Dewn's sands, hot and shifty though they were, made for a much better rest spot than yesterday's island. Kinsoriel also attributed that to whatever creature he had caught yesterday filling out his stomach quite well. The slimy bits tasted delicious after being seared by the campfire and gave it a fruity aftertaste. He'd have to remember it for later consumption.

Benjamin seemed to be awake already, though he wasn't in the spot Kinsoriel remembered. He was standing next to him in his shadow and seemed relieved about something.

"Finally," he said while wiping the sweat from his forehead, "you're awake."

"Yes? Was there something you needed from me?"

The little author looked at him incredulously. "I just want to get going already. It's way too hot this early in the morning."

It was hotter here than Kinsoriel had expected, but it didn't feel all that uncomfortable. Perhaps this was another deathbound thing, like with the wind. Now that he thought about it, those bandits were wearing a lot more clothing than those in the mountains. But didn't they usually wear more clothing when they were too cold? For all that he knew about them, many things still made little sense to him.

"Yes, we'll be on our way shortly. Hop on." He lowered his hand for him to get on, which he did especially fast today. With care not to kick the sand up too much, Kinsoriel took to the skies with a gallop instead this time.

A few hours passed by without seeing anything of note. This continent supposedly had a few mortal kingdoms strewn throughout it, but it looked barren of anything. There weren't any trading routes, the animals were sparse, and it was just endless sand. Benjamin squirmed enough in his claw to get his attention.

"What is it?" Kinsoriel asked, almost thankful for this distraction.

"Do we have any water?

Going from flight to a hover, he thought about it for a minute. This wasn't a problem before. Normally, he'd just create water with a spell as needed. He hadn't considered this earlier when accounting for his mana usage.

Tail swishing in annoyance behind him, he said, "No."

If traversing this desert without direction was the only option left to them, a stable supply of water was necessary. More specifically, Benjamin would need it. Dragons could go for at least a week without water if needed.

Going all the way back to the coast and gathering a surplus wasn't appealing. Using spells repeatedly in this magic starved wasteland didn't sound much better either. If he was able to be harmed by heroes in his territory, there's no telling what could happen if he was without mana.

"I have an idea," Ben said, bringing the dragon back into reality. "Why don't we look for an oasis?"

Was he already delirious from thirst? There was no guarantee they'd find one in a month, let alone by the end of today. Why bother doing that when they had methods that were sure to work?

Giving his student the benefit of the doubt, he asked, "Do you happen to know where we could find one then?"

"No," Benjamin said glumly, face now downcast.

Letting out a great groan, Kinsoriel landed on the flattest section of sand he could see. Ben stood off to the side as he began to shovel out handfuls of sand.

"Uh, what are you doing?"

Usually one to answer any questions, Kinsoriel decided that this time he would show what he intended instead. A sizable hole began to take shape as he kept digging. He considered it finished once it was up to his chest.

As he stepped out, his student guessed as to why it was made. "Were you trying to get rid of the creatures underneath?" Not a bad theory, but that would be more than inefficient. What good would getting rid of them do in such a small area? Even if he knew a way to do that, he'd have to do it everywhere they stopped. He'd rather not dirty himself more than necessary.

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"No, I'm taking care of our water supply," he said before looking into the pit. Moving his arms in a wavelike motion, he prepared to conjure a cloud. Cool, heat-spurning water. "Storm Stream." He clapped his hands together with a boom. A dark cloud formed from his mana above the pit and emptied a deluge of water straight down. Once it was nearly full, Kinsoriel dismissed the spell.

Ben said something but Kinsoriel couldn't hear it over the emptiness he was feeling. So much had been taken out of him from just one casting. It felt like he used up a third of his mana, and he wasn't done yet either. Holding his hands together in the shape of a triangle, he prepared to freeze the water he had just created. The white sphere appeared between his hands and grew in size. Once it was ready, he fired it at the water while proclaiming, "Ice Beam." His artificial oasis changed into a giant block of ice shortly after.

Taking deep breaths, the dragon needed to lay back. He was tapped of all the mana he was willing to use. Any more and he'd be rendered defenseless.

Looking over at his student, he told him, "You will need to keep watch for any threats. I need to recoup."

Once he saw him nod, Kinsoriel closed his eyes and drifted off into a short nap.

----------------------------------------

Seeing the dragon take a nap before nighttime was concerning. He'd only used two spells and not for very long either. Despite that, he was already reeling with Dewn's mana problem.

He tried thanking his main character for the water, but he was seemingly ignored. Having the sudden pool freeze over before he could take a sip was aggravating, but he trusted that this wasn't the last step. Longer-term thinking was among the traits he was glad to have given Kinsoriel.

Agreeing to take up the role of a lookout meant drinking would have to wait anyway. Trudging up to the highest point he could see, Ben sat himself down and began his watch.

...

And he was already regretting it. Everything felt uncomfortable. Itchy sand, unbearable heat, parched throat. Wanting to eliminate at least one of those, he decided to lay out his bed roll for some better seating. Small comforts like this were worth the stray particles he'd need to shake out later.

Looking down at the dragon made him think. In a way, they were both sharing the role he'd made for him. The fish out of water. Ben had never experienced the realities of mortal life before now and so much was still new to him. A significant portion of it was a total pain in the ass, but that was beside the point. Despite staying mostly the same, Kinsoriel was still out of his element. He'd made the protagonist self-reliant to make leaning on others extra impactful later on. While it had never crossed his mind that he might be the one to be leaned on, at least this part of his progression remained.

After the first half hour had passed, he began playing tic-tac-toe against himself in the sand. Ben won most of the time and drew on the others. Glancing up now and again so that he could claim to be doing his job, he eventually saw a glint in the distance. Holding a hand over his eyes, he saw that it was a glint of metal. One turned to many and the shapes soon became more defined: Spears. Given their more uniform appearance, they had to be one of Dewn's traveling bands of mercenaries. And they were on a collision course with Kinsoriel.

He grabbed his belongings and roughly shoved them back into his pack. Nearly tripping at multiple points, he slid down the slope, breaking into a sprint at the bottom. Rushing up to the slumbering dragon, he poked and prodded at his snout. A tired orange eye glared at him.

"You better have a-a-a, ACHOO!" He sat up suddenly, this monstrous sneeze causing a wave of flame to fly out. Any other time Ben would have loved to laugh at the sight, especially with the big dragon now rubbing at his snout in embarrassment. This was serious business right now and that flame could have given their position away.

"There's a big group of mercenaries coming our way, and they aren't far."

The black dragon instantly sobered up, asking, "Which direction? How many?"

Ben pointed where had seen them. "Over there-ish. I didn't count, but there were definitely enough to be a threat."

Kinsoriel's head followed where he was shown. After a moment of thought, he shook it side to side. He looked over to the icy oasis, now partially melted. "Then we take a smaller loss and move on. Stand back."

Ben did so, giving the scaly giant room to do whatever. Using his index claws, Kinsoriel shredded as much of the frozen liquid as he could. Not thirty seconds went by before he opened the Pocket spell and deposited what he could.

"Won't that get on your other possessions, or melt?" Ben asked from the sideline.

"This spell keeps all items separate and maintains how they were when put in, so no," his MC explained as he finished. There was still a sizable amount that wasn't taken out, but every second was precious now.

They made for the skies once again. Kinsoriel intentionally caused a sandstorm by beating his wings more to mask their departure. Though Ben had no idea whether it worked as intended, they didn't have any spears chucked at them.

"At least we have water now," he said trying to find the best of the situation.

"And they have an oasis that's half empty," Kinsoriel remarked with a snicker.