Industrial Mage: Modernizing a Magical World

13 - Another Proposition

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[Meditation] — Lvl 2 -> Lvl 3!

Dismissing the window, Ethan calmed himself and resumed his meditation, refilling this mana reserve. Soon, he opened his eyes and stood up. Then he changed his approach. Instead of making major improvements, he decided to shape the fire into something closest to a sphere—which was obviously an egg shape.

Almost instinctively, the rune changed. The rune became slightly denser as the flames coalesced together. They swirled around one another, melding together as one. Slowly, they took the form of an egg.

An egg.

Barely large enough to cup with one of his hands.

It floated on his palm, orange flames crackling like weird lava on the surface.

Still, no levels. Undeterred, Ethan continued shaping fire into slightly different shapes until the sun had almost dipped past his head, a whole hour spent. He then tried manipulating the temperature of fire instead of its shape, like raising it to a temperature high or low, but failed.

Rubbing his chin, he decided to picture the fire on a microscopic level. He imagined the frantic dance of the oxygen molecules as they collided with the fuel, each encounter sparking a tiny explosion of light and heat. He focused his will, trying to slow that dance, picturing the oxygen molecules moving with sluggish reluctance. But the flames stubbornly refused to change.

Frustrated, he rubbed his temples. What is temperature, anyway? He vaguely remembered a childhood science lesson about how hot or cold something felt depended on how fast its atoms were vibrating. It's a measure of the average kinetic energy of the particles in a substance. Particles that are constantly moving have higher kinetic energy, resulting in a higher temperature. Conversely, slower-moving particles have less kinetic energy and result in a lower temperature. So, fire, with its intense heat and flickering light, must be a frenzy of hyperactive particles. But how could he possibly influence that unseen?

Ethan opened his eyes, staring at the flames. They burned with an angry orange glow. He realized his approach was wrong. He wasn't strong enough to directly slow the frenetic motion of the fire's molecules.

He needed a different strategy. Perhaps, he thought, he could coax the fire, not control it. What he could do, was utilize what he had.

[Elemental Spells] wasn't just fire and water, after all, it consisted of air and earth as well. It might even have more than he realized. Thus, he focused on the air surrounding the flames, picturing it as a dense, cool blanket. I don't have an air rune, but I do have water. But, even without that, I have [Basic Rune Creation] along with [Basic Magic Script], [Magic Perception], and [Magic Sensitivity], they should theoretically help me.

He imagined willing the air molecules to pack in tighter, absorbing some of the fire's heat. it didn't work at first, but then slowly, almost imperceptibly, the flames began to change. The vibrant orange hues dimmed slightly, giving way to a subtler orange-red. It was a minuscule shift, but a shift nonetheless.

[Magic Sensitivity] — Lvl 2 -> Lvl 3!

[Magic Perception] — Lvl 2 -> Lvl 3!

"Yes!"

A small victory.

Emboldened, Ethan reversed his focus. He pictured the air around the fire as thin and wispy, encouraging the oxygen molecules to flow more freely. The flames responded with a renewed vigor. The orange-red deepened back to a vibrant orange, tinged with flickers of yellow, a telltale sign of even higher temperatures.