They traveled for quite a while already when Gerald suddenly spoke, "Xilia, what was the magic you used that night?"
"Err..." She tried to remember what he was talking about, "Do you mean my Wind Body and Wind Blade?"
"Oh," Gerald voiced, "Is that what they're called?" He suddenly turned around to look at her, "Can you teach me?"
"Eh?" Xilia was shocked by such a sudden request. "Teach you? I… I'm not sure if I'm qualified…"
Gerald smiled and shook his head, "It's okay if you don't want to give away your secrets… I won't pressure you."
"No, that's not it!" Xilia quickly denied it. Although people usually kept the spells to themselves, she wanted to somehow repay the kindness Gerald gave her.
"I learned these spells when I was still little from my uncle… But, I don't have the spellbook anymore and if I tried to teach you from my memory I'm worried something might go wrong," she said apologetically.
"That's a shame… Then, can you maybe demonstrate it for me, just once? I would love to see the spell in action in daylight if you don't mind…" Gerald pleaded with a hopeful face.
"Of course, it's not a problem at all!" Xilia quickly agreed, happy to be of use for once.
She jumped a good distance away from the others and took out her blades and started her chant.
"By the power of my mind,
With the omnipresent wind,
Guide my hands out of despair,
And let my beauty, of twin blades, sing! Wind Body!"
Woosh!
Air started to circulate around her in a fast motion, traveling in the same directions as her body movements and helping speed her up.
She demonstrated the amazing swiftness of her blades, striking out fast and deadly, almost faster than the eye could follow.
"Amazing!" Gerald gasped. He was staring at her with his eyes wide open, but differently from others who were only looking on the outside, he was observing the changes in Mana flow that were happening inside her body.
'The wind on the outside is just a distraction! The real magic is happening inside her body! Wind magic is enhancing her muscles directly, similar to how Stone Body grants increased body protection! Fascinating!'
"Huff!" Xilia stopped the demonstration and exhaled deeply. A few beads of sweat formed on her forehead. "This spell focuses on the caster becoming one with the wind and moving unhindered in the air, granting you superhuman speed…" She explained a few things about the spell.
"Becoming one with the wind…" Gerald mumbled under his breath. "What about the other one, the Wind Blade?"
"Mn," Xilia nodded, "Watch closely!"
"By the power of my mind,
With the omnipresent wind,
Lend your power now to me,
To cut in half my enemy! Wind Blade!"
Mana gathered on her right palm and in the blink of an eye, the spell was cast. Not far away, a branch as thick as an arm suddenly fell from the tree. Everyone was amazed and shocked at once.
Gerald ran to check it out, and as he lifted the branch up he noticed where the cut happened. It was as smooth as a mirror! There was no sound when the cut happened and this was the result!
Gerald whistled. "Such efficiency! This has to be one of the most impressive spells I have ever seen!"
"It is indeed quite strong, but it's only effective up to maybe ten meters…" Xilia lamented although the praises made her feel happy.
"Hm, let me try! Wind Blade!" Gerald shouted.
"What? You can't be serious, I trained with the spell for six months before I managed to barely use it once! What are you trying to-" Xilia tried to stop him before he hurt himself but to her surprise, a powerful gust of wind was generated at his palm and rushed forward.
'Hm? It's like the Wind Blast? But why is it so spread out?' Gerald lifted his brow.
"Err… What?" the Dark Elf blinked rapidly in confusion. "You already managed to gather enough power for the spell!? I didn't know humans can use Wind magic… But you are still lacking precision and control, you can't let the energy dissipate in all directions, you have to gather it to a single point!" Xilia pointed out his mistakes.
"A single point, huh?" Gerald thought for a second and then tried again, "Wind Blade!"
He directed his spell against a tree and before he could even blink, a hole was created inside the wood. The depth was the length of his finger and the diameter of a duck egg. The dust spread around the air after the impact.
Xilia stood there, completely stupefied. 'What! He just casually copied my spell in two tries?' She felt like spitting blood from shock. 'Wait no, the shape is wrong! This is more like a Wind Spear!'
"Ooh, that's quite fast! And such penetrating power!" Looking at his work, Gerald was greatly amused.
"Let's try the other one as well! Wind Body!" He immediately cast another spell.
Xilia had her mouth agape, 'What is with these short chants, is he a super genius or something?'
The others weren't faring much better. Even Sera, who was used to Gerald making impossible things, was surprised at the speed at which he picked up magic spells.
'This is so unfair! Why does he get all the talent in the world and I get nothing?' she complained in her heart.
"Wow, big brother Gerald is so cool!" Qiona clapped her hands in happiness while jumping up and down.
"Hey, what about me?" Xilia looked at her sister with a pitiful gaze.
"Big sister is good too! You are just slow…" Qiona answered truthfully.
Xilia could only force out a smile. 'Slow… I'm slow? It's not my fault, okay?! I couldn't even train properly for three years!' she screamed in her heart.
Truthfully, although she was a Dark Elf, her magic casting ability was quite bad for an Elf. She could be considered only slightly above average even by human standards. And that, combined with the inborn Elf pride, made her feel inadequate. Maybe that was the reason she was so easily threatened with her sister's life.
She wasn't confident in being able to save her by herself!
While her thoughts traveled, Gerald was enjoying himself with his hew abilities. 'I feel so light! And my body is so fast, this is amazing!'
He was running and jumping around, testing the limits of the Wind Body. His speed at least doubled, be it running or other body movements.
If two warriors of the same strength fought and one of them could use this spell for even just a minute, he would win without a question. Double the speed of his footwork, double the speed of his sword strikes, and the opponent would be completely suppressed!
"I love it!" Gerald shouted loudly. The Wind Body consumed 10 MP/min so he could keep it on for just over nine minutes, but that was plenty of time to escape or win a fight.
"If I combine my spells won't I have a great defense with amazing speed? I would be invincible!" he clenched his fist in excitement. "But then… My Mana probably wouldn't be enough…" Reality always had the last laugh. No matter how great the spells or strategies he had, he was always limited by his Mana.
"Ah, so frustrating! I need more, more power!" He clenched his teeth with flavor.
"But, that's why I'm going to Auralba, is it not?" He smirked momentarily and then called out, "Okay, let's continue! There is still a long road ahead!"
They traveled for two days straight. Since Qiona was still weak, her sister helped by carrying her a good portion of the way. Luckily she was still quite small and light so that didn't pose much of a problem.
While the girls chatted and got to know each other better, Gerald trained in magic. By the time they arrived at the capital, he cast the Wind Blade at least a hundred times already. It was a quite powerful magic spell so a normal person could cast it maybe once a day if the didn't have any Wind Crystals for extra Mana.
But even if they did, the fact that the spell itself consumed 5 MP every time it was cast, was quite taxing on the mind.
Luckily, for some reason, Gerald felt as if his mind expanded recently and he was having a much easier time casting spells. He didn't know if it was because he trained so often or for some other reason.
With his insane 5 MP/h recovery, he was able to recharge in an hour as much Mana as a normal person would in a full day!
Xilia was weirded out by the fact that he, as a human, could use magic so naturally and easily the entire day, with only minimal rest in between.
The number of offensive spells he threw out in a single day was more than she could do in a week! It was completely unimaginable for her as she didn't see him using any Ether Crystals for extra Mana.
Of course, she didn't know that the potions he drank casually were what allowed him to recover so quickly.
In the human kingdoms, Mana Recovery Potions didn't exist as they didn't serve any useful purpose for humans. As such, nobody ever bothered researching them and their existence was still a mystery.