Chapter 74 Teleportation

"I thought about it some years ago. Is it possible to create a spell that transports something from one point to another point, either by marking both points, or placing the item at one point and standing at another point to get it to teleport? I've come up with six problems"

"Unless these problems are solved, it's impossible to use a teleportation spell or something similar," Dina said as she sat down, placing the book on the floor, her expression becoming even more serious.

Aiden leaned forward as Kat sat back up. Dina's clones were still searching the library, as it had tons of books Dina hadn't had the chance to read or go through.

"Should I explain? It's going to take a while"

"We have time," Aiden replied. To him, teleportation was just a fleeting thought he had, but since it wasn't used in this world, he wanted to know why.

"The first problem is the destination"

Aiden leaned forward slightly, listening carefully.

"You can't simply think about a place and expect magic to take you there. Space doesn't work like that. If I want to teleport from here to another room, I need to tell the spell exactly where that room is. Even a small mistake could send me somewhere completely different."

"So that's why you mentioned marking both points?" Aiden asked.

"Exactly."

Dina pointed at the writing in the book.

"I came up with the idea of using spatial markers. If I place a special magic circle at the destination, the teleportation spell can lock onto it. That removes the need to guess the location. I've already managed to solve this part."

Aiden's eyes narrowed slightly.

"You solved it?"

"Yes." Dina smiled proudly.

"Of course, it took me a long time, and the marker isn't perfect yet, but it works. If I create two matching markers, the spell can recognize one as the starting point and the other as the destination. That means the first problem isn't really a problem anymore."

Aiden nodded.

"Then what's the second one?"

"Distance." Dina's smile disappeared as she turned the page.

"Space doesn't like being folded. Moving something from one point to another isn't as simple as making a hole between them. The farther apart the two points are, the more difficult the spell becomes. Teleporting across a room is one thing. Teleporting across a city is another. Crossing an entire kingdom is even worse."

"What about crossing the sea?"

"That's where it becomes almost impossible, like firing a spell here and expecting the spell to appear in the kingdom of Troyra and blast a particular spot"

Dina tapped the page several times.

"We don't know what happens to spatial magic over extremely large distances. The spell has to maintain a connection between two points that could be hundreds or thousands of miles apart. The farther they are, the more unstable the connection becomes."

Aiden thought about it for a moment. He had seen teleportation being used in movies, books, and anime, but he hadn't really considered what was truly happening.

"So even if the markers solve the destination problem, the distance could still cause the spell to fail?"

"Exactly," Dina muttered as she turned another page. "Then we have the mass problem."

Aiden and Kat stared at her, waiting for her to explain.

"Teleporting a small object is one thing. Teleporting a person is another. Now imagine teleporting a hundred people. Then a thousand. Then an entire army."

Dina spread her hands.

"The amount of matter being moved affects the spell. The more you try to teleport, the more mana and control you need. You can't simply make one giant spell and move an entire army without consequences. The spell has to account for every person, every weapon, every piece of armor, and everything else being transported."

"Then an army would be impossible?"

"With current magic, yes... But if the magic is more knowledgeable and better than me, and finds a way to handle the spell, then in theory it's possible, but they'll have to account for other problems"

Aiden nodded before asking, "And the fourth?"

"The living matter problem." Dina's expression became much more serious this time, as this was the most important one.

"This is probably one of the most dangerous problems."

"Why?" Kat asked.

"Because living things aren't just objects."

She pointed at Aiden.

"Your body has bones, blood, organs, mana pathways, a soul, and your own magical signature. If I teleport a chair and something goes wrong, I lose a chair. If I teleport a human and something goes wrong..."

She paused. "You could lose limbs, your mana core might be destroyed, and depending on the failure, death is a big possibility," Dina continued.

"The spell needs to move every part of the body together and make sure nothing is damaged during the process. It also has to preserve the person's mana and soul. We don't know what happens if one part arrives before another, or if the spell fails halfway through."

"Has anyone ever tried?" Aiden asked as he stared at her. From the little conversation he had with Dina, he could guess the kind of person she was.

Someone like Dina, with a love of magic and problem-solving abilities would have tried to recreate the spell; she wouldn't use a real human, but still she had to have tested it.

"Not with a living person." Dina shook her head.

"There are books though, about mages attempting it, but they're only stories. There is no reliable record proving that anyone successfully teleported anything, and since the book didn't give direction on how to create the spell, it's a dead end.

Aiden looked down at the book. "So teleportation really is just a theory."

"Mostly," Dina muttered, but her eyes suddenly lit up again. "But that doesn't mean it's impossible."

Aiden sighed. "I think you're enjoying this too much."

"Of course I am. We're talking about one of the great mysteries in magic."

She quickly turned the page. "The fifth problem is spatial stability."

Dina drew a small circle in the air with her finger.

"To teleport something, you need to connect two different points in space. But that connection has to remain stable long enough for the target to pass through. If the connection collapses too early, the spell fails."

"What happens to the person?" Aiden stared at her.

Dina shook her head; that was already an indication.

"And that's exactly why nobody should experiment with it casually. The safest theory is that the target would simply be forced back to the starting point. The worst theory is much worse."

Aiden didn't ask what the worst theory was.

He didn't need to, as Dina continued.

"Even if we solve the stability problem, there is another issue. The environment around the two points can affect the spell. Mana density, barriers, magical formations, powerful monsters, and even certain natural phenomena could interfere with the connection."

Aiden immediately thought about the Leviathans. "Which means the sea could make it even harder."

"Exactly." Dina looked impressed, not that Aiden wasn't knowledgeable about magic; he was the Had priest after all, but she was happy that someone was following her explanation as Kat looked lost.

"You're starting to understand," Dina mumbled, but Aiden ignored the compliment.

"And the last problem?"

Dina turned to the final page.

"The return problem." She spoke, tapping the page.

"Imagine you successfully teleport from here to another location. How do you come back?"

"Use another marker," Aiden replied.

"Correct, but the problem is that both markers need to exist before the teleportation happens. If you teleport somewhere completely unknown, you can't simply create a marker after arriving and expect to return."

"So exploration would be difficult."

"Very difficult."

Dina nodded.

"You could send someone to prepare a marker beforehand, but that defeats the purpose of long-distance teleportation. And if the destination is somewhere dangerous, you would need someone to reach it without teleportation first."

Aiden leaned back.

"So even if all the other problems were solved, teleportation wouldn't allow an army to suddenly appear somewhere."

"Not unless the destination had already been prepared," Dina said as she closed the book. Then something hit her, but she didn't speak at first.

"Those are the six problems I've been able to identify so far. There could be more that we haven't discovered yet."

Aiden remained silent for a moment.

"Destination, Distance, Mass, living matter, stability, and return. Each problem makes teleportation seem more impossible than the last," Dina finished off with that as her mind went back to something.

All of these made sense to Aiden, but still this was a magical world; Elaris wasn't the only kingdom with mages, and of course the Draken Empire, which was on a course to conquer the entire world.

Dina had already solved the first problem. That meant teleportation wasn't completely beyond the reach of magic, and Draken would definitely have someone on the same route.

Aiden looked at Dina and noticed her mind was not here anymore; she was thinking about something.

"Dina, is something wrong?"

"What if the Draken Empire sent those ships here not to attack, but instead to create a teleportation marker across the continent"