cat-girl froze.

“Well, I did something similar in Mira’s biome, so I can’t really blame you for it.” The tiger remembered how she accidentally turned a forest into nothing when the overseer made her test her new powers.

“Seriously!?” She raised her voice. “Good thing I hadn’t used any magic with the others around before!”

“It would’ve been fine~.” Sophia gave her a thumbs-up. “Inside my domain, you couldn’t have hurt anyone, and outside, your magic is at best half or a third as powerful.”

“That’s still dangerous!”

“We just have to use magic more by intent and less by power.” The blonde shrugged. “If we think about how we want it rather than thinking about how much of our power we need to activate it, our level or amount of authority will never be relevant.”

“I guess that makes sense.” Maya scratched her cheek. “It might take a while getting used to, though.”

“It’s pretty necessary, though. I mean, usual everyday magic is going to use like 0.01% of your authority or something like that. Even if you’re good with numbers, it’s hard to work with those tiny amounts.”

“That’s true.” She nodded a few times. "Even before your boosts, I had troubles gauging the right amount of magic and had to make extra sure on weaker magic. While cooking and doing similar household chores, I was already working on intent. Like, filling a bucket with water and things like that because of it. Bigger magics were still easier to dose correctly, but I guess I have to switch to intent for everything now.”

“Even before me, you’ve been exceptionally strong, so that adds up.”  Sophia could see why she already had some experience with it. “I’ve always done smaller things by intent, but the fun magic was based on percentages of my authority, so I'm in the same boat there."

“Yeah, for you that’s even more impossible.” The cat-girl just looked at her. "With your authority, even burning down an entire forest takes way less than a single percent, doesn't it?"

“Mhm-hmm.” She nodded in return. “Anna and Ari might have even more of a challenge with that. After all, they went from being pretty strong all the way to a lot stronger than I was before all the boosting, and I was called all sorts of things based on my strength. The two will have to make the most adjustments for their magic usage."

“The next time in the capital will be interesting.” Maya had no better word for it. “Menzor and everyone else doesn’t know yet that you are the way you are now, or that everyone else, including her daughter, is now completely outside the realm of reason, as well.”

“Ahaha…” The blonde scratched her cheek. “It’s a good thing that my healing magic is 50 times stronger now, too.”

“Because his headache will be 50 times stronger?”

“Exactly.”

Afterward, the two continued working on the oasis part of the desert. Maya used this chance to get used to her new powers and continued creating more and more water while imagining the amount of liquid rather than her authority, in an effort to gain finer control over it.