Steel, Explosives, and Spellcasters

So, what was the true nature of the fire dragon that razed the city?

This question had always perplexed Winters.

If one were to go by the words of the city's citizens, the fire dragon's rampage was the masterpiece of some mysterious sorcerer;

according to religious figures, it was a punishment for the morally corrupt sinners.

Regardless, there was one point people firmly believed: the fire dragon's destruction was certainly not a natural phenomenon.

On one hand, Winters did not believe the incident was related to magic, since the spellcasters had attempted to divert the wind direction out of goodwill that night; on the other hand, he also did not think an ordinary fire could invoke a fire tornado.

The man sitting before him, wrapped in a robe and shivering on a stool, claimed to have unraveled the truth behind the fire dragon's destruction.

Winters was eager to know the answer.

Axel was also very curious.

Christian opened a drawer and began to rummage through it.

Winters and Axel exchanged glances; the mystery was about to be revealed, and they both felt suddenly nervous.

What Christian found was merely a smoking pipe. He then carefully filled it with tobacco, lit it with magic, and took a satisfying puff.

Winters and Axel watched with wide eyes as the instructor completed the entire smoking process.

However, Christian's expression was one of complete indulgence, as if he really just wanted to smoke after all.

"Teacher..." Winters couldn't hold back any longer and was about to ask.

"Puff." Christian blew smoke directly into Winters's face.

The spicy smoke was inadvertently inhaled by Winters, causing him to cough repeatedly and tears to flow, filling Christian's not so spacious living room with swirling smoke.

Winters felt as though he was being mocked and asked somewhat displeased, "What are you trying to do...?"

"Shh." Christian placed his index finger to his lips, signaling Winters to be quiet. He pointed to the ceiling and whispered a word, "Look."

Upon hearing this, Winters and Aike looked up at the smoke.

Christian gently waved his fingers, one circle, two circles, three circles... Something miraculous happened:

Starting from a central point, the aimlessly drifting smoke suddenly seemed to have a life of its own, swirling in mid-air. Following the rhythm of Christian's fingers, one circle, two circles, three circles...

The smoke spiraled like a tornado, forming a ring-shaped structure. There was no smoke in the center, resembling the calm eye of a storm.

The smoke rings spun faster and wider, until finally surpassing the limits of Christian's control and abruptly dissipated.

Winters was gobsmacked, while Axel was still dazed.

Aike pointed to the ceiling in confusion and asked, "Is this... magic?"

"Yes, it's magic," Christian replied contentedly, taking another drag of his pipe.

"Oh, that's pretty interesting," Aike said with a foolish grin. "So this is magic, huh? It doesn't seem like much, does it?"

"Show some respect!" Winters grabbed Aike's arm and swallowed nervously, "This is simply... unprecedented... I've never seen magic like this before. It's incredible, truly incredible."

Laymen watch the excitement while insiders appreciate the technique.

Clearly, Christian had used Kinetic Magic. Changing an object's kinetic energy was not a difficult task for spellcasters.

Nearly all Kinetic Spells are simply about accelerating something, faster and faster.

Though simple and efficient, they are also thoughtless, brutish, and lack depth. So much so that some spellcasters who specialize in Fire-type Spells sarcastically call Kinetic Spells "dummy spells."

Meaning that, much like a club, no matter how big, it's still a club, with no technical sophistication to speak of.

Being able to precisely control the formless and shapeless smoke with such ease was an astonishing skill. Winters had only seen this level of magical technique in one person, and that man was Moritz van Nassau.

What was more incredible was—rotation?

Rotation?

There was no such effect as rotation in the existing Kinetic Spells, which are all straightforward.

Making an object accelerate in one direction was already challenging enough for a spellcaster's skills, let alone rotation... not blind, random motion, but controlled rotational movement. Winters had no idea how to achieve such an effect.

Rotation... fire tornado?

"Is this the spell that summoned the fire tornado?" Winters asked excitedly. "Was the fire dragon's destruction triggered by this spell?"

Axel was also taken aback and turned to look at the instructor alongside Winters.

"No," Christian exhaled a mouthful of smoke. Oddly, he was no longer shivering while he smoked. "This is the result of my research in recent months; the fire dragon's destruction has nothing to do with this spell."

"Then what exactly happened with the fire dragon's destruction?" Aike couldn't stand the instructor's roundabout narrative any longer and asked bluntly.

"Oh, you want to know about that?" Christian said in a nonchalant tone. "It's very simple, the reason for the fire dragon's destruction is quite simple; I'll give you a demonstration and you'll understand."

Christian set down the pipe and started rummaging through his things again, finding a thin-walled glass cylinder and a small candlestick.

Winters noticed: as soon as Christian's hands left the pipe, his body began to shiver uncontrollably. Winters grew suspicious but said nothing.

Christian placed the very short burning candlestick on the table and covered it with the glass cylinder.

The candle was burned down to a very short stub, and with the candlestick, it was no more than ten centimeters tall. The glass cylinder, half a meter in height and open at both ends, covered the candlestick like a lampshade.