Fen started teaching Steph how to use his detection magic, and while that was going on, Aura and Sophia had another conversation on how to find the elder dragons on the demon continent once they get there. While doing that, Sophia also agreed to have a match with the wolf where she couldn’t use her most overpowered overseer features, like stopping time, to see if Aura would have a chance.

  “Let’s go, I did it!” Giving it her all while focusing on a specific part of the forest in front of them, Steph suddenly started cheering. “There’s definitely some sort of animal over there! I can actually sense a tiny bit of magic in that area!”

  “That was exactly the same technique you used on me, wasn’t it?” Sophia looked at Fen before gesturing at the edge of the forest. “Right down to sensing a random cow.” She remembered how the wolf had taught her the detection magic just like that when the two were in the monster country together.

  “Well, it worked on you, so why change things up with your little sister?"

  “Fair enough.”

  “What next?!” Steph looked at the wolf with sparkling eyes as her tail energetically wagged from side to side. “How do I get better at detecting things?”

  “Remember the feeling of the cow’s magic power and focus on that. That’s really all there is.” Fen wasn’t sure what else to say. “The more you do that, the clearer a view of your surroundings you’ll get. As your magic regeneration is also quick, you should make quick progress and start detecting all sorts of magical sources all around you.”

  “It’s that easy?!” The dog-girl raised her voice. “I should’ve asked you months ago!”

  “It’s only so easy for you because you, too, have been gifted your authority by an overseer. The overseer of magic, no less." He disapprovingly shook his head. “It’s normally a lot more complicated.”

  “Thank you very much, Mira!”

  “Steph, make sure to always tell someone if you’re following something you detected and never forget to take your portal item with you!” Sophia suddenly sounded a little more serious.

  “I’m not a baby!” She glared at her older sister in return.

  “Can you really look me in the eyes and say that you won’t ever run after the first thing that catches your interest with the detection magic, get too excited, and forget where you came from once you're out of range to sense me or the others?”

  “…” Steph went silent.

  “I just don’t want to hang up lost dog pictures everywhere, okay?” Sophia told her the same thing she had talked about with Aura earlier.

  “I-It’s fine!” She scratched her cheek. “I have a permanent mini portal inside my tail that feeds the eternal ice kingdom, and both my hairpins are enchanted with it. If really all three of them were to fail, I was meant to go on a solo adventure~.” Steph let out a small chuckle.

  “I’m not sure if that’s the takeaway here.” The tiger shook her head. “What would you do if I were to say that I’m meant to go on a solo adventure?”

  “I’d say no~.” Steph smiled at her. Her words didn’t sound warm, though.

  “See?”

  “I guess that point goes to you.” There was nothing she could add there. “Then again, I’d just have to ask someone how to get to the capital for you to pick me up, so I never would be truly lost.”

  “Good luck with that once we’re on the demon continent.” The blonde kept staring at her.

  “Ah.” She hadn’t thought about that. “Again, I always have three portals on me! It’s fine! I won’t get lost like that.”

  “Just remember that I’ll get upset if you do.”

  “Yes, mom!”

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  “Haa, I hate being the voice of reason…” Sophia hung her head. “I’m not made for that.”

  “You sure aren’t.” Fen agreed with her. “Anyway, let’s continue our contest! I’ve gotten curious to see how we compare in pure leg strength!”

  “Let’s go!” Steph happily agreed to changing the topic.

  “Sure.”

  ----------------

  “Happy now?” The four had just finished their next race when Aura addressed Fen with an insane amount of smugness in her voice.

  "How are you faster than me, even without using magic?!" The male wolf was, in fact, not happy as he stared back at his partner.

  “To be fair, you barely outran me, a short girl with only two legs, so it really isn't Aura who's special, but you being slow.” Sophia let out a chuckle. This time, the female wolf had won the race, with Fen finishing second in a photo finish barely in front of Sophia.

  “Even I could almost keep up~.” Steph nodded a few times.

  “Have we maybe gotten a little too comfortable and neglected training, my dear?” Aura stared at him while trying her best not to laugh. Too hard, at least.

  “…” He did not appreciate that.

  “We need to go on a training arc, Fenfen!” Steph already had the solution for their problems. She, too, needed to step up their game, after all.

  "A training what now?” He already couldn’t follow her.

  “The two of us are going to train really hard in a very special way that no one ever thought of, and once we’re done, thanks to the help of plot convenience, we’re going to be so strong that they won’t even recognize us!”

  “Plot convenience?” The male wolf only got more confused.

  “Don’t worry about that part~.” Steph smiled at him as she lightly waved her hand. “Just focus on the part where we get super powerful!”

  “And how do you plan to get us that much stronger?” He really wasn’t convinced yet.

  “What good would it do if I were to reveal my grand scheme in front of the ones we want to beat?” The dog-girl shook her head. “But, I even have two ideas that could actually work!”

  “Really now?”

  “Absolutely!” Steph got even more excited as her tail’s wagging speed increased, as well.

  “Well, color me interested.” Fen’s curiosity got the better of him.

  “Awesome!” She happily clapped her hands. “This is going to be so great!”

  “I’m not sure how I feel about that.” Sophia awkwardly scratched her cheek.

  “Whatever this is going to turn out to be, the outcome will be quite entertaining~.” Aura was looking forward to it for her very own reason.

  “I guess that’s fair.” The blonde couldn’t argue with that.

  “I do have to make some preparations for that first, though.” The dog-girl smiled at Fen. “I think for now we have to get creative to win here!”

  “Hmm…” He looked around to get some inspiration for their next challenge. “Alright, we have to get behind the mountain range over there.” The wolf gestured towards the horizon, where a couple of big mountains blocked their view. “How about a slightly different race? Once we get there, let’s have a competition on who gets to the other side the fastest.”

  “Ohh!” Steph clapped her hands. “I’m confident in my climbing skills, so let’s go!”

  “I guess that could be interesting.” Sophia concentrated a little harder on the mountains before nodding a couple of times. “They’re not nearly high enough for snow, and I can’t see any, either, so it’s fine.”

  “You want to challenge me getting over a mountain?” Aura just stared at him. “Weren’t you the one who called me an honorary mountain goat in the past? You know what, I’m not going to use any magic on this one, either~." She was also rather confident in herself.

  “This time, I’ll definitely make you regret it!” Fen glared at her.

  “I’m looking forward to it~.” The female wolf was a big fan of his competitive side.

  “Should we have a race to get there, or do we skip to start from right before the mountain range?” Sophia tilted her head. “I feel like taking a portal to have some fun with the challenge immediately.”

  “Portal, please.” Fen seemed to be looking forward to it, too.

  “Alrighty!” Saying so, the tiger took one of her usual portal stones out of her storage and threw it in the direction of the mountains.

  ----------------

  “Do we want to agree on any other rules before we start?” Having taken the portal to the foot of the mountain range, Aura then first looked uphill before facing the others. “I already decided on not using magic, so I should be good, but still?”

  “No, let’s just have fun.” Fen shook his head.

  “You have something planned, have you not?” The female wolf instantly saw through him.

  “Me? Never!” He vigorously shook his head.

  “Hmm.” She kept staring at him for a little longer. “Well, I’m looking forward to it.”

  “Looks like this will be a lot more interesting than previously anticipated, huh?” Sophia also seemed quite interested in his plan.

  “I sense another defeat?!” Steph had mixed feelings about it, though.

  With that taken care of, everyone got into position after Fen suggested they should get 250 to 300 meters apart from each other to minimize influencing or sabotaging each other. It should be a fair competition, after all.

  Once the four were far enough apart from each other, while looking at the tall and quite steep mountain range in front of them, it seemed like they were rather thin but high mountains, Sophia shot a small fireball in the sky to signal the start because she didn’t want to shout.

  Seeing the signal, Steph, Aura, and the tiger immediately began to sprint up the difficult and steep loose gravel side, but Fen had yet to start moving. Instead, he simply closed his eyes while seemingly concentrating rather hard. A few moments later, there suddenly was a deafening boom created by an explosion that enveloped everything in front of him, the entire mountain bit, in flames as rocks and all sorts of other debris flew in every direction with tremendous speed.

  - Elias Andrén -

  - VoidMelody -

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