Mage Among Superheroes

"... We need to learn to teleport," I said to Midnight.

"Okay," he said. "Sounds good to me."

Right. Teleportation was a pretty normal, everyday thing for him. I thought about that and my aching lower body as I rode my horse. "Which one should it be?"

"There are options?" he asked.

"Obviously. There's short range stuff like Dimension Door. Then long range stuff like the Teleport spell, and also Teleportation Circle. Obviously I mean a longer range one so we don't have to do this," I gestured at the horse and the group around us.

Midnight thought for a few moments. "What's the difference between the latter two?"

"The second one makes an area that can move a lot of people over a period of time, but it takes material components. Teleport brings a small group all at once, for just mana."

"That sounds good," Midnight said. "Though it wouldn't help us here."

Sir Kalman commented on that, as he was riding nearby. "I don't think Linduin would much appreciate you teleporting into their borders. The other option might be nice, though. For a group like this, we could have made quick time."

"It's still expensive," I said. "And would have required the material ahead of time, proper knowledge of the destination, that destination not being warded…" I began to list things off.

Sir Kalman nodded. "I think the Order could have covered the costs. Or perhaps Linduel, indirectly. But I imagine we'd need to send a message ahead."

"Which I could do if I knew the right person. And all of that other stuff," I concluded.

"Sounds pretty simple then," Midnight answered. "The one that works for us and a group of… how many?"

"Like six or eight or something," I shrugged. It wasn't like the spell had a description, unfortunately. "It might care about potency somehow…?"

"And I suppose I should ask," Midnight said. "How far can it go?"

"At full cost, anywhere on a planet. Theoretically," I said. "It scales up to the same price as Gate for that, so you wouldn't be able to do it alone just yet. And the precision might leave something to be desired below that."

"What do you mean?" Midnight asked.

"If you don't know where you want to go well or don't have the mana, you can arrive off target. Somewhere safe, though."

"Define 'safe'."

"Uh, it would usually have footing. Though I think you can end up at the surface of an ocean or lake- but not underwater unless you were trying to?" I shrugged. "I was so far from being able to teleport that I don't remember all the details. My basic book doesn't cover it and neither does Portal Theory. That does cover Teleportation Circle though."

"What's the cost for that, anyway?" Midnight asked.

"Amber dust?" I tilted my head. "Like, a lot of it. I feel like it would be more expensive than industrial diamond powder but I could be wrong. Way more quantity, at least."

"It does sound like a useful option still," Midnight said.

"Well, here it would be. In New Bay, we'd probably be better off driving so that we don't have to recover the mana. Though we might be able to infiltrate some buildings with it," I shrugged.

"Our points have to go to something, I suppose," he said. "And that's a good candidate."

I nodded. "I think so too. I think I'll spend it."

Since the journey was still ongoing, it was a good time to review my full ability list.