NOVEL NEXT Chapter 010 – Don’t upset the serious ones
Ari and Maya got quite upset over the fact of being labeled as the party poopers of the group by everyone, and they wanted to change that. After learning that Sophia needs massive trees grown with the help of magic to further develop her domain, they entered the jungle Mira had given the tiger from her own place to do just that.
“Oh, it’s amazing in here!” The group had ventured a little deeper inside the small jungle to find a fitting place to play around, and Sophia was taking in the sights with big eyes. “I love it already!”
“Jungles are great!” Anna's opinion on the matter was the same while she, too, was looking at the overgrown undergrowth they were walking through with great interest.
“It is indeed a very fascinating place.” Ari enjoyed it, as well. “The thickly grown plants, the tall trees, the humidity and warmth, and the dark lighting that barely makes it through the canopies. Very nice and calming.”
“YES!” The two tigers vigorously nodded a couple of times.
“Big cats sure like their jungles, huh?” Steph lightly rolled her eyes. “Personally, I think it’s too hot and humid.” The part husky wasn’t a fan.
“Same.” Chloe, the part arctic fox, felt the same.
“I think I have to agree with my fellow canine.”
“Yes.” Fen and Aura, the wolves with a lot of fur, sided with them. “It is quite nice, and I do prefer the warmth over being cold, but the humidity kills it for me.”
“Mhmm,” Maya, who was closer to a regular cat, tilted her head. “I think it’s an alright place.” She was more neutral about it. “It might not be my favorite area, but it’s definitely great!”
“How dividing the topic of a jungle can be, huh?” Mira enjoyed their exchange and smiled at Fey next to her.
“Also, everyone always has to whine about something.” The full slowly shook her head.
“True.” She agreed.
“...” The rest of the group went silent. No one could defend themselves. All of them liked to complain about all kinds of things, after all.
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They explored the area for a few more minutes before eventually arriving at a small clearing in the middle of the jungle. It was brightly lit from the all-white of Sophia's domain, as there were no high-grown trees above them to block it. Only a few saplings were spaced over the ground between many bushes and ferns.
“My, doesn’t that seem like a lovely place to experiment?” Mira was looking forward to seeing how this would turn out.
“Will any of what we do inside Sophia’s place here affect the outside world?” Ari looked at the overseer.
“Impossible.” She shook her head. “They are completely separated from each other.
“Good.”
"Yeah," Maya nodded. "I don't care if Sophia's domain gets destroyed, but it affecting the other place would be regrettable."
“Hey!” The blonde seemed to have a different opinion on the matter.
“Don’t worry,” The teal fox then smiled at her. “Not even I have the power to destroy a domain.”
“That’s very reassuring to hear.”
“What if we try really hard?” The voices of Ari and Maya lined up.
“Hey!” Sophia got even louder.
“Do you want to go first?” Maya ignored her tiger and focused on the jaguar. “I’m sure you’ll do just fine, but I do have quite a bit more magic at my disposal, so I don’t want to steal the show.”
“Fair enough.” Ari nodded. “I am a good bit weaker than you.” She wasn’t upset about it. “Oh, how about we try and combine our powers to create one massive jungle tree?”
“Ohh!” The cat-girl seemed to like the idea.
“NO!!!” Fen and Sophia did not, though. Judging by how much they raised their voices, this seemed to be the last they wanted to happen. “Absolutely not!” The blonde looked incredibly serious when she stared at the duo. “Fen and I almost died when we tried that last year! Without Canir's help, the continent would've been gone, too! You should know that, Maya! Remember how much you yelled at me afterward?!"
“R-Right…” The cat-girl looked quite awkward.
“It’s good to worry about that, but the circumstances here are different.” Mira smiled at them. “The catastrophe Fen and you caused happened because your combined power levels are beyond of what the framework of magic can handle. The concentration had gotten too high, and it collapsed. Even when combined and boosted, Maya and Ari will not be able to reach this critical level.”
“T-That is reassuring…” Sophia calmed down a little.
“You will still severely injure your neck by trying to find out how tall of a tree the two created together. It will be massive.”
“Can you guarantee that no one will get hurt if they go all out?”
“As long as everyone takes enough distance from the sapling or soon-to-be tree, sure. This magic is all about creating life in one way or another. Endangering it is not a valid operation. Especially not when the used power is limited.”
“I see.” The blonde still didn’t seem entirely convinced. “Well, if the overseer of magic says so… Just be aware that I’ll get angry if anyone gets hurt, okay?”
“S-Sure!” Mira looked slightly intimidated.
“I’m not a fan of how unhinged she is, but I do like her overall personality and ability to get angry for the ones dear to her.” Fey was impressed by her dedication.
“Even if I’m the opponent?!” The teal fox started pouting while she looked at the full one.
“Especially when it’s you.”
“Urgh.”
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Once Mira had been thoroughly intimidated by Fey and Sophia, the group focused on the previous topic again.
“So, can we do it now or not…?” Maya wasn’t exactly sure what the final verdict was.
“Mira said it’s fine, soo…” The blonde slowly nodded. “Just immediately stop if anything feels even the slightest bit odd!”
“Uhh,” Ari slowly raised her hand. “You acting so worried and sensitive is pretty odd! Outright weird even!”
“She has a point.” The cat-girl felt the same.
“Shush!” She glared at the duo. “This is not the time for sass!”
“It’s always time for that~.” They disagreed with her.
“Haa…” Sophia let out a sigh before facing the pink fox. "Chloe, how would you feel about a change to our sleeping arrangements for the night?"
“Hmm?” She tilted her head in response.
“Originally, I wanted to have these two idiots sleep together so they could deal with their room disagreement.” She pointed at Steph and Anna. “Somehow, I suddenly don’t want to deal with these two idiots anymore, either.” The blonde then gestured at Maya and Ari.
“Ahh, I see.” Chloe seemed to have understood her. “You want to ditch Maya for me because she’s too much of a pain?”
“Pretty much.”
“Hey!” The pain in question didn’t like the wording.
“Well, I don’t really mind,” The pink fox ignored her and smiled at the blonde. “I mean, I was kinda looking forward to spending some time with Ari because we haven't done much of that yet, but I'm sure we can do that another time, too.”
“Alright!” Sophia raised her hand. “It’s decided, then! Today’s sleeping arrangement will be the two fighting idiots, the two sassy idiots, and us two reasonable non-idiots!"
“No.” Everyone except Chloe shook their head. “That’s not how anyone would describe either of you.”
“We are deeply offended by this!” The blonde tiger and the pink fox started pouting in return. “It’s completely uncalled for!”
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“Let’s finally start!” after all this back and forth, Maya had gotten quite impatient while she looked at Ari next to her.
“Yes!” She nodded. “Also, I hope it destroys something!”
“That would be amazing!” Both lightly glared in Sophia’s reaction.
“By the way,” The blonde ignored them and looked at Chloe. “I just decided that the two of us will sleep in the master room with the super comfy bed. It’s my cottage, after all.”
“Ohh!” She liked the sound of that.
“Mira, how do we make the most impressive tree possible?!” Maya, sounding a little upset, faced the teal overseer. "Preferably something that does actual damage to the domain!"
“I’m staying out of this.” She had no intention of taking sides here.
“The overseer is a wise one, after all.” Fey praised her for her decision.
“Whatever!” The cat-girl had hoped for something better. “Ari, hand!” Even though she said it like that, Maya immediately reached for it and grabbed the jaguar’s hand.
“H-Hey!” Anna did not like that.
“Shush! There’s no time for your jealousy right now, princess!” Maya then smiled at Ari. "Do you want to take the lead, or should I?"
"As I have no idea what the plan is, and your control over magic is better, please be my guest."
“Fair enough.” The cat-girl could see the logic. “I mean, though on a smaller scale, I did it before already, so let’s go!” She lifted the arm she used to hold hands with Ari. “You know how to release your magic without actually using it for something, right? That’s basically all we have to do. Bathing a sapling in raw magic, that is.”
“Yeah,” She nodded. “I learned how to do that a little while back.”
“Perfect~.” Happy with her answer, Maya started walking towards one of the saplings in the middle of the clearing the group was in while dragging Ari with her.
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“Ha.” Roughly half an hour had passed, and Sophia wasn’t sure how to react when she saw the product of the duo’s combined magical powers.
“Hah.” Chloe had the same reaction while she was straining her neck to see how tall the tree Ari and Maya had created together really was. Unfortunately, this proved near impossible as it had turned completely dark after the massive tree had grown. The small clearing was no more, either. It had been replaced by the trunk of an enormous kapok tree with a 200 to 300-meter diameter. Judging by this unbelievable size alone, one could only guess the tree's height, which surely had to be at least ten or twenty times as tall as it was wide.
“Hah.” Steph, Anna, Fen, and Aura, too, weren’t able to say much else. Everyone was a little flabbergasted.
“Hehe.” Ari and Maya seemed quite proud of themselves.
Also comes animated!!
