“Oh ho, so we’re on the same page! So, tell me! What did they say?”
She might’ve expected as much of Wallenstein. Praising him and holding a hopeful look on her face, she leaned even further forward.
“For the time being, they told me I could share some information with you, so I’ll tell you everything I’m allowed to say…” Wallenstein said, pushing Mira back with his hand as if she’d gotten too close, before diving into the information that he’d gotten special permission to share.
First, given how important it was to know before using it, he mentioned just how dangerous the technique was.
“When you think of it as instantaneously traveling long distances, it doesn’t sound particularly dangerous. But it isn’t quite that simple.”
“Hrmm, do you mean, like, that whole thing with getting trapped inside a wall?”
These kinds of incidents were well-known to those versed in things like warping and teleportation. The idea was that someone would get the destination wrong and accidentally transport themselves directly inside of a wall.
Therefore, Mira answered quite proudly, already being well informed about such incidents. She then added that her solution would be to simply set her destination to the middle of the sky.
Normally, this would be a death sentence, but not so with Mira. She was able to run through the air using [Air Step] and could even just quickly summon Pegasus to scoop her up.
“Ah, it’d be nice if it were that easy. Actual teleportation isn’t quite that simple.”
Smiling bitterly because he’d had the same thoughts about it in the past, Wallenstein continued talking about the danger encompassing phenomena such as teleportation and warping.
“First of all, the warping technique we use can actually teleport us anywhere. However, we always use a marker as our teleportation destination. And so, without it, we can’t warp whatsoever. I gave you one of them earlier. It’s also imbued with magic that analyzes the area we will be using as a warping point, but its most important function is being a marker. So, why is the marker so important? It all has to do with the fact that we’re on the surface of a planet…”
The warping point marker also limited the range to which one could warp. If one could warp without using it, they could just warp wherever, which would be extremely useful.
However, Wallenstein informed Mira that this was the most dangerous part.
Curiously, he had used the word “planet.” This meant that they were currently on a planet that was floating in space, much like the Earth. This fact was readily evident simply by looking up at the stars in the sky.
And yet, Wallenstein continued that this was the very reason why warping was so dangerous.
By “warp,” he didn’t mean traveling from point A to point B instantaneously. Rather, one needed several seconds to use the technique, from when one used the spell to when it finished. Meanwhile, the planet they were on was hurtling through space at over three hundred and seventy miles a second.
“…As you know, Mira, a small amount of mana is placed wherever one activates a normal spell, and so none of this has any impact whatsoever. But one of the distinctive features of warping is that no such mana is ever placed. This is because, since you’re traveling hundreds or thousands of miles, there’s no way you can normally interact with the place to which you’re warping. So, let’s say that I set my destination to Nirvana, use the technique, and it only takes a second to get there. So, what would happen? Say I set the coordinates to point B—what happens at point B one second later?”
There were many spells, such as the use of summoning points, in which a mage needed to specify an activation point for their spell. Just like Wallenstein had mentioned, a small amount of mana was used to enable them to work.
However, it seemed that things worked differently when setting a warping point.
“The warping point is set so that one can instantaneously travel to that particular space, which means it’s a whole different beast. Furthermore, it uses a set of coordinates, rather than a particular location, which raises the issue of where point B will be one second later. It isn’t so much about calibrating to the movement of this planet, but rather finding a spot that’s three hundred and seventy miles from Nirvana, the location we specified,” Wallenstein said, bringing up two simple outcomes regarding warping points.
Depending on the rotation of the planet, as well as its place in orbit at that particular moment, the warping points could be three hundred and seventy miles in the sky or inside the planet.
Which, in either case, most likely meant death.
“…I see. You hear about teleportation and warping so often that I never really stopped to consider that kind of thing.”
There were plenty of works of fiction which featured people able to teleport from place to place and so on, but what kind of issues would come up when actually doing so? Now knowing one of these very issues, Mira was surprised, but she could also understand what he was saying and just how dangerous warping could be.
Or rather, she only felt like she understood it. Having explained all of this, Wallenstein then continued that there was another reason to be wary: Inertia.
Inertia was something that all physical objects possessed. Inertia, the tendency of an object to maintain its current state unless acted upon by an external force, could change wildly when affected by warping. Because warping violated several laws of physics, inertia was also temporarily negated as well.
“…Completing a warp while inertia is no longer active brings us back to what we said about the planet earlier,” Wallenstein concluded.
If there was no longer any inertia, someone who just suddenly appeared at point B would either smash into the surface going three hundred and seventy miles a second or be flung out into the firmament at the very same speed.
“Well, if that were to happen, you’d most likely burn up when reentering the atmosphere,” Wallenstein concluded with a chuckle. And this was why they needed a marker like the one he’d given Mira.
The marker not only analyzed the area surrounding the warping destination but also calculated its coordinates while the planet was in motion. It also restored inertia to the person warping once they’d finished warping.
“…These kinds of techniques are extremely dangerous, so there’s only so much I can tell you. And that’s all I was given permission to reveal. So, can you now understand why I can’t go around teaching it?” Wallenstein said to Mira, shooting her a quick glance. It was the kind of look which said that, inside, he wasn’t sure what to do if she didn’t relent.