Eluna, a formerly retired magic instructor working in the royal castle, returned to the capital after meeting Sophia a while back because she wanted to see true magic that wasn't restricted in any way. After everyone got together, the blonde tiger then proceeded to show off every category of magic, including the original type.

"Wow..." Eluna needed a break to let it all sink in. Once she processed it, she eventually addressed Sophia again. "This is... impressive."

"It's actually no- A-Ah..." She tried to play it down without thinking because it really wasn't anything special for her, but the girl then glanced at Ari for a second, who gently returned her stare. "I mean, thank you."

"Good." The jaguar showed her a small smile.

"W-Woah..." Maya, Fen, and Aura saw something actually impressive. Sophia being sensible, that is.

"It seems like I really wasted my whole life when it comes to magic..."

"..." The blonde had no encouraging words and said nothing instead.

"How long did it take you to learn all this advanced magic?"

"Err..." Sophia paused for a moment after Eluna's question. Keeping Ari's tips in mind, she decided to give a vague answer because saying it was like a week or two wouldn't even be slightly helpful in this situation. "Quite honestly, not a huge amount of time. I never learned magic the, uhh, wrong way, and I have a very powerful and passionate teacher. That helped me out a lot." She glanced at Fen while saying so.

"It's been a pleasure." Fen had about as much fun introducing Sophia to magic as the girl herself.

"How am I able to learn it, too?" Her old instructor's blood was far from dried up.

"Uhh..." The tiger wasn't sure what to reply. "No idea."

"Not exactly what I hoped to hear."

"Well, it's just because I can't use chants or activation words. I'm somehow able to teach Maya a thing or two because she can use chantless magic. Chants aside, I still don't actually understand activation words at all... Sure, it helps you guide your imagination, but why not just put some more effort into it and go all out with chantless? Honestly, I don't get why it exists... I mean, when I play around and learn new magic, I often mumble all kinds of stuff, but once I get it to work, it only happens in my mind as I imagine it. Chants make some sort of sense as the user most likely has no plan at all and needs all the help or guidance or whatever they can get, but... I don't know, activation words just give off the vibe of being lazy..." Sophia glanced around and noticed that almost everyone besides her group was staring at her with a blank face, though Ari was facepalming, too. "Err, so, yeah... I'm not a good teacher."

"It's a matter of power, Sophia." Fen addressed her. "Activation words not only help with your imagination, but they also let you use magic if you don't have enough power for the chantless variant."

"But why?" The blonde tilted her head. "What has power to do with the way you use magic? Sure, you need it to do some grand magic, especially when it's uncategorized, as that's usually quite ridiculous. Still, if it's everyday magic like starting a fire or creating a bucket full of water, what keeps you from doing that silent?"

"Uhh..." The wolf had no answer.

"It's not like magic is sentient or anything like that, right? Like it only does something for you if you speak to it when you don't have enough power to impress it or whatever?"

"..." Now everyone, including her own group, was staring at Sophia with a blank expression, though Ari also started using her second hand to facepalm.

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Once Sophia finished questioning everything anyone knew about magic and managed to confuse everyone, including herself, it was time for another break.

"By the way," After everyone calmed down, Aura suddenly spoke up. "While I don't use it, I have some experience with activation words. When I was on the demon continent, I trained a squad of them. Those who can't use chantless magic resorted to activation words. I might be able to teach a thing or two."

"Uhh..." Hearing the female wolf casually mentioning having trained a group of demons, they almost needed to take yet another break.

"I-I also might be able to help." Anna tried to defuse the situation. "Maya showed me a lot, and I could try to relay it to Eluna…?"

"Me, too, I guess?" The cat-girl followed after the princess. "I could teach Anna some more, and Eluna can watch us? As a former instructor, I'm sure she's able to pick up a thing or two just from observing."

"Oh, it's slowly starting to sound like a plan." King Menzor chose to ignore Sophia and Aura's initial comments and focused on the other ideas. "What do you think, Eluna?"

"Yeah, I'm not against the idea. If our bratty princess is able to learn it, I'm confident that I can do it, too. "

"Hey! What's that supposed to mean?!"

"Alright!" Menzor ignored his daughter and looked at the military commanders that had accompanied them. "I had originally planned for them to observe, too, but I guess I was too optimistic with that." All of them had blank expressions and were in dire need of an extended break. "Kira and I also have some other appointments. It would be great if you could give Eluna an introduction to your training methods, and we come back and see how it's going in a couple of hours?"

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After the king, his wife, and the commanders left, the remaining girls took over. Fen had left for the garden a little while ago to take a nap. Figuring he would be about as useless as Sophia in teaching anything other than chantless magic, he decided to leave them on their own after the blonde tiger had finished her speech about questioning everything about magic.

Sophia also decided to watch them from the sidelines. She, too, was far from being a help in this situation, after all. She located a bench at the corner of the training fields and got comfortable there while watching the girls. Most of the girls, at least, as Ari decided to join the tiger there. Sitting down next to her, the black-haired girl then stared at her with a somewhat disapproving expression.

"D-Don't you want to train together with them?" Sophia tried to pay the look on her face no mind.

"I am interested, but I figured teaching the former star magic instructor of the capital first would be the more efficient plan. Another newbie would only get in the way." She didn't look away for a second while saying so.

"I-I see..." She had trouble looking Ari in the eyes.

"..." Unfortunately, that only led the black panther to stare even harder at the blonde.

"F-Fine..." The pressure made her cave in quickly. "I-I know I said too much, okay?"

"Good." Her expression softened, and she stopped staring at the tiger. "Still, you really are something else, Sophia. It's like you want as much attention as you can get. I'm kinda envious of anyone who enjoys and seeks to be the center of attention. Thanks to the complex I had... have about my hair, I'm usually pretty reserved and only open up to Anna. I mean, she also has no filter, but you're something else entirely."

"Urgh..." The blonde groaned in pain from the damage she received. "Want to know a secret of mine?"

"Hmm?"

"I hate getting so much attention most of the time. Part of me's actually super shy, and having all those eyes on me makes me super self-conscious. I've gotten a lot better, but you have no idea how often I simply want to run away and just scream out my embarrassment."

"Ehh...? Then... why are you like... you?" Ari gestured at all of her while saying so.

"I said it before, didn't I? I'm extremely stupid."

"You have to do something about that, Sophia."

"Yeah, no kidding... But as you said, I have no filter because I rarely ever think before opening my mouth."

"What a heinous condition."

"I-I wouldn't go that far... Still, I really appreciated you reprimanding me a couple of times before. I actually managed to hold back once or twice."

"I wasn't reprimanding you. I just tried to give you some tips that could help you fix your behavior."

"Mh-hmm."

"A-Ah." The black-haired girl noticed that it was basically the same. "I, too, will try to watch my words better in the future..."

"Please don't! I meant it when I said that I really appreciate it. Your way of giving tips somehow really gets to me. I just need much more of it to actually stick and have an effect."

"So... you would like me to, uhh, scold you a lot...?" With one eyebrow raised, Ari stared at the blonde with a complicated expression.

"It sounds pretty bad if you put it that way." Sophia noticed how it may could be misunderstood. "I just want to have some help so I can learn how to hold back and watch what I say..."

"I see."

"I'm not like the princess, okay?"

"That's good. Wait, what...?" The jaguar-girl needed a moment before the words registered.

"Yeah, while I get the appeal to be on the receiving side, I would say that I enjoy being on the other side a lot more, if you know what I mean."

"Nonono, back to Anna for a moment here!" Ari's expression had become even more complex. "W-What do you mean you're not like her?

"Well, I'm not much of an M."

"B-But Anna isn't, either...?"

"Are you sure about that?" Sophia tilted her head. "When she told me about you, she was speaking very fondly about being scolded by you. Maya mentioned how the princess seemed to get excited when my cat's bullying her during their training sessions. Also, when she was still going after me, she somehow got super hyper and extra motivated whenever I shot her down."

"Ehhh...? But why... How?"

"I don't think there has to be a reason for what you're into."

"T-That's true..." Ari gave an understanding nod.

"Though maybe she got scolded a lot when she was a child?" The tiger still took a guess.

"Not that I know, at least. Just like Ellie, she's been spoiled like, well... a princess."

"Well, maybe someone reprimanded her in a nice way all the time while growing up instead? That could've left a mark. Or, I don't know, she got a lot of loving tips to help her fix her behavior or something along the lines?" Sophia's guesses had gotten oddly specific for some reason. "I'm no expert, but things like that could potentially form a personality when you're still young."

"Ah." Hearing those words, the jaguar's face paled. Realizing that she might be responsible for Princess Anna's awakening, Ari needed a bit of a break afterward to process this revelation. There were lots of those today, thanks to a certain blonde tiger being on a roll.