The voyage from Britannia had been ongoing for a few days already, the large ship gliding across the wide blue expanse of the ocean.
Emery took the first few days of the journey as an opportunity to busy himself again casting the [Nature Grasp] to further cultivate the seed.
This was the first time he had ever cast the skill while at sea, or on top of any large body of water, for that matter. The results he gleaned from were quite interesting indeed.
He realized the part of Gaia's energy present within the sea was not nearly as strong as that which was found within the land. Uniquely enough, though, it possessed a different quality of energy altogether. These findings only increased Emery's understanding of natural elements even further and he acknowledged this fact with a satisfied smile on his face.
During these past few days, Klea always found excuses to enter his room. From bringing him food to just coming in for company whenever the weather on the deck was bad. Emery realized she was only doing these things because she was concerned about him.
Emery decided to suspend his training and walked around the deck to find the Egyptian queen. Today he wanted to know more about their exact location and future destinations.
Klea unrolled a large map and smoothed it over the table.
As she began to explain the various locations on the map, Emery chimed in with his spirit reading in order to try matching their location with the drawings on the map.
"So, Emery…" Klea started, turning towards him with an inquisitive look on her face.
"Do you know where the Eastern location mentioned by Gaia is, exactly?"
Emery then started to describe the vision he had received about the places. The vision whizzed by quickly when it was shown to him; but with an increase in his spirit force level, his memory was also enhanced, and Emery could come back to the information at will when he so desired. He could recall the images with almost perfect clarity.
He started to envision the information with the drawing in front of him. Unfortunately, he was not exactly sure where to start, as he couldn't really imagine any of these places in full detail.
This was where the intelligence of the Queen came in. Her first inquiry was regarding the weather. As the places on the vision did not seem cold or snowy, that would mean that it wasn't located in the far northern or far southern hemisphere.
Emery also remembered acres and acres of rainforest and Klea quickly pinpointed the location somewhere far east of the Parthian empire.
"We might as well go as far as to visit Chumo," she said, observing the illustrations.
The thought of all five friends having a reunion on Earth did excite him. There might be an opportunity for them to exchange information and improve their cultivation together.
After all this work, Klea then began to chart a travel destination for them.
Currently, they were heading southwards using the ship towards the territory of Hispania; from there they would sail past the Gibraltar strait, passing through the North of Africa before heading towards Rome to pay a visit to their two friends.
"Next we could visit Greece, and then, we're definitely going to Egypt!" Klea exclaimed. Her excitement was so intense that it was palpable. "You would definitely love Egypt!"
Once again, Klea enthusiastically went over each destination on the map, going on long tangents while explaining in detail the places they were going to visit.
The whole travel plan was definitely an exciting matter for Emery. But with the prospect of traveling to distant lands now spread out in front of him, once again, he couldn't help but start to think about her.
Trying not to fall back down the rabbit hole, Emery attempted to distract himself by going through the map once again. Realizing the position of Rome, which was not too far from Britannia, he realized they traveled an even greater distance by using the sea.
He furrowed his brows. "Wouldn't it be faster if we go by land, Klea?"
"Yes, if speed was the main priority here, traveling by land would be faster." She chuckled slightly when she saw that Emery's expression had dissolved into more questions. "We would arrive at our destination in two weeks, maybe three weeks tops. Meanwhile, by sea, we would be able to reach there as far ahead as a month from now."
Hearing this made Emery begin to wonder. Weren't they in a hurry to see Thrax and Julian? But Klea, appearing to have read his mind, only answered briefly.
"Sea is more relaxing."
"..."
It was evident from his face he was concerned. Klea sighed. "Alright, alright... I can guarantee we can reach Rome in three weeks if you really do insist."
Before Emery could comment, Klea had already lept on top of the deck and stood up straight to cast her wind and water elemental spells. Just like that, their boat instantly increased its pace, traveling much faster than it had before.
Within just a week, the ship starts heading east toward the Mediterranean sea. But before they reached it, Klea decided to make a stop at a port just before entering the Mediterranean territories.
They dropped by to purchase fresh supplies and stockpile for the journey ahead and Emery welcomed the visitors, their ship's crew, to the new land.
The port town was called Tingis. One of the developed towns north of Africa which was apparently being controlled by Romans.
"The Romans really are everywhere these days," muttered Klea.
Another reason for Emery's excitement was none other than to check on the local flora. Here he found dozens of plants that he had never seen before.
Fortunately, although he could not cast [Fragmentation] because of his cultivation problem, Emery was still unable to cast his [Analyze] skills.
[Universal Flora Level 1 - Activated - Analyzing flora...]
[Analyzation complete]
[Wormwood - Medicinal herb - Level 1]
[Universal Flora Level 1 - Activated - Analyzing flora...]
[Analyzation complete]
[Hypoxis - Medicinal herb - Level 1]
[Insignificant for the database]
These plant data would give him dozens of tiny contribution points, but what he was hoping for right now was to find a new recipe or enhance his old ones.
When Emery was busy doing stuff to further increase his advantage for the Magus Academy, Klea was having fun enjoying the local delicacies and culture before they returned to the voyage.
For Klea, weeks of undisturbed alone time with Emery was considered a dream come true. This was the true reason why she chose the sea route instead of the land route and this intention was clearly shown by Klea.
Emery's past experience with Gwen and his problems with Morgana made him realize he was actually very dense when it came to women. Now that he had caught wind of Klea's attitude towards him, Emery decided he should probably be more caring towards her.
One day during their voyage, with his spirit reading, Emery found signs of large wreckage at the bottom of the sea. The idea suddenly comes to ask Klea to go check it out and surely it was very much welcome by her.
She ordered the crew to stop sailing in the middle of the ocean and used this chance to change into a different garment that appealed more to her skin and both of them jumped into the water.
With their respective cultivation levels, both Emery and Klea had the ability to stay underwater for an hour without losing breath. when needed more Klea can cast the [water breathing] for him.
Thus, the two spent all day diving into the deep of the ocean. With both of them possessing similar water element affinities, they took the time to cultivate together.
Like always, the Klea's genius was full of surprises.
[Congratulations! You have reached a breakthrough in the Water element]
[Battle power - 47 (37)]
[Spirit force - 340 (224)]
[Wind spirit - High Foundation]
[Water spirit - Peak Foundation]
[Lightning spirit - High Foundation]
[Acolyte rank - 8]
They ended the day by catching a huge fish, grilling it on the deck as a feast for them and the entire crew.
It was just one of those rare, perfect days that ended just as good as they started, full of laughter and sunlight.
When the night finally arrived, as expected, Klea came knocking at Emery's door. She was freshly showered, donning clean clothes, with a genuine smile spread across her face.
"Thank you for the wonderful day, Emery. I haven't had as much fun as I did today in a long time."
"Yes, me too, Klea…"
A silence had fallen between them as they looked one another in the eyes.
Emery saw the goddess in front of him, her eyes, her lips and it would be a lie if said he wasn't tempted, but again, a memory of a certain girl came to mind which made him hesitate.
Realizing Emery's hesitation, Klea jumped to kiss him on the cheek.
"Good night, Emery."
As she walked away, with a giggle Klea thought, "Let's see how many days you can stand that, Emery."