Alakitasia

Alex made it to the Coast and was about to pull the little boat he had made out of his {Inventory} when a realization hit him. The trip to Alakitasia was about 10 days by normal boat and even though his little boat was many times faster than a normal one, he still doubted he would be able to make the trip in a single day.

'Hmmm. I need a faster mode of transportation. …Could I make a magic jet-plane?' Alex considered this plan before simply shrugging and deciding to try. Alex used his own version of Gray's 'Ice-Make' Magic to summon an ice copy of an F-14 Tomcat (an American made Supersonic fighter-jet). He then set about changing all the important components from ice to a strong but lightweight metal or military grade fiberglass.

Just like with his boat, it would be missing many of the internals usually required to operate. Since he would be operating the plane mostly with magic, he didn't need to be an aircraft engineer to make it work. He would just cheat like a bastard and make adjustments on the way.

It helped immensely that he didn't have to worry about parachutes or falling to his death if something malfunctioned. Double checking that all the controls on the wings and the turbines where able to move freely as designed he hopped into the cockpit and closed the hatch.

He facepalmed almost immediately when he realized he forgot the need for a runway. This didn't slow him down for long when he started using {Mana Manipulation} to lift the jet off the ground long enough to gain some altitude. Before long he was charging across the ocean at a truly ridiculous speed.

He had only a few adjustments that needed changed once he started flying, but this was mostly to make it more efficient so he wasn't drained by the time he found land again. He was hooting and hollering like a red neck at a rodeo and even started laughing like a maniac at one point.

He knew he wasn't a real pilot and didn't actually have any skills for flying this way, but it was still and exhilarating experience.

The land Mass that was Alakitasia came into view way sooner than Alex thought it would. But traveling at close to 900km/hr (F-14 cruising speed 927km/hr and Max speed 2,485km/hr) it was expected. Not wanting to draw too much attention to his approach, Alex slowed his speed and eventually killed it all together.

He coasted for a while as his momentum ran out before storing his new plane and deploying his wings. He made it to the land without issue and started looking for somewhere to set camp. He had burned a decent amount of mana on the trip and had wasted a great amount of time tinkering with the plane and the sun was almost set.

He would start his exploration of this new continent with the fresh set of eyes the next day. The next morning after his usual routine, Alex was eating breakfast while deep in thought. He was considering if he might have jumped the gun in coming here this early. While Ishgar and Alvarez were not currently at war, they were not on good terms either with Alvarez having just attacked them a few years prior.

The Spriggan 12 where also said to be very eccentric in their behavior making them very unpredictable. Alex was not worried about getting captured as he could just escape. He was worried they would just straight up try to kill him without giving him the time of day though.

If what he knew about them from the Manga/anime was true, it meant they all had massive quantities of mana and had access to some truly terrifying magics. Alex was fairly confident in his {Stealth} so fleeing shouldn't be that much of an issue against certain Spriggans. Thought there were a few that had massive AoE spells that would seriously limit his escape options.

He had considered the possibility of igniting all their spells before they reached him and would still do it if he thought his life was in danger. The side effects of this action could be very costly if their was any civilians or bystanders near the fight. His {Fel-Fire} put out such an intense heat that regular people would be killed in a very short period of time.

He had tested being able to ignite spells in this manner with Wendy and the effects were almost explosive and when dealing with {Fel-Fire} that was bad. Mana that was in the form of a spell was already in a chaotic state and was relatively simple to 'ignite' with is broken fire. This was especially true for offensive spells. The element didn't seem to matter either as his fire targeted the very 'energy make-up' of the spell, person or object that he targeted.

After a few hours of going over his options he decided since he was here he may as well carry on with his exploration. He would try to avoid any of the powerhouses of this continent and keep to himself as much as possible. He figured it couldn't hurt to have some form of protection spell he could keep active at all times, if for no other reason than to negate a sneak attack.

He was probably just being paranoid but the things he knew about the people from this continent put him on edge. With this thought in mind, he entered meditation. He wanted to fully explore the memories given too him that were associated with the {Mana Manipulation} skill. If he was correct in his assumption about this skill then he should be able to freely use Curse magic as well as magic barrier particles that were normally poisonous to wizards.

The anti-magic nature of the MBP (magic barrier particles) was exactly what he wanted for his defensive 'spell'. If he could analyze the MBP he could then copy it and re-create an invisible version that he could coat his entire body in. If he was able to use curse power as well then he could keep this 'shield' up at all times even when fighting without it interfering with his own magic.

In theory, the anti-ethernano aspect of the MBP shield should cancel or negate any and all spells thrown at him unless his opponent also used curses. This would be his way of fighting in a city or crowded space without having to worry about maintaining constant control over what commands he gives his fire. As experienced with Nirvana, if his focus slipped and he wasn't paying attention, he could cause massive amounts of damage without even realizing it.

Having his fire use the 'targets' energy as fuel once it latched on was an amazing feature, but also had its drawbacks if he wasn't vigilant. 'While most Wizards have to try hard to make their spells lethal, I have to try hard to make sure mine are not'. Alex chuckled at his thoughts.

It took Alex three days of 'trial & error' before he was able to create something similar to MBP. He didn't know if it was done right as he didn't have anything to compare it to, but at the rate that it destroyed or 'corrupted' ethernano, he figured it was close enough.

As a shield, the barrier would protect him against almost everyone bar curse users themselves. There was also a select few of the Machias race that could nullify this type of shield, but not if they didn't know what it was. It was relatively easy from there to turn it invisible and form it into a 'second skin', now all he needed to do was figure out how the curse magic itself worked.

As it turned out, the curses themselves where actually very simple for Alex to use. He attributed this to his Demon side and his broken {Mana Manipulation} skill. Once he found the energy associated with curses, within his body, it became as simple as directing it outward while focusing on the result.

The energy was dark and volatile as opposed to the calm and 'friendly' ethernano regular magic used. Alex spent the next couple days focusing on getting more proficient with two types of Curses he could remember from the Anime. In his own opinion they would not only match the best with his new 'defense spell' but also matched his current fighting style with ethernano.

The first was 'Enhancement', this curse allowed the user to enhance the targets body in almost any way they saw fit. From boosting physical attributes to even enhancing or removing ones senses. The second was 'Calamity Curse', this curse allows the user to create and manipulate localized natural disasters like thunderbolts, landslides, rainstorms and cyclones.

Alex knew he could create all these effects with ethernano using conventional magic, but still focused on learning the curse versions of them anyway. It would effectively allow him to have 2 completely separate energy pools to draw from during combat. It was his way to stack the deck in his favor while he wandered this new unknown land.

Alex practiced his curses until his mastery over them had reached a level he could accept. Alex never had a violent nature and hoped he wouldn't have to resort to using curses too much, he didn't enjoy the negative emotions that seemed to linger around him after using curse magic but he always had the mindset of 'I would rather have it and not need it, than need it and not have it.' So he forced himself through the training.

Only after having his new Anti-magic shield and newly discovered Curse magic to a combat ready level was Alex's Paranoia of the calamity class existences on this continent satisfied. He still hoped he wouldn't run into any of the violent ones but hope could only get you so far.

He went to sleep early that night and was awake before the sun came up. He would be starting his exploring of this Country today and wanted to head out at first light. Breakfast ended with the first rays of light peaking over the horizon and Alex packed up his camp.

He started heading North up the coast to see if he could find any fishing towns or villages. He knew absolutely nothing about this land and had to start somewhere. He leisurely flew up the coast, admiring the wildlife when he saw it and enjoying the scenery. For Km's he traveled the untouched coast and never once got bored.

There was always something new to see, a few times he even took detours up rivers and streams just for the change of scenery. On one of his ventures up a particularly fast flowing stream that hadn't quite made it to the volume of a river, Alex stopped. He was at a part in the stream with many turns and small drops in elevation through a canyon. The whole scene looked perfect for white water kayaking.

With that in mind, Alex quickly made himself a kayak and headed to where the rapids started. He had gone white water tubing and kayaking many times in his past life and the thought of doing it again tickled him pink.

He ended up spending the rest of the day kayaking the rapids, fishing in the small pools and generally just fucking around. That night, he slept more soundly than he had since coming to this land. All thoughts of 'monsters' and fighting completely forgotten in the joy of adventure.