Chapter 14 – Nature and Light magic

After Fen had addressed the case of Sophia acting so on edge today, she admitted being worried about something, which caused her to be emotionally all over the place.

"Worried, huh? That would explain why you didn't want breakfast or spent almost the entire trip completely silent."

"Yeah, I was lost in thoughts…"

"Is it about those puny humans again?" It wasn't hard for the wolf to guess the reason.

"Well, yes, and also me… I look like a human, but inside, aren't I much more like you, Fen? Basically, a monster with a ridiculous amount of power...?" She just couldn't let go of the topic.

"That's…"

"I mean, that in itself is not a problem. Actually, it's super cool." Sophia had already become fond of her magic. "But what if they do find out? Sure, you said they are no threat to me, but they sure as heck would get scared of me, wouldn't they?"

"Very probable."

"Wouldn't it be impossible to make friends with any of them then?"

"Hmm, they can't sense magic power, so as long you're not hostile to them. If you don't go crazy, which might be a problem for you… ahem, they wouldn't notice that you're something entirely different than a normal, powerless human."

"Soo, no flashy magic?"

"Best choice would be none at all… Or think of some fancy chants as cover when using it."

"No magic, it is!" Sophia had already decided that using chants and whatever is way too embarrassing and impossible for her.

"If this is really what you want, it's that, then." Fen thought the discussion was over.

"But what about later on…? Let's imagine the crazy thought of me finding someone. Could I ever tell them about me, or would their fear too much no matter how close we had become…?"

"Do you want me to answer?" Knowing about the humans of this world, the wolf wasn't sure she wanted to hear it.

"No, I don't." Sophia had a feeling she already knew his answer. "Well, thinking about all that made me a little frustrated, and that's why I was… like this today, and also ended up playing with those kows earlier as therapy, or  rather, stress relief."

"T-That's what happens when you're frustrated?" Fen made a note about not making her angry then. "Also, girl, you're too invested in the topic. Before worrying about something that may possibly happen in a certain event. Just focus on the now, and save the future for later. I mean, you're already concerned about telling someone you got close with about your superior magic power. Sophia, you have yet to see an actual human in the first place. You skipped at least five steps."

"Ahaha…" A dry laugh escaped her lips. "Yeah, you're right. It's an old habit of mine. Overthinking and getting depressed or frustrated… Hmm?" Sophia suddenly stopped. "Eh? Why? Shouldn't these habits be gone by now, after that god boosted my personality? Do your job correctly, you idiot!" It's been a while since the girl sent a complaint towards the sky.

"Hmm…" The wolf was thinking about something.

"Tell me!" She figured it was about her.

"I'm not sure, but I think I'm starting to understand your boosted traits a little more."

"What?! Tell me!"

"It's just a theory, okay? I think the overseer took your stats from your old world and added x-something to it, rather than maxing it all out… or putting some work into it…"

"Oh, I actually had the same idea." She thought before that this might be the case, backing it up with how she already was above average when it came to fitness, making her strength monstrous in this world. "Ah, also, like how I was terribly unlucky in my old world and still have rather bad luck here?"

"Uh, sure…" Fen disagreed with her, but she at least seemed to have understood the theory, so he didn't bother correcting her. "I also think your boost can get overloaded."

"Ehh…?"

"I mean, I managed to get to see your shy side once or twice after something embarrassing happened."

"Okay…"

"Today was another indicator. What were the worries in your old world that made you depressed? Like most people, probably something as puny as love problems, right?

"…" It was spot on.

"On the contrary, here you were worrying about a whole race accepting you… The scale is so different that even with the boosts you got, you were unable to deal with it. There might even be the possibility that once you do have a negative feeling about something, these will get boosted as well."

"That… actually makes sense, Fen. Still, boosted negative traits… He better be prepared for the next time I see him-" The overseer might've made a mistake.

"And thus, like I said multiple times already. Stop worrying about everything already and just enjoy this world with your powers. Your bad habits or feelings shouldn't be able to reach you that way."

"I see… Well, I can't guarantee it, but I'll keep in mind to live more freely."

"Great!"

"Okay…" Taking a deep breath, Sophia directly tried it out. "Fen, we have some of the day left. Give me some instructions on nature magic!"

"On it!" Being in high spirits again, the two continued her magic training. Looking for a suitable test subject, Fen quickly found a nice-looking vine hanging down a nearby tree. "See that thick vine over there, Sophia? Try to get a feel of it."

"I don't exactly like the sound of that, but okay, sure." Sophia walked towards the tree, but the wolf quickly stopped her.

"Not with your hands. Use your mind."

"Of course… should've known as much… Hmm… how do I feel something with my mind…?"

"Locate it, just like living things with the detection magic. Then, try to touch the imaginary version of it inside your mind and think of it as the real thing."

"Sounds a bit, uhh, kinky…" Sophia blurted out the first thing that went through her head.

"…"

"Sorry. Then again, wouldn't it be better to touch the… uh, real thing first…? Wow, I can't believe I just said this…"

"Fine, go ahead…" He gave up.

"Okay." Having gotten the permission, Sophia walked over to the tree after all and touched the vine in question. Having had her fill sooner rather than later, she quickly went back to her companion.

"So, have you found anything out?"

"Yeah, as it turns out, it's a plant."

"My, aren't you a clever one? Try to be a bit more diligent about it, okay?"

"Yes!" Heaving a slight chuckle, Sophia went back to serious mode.

"Give it another try. Concentrate and connect to the vine now."

"Hmm…" Closing her eyes as usual when focusing, she tried as told. "See the vine, feel the vine… Connect to the vine… hehe… Control the vine!" Getting a hold of the plant, she succeeded in her first, mostly serious try. The vine slowly began to move awkwardly, but the harder Sophia tried, the more fluid her control of the plant became. Soon enough, the awkwardness was gone entirely.

"You sure are a talented girl…" Fen honestly hadn't expected the girl to get the basics of nature magic this fast. Although, it wasn't a new feeling for him anymore.

"It feels kinda weird, but it's quite fun. I think you said before that you could use vines and the likes to bind your targets, right?" Her eyes started to sparkle.

"You can, but…" He didn't like how the girl was looking at him while saying so. "Just bear in mind that I'm able to do that as well, and I'm sure that I'm still better at controlling them right now."

"Y-You might have a point…." Sophia gave up on whatever she was planning, mainly for her own safety.

"Good choice."

"What else does count as nature magic?"

"Quite a lot. As always, actually, just about everything you can imagine being related to nature."

"That's… rather broad." She pulled a blank at the wide range.

"Indeed, nature magic's a very complex one. To be perfectly honest, aside from a little tinkering with plants, I'm not overly interested in that category of magic."

"Oh, that wants me to go wild even more. Playing around with something you didn't. I'll have to give it some thought later on."

"I expect big things." Fen wasn't going to stop her.

"Hehe. Only the basics of light and dark magic are missing now, huh?"

"Yes, you've made some unbelievable impressive progress in just a few days. I actually have a hard time wrapping my head around this… Well, there's also the uncategorized or original magic left, which takes by far the most effort."

"Ah, I'm looking forward to investing some more effort in that already."

"You definitely have the right attitude, that's for sure."

----------------

Having yet to think about some fun uses for nature magic, Sophia felt like it was enough training for today. The two started to set up their camp for the night. Once everything was ready, they relaxed in front of their fire after the sunset.

"Fen, is light and dark magic hard to learn?" She got too hooked to let go after all.

"I would like to say yes, but I would've said something similar about nature magic, so…" He wasn't sure how easily Sophia would be able to handle them. "Well, they're definitely hard to imagine. I mean, creating light out of nothing is kind of hard to wrap your head around." While he said so, a small source of light appeared above their heads. "I'm not sure how I should explain what you have to actually imagine to activate the magic…"

"Hmm…" Sophia was studying the tiny orb of light. "Isn't that basically just a… lightbulb…?" She actually had an effortless time imagining the magic. "Lightbulb, huh…? Hehehe~, let's go all out then. Forget a single lamp… Yeah, let's go with a couple of those stadium flood-lights~."

"Sophia?" He once more had a bad feeling.

"They use LEDs for them nowadays, right? A literal armada of those super-bright ones… Okay, let's give it a try!" Already having a good image in mind, Sophia snapped her fingers while activating her magic because she thought it would look cool. "A-Ah…" Immediately after the magic went off, she noticed how badly she overdid it.

"S-Sophia?!" The wolf couldn't believe his eyes. Their entire surroundings had turned so bright that it seemed like the sun had never set today.

"Ahaha, let's deactivate that real quick again…" Just like that, a second later, everything turned dark again, with only the fire and stars illuminating the area.

"W-What was that just now?!"

"Yeah, sorry, I might've cheated a bit…"

"Cheated?!"

"You see, while we didn't have magic in my old world, we had a thing called science. Using science and imagination, some brilliant heads managed to create many technologies, including artificial light, in my world… I simply recreated one of the brightest from these and replaced the science part with this world's magic."

"…"

"What's wrong, Fen…?"

"Nothing, just thinking about my position in this world…" Having a slight existential crisis as one of this world's strongest being, caused by his very own pupil, the wolf wasn't sure how to deal with the situation. "B-But… technology, huh? I think the humans here have this thing as well, to make up for their lacking magic… It's nothing worth mentioning, though… Your old world seems to be quite… something. To be able to create something like that without any magic." He was talking about the light stunt Sophia pulled.

"That's true. They were a crafty bunch."

Today, Fen was the one feeling oddly tired and went to bed early for a change. Sophia continued to try out some smaller lights for fun for a while. She soon joined the wolf as it was an exhausting day for her as well, though.