A full year passed after the death of his mother. Chris moved to the nearest city to live with his relatives. He met new kids around the neighborhood, and they also liked Thrudora very much. The comic book was incredibly popular among the children in this city.
One afternoon, Chris took a walk on the street. He saw a woman sitting on a wooden bench beside the road. She had bright silver hair and looked to be in her early twenties. But her clothes captured Chris's attention the most. She wore a long dark cloak and a tall, pointed cone-shaped hat on her head. It was the undeniable trademark outfit of a Mage.
Chris approached the silver-haired woman to politely greet her. The young-looking woman smiled back warmly.
"Hello," Chris started, dipping his head a little. "My name is Chris."
The woman looked amused because he was so unusually polite. She offered a gentle nod.
"It is very nice to meet you, Chris. My name is Kyraia Rho."
Chris hesitated for a second, then he asked his burning question. "Miss Kyraia, are you perhaps a Mage?"
The woman chuckled softly. "Technically, I am. But I am not an Adventurer."
Chris's face instantly lit up with absolute awe. He was looking at a real Mage in person. She was a Wizard in real life, a true kin of Thrudora in the flesh. However, an unfamiliar word quickly confused him.
"An Aventerur?" Chris asked.
Kyraia corrected his pronunciation. "Adventurer. It is a specific profession. An Adventurer fights monsters to protect people. But my profession is entirely different. To be precise, I am a magic researcher. A magic researcher's job is to study magic. We dedicate our whole lives to research."
Chris's eyes sparkled. "Magic researcher? That sounds cool."
Kyraia placed a hand over her mouth, completely flattered by the compliment. "Is that so? I thought you would say my job is boring. Kids your age often say studying magic without fighting is lame."
Chris quickly shook his head. "I don't think studying magic is lame. I promise."
Kyraia let out a soft laugh. "I believe you."
Chris's face turned completely serious. "Miss Kyraia."
She tilted her head. "What is it?"
Chris inhaled deeply, then he let out a slow exhale to gather his courage. He desperately wanted to see a real Blue Star, so he had decided to ask someone who could actually cast magic.
Luck seemed to be on his side today. Of all the Mages he could encounter, he found a magic researcher. Their specialty focused purely on academics and studies rather than fighting on the frontline.
That meant Chris was facing an expert who possessed a massive amount of magical knowledge. Kyraia was the absolute best person he could ask about spells.
"Do you know how to cast Blue Star?" Chris asked, his voice trembling slightly. "I... I really want to see one."
Kyraia blinked twice, looking entirely confused.
Chris pressed further. "You study magic your entire life, right? For sure you have the knowledge about that spell."
Kyraia crossed her arms. "Can you describe the magic spell for me?"
Chris nodded eagerly. "It is a ball of energy colored blue, and it can kill a giant monster in one shot."
Kyraia thought for a while in silence. After a few seconds, she shook her head. "There is no magic spell named Blue Star in the Lexicon. Even in the Codex, I cannot find anything that has similar mechanics to the magic spell you mentioned."
Chris frowned. "What do you mean?"
Kyraia looked at him sympathetically. "It means the Blue Star does not exist."
Chris was absolutely shocked. His chest tightened painfully. "That can't be. Are you sure, Miss Kyraia?"
She tilted her cone hat, clearly confused by the kid's sudden distress. Chris quickly opened his small bag to pull out Volume 10 of "The Adventure of the Great Wizard Thrudora". He showed the pages directly to Kyraia. The comic panels showed the Blue Star shooting upward to create a long arc before it killed the giant monster in one hit.
Kyraia looked closely at the drawn sequence.
"This book..." she trailed off.
Chris swallowed hard, and he waited for her verdict.
"It is a lie," Kyraia finally said.
Chris stared at her in utter confusion.
"Look at this," Kyraia instructed, and she pointed to the panel. "This Wizard cast a ball of energy, but this illustration did not mention the Etheric Vent. The Wizard just created a ball of energy, then fired it without a Tail."
Chris tilted his head even more. "Tail? A tail from animals?"
Kyraia realized she was talking to a young boy, so she quickly simplified her vocabulary. "It is not the tail of an animal. It is called an Aura Tail. It is a physical force attached to the back of the ball of magical energy so it can move forward. Without an Aura Tail, any ball of magical energy would not be able to travel. In this illustration, the Wizard just makes the magical energy move forward using her mind. It is not a simple magic anymore. It is Telekinesis."
If a Mage creates a ball of energy like a fireball, it will simply float in the air. Without a physical force to push it forward, the fireball will just stay suspended in place. The caster cannot touch the flame because it is too hot.
In storybooks and comics, a wizard creates a fireball and shoots it directly at the enemy without any explanation of how the flame actually moves. This completely violates the laws of physics.
A fireball floating in the air cannot move without an external energy to push it forward. If the fireball simply moves because the Mage commanded it to strike a target, then it is not Fire Magic anymore. It is mind magic, or telekinesis. In this case, the Mage uses the power of the mind to command the fireball to fly.
If all Mages can use their minds to control the trajectory of a fireball, casting a fireball would not make any sense at all because they do not need flames to kill an enemy. They just have to look at the monster's neck, then use the power of the mind to spin that neck, and the battle is already game over. They can kill an opponent solely by the power of the mind.
If a comic book shows a ball of energy moving toward a target without a physical force pushing it, any logical person would think the spell is Telekinesis rather than elemental magic. That is why the reaction of a magic researcher like Kyraia is the absolute norm.
Chris looked confused at first, but his highly logical mind quickly triggered. He analyzed Kyraia's words carefully. After thinking about it for a moment, he was still slightly confused, but he could follow her basic reasoning.
Chris realized the comic book never showed how Thrudora pushed the Blue Star toward the giant monster without an external force. But he argued back anyway.
"What if... what if the Tail was there, but it was just not mentioned? Or maybe the artist hid it to make the story simple."
Kyraia looked at his worried, desperate face. She decided to play along to gently ease him into the truth. "Okay, maybe the Aura Tail was not mentioned in this comic book. But I found a major flaw in this Blue Star spell. Is it really color blue?"
Kyraia only saw the black ink on the page, so it had no color.
Chris nodded firmly. "It is color blue."
Kyraia sighed softly. "This ball of energy looks like a fireball, but this is not a fireball because a real fireball is never colored blue. And it does not shine as bright as this illustration. But it is clear it is a ball of magical energy."
"What is the flaw you are talking about?" Chris asked.
Kyraia tapped the paper. "Look at this."
She pointed out the second panel where the Blue Star was shot upward to create an arc.
"This ball of energy was shot upward to create an arc," Kyraia noted. She looked at Chris. "Why is that?"
Chris flipped the comic book a few pages forward where Thrudora explained her actions to the people she saved. In the illustration, Thrudora said the Blue Star was shot upward to create more impact against the monster. It inflicts more damage when it is shot upward rather than if it is shot directly toward the beast.
"This is the reason," Chris explained proudly. "Shooting the Blue Star upward to create an arc is more destructive than shooting it in a straight line."
Kyraia nodded. "That's it. That is the major flaw of this magic spell."
Kyraia looked at Chris very seriously. "Little boy, I am sorry to tell you, but this comic book tells false information about magic. In a real battle against a monster, shooting in a straight line is always more destructive than shooting an arc."
She paused for a second to let the words sink in. "You are a smart boy. I know you understand. I will not tell you a lie just to make you feel better. You seem to like this Blue Star spell, but I am a magic researcher. It is my duty to tell the truth even if it hurts."
Chris argued back fiercely. "That can't be! I... I actually tested it once before. I was on a high hill once. I used a slingshot against a target below. It was a straight line downward, and it created damage. When I picked up the exact same rock and tried facing the slingshot upward to create an arc, it created more damage when it finally hit the target. It proves that shooting upward and arcing is more destructive than targeting in a straight line!"
Kyraia looked at Chris suspiciously. "Are you sure you really did it? Especially the shot upward. It is very difficult to hit anything like that. Are you saying you are a talented marksman?"
Chris stood his ground. "I am not lying. I attempted to shoot it through trial and error. It took me ten shots to finally do it."
Kyraia nodded slowly. "I see. Then how high is the hill where you stand?"
"It was very high," Chris answered.
"Are you absolutely sure the damage dealt by shooting upward and arcing is bigger than when you shoot downward?" Kyraia pressed.
"It's true," Chris insisted.
"That's impossible," Kyraia declared.