Again, I'm sorry about the sudden break. Especially after we just got a new friend.

Sophia and Kel had a little match after the dragon boasted about his strength and toughness. Thanks to his massive size advantage and the tiger not feeling like she'd have more magic than he did, he thought it would be a no-brainer for him. Naturally, Sophia had other plans and bested him with literally one punch.

"Seriously, what is going on? Who and what are you?" Kel was still slightly distraught after Sophia had instantly relocated them to a different place. "I've experimented with teleporting in the past before and deemed it impossible to safely do so because there are way too many variables that are impossible to take all into consideration."

"In the world you know, with the skills you have, that is certainly the case." The tiger smiled at him. After all, thanks to Aura, she was pretty aware of that issue.

"What is that supposed to mean?" It only confused him more. "Also, the world I know?"

"You know the overseers, right?"

"Some of them, yes." Kel did a slight nod with his massive head. "I've met Canir, the overseer of all or something like that, Mira, the overseer of magic, and Nerima, the overseer of nature."

"I actually haven't had the pleasure of meeting the overseer of nature yet."

"She's a bit of a prankster, so be wary of her."

"Aren't they all?" Sophia tilted her head.

"…" Kel paused for a moment. "Fair." There was nothing else he could say. "Why are we talking about the overseers again?"

"Every overseer has a domain, or sometimes multiple of them. A domain is something like a private world where they can play around or maybe test things before introducing them to the regular world. Though, most simply use it as the aforementioned playground or a holiday retreat perfectly modeled after their preferences."

"Wow, these beings really are something else." The dragon sounded impressed. "They never mentioned that when I talked with them. It makes sense that they live somewhere else, too. What about it, though?" He was missing the connection.

"Well, this is my domain." Sophia simply gestured all around her.

"Huh…?" Kel needed a moment. "You're an overseer?!"

"That is a little complicated to explain." The blonde scratched her cheek. "I have most of the features and perks of overseers, like the domain and some other things, but I don't have the near-limitless power they possess to be called one officially."

"I… wow…" He was at a loss for words. "That at least explains why you were able to slightly overpower me."

"Slightly, huh?" She raised an eyebrow.

"Slightly, yes." His pride didn't allow for more.

"To be fair, the competition was slightly rigged from the beginning. It's simply impossible for anyone to beat me inside my domain. Not even Mira would be able to do so."

"I demand an IMMEDIATE rematch outside of this place!" Kel's fighting spirit was back in full force.

"Thanks to some of the other overseer tricks I have, it's highly unlikely that the outcome would change there." As Sophia mainly had used her time-stop powers in their earlier match, which she could also use in the regular worlds, she doubted that it would end any differently.

"Basically, I challenged a cheater?"

"Pretty much." Sophia had no intention of denying it.

"Then, why did you bring me here when it makes no difference?"

"Because getting challenged by you wasn't the goal, my dear muscle brain."

"Weird." That concept didn't make any sense to the gigantic dragon.

"Haa…" Sophia let out a prolonged sigh. "Why are there so many muscle brains in this world?"

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

"If that's not it, what is the reason for me being here?"

"I want you to live in my domain!" The blonde smiled at him.

"What…?" The dragon kept getting more lost with each passing moment.

"I got pretty curious about you after I sensed your magic in the lake and got even more interested once you started fiddling with my portal magic. Mira also told me that you enjoy experimenting with magic, which is more than evident by your ore infusion. I'd love to have you here!"

"I just noticed, but do I even have a choice?" Kel paused for a moment while looking around. "Getting back to your earlier trap comment, without you opening another one of those purple gates, I can't leave, can I?"

"I'd NEVER force anyone to live here!" Sophia rapidly shook her head. "That goes against everything I want to accomplish here!" While saying so, she immediately opened a portal next to the dragon. "That one leads back to your lake."

"Alright, I can see that you're the honest and honorable type." He was rather happy about not being trapped. "Okay, why would you love to have me here? What does my enjoyment for magic have to do with that?"

"Earlier, when you first arrived here, you noticed how all the surroundings were pure white, right? My domain is still young, and most places are still empty. I want to fill it with life! My other friends and I are working on fun biomes completely modeled after our imagination and slowly growing them that way! As you seem to enjoy using magic, I'd love to see what type of biomes or creations you'd make!"

"Hmm…" Kel gave it some thought. "An empty canvas for me to be creative."

"Exactly!" The tiger reacted with a big nod.

"What's in it for me?" He then looked right at her while getting his massive head closer to the blonde. "It seems interesting, but it feels like you profit much more from this arrangement than I do. After all, I'd be helping out an overseer in training to grow her power, while all I get is a fancy place to nap. One I have to create myself, I have to add."

"How much do you like Mira's rule on and around magic?"

"I understand them, they make sense, and they're needed."

"That wasn't my question."

"Not the biggest fan." He immediately shook his head. "Too restrictive for my taste."

"Overseer domains come with some peculiarities. For example, Mira's rules and regulations on magic don't apply to them."

"I'm listening." Kel moved even closer and turned his head to focus one of his gigantic eyes right on the tiger. "What exactly does that mean?"

"It's a bit hard to put in words, but the most notable thing would be that there's no definite upper limit of maximum authority and raw magic in any given space or being. For example, look at this." Saying so, Sophia held up her hand, and a few moments later, Blu suddenly came flying towards them and landed on her hand.

"WHAT is THAT?" Kel's voice changed to shock once he noticed the bird's aura.

"That's Blu!" Sophia smiled at the dragon while the parakeet nodded once before cutely saluting with its wing. "It's the bestest bird there is!"

"No, this power! This is madness!"

"Quite something, isn't it?" The blonde simply nodded. "Blu isn't native to my domain and actually was a gift from Mira, but nothing is stopping this bird from flourishing in my domain. Blu can use its magic however it wants to."

"Impressive." Kel was still too overwhelmed to say something more in-depth. While lost in thought, Blu flew away from Sophia's hand and landed on the tip of one of the horns on the dragon's head. There, the parakeet lightly flapped its wings, which caused Kel's massive head to be smashed into the ground before the tiger's feet. "G-GUH!" He hadn't seen that one coming, either.

"Blu probably didn't like that you attacked me earlier." In response to that, the parakeet began to energetically nod while happily chirping a couple of times. "I love you, too~." She was quite happy about that.

"…"

"Yeah, on the power ranking in my domain, you'd be number three at best." Sophia gave Kel, who just lifted his head again, a wry smile.

"You really have a talent for shattering someone's worldview."

"Really?" Feeling playful, the tiger cutely tilted her head.

"Really."

"My domain would also affect your current magic, by the way." She got back to the initial topic. "Even though you infused yourself with the ore, you can't actually use more magic, right? It only lets you use it for longer, doesn't it?"

"That is indeed the case."

"With some training, you should be able to get around this limitation. When you are in my domain, at least. You could use everything in your body all at once in one massive burst of magic."

"SERIOUSLY?!" Hearing that, the dragon lifted his head while his voice was overflowing with excitement and power.

"That isn't all, either." Sophia's expression turned even smugger. "I am using Canir's magic, which is the purest and most powerful type of magic there is. That means the raw environmental magic inside my domain is of the same type. If you spend a lot of time here and constantly use your own authority in this environment, you'll slowly begin to attune your internal magic to my domain. That means your authority uses higher-quality power and runs more efficiently. Or, in simpler words, the more you use magic inside my domain, the more powerful you become, even past Mira's imposed limits. Outside of my domain, you'd still have more magic, but not more power. Similar to your ore infusion."

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!" He raised his voice even more.

"Sounds good?"

"Sounds TOO good!"

"Hehe." She liked his reaction. "Well, you do have to work a little for it. I want you to create at least one massive biome the size of a small country." Sophia decided to be greedy. "I also want you to go back and forth between my domain and the regular world to recharge the authority. That way, more raw magic will enter this place and can be used to enrich my domain."

"For what you said just before that, that's a small price to pay." Kel looked right at her. "I'd create multiple and massive country-sized biomes for you with such a reward."

"Deal."

"Ah." He paused for a moment. "Sure."

"Great!" Sophia's smile got bigger.

Afterward, while Kel got teased a little more by Blu, Sophia told the dragon a few more details about the deal and what exactly he had to do to grow stronger in power while in her domain.

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