Chloe and Steph learned something interesting about theirs and everyone else's authority on magic while working on their polar biome. Not only Sophia's powers had grown considerably since they started pouring as magic as possible into the domain, but everyone else had done so, too, which was confirmed by everyone's favorite parakeet, Blu.

  “Oh, I think we’re slowly reaching the edge of the desert!” The girls, and Fen, were still traveling towards the trade hub when Anna noticed that the dunes were getting flatter, as well as more shrubbery, albeit dried out, began to show up. Here and there were also some greener spots coming into view together with a few acacia trees in the far distance.

  "Yes, we should also see the trade hub city in a few minutes." Sophia nodded while smiling at her. "Aren't I a good tour guide?" Her expression turned into a grin.

  “You’re definitely not the worst in the group.” Anna stole a quick glance at Ari and Maya.

  “…” The duo in question had nothing to say and just sheepishly turned their heads away.

  “Ahaha~.” The blonde liked that.

  “It’s rare to see you this smug.” The princess smiled at her fellow tiger.

  “It’s also rare that I have a better sense of direction than Maya and or Ari.”

  "More like it's unheard of." Anna lightly rolled her eyes. "Also, I don't think that has anything to do with your sense of direction, either. After all, you literally used magic to get us here.”

  “If you try and take this away from me, I’ll ground you for a week!” Sophia didn’t appreciate that.

  “You can’t ground a princess!” She stared at her. “Especially because you’re not my mother!”

  “Do you want to see me try?”

  “I’d love to see you do-, wait…" Anna suddenly stopped while tilting her head. "Are we talking about grounding me or some advanced kind of punishment roleplay? The kinky kind, I mean.” She somehow felt the need to clarify that.

  “Ohh?” Hearing that, Maya perked up again. “I’d like to hear more about that!”

  “Not this again.” Ari rolled her eyes.

  “Again?” Sophia lifted an eyebrow. “What are you two up to during the night?" She stared at the royal couple.

  “Fun stuff!” The two just smiled at her.

  “My position in this group continues to be in danger!” The cat-girl got loud. "Sophia! You need to help me reclaim and secure my role as the biggest pervert of the group!"

  “Ehh?” She scratched her cheek. “Can’t you do that on your own… Ah, you kinda need me for that, huh?”

  “It would certainly help!” Maya nodded a few times. “Solo sessions can get you only so far on the leaderboard!”

  “Ah, I see.” The blonde didn’t even think about questioning it. “Well, it’s not like I don’t enjoy having fun with you. In fact, I welcome it almost whenever you want to do it. Sure, we can play around a whole lot to show them who’s the boss here.”

  “Let’s go!”

  “Not here and or right now, though.” Sophia found her reply a little too enthusiastic.

  “Aww!”

  “Idiot~.” She didn’t actually sound upset when saying that, though. "Anyway, before we get to that, let's focus on the unfinished business first.” The blond put the topic on halt for the day. “I still need to add the second portal somewhere around here so that no one from the trade city would actually see the people from the oasis using them."

  “How about there?” Anna pointed slightly to their left. There, a few lone acacia trees surrounded by a formation of a couple of bigger boulders could be seen. “It’s a good and easily distinguishable landmark, but it also offers some protection and no line of sight towards the trade city."

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  “You’re a genius!” Sophia liked the plan. “That's the perfect place!”

  Having decided on that, the group made their way over there, and Sophia began to work on the hidden portal she had buried underground. Afterward, she tested it out by going through it to get close to the oasis city. From there, the blonde decided to pay Doma another visit.

  ----------------

  “Sophia…?” When the horned man saw the tiger entering the tavern, he naturally got confused. “What are you doing here? Wait, let me guess, your group walked in a circle and ended up back here?" He tilted his head. "Yeah, that happens to the best of us in this desert where everything looks the same."

  “Not quite.” She shook her head. “Or rather, not at all.”

  “You’re quite the confusing individual.”

  “That’s not the first time I’ve heard that.”

  “Obviously.” Doma nodded a few times. “So, what’s up.”

  “There’s something I want to show you, but we need to go on a little trip for that.”

  “I’m not sure if I like the sound of that.” He got a little wary of her. “What if I refuse?”

  “You know that I’m a lot stronger than you, right? I could just grab you, put you under my arm, and carry you there.” Sophia stared at him for a moment. “We both don’t want that to happen, do we?”

  “We really don’t.” The horned man shook his head. “So, where are we headed to?” He gave up.

  “Just outside the city and a few minutes into the desert.”

  “Well, that’s not too unreasonable. The sun isn’t all that high anymore, either, so I won’t be cooked when going there.” His expression relaxed a little. “Did you find something of interest out there?”

  “Something like that!” Sophia just gave him a thumbs-up.

  “I don’t like the way how you skirt around questions.”

  “Showing is easier than telling!” Saying so, the blonde grabbed Doma’s arm and dragged him out of the tavern.

  ----------------

  “So…?” The duo arrived in the area where Sophia had hidden the first portal, and the horned man questioningly tilted his head while looking around.

  “Do you feel like there’s anything weird around here?”

  “Yes.” Doma stared right at the blonde.

  “Wow.” She needed a moment. “That was a brilliant one.” Sophia had to hand it to him.

  “Happy to hear.”

  “Other than me, is there anything about the area that feels different or odd to you?”

  “I don’t think so?” Looking confused, he tried to concentrate on his surroundings. “No, everything seems normal to me.”

  “Perfect!” The blonde lightly clapped her hands. “Alright, could you put your hand on the ground around there?” She pointed at the slightly grassy patch of sand and dirt on the foot of the palm tree in front of them.

  “Why?”

  “Just play along with it.”

  "Fine…" Realizing that it was useless to argue with her, Doma gave up, kneeled down, and put his hand on the ground. “What now?”

  “Are you feeling anything weird now?” Sophia smiled at him.

  “Still just you.” He shook his head.

  “So much sass.”

  “Thank you.” Doma took it as a compliment. “Why am I touching the ground?” He was still confused.

  “Pour some magic into it and see what happens.”

  “Do what now?” His confusion only grew.

  “Ahh.” Sophia only just remembered that she was talking to someone with a regular common sense of magic. “Hmm, how do I explain this?” She tilted her head. “Ah, have you ever used one of the magic ovens or stoves?”

  “The one where you have to put your hand in a certain place and concentrate on turning it on? Yeah, the tavern has one of those fancy things, but I prefer regular fire to cook. Especially because we only eat warm meals in the evening and night when it's cold outside, so it doubles as a heat source. Though, yes, I have given it a try.”

  “Perfect!” The blonde nodded once. “It’s not widely known like this yet, but that’s pouring your own internal magic into something else.”

  “Okay…?” He had a hard time following her.

  “Concentrate the same way on the ground as you did with that stove."

  “You want me to turn on the ground?”

  “Not the words I would use, but yes, that’s more or less what I want.”

  “I see.” Giving the crazy girl what she wanted, Doma concentrated briefly and turned on the ground. “W-Whoa?! What?!” Immediately after, a hole opened in front of him before the dirt and sand formed a small stair leading downward. “Huh? What is this?” Before he had time to process this, the horned man noticed the pink and purple portal at the bottom of the stairs.

  “Do you remember when we were on the lake and how I took the stones out of something before throwing them into the water?”

  “Y-Yes…?”

  “I call it a portal, and the thing downstairs here is the same. This portal lets me connect two places with each other and allows me to travel instantly between them. If you want to, I could get you to the royal capital in two seconds by using one of these.”

  “What?” Doma had entirely lost track of the conversation.

  “This is a gift to you and the oasis city.” Sophia smiled at him. “This portal is connected with another one at the edge of the desert a couple hundred meters away from the trade hub city. With this, if you want to use it, you can skip the entire desert traversal to resupply.”

  “…” He was unable to say anything for a good while. “What are you even talking about?”

  “Yeah, I’m quite bad at explaining things.” She awkwardly scratched her cheek. “Fortunately, I’m a lot better at showing things~.”

  “H-Huh?!”

  Before he had the chance to complain, Sophia got behind him gently but with absolute and undeniable vigor, making him go down the stairs by putting her hand on his back and making him unable to stop or ponder. Briefly stopping right in front of the portal for a short second, the blonde then made him go through it because this would answer most of his questions instantly, though also raising a few more at the same time, as well.