"F-fine," Katherine finally relented as she picked herself off the ground. Then, she just up and looked at me as if I had any idea what direction we should start running towards.

"Well? Where are we going?" I asked her, patience justifiably running thin after all that time wasted on trying to get her to 'not' give up on life.

Fortunately, it seemed our talk had corrected her momentary lapse into "Damsel in Distress" Syndrome and after she got over it, Katherine started proving herself to be as competent as I previously thought.

She didn't verbally respond to me and instead used a much better Relay Spell than I was currently capable of to directly project a series of maps, filled with everything I would need to both figure out our current position as well as plot a course back to Violeteast City to the northwest.

It amused me somewhat, learning that before we could start going north we'd first have to go further southeast and circle wide to the west as literally every other direction was stacked with Lesser B Rank or higher rated territories.

Fortunately, now that I had a map of the Gendrant Mountain Range downloaded directly into my head, I could forgo having to wait for the sun to move to use my compass trick and instead rely on the local geography to figure out what direction to go. So, I flew up to get a sense of where we were and returned to Katherine after finding out what direction was southeast.

When we finally had a rough idea of where it would be safest to go, Katherine then subverted my expectations when instead of running she used her Magic to literally drive the earth. Standing in a bracing position, it was like she was surfing on the ground at, at least triple-digit kilometer-per-hour speeds.

'Good, good,' I thought, as I flew overhead to keep an eye out for any potential ambushes. 'At this rate, we could be back to the Littleroot Forest in just over a month.' Of course, that was under the assumption that we continued moving at our current pace without resting, or eating, or having to fight — or run — for our lives against much stronger enemies.

That was how our trip over more than half the continent began.

…

An hour later, I had already grown bored.

Every dozen or so minutes, I'd dived down over to get Katherine to slightly turn. By now, we were definitely far off from where her Uncle had left us off. But there was literally nothing else for me to do but fly around. I had yet to see so much as another living being besides us and it was honestly aggravating, especially since I was supposed to be on high alert for potential threats.

After an hour passed, I was just about to entertain the thought of practicing my Magic — as just a thought, since actually going through with casting spells as a fast-flying UFO would be like announcing to any hidden magic-sensitive entities nearby, "I am a target. Kill me, please" — when I noticed Katherine had started to quickly slow down.

As I approached her to ask what was up, she looked in my direction with an embarrassed expression.

"What?" I asked.

"My, uh… Magic Reserves have been halved."

So? That just means she could keep going for another two hours, right?

She seemed to read my mind even if we weren't partners anymore as she said, "I should rest to keep myself at least somewhat prepared for any ambushes, right? I mean, that's what my friends all used to say when we were out clearing dungeons."

"R-right," I agreed, feeling just as embarrassed about not immediately realizing it.

As a Mage, she would be a sitting duck if she was caught in any sort of danger without a significant portion of her reserves ready. I must have forgotten that since for the last couple weeks I'd been dependent on more than just my Spells.

In fact, since we had left from the place Katherine's uncle had left us, I'd been keeping up with Katherine's "land surfing" with just the power of my wings and sheer stamina. I could probably keep going for a couple more days without needing to rest. But then again, I can't exactly expect that from someone who's not an inhuman monster like me, now can I?

So, I was going to offer to look for a cave or something nearby for us to rest in when Katherine waved her hands and made a small earthen tent come out of the ground.

"I should be back to full strength in around an hour," Katherine said, as she kindly gestured for me to follow her into her summoned resting spot.

"You know, I still have no idea what level of Mage you are," I said as she sat down on a paradoxically clean dirt floor.

"Greater C Rank," she started almost casually, "I'm mainly an Earth Mage, but I also know a couple Communication Spells as well as the basics of Summoning Magic. I can cast up to Tier 5 Earth Spells."

"Really?" I shot her a suspicious look.

"Why does that surprise you?" She responded in kind.

"I know we just got over this, but… Immediately resigning oneself to death isn't something I'd expect from someone who's able to cast the highest levels of Intermediate Magic. Shouldn't you, I don't know, be used to this kind of life or death thing by now?"

"I..." She withdrew in on herself as she quietly said, "I was taught that it would be easier that way."

"Excuse me?" A striking sense of deja vu hit me from out of nowhere.

"It's better to face impending death with acceptance than to struggle against the inevitable. For a Mage… without a party, without support, is as good as dead if they don't vastly outrank everything on their own."

I probably looked quite silly bringing up my right wing over to rub at my forehead in exasperation, but it felt just right as I asked, "And pray tell, what 'idiot' taught you that?"

"That is a popular saying in the school where I learned magic..."

"Is that so? Well, do me a favor and forget that crock of shit, would you please? It sounds to me like those teachers of yours were setting you up for failure. To actually teach people — children especially — to give up in the face of adversity… Are these people fucking serious? That's like textbook indoctrination!"

"But don't they kind of have a point?" Katherine hesitantly asked. "I mean, even with you sticking by me, I still have next to no chance of making it back home alive. To get anywhere, I'll have to constantly use my Earthshifting Spell and to prepare against attacks, I'd also have to keep up my Earth Sensing Spell."

"Everything has been fine up until now, but we have a long, 'long' journey ahead of us. Even if I tried to conserve my magic, all it would take is a single run-in with a Lesser B Rank Monster and it's all over."

"Ugh," I cringed at that logic as I said, "I'd have died a thousand times by now if I'd been afraid of dealing with Monsters Ranked higher than me at the Black Swamp, Katherine. Don't believe that everything comes down to who has the highest Stats or the greater letter attached to their abilities."

"I mean, it would be one thing if we were going up against someone a full major Rank ahead of you; in that case, yeah, we'd probably die, no questions asked. But if we're careful about going back to your home, then it's totally possible to avoid coming into contact with Standard and Greater B Rank Monsters."

"And really, you and me… I think we could take on a Lesser B Ranked Monster. Maybe not kill one outright unless we get super lucky. But you're a Greater C Rank Mage! That's just a small rank in difference! With you as the powerhouse and me providing support, there's no reason we wouldn't be able to outmatch a single Lesser B Ranked Monster."

"Especially," I grinned, "if we take some time while on this trip to get you a little stronger."

"What?" Katherine grew apprehensions as she asked.

"Hey, you're the one who doubts our chances at making it through this. So, why not spend a bit of time training to increase our chances of success?"

"B-but, I don't think my rations will last that long."

"Rations? Why would you settle for rations with all the monster meat we'll have once we settle on a training spot?"

"Because I don't want to risk getting sick?" She weakly smiled.

In response, I summoned a blank green-tinted Healing Magic Circle. "Don't you worry about that," I grinned malevolently, "any problems you might run into with eating monster meat, won't make it past me after I learn the Sanctify Healing Spell."

"Actually," my grin intensified, "I think I just found the answer to how we can keep your magic reserves from dwindling as we travel. One of my Bloodline memories has instructions for the Novice-level Healing Spell of Magic Transference."

I laughed as I said, "I suggest you appreciate this rest as best as you can because after I'm through with learning the Magic Transference Spell, I'll be sharing my reserves with you. And in case you don't know, my reserves can be refilled by feeding on monster cores."

At that, she paled.

"That's right, it means we won't have to stop nearly as often if we start off on my training idea. But don't worry too much," my words did nothing to calm her even after I added, "we can start in an area a little less intense than the current Greater C Rank backwaters area of the mountain range we're resting on."

"You want to cross over to the Levins Fall Valley and stay there for a while?" She asked, still nervous.

"It's the nearest Standard C Rank territory," I bluntly said.

"But it's full of lightning-type monsters!" She anxiously said.

"And you're an Earth-type Mage!" I wasn't above being sarcastic as I said, "You have the elemental advantage."

Really, I couldn't have asked for a better place to settle down with Katherine. Not only would she outrank all the monsters that lived there, but it would also be around the limit of what I was capable of handling alone. So, after she was all tired out from a day of dedicated training, I could still be free to hunt for the experience required to Level Up and evolve.

It would probably take a couple of weeks, if not months, for us to move up in Rank. But, perhaps we wouldn't even need to make such a breakthrough to move on from our first training ground. After all, the only thing I needed was to be sure Katherine could handle the next highest Rank territory before we moved up, and like I'd told her previously, there was a lot more to combat prowess than just one's stats and Rank.

Now, I just needed to figure out how to cast those two Healing Spells.