When Elly woke up in the morning, she saw Gerald sitting cross-legged on a small mound of dirt. It was shifting back and forth, making it seem as if it was alive.
"What are you doing?" She asked softly.
Gerald didn't answer her as he appeared to have disregarded the outside world completely. Seeing no reaction, Elly went to wash her face in a nearby stream and prepare some food for breakfast.
When she came back, Gerald was already standing up with a determined gaze looking forward. He stood on a thick stone slab, which was on top of the dirt mound about half a meter high.
"Gerald? What's that?" she asked, and loaded a few dried branches on the hot coals, reigniting the fire.
"I don't know…"
"You...don't know?" she asked, baffled.
"I didn't pick a name yet… In essence, it's a new Earth spell for faster traveling."
Elly gasped, "A new spell? As in, you just made it?"
Gerald nodded absentmindedly, still completely engrossed in controlling his new spell.
"Would you like me to help you name it?" she offered.
"No… It's okay." Gerald answered, still in his own world.
Suddenly the dirt mound under the stone slab moved and traveled forward like a wave on a lake. Gerald positioned himself at an angle leaning forward and traveled at great speeds without even moving. He rushed around the campsite for a few rounds, lifting up dust and pieces of rock as he went along.
"Hey, watch it!" Elly covered her food with her hands to protect it from dust.
Finishing another lap, Gerald stopped and hopped off the slab.
"Hmm, 10 MP/min and if I push it, I can go roughly30-40km/h? We should be able to reach Aurabla by tomorrow evening with this speed…"
After stretching his limbs and neck, Gerald sat down near the campfire and roasted some more of that Queen's heart.
"So…" Elly spoke timidly, "How long did it take you to make that spell?"
Gerald had his mouth full, so he lifted two fingers to indicate time.
"Two months? That fast?!" Elly gasped, "Can spells even be created in that short amount of a time?"
Cough!
Gerald almost choked on the piece of meat and had to spit it out.
"Two months!? Do I look like a snail?! What two months, I made it this morning! It took me one hour to come up with the concept and another hour to get all the kinks worked out!"
"Eeeeeeh?!" The girl felt like going crazy.
"Don't act so surprised! Your entire thinking about magic is messed up, so it's no wonder you need so long to make progress!" Gerald was honestly offended by the reaction Elly showed. He was hoping this girl would be more open-minded, but clearly, she was still stuck in the old ways.
"Finish your breakfast quickly, I want to get to Auralba by tomorrow evening."
"T- Tomorrow?" Elly stammered. She knew approximately how far the capital was, even going with a fast horse they would need more than three days. You can't have the poor animal running at top speed the entire time after all.
After eating their fill, it was time to go. Gerald stepped on the stone slab and the ground beneath him moved higher.
He offered Elly his hand to pull her up. Just as she took it, he turned serious and menacing and said, "I don't need to remind you to keep all things that you see and learn from me a secret, do I?"
"... N- No, of course not!"
"Good! I'm glad you understand." With a light tug and a smile, he pulled her up, and off they went.
"Did you decide on the name for the spell already?" she asked after a while standing behind and holding onto Gerald's shoulders.
"...No."
"How about we call it Rockslide?"
Gerald shrugged, "Sure, why not…"
They traveled for a while more and Elly started to get tired just standing in place. "Can it go any faster?"
RUMBLE!
"Aaaah!"
They suddenly accelerated to twice the speed as stones and dirt flew in all directions under the stone slab they were standing on.
"I regret everything! Please slow down!" Elly screamed with tightly closed eyes and hugged Gerald as hard as she could.
"I can go at any speed I want, but going faster consumes much more Mana," he unhurriedly explained while slowing down to a more sustainable speed.
"Phew, and how much does this take?"
"Twice the amount of you Light ball, it's not too much…" Saying so, he took a small vial and drank the potion.
"That much? Aren't we traveling for more than an hour already? You still got Crystals to drain?" she asked in disbelief.
"I don't use Crystals, not now at least…"
"Wha-!" Elly opened her eyes and mouth wide in shock and almost swallowed a bug.
Pah! Pffft!
Gerald laughed slightly and then slowed down to a stop. "You can take a break for a few minutes, I just got another idea…"
Elly breathed a sigh of relief and went to stretch her legs and rinse out her mouth.
Meanwhile, Gerald discarded the current stone slab and pulled a larger one from the ground, and reshaped it with magic a tiny bit.
Elly came back soon enough and was surprised because of what she saw. "What's this thing?"
"It's a seat, isn't that obvious?"
"I see, but why is it of such an unusual shape?"
Gerald groaned and sighed, "Just sit your ass down!"
"Okay!" she quickly placed her butt down and didn't say a thing.
The seat was designed after fancy car seats and it was extremely comfortable, even though it was made of stone. He made one for each of them and the stone slab had to be a bit bigger because of it.
"Oh, this is much better! So comfy!" Gerald smiled and off they went...again.
They stopped every few hours, enough to let Gerald recover his Mana and Elly to walk around and stretch her legs.
"One day I'll make a throne like this for myself, and use it to travel through the skies. It will be my weapon and my armor, indestructible and invincible!" Gerald mused out loud.
"You are crazy…"
"Haha, aren't we all?" Gerald laughed at the girl's comment before sitting back on the stone seat.