Smiling even bigger now, because of feeling overjoyed to having such an interesting fight, Sahara tried her next strategy…Of using her meditation at the same time.

She knew, and felt, that it would only be a matter of time before she would have to admit forfeit, because her strength and spiritual essence was running out! Not only that but she clearly could see that her sword skills were not enough! Her hands weren’t tough! Her arm muscles weren’t strong! She also didn’t know how to defend some attacks and had gotten hurt more than once! She had to win though! And to do that, she prepared for a big finish!

Dodging an attack, she removed a rope from ‘storage’. After she blocked another attack of theirs, she chuckled.

Putting her spiritual essence into the rope, she bluffed an attack and instead of following up with her other sword to defend, she used her momentum from the attack to roll away in the opposite direction, and then focused to catch the person’s feet with the rope.

 

Making the person trip over, she heard a thump as they fell to the ground.

Getting up, Sahara found herself breathing quite heavily and she wiped the sweat that her forehead had gathered with her sleeve. She smiled as she slowly made her way a little bit closer towards them, and…She sees that the other person is a male…And a little dirty. But the fact that he had fallen, made her laugh happily.

I won!

But the man slammed his hand into the dirt, making him able to grab at it with great force, then he pushed his way towards her in one go, as one would when climbing up a rock edge, grabbing her feet and making her also fall to the ground in a thump!

 

Sahara was totally sure that she heard a chuckle, but the pain of her head hitting the ground, made her think of that instead.

“Oww…Dam!”

She went to move her hand to her head, and when she opened her eyes, a sword was pointing at her, and the man was standing up.

Silence overcame them and she couldn’t help but smile guiltily at him, “Hehe, sorry…I got too much into the fight.”

His face changed to that of surprise. He stared at her for a good moment and then put down his sword.

Sahara blinked and sat up. She was worn out from travel and her spiritual essence had already been half depleted before she even started the fight…

 

So…Sahara got out a fruit, and started to eat, while watching the man silently stand there.

He seemed to be struggling with some thoughts and she took out another fruit and lifted it up. With her mouth full, she innocently asked, “Wun?”

Putting his sword away in its scabbard, he nodded his head slightly and she threw him the fruit.

They strangely ate in silence, and she watched him as he watched her…He gobbled up the fruit very quickly, but quietly, and he had sat down. At first, he had his eyes closed, as though he was relishing the taste, but after a short few seconds, he opened his eyes again.

Seeing that she hadn’t done anything to warrant any kind of trouble, he had happily continued to eat and seemed unhappy when the fruit was gone.

​

Naruto came to me slowly, he was trembling and had a tail or two between his legs. Sahara grabbed him when he was close enough and put him in her lap.

“Why do you have a beast?”

Sahara shrugged.

Can’t I keep a beast?

“Were you…”

She waited for him to finish, but he didn’t.

 

Sighing, Sahara saw that he seemed to have taken a lot of effort to ask, so she responded, “Circumstances led me to stay outside of Green Haven for a time.” She said casually, while taking another bite of the fruit.

Sahara strangely felt like the both of them had the same kind of problem…

When she had been homeless, it felt normal to know who else was homeless. It was so easy to know back then…

It was similar to that feeling now, that maybe they were both cautious, yet, taking risks. That they may have secrets, and that they didn’t officially have a place to stay…That they both didn’t have a home…

 

For some strange reason, Sahara felt his attitude and wondering eyes, were familiar to her. And, due to that, she didn’t want to give off any kind of impression that she would harm him in any way.

She took out the last piece of fruit, from her ‘storage’, and looked at it.

Feeling like he could use it more than her, she threw it at him, and he caught it, biting into it straight away.

By now, Naruto had stopped trembling, but his head was hidden away from sight, making her curious. She picked him up and cuddled him close to her neck, knowing that Naruto liked that. She had a feeling that he was sometimes like a baby, as he felt better when he could hear her pulse or her heartbeat…Or she could be wrong, it was just a feeling…

 

The man’s voice suddenly went into her ears, “I’m…Sorry.”

Sahara looked back at him and found herself at ease. He didn’t seem to have as much appeal as what Matthew did, in the way of handsomeness. He needed to shave, and he had shoulder length hair, that was layered. His eyes showed hardship, besides the golden light, and he had old scars over his hands and lower arms, although one or two of them were new. His clothes were old, and he had dirt on him. Strangely, he might not have that gorgeous look about him, but her curiosity over each scar and the hardship in his eyes, made him look very good to her!

 

Her eyes grew dim as she nodded to him, then found that a little bottle got thrown her way.

She let out a small chuckle and threw it back, with some spiritual essence. Her meditation wasn’t a secret anymore, she had already teleported, and she didn’t want to take whatever he gave her, in case he might need it more.

“You use it for yourself instead.” She said, as she quickly went through his body with her spiritual essence that had gone to him through the little bottle.

She was right, he was two ranks above her and at the peak, so he could probably ‘ding’ very quickly into rank seven!

There were some strange things in his body as well, but she left it at that.

Sahara knew he did genuinely care about what he had done to her, so she decided to put him at rest and heal herself.

Focusing her spiritual essence, she cleansed the area around her throat, removing the redness from where his hand had put pressure around her neck before, and then smiled, “See, all better! So, don’t worry about it!”

The man didn’t say anything and just stared at her, with bewilderment in his eyes.

​

Sahara’s curiosity got the best of her, and she took the chance on a question, “Would you like me to…Cleanse you as well?”

After a few moments of silence, he shook his head.

He showed a small amount of distrust and she said, “Not a problem, sorry.”

She knew already that there must be some kind of poison in him, but it wasn’t life threatening. She would have just purged the poison for him, instead of cleansing his whole body, as she didn’t have that much spiritual essence left, but she wasn’t going to overstep any kind of boundary. Having him not want it, was a very normal thing for her. Sahara knew what it was like not to trust anybody…

But with his attitude, she wanted to know why he was like this…

Sahara was always curious on why people acted the way they do. Just like, why did Celeste go to so much trouble to try and kill her…Sahara means that Celeste knew about Gabriella having to leave and all now, just, Sahara felt like something was missing. It was such an extreme measure to have taken…Surely, it couldn’t have been normal…Or was it?

Perhaps because she’s lived in the modern day 21st century on Earth, that she felt like human lives were supposed to mean a little more...Or something...

​

Now this man, straight away, he had attacked her.

Doesn’t that mean he’s hiding, or used to being attacked? Does that imply that he trusts nobody and that everyone is an enemy?

Sahara really just wanted to go inside his head and to learn his story…But…

Seeing him become quite detached now, Sahara guessed it was time for her to go.

Standing up slowly, so not to startle him, she took a deep breath in and held it, until she was standing straight.

“I didn’t mean to cross into this place of yours, just pretend that I never came, and I’ll do the same.”

The man stopped eating and looked up at me. He didn’t say anything but nodded.

It was like a silent truce had been found between both of them.

Sahara smiled warmly at him, and in a blink of an eyelid, she disappeared from his sight.

 

***

 

Finding another place to rest, Sahara slept, before continuing on her journey of wanting to save Talon. Having somewhat completely forgotten, because of her skirmish and curious nature of wanting to learn more about that man, she had to remember some things that Matthew had told her, to get her back on her determined path!

Already agreeing to a method that she was so excited about previously, Sahara put her hair up differently, like that of a male of this era, and used the new method that she’s tried lately. Haha…She used her ‘Bending Space’ meditation, to make her breasts smaller and enhanced her stomach muscles.

Already wearing male clothing, she smiled cheekily.

 

Sahara changed a few other small aspects of her body, to look more male, or less feminine, mostly enhancing her muscles a bit. And while she did that, she wondered what she could use as a name, for when she became this ‘young master’.

What she came to discover, as that she was trying to think of names, was that there wasn’t much else that she could change with her body…She couldn’t ‘develop’ an Adam’s Apple, or…Any other male body…Things, either…Yes, she did try, for the sake of trying…Haha!

Really…Her curiosity is her worst flaw!

 

Yet, without her knowledge, her curiosity was also one of her greatest feats…If Sahara hadn’t wondered about ‘storage’ or making things bigger or smaller, she wouldn’t be able to do as much as she could now...Perhaps her already dying once already gave her the strength to take such risks with this new body of hers, testing it and really hoping nothing bad happens to it while she uses her cultivation to remove and replace things in it!

So, it looked like her ‘Bending Space’ meditation didn’t change genders…Or if it did, maybe it would later, when she ‘dinged’ again and was perhaps able to do more things.

Nonetheless, Sahara wasn’t upset…If she couldn’t do it, then she couldn’t do it!

Besides, she was a female and honestly preferred to do as the other’s ‘females’ did in books. Just to dress up and pretend, that would be enough!

Finding out this news, didn’t hinder her enthusiasm whatsoever!

 

This is so awesome! Much better than reading about it! Haha, will they recognize me!? I always wondered how the main characters got away with it…But I’ve done enough right? Will I really come across as male?

Sahara seemed to be that excited that she had forgotten about her face. She also didn’t even think to look into a mirror, as she looked at her arms and chest muscles.

Not having a mirror on hand anyway, Sahara grabbed some dirt from the ground and rubbed a little over her face. She wasn’t going to represent some kind of noble young master…This time…

 

This time…I am going to…Well, I have a plan, but I’m ganna have fun doin it! Haha!

Until Sahara fulfilled this plan of hers, she didn’t want to show herself much as the young master look yet…

Actually, her plan included things that would most likely end people’s lives…So, she had to come across more like an assassin or something. You know, dress for the part…This dark thought did stopped her for a moment but she told herself once again that if she had to choose between Talon and her uncle, it’ll have to be Talon. If people get in her way when rescuing him then…It will most likely end in death…

Well, whatever, she will most likely have to deal with people’s deaths on her shoulders later, for now she can just continue to get ready!

Feeling a little down, because she didn’t have the waist strap to add her sword, Sahara had to shrug and continue on without it…

Knowing that she was going to go back to the capital, Sahara really wanted to pay back all the ‘shop’ owners that she had taken things from before now.