"Wind Hand, huh? I’ve acquired yet another strange skill," Rei murmured as the mental announcement echoed in his mind.
He decided that a practical test was worth more than a thousand theories and attempted to activate the skill. Immediately, he felt something like a tentacle extending from Death Scythe.
He could feel it. It wasn't visible to the naked eye. Normally, Rei lacked the ability to sense the magic power of others, but perhaps he could perceive this appendage woven from wind because it was formed from his own mana—or perhaps because it was channeled through Death Scythe. Regardless of the reason, he was keenly aware of a colorless, transparent tentacle made of wind.
"Rather than Wind Hand, 'Wind Tentacle' seems like a more fitting name," he said with a slight tilt of his head. He manipulated the extension, touching the tip to a thirty-centimeter piece of dead wood lying on the ground.
The next moment, the wood was swept into the air, hovering according to Rei's will.
"I see. Given how it works, the name Wind Hand isn't entirely off the mark."
Through this trial, Rei grasped the general capabilities of the skill. He could extend an invisible limb of wind and exert physical influence on whatever the tip touched. It was, quite literally, an invisible hand made of air.
"However..."
Rei kept the limb extended and tossed a nearby stone toward it. The stone passed right through the arm of the tentacle without a hint of resistance.
"Just as I thought. The 'hand' function is limited to the very tip. The length of the limb itself doesn't possess any physical substance or skill effect. And..."
He pushed the Wind Hand to its limit, finding that it capped out at roughly a hundred meters.
"I wonder if the distance will increase with the skill level? No, even if it did, I’m operating it based on my own vision. If it gets too far, it’ll become impossible to control accurately."
He retracted the limb and reached out to snag another stone.
"The amount of wind I can manipulate at the tip is fixed as well. Since it’s only Level 1, the force isn't particularly overwhelming. Still, it can lift a stone the size of a fist, so it isn't powerless... Wait, power isn't the point here. If I combine this with Seto's skill..."
Nodding to himself, he hurriedly stored the Emerald Wolf materials and meat into the Misty Ring. He tossed a magically conjured fireball into the pit where he had dumped the monster offal, burning the remains to ash before burying the hole with earth.
"Guruuu?" Seto tilted its head, seemingly asking if they were leaving the rest of the Emerald Wolves for later.
"Yeah. There’s something I want to test right now. Time stops inside the Misty Ring, so I can finish processing the wolves whenever I have a spare moment. More importantly, Seto, I’ve come up with an experiment. Let’s move to a wider area."
With an uncharacteristic sense of urgency, Rei vaulted onto Seto's back. "A wide-open space, Seto. Find us a plain or a wasteland, just to be safe."
"Guruuu? Guruu!"
Seto gave a short cry of understanding. After a brief running start, it beat its wings, kicking off the air to gain altitude. In seconds, they were over a dozen meters above the ground.
From this height, the world below looked like a vast green carpet. The bright autumn sun made the grasslands shimmer with reflected light. Below, Rei could see small shapes moving—likely wild animals, monsters, or perhaps adventurers on a request. Given that they had traveled over a day's walk from the City of Gilm, Rei assumed they were seasoned veterans.
Of course, for Seto, the same distance took less than an hour.
"When it comes to mobility and footwork, I’m really quite lucky," Rei mused.
"Guruu?" Seto turned its head mid-flight to look at him.
Rei smiled and stroked the creature’s neck. "It’s nothing. I was just thinking about how much you help me out."
"Guruuu!" Seto let out a happy cry.
They enjoyed their aerial stroll for another ten minutes. Fortunately, they weren't harassed by any flying monsters and arrived at the vast wasteland Rei had hoped for.
"Perfect. This is the ideal spot for a test."
They touched down, and Rei nodded with satisfaction as he surveyed the barren landscape. The lush greenery from before was nowhere to be seen; the nearest grass was likely several hours away on foot.
"First... all right, Seto. I’m going to cast a spell. I want you to activate your Tornado so that it overlaps with mine. It’ll be dangerous once it starts, so we’ll need to back off immediately."
"Guruu!"
At Seto's confirmation, Rei drew his magic catalyst, Death Scythe, from the Misty Ring.
"Flame, manifest your power like a blazing scorch as a vortex."
Condensed flames began to manifest around the shaft of Death Scythe as the incantation progressed. Since this was a test, Rei didn't pour an excessive amount of magic power into it—though for a normal mage, his moderate amount would have been a full-power effort.
Once the spell was primed, he swung the scythe's shaft down with a heavy stroke. "Swirling Hellfire!"
The concentrated flames impacted the ground ten meters away, erupting into a localized tornado of fire. Its effective range was limited to a few meters.
(Just as expected. But now...)
Rei glanced at his partner. "Seto!"
"Guruuu!"
Seto unleashed its Tornado directly onto the pillar of fire. Rei and Seto immediately sprinted backward to a safe distance, watching the interaction of their skills.
Fire met wind. For a moment, they swirled together, but then the flames surged, consuming the wind and burning out the Tornado entirely.
"...That didn't work."
"Guruu," Seto chirped apologetically, lowering its head.
Rei gave the griffon a comforting scratch. "Don't worry about it. It was a long shot anyway. If your Tornado was a higher level, it might have worked as I planned. At Level 1, it can't be helped."
(From the look of it, the fire and wind didn't blend. The flames just eroded the wind. If I can find a way to force them to harmonize...)
Rei was trying to replicate a firestorm phenomenon. In nature, when a fire becomes intense enough, it consumes the surrounding oxygen and creates a powerful localized updraft. This results in a firestorm—a terrifying whirlwind of flame that can reach temperatures of 1,000°C and wind speeds of hundreds of meters per second. It was a localized natural disaster. He had hoped to combine his magic with Seto's skill to generate this effect, but the fire had simply snuffed out the wind.
(I can't do it with my fire magic alone. That’s why I thought Seto’s Tornado was the missing piece... Well, no matter. I still have one more thing to try.)
"Seto, one more time. But this time, I’m going to use the Wind Hand I got from the scythe. I think it’ll increase our chances. We’ll pull back as soon as we activate the skills again."
"Gururuuu."
Rei began the incantation once more, channeling his mana. "Flame, manifest your power like a blazing scorch as a vortex."
He swung Death Scythe, launching the orb of fire. "Swirling Hellfire!"
As the flame tornado roared to life, he gripped the scythe's handle and signaled his partner. "Seto!"
"Gurururururuuu!"
Seto let out a mighty roar as its wind tornado overlapped with the flames. Rei and Seto retreated, and as they did, Rei activated Wind Hand.
The invisible tentacle of wind mana shot out from Death Scythe toward the heart of the two clashing vortices. Just as before, his flames were more potent and were beginning to swallow the wind. But then, the tip of the Wind Hand made contact with the center of the dual tornadoes.
"Ngh!?"
The moment contact was made, Rei channeled more wind mana through Death Scythe, forcing it into the failing wind tornado. Slowly but surely, the wind began to push back against the fire’s encroachment. The two vortices grew until they were of equal size, perfectly overlapping.
For several seconds, they existed as separate but intertwined entities. Then, in a flash, they fused. The result was a towering whirlwind of absolute incineration: a true firestorm.
"Guh!"
"Guruuu!"
Even from a hundred meters away, a wave of searing heat slammed into them. Rei and Seto beat a hasty retreat, putting five hundred meters between themselves and the disaster they had created. Only then did the temperature drop to a point that was merely hot.
"...I underestimated the scale. But as a wide-range destruction tool, this is incredible. The only drawback is how much setup it requires."
Between his own flame magic, Seto's Tornado, and the fine control of Wind Hand, it took too much time for a standard subjugation request. If a target moved while the vortices were fusing, they would take damage, but likely wouldn't be caught in the lethal heart of the storm.
"On the flip side, it’ll be devastating against slow-moving or massive enemies."
Rei watched the towering firestorm with Seto by his side.
"Like the Bestia Empire army, for instance."
A massive army of humans, when viewed as a single entity, was the perfect target. Elena had warned him of a high probability of war with the Empire next spring. This firestorm would be his trump card. The direct thermal damage covered hundreds of meters, and the indirect effects of superheated gas and flying embers made its reach even greater than Dancing Flames. It lacked the surgical precision of Wild Dance of the Fire Spirits, but for wiping out a massive force, it was unparalleled. Furthermore, the firestorm seemed to sustain itself much longer than his usual spells. Even from this distance, the tornado of fire continued to rage, a pillar of death standing against the sky.
"I’ll need to refine the execution... but that’s what training is for. Seto, thanks to you, we’ve developed a terrifying new weapon. Thank you."
"Gururururu."
Seto trilled with joy, leaning into Rei's hand as he petted the creature.
They stayed for about an hour, observing the firestorm until it finally exhausted itself, before making their way back to the City of Gilm.