39 Goblin Isn't Lost
'That wasn't exactly what I had in mind. Well, it could be useful in its own way at least. Having a ridiculous attack like that in my back pocket for a rainy day doesn't hurt. If someone's extremely talented at magic and has an affinity for space magic they may be able to stop it, but what are the odds of coming across many people that fit the bill.
The only other way I can think of it being prevented is if someone has a way to stop the use of magic, or mana in general which is also extremely unlikely. Barring a few select outliers using a botched teleportation magic to attack is a practically guaranteed death sentence.
Still, letting so many of these weaklings gather together isn't a good idea. I guess I should quit playing around and get rid of them. There will undoubtedly be more opportunities to experiment on teleportation in the future. Such a big group isn't ideal to do trials with anyways.'
Instead of immediately using wind magic to decimate their ranks Jellal gathers lightning mana. Although he could win easily against most opponents with his wind magic, relying on a single type of magic could cause major drawbacks to arise depending on the situation.
With the lightning mana he doesn't form lightning but sets up pockets of mana within the horde's ranks first. Next he manipulates the other types of mana in the area to make it easier for the lightning mana to pass through without resistance.
As everything falls into place he forms a ball of lightning at the tip of his finger. Lowering his hand to point at the ground the ball descends to the ground in the middle of the prearranged pockets of mana. When it's a meter above the ground he activates his magic.
The ball of lightning bursts like a bubble shooting lightning in all directions. The pockets of mana serve as lightning rods, attracting the rogue lightning and changing its direction, eventually becoming a stream that's interconnected as it worms in and around the horde.
In the sky Jellal finishes off the final touches. Thunder rolls as a bolt of lightning descends in the middle of the formation. The trace amounts of lightning forming the stream is suddenly supercharged, causing it to glow brightly.
From above the stream of lightning forms a pattern resembling a giant palm print. Due to the overwhelming power of lightning it didn't stay exactly according to form causing some small irregularities in the formation.
Jellal admires his work for a moment before dissipating the magic. In the aftermath of the attack the horde is left completely annihilated, save for a few incredibly lucky stragglers. Smoke rises from the charred bodies cover the ground as the stench of burnt flesh permeates the area.
Smoke rises from the ground below where the formation was, while small fires rage throughout the vicinity. The fires started by rogue electrical discharges are put out by Jellal using water magic, preventing them from spreading and growing out of control.
With only a few survivors left Jellal nominates them to become test subjects for his experimental teleportation initiative. Focusing mana on his eyes he prepares to repeat his initial test. He already knows what the result will be, but by paying extra attention he hopes to gleam some clues to improve his chances of success for his next version of teleportation magic. For those goals to be achieved he selects an unfortunate wolf to act as the sacrificial lamb.
Preparing the space mana in the exact same way he did previously he repeats the experiment. Once again the subject is turned into a puff of blood on the other side, perfectly replicating the results of the original test.
Although he didn't gain much new information, he was able to confirm his previous suspicious why the subjects ended up the way they did. As he had expected he was able to influence the space mana to shift positions instantaneously, but that's all. The way he was doing it only influenced the mana on a small scale.
To put things more simply: he could convince a large amount of mana to move, but only as individual bits of mana and not as a uniform group. Because the mana changed locations separately the subject also had millions of tiny pieces of their body move separately. The separate pieces arrived at the same time but they didn't move together as one entity, resulting in a bloody puff of blood arriving instead of an intact body.
With three stragglers left his chances to improve his technique is limited. In order to make the best use of the subjects he has left he overhauls his magic. Instead of letting the mana flow freely he clumps it as tightly together as he can, hoping it'll move together as one instead of as singular bits of mana.
He carefully chooses the location he wants the subject to end up and tries to get the mana to move as a clump. Activating the magic the unfortunate goblin used as this rounds lab rat disappears. It reappears near the area he designated in another puff of blood, signifying another total failure.
The pair of remaining monsters are let off the hook for the moment as Jellal mulls over the experiments in his mind.
'As expected, teleportation isn't easy. Maybe it's because I wasn't paying close enough attention at first, but there's also an issue with where the teleported subject ends up. Of course, there's also a chance I got lucky at first and they appeared perfectly on target.
Regardless, not being able to pinpoint an exact spot as the end destination is extremely troublesome. If I can't go exactly where I want there's the possibility of moving to a position that's already occupied by something. I don't know what'll happen if that occurs, but there's no way it's going to be pretty.
Adding in the inability to move all the space mana as a single entity and teleportation is looking like it's a long way off.
If I can't make it work there's always partially merging with space mana and going from there, but that's a last resort. Making others' mana merge isn't something I can do right now so I would only be able to test everything out myself, and I'm not too keen on doing something so dangerous when I have even a single alternative available.
I only have two more attempts right now so trying to perfect my technique is out the window. The best I can do is pick an area and try to improve that part of the magic. Since moving targets in one piece looks like it'll take a while to solve, the two survivors ought to be used for target practice instead. Besides, if I can manage to get them to end up at the exact destination I want it could provide me some clues to solve the separation problem as well.'
Selecting his focus, Jellal begins his new round of tests. He permeates the area with a mixture of space and wind mana. Merging the two together he attempts to put the entire area under control, even though it would never work for long distance teleportation.
He gets as many factors in his favor as he can during the prep. The wind acts as a barrier to keep other types of mana clear from the teleportation zones as much as possible. Meanwhile he gathers an exorbitant amount of mana to perform the magic.
Such an investment of mana isn't feasible in the heat of battle, but since it'll stack things in his favor he does it anyways. When everything is ready he commences his plan.
A puff of blood appears in the designated destination. Thankfully his loaded deck did the job, gifting him the solace of success. No matter how minor the success it's irrelevant to him. What's important is the proof of concept.
Instead of rushing into the next test he analyzes the results so he can pick and choose what to change in the next trial run.
'The best way to narrow down the causes of success is to do repeated tests changing as few variables as possible. Unfortunately my goblin friend over there is all by himself so I can't do that. To speed up the process I can only change things based on my personal observations and conclusions.
To start things off I need to reduce the amount of mana by at least half. Mixing in wind mana appeared to do the trick to block interference but it's hard to tell due to the sheer amount of mana.
If the mana in the area is actually a factor it would make things much harder. I would need to clear it out completely to hit an exact target or … I could be a genius and mix the destination with space mana and teleport it someplace else the instant before I teleport the subject.
Sometimes I even surprise myself with how brilliant I am! It's decided, this is a must test theory so everything else can go on the backburner. Half mana, no, quarter mana and teleporting the mana at the destination it is.'
A flash of sudden inspiration jolts him into gear as he prepares for his final experiment. By reducing the mana used and not warding off other types of mana, he steeply increases the speed of the first part of his setup.
The time consuming part came afterwards. In order to pull off consecutive teleportation an instant apart it's necessary to put intense focus on both starting points as well as their destinations. Since one starting point is another's destination it mitigates the strain a smidgen, but not enough to make a difference in the overall speed.
Considering his alternatives, the best solution is to teleport them at the same time. In this scenario he would swap them in each other's places so he won't have to do so many things concurrently. The main issue with this is whether or not they'll interact with each other during the swap.
In order to get a baseline to work off of in the future he buckles down and sticks to the original plan. If he can prove the concept has a leg to stand on he'll look into swapping. If the swapping space mana interfered with each other it would be hard to tell at first glance, rendering it impossible to know if a problem arose do to that or some other factor. For now, the premise is more important.
A considerable amount of time passes as he hovers in the air. By the time his preparations are complete the sun's almost completely disappeared over the horizon. The braindead goblin, influenced by the miasma, stayed in the same spot staring at him in the sky while screaming the entire time. Unwilling to disappoint his obviously excited subject Jellal's finally ready to commence the experiment.
All the time he put in leads up to a single moment which passes in the blink of an eye. The shrieks of the goblin disappear without a trace as it becomes a cloud of blood.
For Jellal it was all worth it. The test went off without a hitch and he was able to successfully relocate the goblin to the designated location. In addition, the other mana failed to successfully transfer to the exact location it was aimed at, slightly missing the mark for its teleportation.
'A fantastic test! Being unable to completely control the destination of the mana that originally occupied the goblin's target area perfectly falls in line with my theory of minute mana interference. Throw in the success of the goblin's relocation and my theory's cooking with gas.
Next time I'll have to look into swapping the two. The amount of time for such a short range teleportation is truly unbearable. If the mana doesn't interfere during the switch it would greatly reduce the time needed to complete the preparations.
Of course, my theory on mana interference throws a wrench into those plans. It won't hurt to check and see, but the chances of the switcheroo working is slim. The only evidence I have toward the two not interacting is the last test. If I make a leap in logic and hope the same type of mana won't interfere it could still work. Even then there's the question of what happens to the one being teleported. On the off chance identical types of mana don't interfere with one another it doesn't mean whatever's going along with it won't be affected.
From the looks of things there's a ways to go before this magic becomes usable.'
Having wasted more than enough time, Jellal soars high into the air. To shorten the time spent traveling he opts to use a new "flight" magic. Whether or not it's actually considered flight magic may be up for debate, but if successful his old wind style flight magic won't hold a candle to its raw linear speed.
Before taking off he wisely stores his disguise in his bag. As an extra precaution he carefully solidifies the space surrounding the bag, putting it in what's essentially a protective shield.
Lightning mana gathers around him as he begins partially merging with it. When it comes to speed, lightning can only be outdone by light. For Jellal, who's particularly awful with light, it's a no brainer what type of mana to use in his high speed flight magic.
This magic isn't something he came up with spur of the moment. Ever since he noticed how annoying it is to travel great distances he's been thinking of ways to hasten the experience. The two best ways he could think of were obviously space and lightning.
As his merger approaches target levels static begins to form around him. The high pitched chirping of the electricity sparking around him is accompanied by faint arcs of electricity moving on the surface of his body.
His choice to remove his disguise proves to be wise as his loin cloth gets zapped by the arcs, catching fire in the process. After ripping off the last of his clothes he hovers in the air, butt naked apart from his well-protected bag.
The lightning mana around him surges as he prepares to set off. The theory is the same as it was for his wind: merge and ride along with the lightning. The two differ in startup time and difficulty to control, though. His lower affinity for lightning and its general unruliness make it the far less stable of the two options to go along with its far greater upside.
When his preparations finish he quite literally bolts. Rolling thunder accompanies him as his high speed flashes through the sky.
He only continues for a second before stopping to check his position. The immense speed of travel makes it nearly impossible to see where he's going, resulting in him flying blind during the short trip.
Refusing to turn his body, he jerks his head about trying to find any clue he can to figure out his location. After a short investigation he concludes he's lost. The most likely culprit is him overshooting his target due to being unable to properly see his surroundings. He could've also angled off course, but he doesn't have a good solution in that case.
Betting it all on black he does a perfect one eighty, facing the direction he came from. Since he's already performed the magic once and he's still in his optimal state to use it, the charge time is much shorter than before.
Thunder roars over the forest as he flashes across the sky. This time he ends his magic a fraction of a second after he starts it. Upon coming to a stop he looks around at the unfamiliar forest and dejectedly prepares for another go.
A few flights later he confirms his fears to be a reality. During his first flight he ran askew causing him to end up in an unfamiliar section of the forest. Now that he has no way of knowing where he is, he officially declares himself lost.
The sun dips below the horizon as lightning flashes through the sky above the forest. The sporadic starting and stopping of the lightning seems random as it fires off in different directions each time its accompanying thunder calls out.
Hovering in the sky after numerous failed attempts to find a familiar are Jellal's frustration peaks. Spotting a group of unfortunate monsters below him, he grasps the opportunity to clear his mind through some good old fashion venting.
He slams to the ground, accompanied by a bolt of lightning. A shockwave spreads from the point of impact as an electrical charge spreads through the region. The trees are uprooted and charred in the aftermath while the smoldering monsters are sent hurdling into the distance.
Getting ready to unleash his fury it only compounds when he looks up to find no one left alive to vent on. His anger is so immense he even forgets to control his magic. Yet, instead of dissipating it carries on in an even stronger state.
No longer binding the magic his raging mana acts as a catalyst, causing lightning to strike in his vicinity. The thunder rolls as the air around him becomes a surging sea of furious mana, as if the planet itself is expressing its anger.
Flashing around just above the trees, Jellal searches desperately for something to punch into oblivion. During his escapade he comes across plenty of potential targets in the form of monsters, but they always perish before he has the chance to physically touch them.
In the distance he spots his next victim and rushes over. Striking the ground like a bolt of lightning, he lands in front of his new punching bag. Unlike the others he's come across it doesn't die merely by being in his presence, causing a malicious smirk to decorate Jellal's face.
