33 ~Surprise Surprise~ (1/2)

Amidst a pile a demonic beast corpses, Jared was sitting down, recuperating from the recent intense battle. Jam wasn't that tired, he walked around the battlefield and started retrieving the Saint Realm Demonic Beasts he had killed.

Jam also picked up the array flags of both the illusion array that trapped Jared, as well as the other formations he had interrupted the demonic beasts from completing.

Oddly enough, some of the Saint Master Demonic Beasts had space rings, full of natural treasures. However, the loot from these space rings would be worth less than a thousandth of the total wealth Jam already had in his Spatial Storage Dimension

Jam knew exactly how many demonic beasts he had killed in this battle, and he didn't take from the ones Jared had killed.

After taking all his spoils of war, Jam did another quick surveillance, making sure no one else ended up in a situation similar to Jared. Jam did not find another cultivator, aside from Jared, for thousands of kilometers. While that didn't confirm there weren't others like Jared, it at least confirmed that no other cultivators were in the core of the Delta Heavy Forest.

Jam was preparing to leave, but he had to say something to Jared before leaving. As he faced Jared, a rather peculiar scene developed; he could have sworn he saw stars emerge from Jared's eyes.

Jam had never heard Jared talk. He assumed from the the arrogant manner Jared carried around himself, that he felt that talking to others not at his level was beneath him.

You could imagine the shock Jam experienced when Jared spoke his first words to Jam, and a very, VERY, feminine voice emerged from his mouth. Not only was Jared's voice contradictory to his image, the words he chose were even more inconsistent with his image as an arrogant ten-year-old.

”Jaaaaaam! When did you get so stronggggggg?”

Jam had to process the abrupt change in Jared's character, before responding in his usual nonchalant tone. ”Three days ago I broke through to the Spirit Realm.”

”~Whoa~”

Jam was starting to get uncomfortable. There was something very disturbing and wrong about Jared's change in personality. Then he came up with a very devious thought...

'These are the behaviors of a very young girl… WAIT! There's no way...' After this though popped into Jam's head, it wouldn't leave.

Jam was even inclined to use his Detecting Form to see if Jared had been hiding away his body's true form. That idea left Jam's head faster than it entered. Jam would rather not invade other people's privacy; unless he was in the middle of a fight, and his life was on the line.

The concept of Jared being a girl intrigued Jam so much, he just had to know the answer.

”Say… Jared, are you a girl?”

Jared didn't hesitate ”Yeah.”

Jared's nonchalant response flummoxed Jam, he involuntarily cursed ”What the fuck?”

”I bet you're trying to wrap you head around why I look and behave the way I do.”

Jam couldn't deny curiosity, he nodded his head, not at all expecting a monologue.

”I have been the best since I could understand words, and what the concept of being the best meant. Everywhere I went, I was praised for being a genius, revered for my superpowers. Never in my life has someone of my generation ever even come close to being my equal.

At the age of three years old, I started cultivating. I entered Meridian Connecting at the age of five, Palace Foundation at six, Core Formation at the age of nine, and now at the age of ten, I stand in the Soul Condensing Stage. Never have I ever had to truly compete with my peers in a fight.

You understand where I'm coming from right? Even though we're both at the Soul Condensing Stage, we fight beings that are entire Realms above us.

Knowing you're the best isn't always a good thing… When I was a little girl I used to read a ton of stories about the damsel in distress being saved by her prince. But as I cultivated, and became stronger, there was never anyone from my generation, that could fight with me to a standstill; nevermind save me from danger,

Arnold was the first peer I found myself respecting, he was the first peer of mine to force me to use over 80% of my powers to best him. Even if I respected him, I didn't revere him. No. Instead beating him made me realize, to a greater extent, exactly how much greater I am compared to the rest of my peers.