[Book 1 Completed] Industrial Mage: Modernizing a Magical World [Kingdom Building LitRPG]
B2 | Chapter 18 – Experimenting with the New Skill

Theodore began experimenting with his newly evolved skill right away. As soon as the feeling of having new runes and the skill itself settled in like a puzzle piece snapping into place where nothing should have fit, he started digging into it. Already poking and pulling and thinking and thinking and thinking too fast to stop.

Thermal. Fire, but not just fire, no, not fire at all, not in the usual sense, not the old, burn-it-until-it's-gone type. This was much more primal in that it was thermal energy itself. While fire was the outcome, this was the cause.

He was able to feel it rather than only summon it, shape it, or toss it. He sensed the thermal energy in everything around him. At first, everything was so overwhelming that he stopped in the middle of his stride and waited for his brain to catch up.

Processing all the information he was receiving required all of his concentration. He was so overwhelmed by the amount of knowledge that his head hurt.

He was no longer even required to gaze directly. Heat danced in the air, clung to objects, and bled from them; he could feel it. It was like having a second pair of eyes grafted into his being. The 360-degree view of the surroundings was the hardest thing for him to comprehend.

He could see even if he closed his eyes. The perception blurred the farther he "looked" until he lost the ability to perceive the thermal energy, yet walls didn't matter, light didn't matter. If something had heat, he could see it.

Unless they were taught and knew how to hide their heat signature, like Miss Bodyguard, they could no longer hide from him. Even though he couldn't sense anything, he knew she was there, no way in hell would she go anywhere now of all times.

But he could identify others like fireflies in the dark. He hadn't been aware of it before, so it took him a while to adjust. More accurately, he realized that he had a switch and that he should just turn this sensation off since he couldn't possibly get accustomed to it all so quickly. He would need further experimentation in a safe environment.

So he did just that. Switching off the thermal sense, he attempted something a little more ostentatious. He tried shaping the thermal energy into a lance, not even for practical reasons but because it just felt like that was what he should be doing. Some primitive part of him thought spear equals precision and range and violence all wrapped in one elegant shape, but what he got instead was a twitching, half-coherent blur of pressure and rising heat that jittered midair like a dying wasp, hissed violently, and exploded three feet from his face with a crack like a firecracker.

"Shit!"

Though fortunately he was unharmed, the blast caused three nearby slime clones to vaporize into sizzling puddles and sent the others reeling back with hilariously delayed reactions. He stood there blinking through the steam like someone who had just burned their kitchen while attempting to make toast.

The crowd gasped.

Okay. Not a lance then.

He made another attempt, but this time he was slower, more controlled, and less kaboom. With a flip of his hand, he formed the heat into a tight cylinder that may have been a javelin this time.

It slapped harmlessly against the slime. It did erupt a second later, but it went the wrong way… right back at him. He recoiled, instinctively using [Mana Shield].

"You alright?" someone called out.

"Totally fine," he said too quickly. "Absolutely under control."

The subsequent effort was more successful. With a faint red glow, the javelin maintained its shape before propelling ahead and striking a slime squarely in the middle. A minor triumph was achieved when the poor creature burst like a microwaved grapes. Theodore grinned.

He probably looked like an idiot playing with something he barely understood, which was exactly what he was.

In any case, he ordered the men and women to move aside and attacked the clones. They immediately moved out of his way, and he used the slime clones as his subjects for roughly half an hour as he experimented with the skill.

What he figured out was surprising in many ways.

First of all, thermal energy. That was the most significant one. He could sense thermal energy everywhere, and he could activate and deactivate the "sense" as he pleased. That was a part of the skill now.

Second, he could control thermal energy. He could absorb it into himself, or release it outward, or just control it in general. He could force heat into objects to cause them to burn or draw heat out of them to cause them to become cold. On a whim, he could alter the temperature. He could affect objects, terrain, and enemies. Draw heat from the earth and cause the region to become brittle or weak. Or remove the heat from the atmosphere, even from humans. Slow them down and freeze their limbs. However, because he hadn't yet tested it on a live target, this was only a theory. All he had were slime clones. Also, he could do the opposite too. Overheat things until they crack and melt, etc.

Third, he could also absorb the heat from fire-based attacks. He'd fired a couple at himself. He was resistant now. And he could also absorb thermal energy in general. All that energy went into him, stored up.

Yep, he was a thermal battery now...

He had the ability to store thermal energy in his body like a battery and release it later in the form of a concentrated thermal blast, flame beam, or any other form he desired.

Use it as a weapon rather than merely passively storing it. Although he hadn't done it yet, he could vividly picture it. No, actually, that was a lie... he had tried it and it didn't go well for him. His arm had exploded in a shower of gore and it was suffice to say he wasn't doing that again until he knew how to use it, and it also convinced him to not try his ball of doom with the thermal energy, or try out any of the other new runes/elements he had gotten like kinetic, life, death, lightning, etc.

Who knew what would happen? He had just attempted to fire it off as a targeted heat burst or a thermal blast, similar to a beam. It would be disastrous, he realized. However, he was also aware that trying it here was a horrible idea. It definitely wasn't because he had blown up a limb and then spent minutes healing it.

He wouldn't act recklessly here, would he? The last time he did, it nearly ended badly with the purple flames and stuff. So yeah, he hadn't. The last less dangerous thing had been his orb of doom, and even Miss Bodyguard had told him it was stupid. And if she called it stupid, then it was.

Regardless, then there was the purple fire. Not a literal flame he had seen, but a presence. A sense of access. Everything in him told him not to, yet he could reach for it if he wanted to. It felt dangerous because it was goddamn dangerous. Back when he had [Elemental Spells], he had forced his way into accessing the purple fire; however, now that he possessed [Elemental Mastery], he was quite certain that it would just annihilate him before he ever realized what the purple fire could do.

His instincts were very clear: do not touch that. Not even a little. So he didn't.

He also experimented with the other elements. Earth, water, and air. In addition to feeling more responsive, they were also quicker, stronger, and simpler to control. He had less mana drain. That was the improvement. But no new tricks yet. Just upgrades to old ones. He wasn't sure if it was because he hadn't worked it out yet or because there wasn't anything new to learn. It wasn't as clear as fire to thermal energy.

Either way, the feeling was clear. Yes, he was becoming stronger, but he was also becoming more specialized. Fire, or more specifically thermal energy, was becoming his thing. In contrast to his other elements, his relationship with fire and now thermal energy was more profound and intimate. It was becoming something special to him. The others? Not developing in the same way, but still valuable. That was kind of disappointing, really, but it was also thrilling. Because it meant fire would do things for him that it wouldn't do for anyone else.

Regardless, he was excited as fuck to make a ball of doom with thermal energy, but for now he wouldn't do that. Because who knew what would happen?

All of the experimenting had also given him more levels, and he was surprised to discover a skill that he hadn't anticipated leveling up.

[Elemental Mastery] has leveled up! – Lvl 0 > Lvl 1!

[Meditation] has leveled up! – Lvl 19 > Lvl 20!

[Meditation] has leveled up! – Lvl 20 > Lvl 21!

Huh… [Elemental Mastery] I understand, but why [Meditation]?

That was strange because he was very certain that he hadn't been actually meditating. He wasn't doing the whole close-your-eyes-and-pretend-you're-floating-in-nothingness routine. What caused [Meditation] to level up, then?

He gave it more serious thought. Perhaps, albeit not in the conventional sense, he had been meditating. It wasn't the placid, tranquil sort that most people think of when they hear the word. It wasn't even stillness, spiritual enlightenment, or being in the present moment in the conventional sense. However, he had been focused. He had been sharply focused. Without any other distractions, all of his thoughts had been focused on mastering his new ability. He had been totally engrossed in it, and it had been pure concentration.

Therefore, it's possible that he misinterpreted the meaning of [Meditation] in this world. Even though he had a fresh perspective, he still had a lot of preconceived notions about meditation. So perhaps he was missing out on what the skill truly was.

That was an odd realization, but a useful one. That brought up additional questions as well, but he filed them away for later. It wasn't urgent. However, it was something to experiment with later.

The slime clones had helped with testing his [Elemental Mastery] as he wasn't unhinged enough to try it on real people, so he tried it on the slimes. He didn't feel bad either. They served as test dummies for him. After allowing them to attack him, he used his newly acquired powers to respond. He made the ground beneath them crack, frozen their limbs, and attempted to drain their heat. They died fast. It wasn't because he was cruel or anything but rather his lack of complete control over his abilities.

They looked like the others, though. That was the problem. That was why the crowd watching him had gone quiet.

When he let the final clone drop, he turned and saw the looks on their faces. He saw fear, disbelief, and horror. He frowned, confused. He wasn't sure why they were afraid. It didn't take long for it to click, however. It was at this moment that it hit him all at once.

Oh.

They didn't see experiments. They saw someone calmly breaking people who looked just like them.

Yeah. That made sense. It must have looked inhuman, cold and detached. He hadn't meant for it to be, but that didn't matter. That's how it looked. So he felt a little embarrassed now, just a little.

Really, it was the Slime King's fault.

Okay, let's just get to the Slime King.

***

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