Keeping the supercharged mana off to the side for now Jellal resumes the experiment he was doing previously before he got sidetracked. Once again he starts things off with teleporting mana. The result is the same as before giving him confidence to move forward.
Gathering some more wind mana he compresses it and forms it into a needle shaped magic. This simple magic will be the next target of his teleportation. His eyes glow brightly as he activates teleports the formed magic.
When it reappears he finds no obvious problems with the magic other than the slight agitation of the mana it's composed of. To confirm the effect the agitation has on the magic he creates a second wind needle and a giant block of compressed earth.
Using the block of earth as a target he fires off the pair of needles simultaneously. To ensure data he collects is accurate he uses the same amount of force to propel them forward. The one he previously teleported is just a hair slower, though the difference is so tiny it's negligible.
Small round holes are left in the aftermath of the attacks striking the block. To ensure he doesn't influence the test he releases his control over them the moment they hit the block. Carefully inspecting the holes he's surprised to find a few differences.
The hole created by the teleported magic is less clean when compared to the smooth, perfectly round hole the normal wind needle created. The depths of the holes are nearly identical, with the teleported magic edging the normal version out by a hair.
The major difference comes in the area around the holes. The normal wind needle creates a clean path of damage with only the area directly touched by it being affected. On the flip side, the agitation from the teleportation causes residual damage off of the hole and into dirt.
This shows the main difference between the two. One is perfectly concentrated and contained while the other is constantly trying to break free of its constraints causing it to exhibit a stronger force, but in multiple directions instead of focusing it at one point.
Jellal makes a mental note of the results before moving on with his experiments. Repeating the previous tests he uses the mana swapping method instead of leaving the mana in the area be. The results are the same as ones displayed by the normal wind needle confirming his earlier speculation regarding the cause of the mana's agitation.
After creating another wind needle and fixing the target he prepares his teleportation magic. He propels the needle forward before teleporting it in front of the target. The needle drills into the block of dirt in the same manner as the previous tests. To gather as much data as possible the test is repeated with the swap method as well.
The swapped needle acted the same as a normal wind needle as expected. The other needle, however, gave him some unexpected results. Due to the collision between mana directly following the teleportation the needle was thrown off course slightly. Any decrease in an attack's accuracy can play a major role in how it's used. To avoid any potential accidents he decides not to teleport magic without swapping it with the mana in its destination.
Having learned enough about how magic reacts to teleportation he pulls out a throwing knife and carefully inspects it as he prepares for the next round of tests. In a fluid motion he throws the knife to the side. Right before it hits the wall it vanishes, suddenly appearing in front of Jellal. The knife continues on until it's lodged in the wall.
A second later the knife appears in his hand. He takes a second to prepare his teleportation magic again before throwing the knife at the wall to his right again. It appears in front of him again, but this time it's flying toward him.
Reaching out his left hand he catches the knife. He continues throwing the knife and making it reappear from different angles until he's confident in his ability to control the orientation of an object he teleports at will.
Switching back to using wind needles he practices the same technique for teleporting magic. By perfecting his ability to control a subject's orientation when it's teleported he'll be able to easily attack enemies from blind angles. The technique truly shines in the field of assassination. If he throws a knife and teleports it behind someone while he's standing in front of them he'll be able to have a perfect alibi during any subsequent investigations.
Finishing up his experiments he moves on to more important matters: the supercharged mana. Compared to when it was first created the power has decreased a bit, though its air of dominance is still present despite it slowly reverting to natural mana.
Staring at the mana he gets to work. Gathering a much larger amount of mana he proceeds to repeatedly teleport it back and forth in a bid to create a much larger pool of supercharged mana. When the large pool looks to be the same as the original he attempts to combine the two together.
The two mingle in a similar manner to normal mana, but combining them into one is a tall task. Carefully he adjusts them and forces them to maintain similar properties as he joins them together. Achieving his goal of merging them into one he goes back to teleporting them repetitively until it reaches a certain point where the mana stops changing regardless of how often it's teleported, having reached its maximum potential.
Madness shines in Jellal's eyes as a wicked grin appears on his face. The mana floats over and surrounds him as he begins cackling maniacally like a madman.
As if being drawn in by an unstoppable force the mana surges towards him pressing close to him from every direction. Blood spurts from Jellal as he's burdened with the overwhelming power of the superior grade of mana.
Gritting his teeth he endures the intense pain coursing over every inch of his body. His mad laughter doesn't end even when he collapses into a bloody heap. Knowing anymore will risk his life he reluctantly makes the mana back off.
As he lies in a pool of his own blood he can say beyond a shadow of a doubt his first attempt to adapt to the supercharged mana has ended in failure.
'So much for my plan to immediately gain a higher form of mana and search for a way to locate my arch nemesis so I can give him the beating he deserves. To think my adaptability would fail me at such a crucial time.
I guess it isn't something I need to worry about too much. Even if my plans for revenge are delayed I've at least made tremendous leaps in regards to teleportation. In fact the only thing left to do is to start doing some practical tests with living subjects.
Initially I thought it would take much longer, but I guess I forgot to take into account me being a genius when I made my introductory estimation.
Other than that I only need to look inward to complete my preparations for teleporting, and I mean that in the most literal way imaginable. In order to teleport myself I'll need to have a perfect knowledge of my body, and therein lies the problem. Good old adaptability combined with my attempts at gaining the superior mana will surely cause many changes to occur within my body. Even if I gain perfect knowledge of the current version of me who knows how many upgrades I'll go through a week later.
This is the first time I've ever considered adapting so well to be a double edged sword. Of course I can always figure out exactly how I've changed before I teleport, but doing something so tedious defeats my purpose for seeking out teleportation which is for its undeniable convenience.
For my future ease of use I may have to look into merging with space mana for a solution. Thankfully all the time I spent researching teleportation won't be wasted even if I don't use it since I found a superior mana as a result.'
The mana in the surrounding area begins to surge toward Jellal, who's still sprawled out on the ground. He begins absorbing it like a dry sponge tossed under a flowing faucet. Manipulating the energy he begins to feed it to his body's cells to kick them into overdrive by applying the same principals demonstrated by Evangeline when she healed and by the saplings he grew into masks.
His body creaks and moans as his body begins reverting back to how it was before he was injured, or that's how it should've been. His adaptability skill decides to make a late appearance and throw a wrench into his healing. Although his outward appearance doesn't change, internally his body adjusts to accommodate taking on a tremendous force of mana and healing, proving his worries about him being adversely affected by his adaptability skill to be warranted.
Sitting up Jellal begins to meditate and inspect his own body. It becomes immediately apparent it will take time for him to know his body perfectly so he can teleport. Not wanting to take the time at the moment, he instead begins merging with space mana.
While he's merging he has his mana do the same causing the surroundings to flood with an abundant amount of the usually sparsely scattered space mana.
When he's merged to an acceptable degree he creates a block using earth magic. Permeating his space infused mana through the cube he slowly attempts to force it to adopt some properties of space mana. If the earth cube gains some properties of space mana it can act as a shoddy nonliving substitute for him in his current form.
Thinking up to here he pauses and uses water magic to create some veins filled with water running through the cube before repairing the external damage with earth magic. Now that his substitute is newly improved he continues infusing it with space mana.
During the entire process he doesn't pay special attention to the makeup of the cube. He knows what it's made of and where the veins are but nothing specific like he would usually need to achieve a perfect teleportation. The idea is to use the properties of space mana to make up for it, or at least that's what he hopes will happen for the sake of his future teleportation needs.
Deeming the cube to have taken on the minimum amount of properties necessary for the experiment he prepares to move forward with the test. The cube appears a few meters away, resting on the floor for a few seconds before disappearing again and reappearing in Jellal's right hand.
Carefully inspecting the cube he finds no evidence of damage having occurred. Theoretically this means he could use his current form to teleport if he wished. The reason he doesn't jump for joy at the successful experiment is due to it not involving any living tissue. For him to truly feel comfortable teleporting himself he needs to know how living tissue is affected by it, not just a cube shaped amalgamation of dirt and water.
Returning to his base state he surrounds himself with the superior mana again. No matter how he tries he's unable to get his body to sync up and resonate with the superior mana. This is unthinkable since it should only be natural for a superior being to use superior mana.
Disregarding his own safety he bombards himself with the mana. It crashes over him like a tidal wave as the puddle of blood he's standing in expands continuously. Even when he reaches his limit he doesn't stop causing him to black out for a moment.
Finally giving up he has the mana retreat as he struggles to stay standing. Due to the boost from his adaptability he was able to withstand the beating slightly better, but not enough to keep him from ending up in a sorry state after a constant bombardment.
Drawing the natural mana in from all around him he begins healing his wounds. Even after his body's healed, he still feels light headed. Shakily he sits down to take a much needed rest.
'How annoying. My brilliant plan to attack myself with the superior mana and then heal up in a recurring cycle until I ascend to become a higher being than I already am seems to have a few glaring flaws. I guess the burden is a bit too much even for me.
Since my grand strategy can't be seen to its conclusion I have time to kill. I could continue working on teleportation, but doing so in this state would make me feel like I'm rushing things. I suppose I could head to Pavise after I recover a little.
I still need to deal with the whole mentor issue at the guild, so I could take care of that while I'm there. I also have plenty of junk to sell and a craftsman to make a perfect chair to find. While I'm there I can use the opportunity to ensure none of those prisoners have big mouths.
Then again they may not have made it there yet. If they took the fastest path possible they might have made it, but I doubt those adventurers would want to drag the lot of them through the brush. Assuming they took the road, they would still have a ways to go. That being said, getting there before them might not be such a bad idea. At the very least it would be easier to track them if I'm there when they walk through the gate.
I've got plenty of time before I need to be there. In the meantime why don't I work on something else? I still need to make a throne for myself. There's also the wyvern from yesterday sitting in my bag waiting for me to chop it to pieces.
Speaking of things being chopped into pieces I have a ton of bones lying around I have no use for. Nothing says "don't mess with me" like a throne made from the bones of my enemies. Still, the bones are mostly from small fries so it might not end up looking too impressive. The last thing I want is for someone to see it and think "oh, I was worried but judging by his throne he can only bully weaklings". If such a thing happened it wouldn't drive away nuisances at all. In fact they may intentionally come after me thinking I'm easy prey.
I could go into the depths of the forest to find some more intimidating bones to use, but it's a pain in the ass to sift through all the weaklings. I don't even know if there are any more "okay" strength monsters like that wyvern left in this place.
Since I have no other option I guess I could use the wyvern bones after I process it. As long as I don't permanently connect the bones I should be able to switch out the less impressive bones further down the road when I get ahold of some that look intimidating.'
With his time killing activity selected he pulls the wyvern out of his bag. The massive body nearly fills the room making it feel cramped. Taking out one of his trusty throwing knives he taps the body a few times causing a metallic clang to ring out.
Floating above the corpse he circles around looking for the best place to start cutting it apart. After nearly a minute of circling he gives up and shoves it back in his bag, deciding to deal with it later.
'Why should I put in effort trying to figure out how to take this damn thing apart when I can have someone do it for me? Maybe this is a sign for me to go to Pavise now instead of waiting. It's definitely not me being lazy after remembering how obnoxiously huge the thing is, that's for sure.'
Even though he gave up on the wyvern he could still make a temporary throne from the other bones he has. At the very least he can make a prototype so he can have an idea how to redesign it when he does get the wyverns bones. With that in mind he stumbles out of his training area and slowly makes his way down the hall.
Wobbling his way through the cave he arrives at the sealed treasure room. Opening it up and going inside he heads to the mountain of bones he piled up next to the fur blankets and rugs.
Picking a bunch of bones at random he creates a small pile. He uses earth magic to make an earthen wagon under the pile and heads for the exit. The wagon follows him down the hall as he seals the room and works his way back to the dining hall.
Once there he looks around to find a good place to build his throne. In the end he picks a position in line with the hall that leads to the cave entrance. If he does something about the useless tables and closes up the other hallways and the kitchen he can make the dining room look like a grand hall. With his perception range he can easily do that before anyone has a chance to get close so they won't know any better. What's more important is the vibe they get when they show up.
Stopping his wagon he piles the tables on top of it. Moving by a nearby wall he opens a new room with earth magic and dumps the tables and chairs he isn't using inside before closing it off.
Returning to his selected spot the wagon lowers into the ground leaving behind his pile of bones. As he's about to get to work his face turns serious and he lifts his head, glaring down the hall.