A System That Beats Death

As Guren was considering his next course of actions, Nanling suddenly took hold of his hand with both of hers and had an expression that betrayed palpable excitement.

"Are you trying to escape an arranged marriage?", she then asked.

What? He then stared at the female in disbelief before stating, "I am not responsible for actions caused by the decisions of others"

She looked visibly confused upon hearing this answer. Was my assumption wrong?

"Are you not cross dressing?", she asked in a tentative manner.

Atlas was stunned. His mask and apparel were clearly geared towards men or could at least considered gender neutral. Since when did his Blessed Robes seem feminine? They had no frills and did not resemble a dress in anyway. If his clothing could be considered feminine then entire societies that adopted togas and robes as formal wear should be diagnosed for symptoms and signs of mass gender dysphoria.

"Do I look like I am cross dressing to you?", Guren inquired with a stiff smile under his masked countenance. He was quite curious as to how she had reached that unbelievable conclusion.

She then smirked and thought, how else would you know so much about literature for concubines? If he was a man, then he would have read epics and tales of conquest instead.

"Your hands. They are quite dainty for a man's, are they not?", she stated and inspected them further. They had zero calluses which would usually indicate nobility but based on how well he handled her new sword, there should have been at least some. Even, she had a few.

She had always thought that the novel protagonists were too simple. Easily described with a single word. Cold. Ruthless. Intimidating for the male counterpart while for the females, naive. Innocent. Cute. Kind. It reflected in the meticulousness of their decisions.

A very common trope was the dressing as a male to bypass gender boundaries. The issue was that they usually only changed their attire and the hairstyle. It might have solved the immediate gender issues but would often cause greater misunderstandings afterwards such as gaining female pursuers and even causing straight men to question their s.e.x.u.a.lity. Clearly, the IQ of the background characters reflected that of the protagonists. They still failed the address the problem of having an attractive face which the novels had always insinuated, were enhanced when cross dressing. That was why Nanling commended the person in front of her. The mask solidified the disguise by forcing the attention towards intention rather than identity. Sure, they might want to know their identity but lack of familiarity and lack of definitive features would discourage that notion and it was only perfected by the peculiar ability of the mask.

However, as a veteran in cross dressing, she knew that it was the smallest details that gave it away. Although face was the most influential part, it would not dissuade those who held suspicions. The hands, voice, scent, and behavior also matter.

The hair should be bundled together and slightly greased, the hands should either be covered with gloves or have a few false calluses and temporarily covered in a gritty substance, the voice should be deeper and from the c.h.e.s.t, the scent should be masked, and one should carry themselves in a confident manner.

The masked "man" in front of her had astonishingly good hair, delicate hands, a monotone and uncanny voice, and a pleasant pine scent.

Immediately, Guren retracted his hand from her grasp. His hands definitely seemed closer to that of a scholar's than of someone who has been slaughtering people left and right. In fact, his hands didn't even have the tiny hairs between the knuckles or any lasting marks. It was all due to his ability to rejuvenate though. The System had also informed him that the regeneration would not cause cancer as he had transcended the confines of DNA.

"They might be fairer than most", Guren admitted before walking away.

"So, are you cross dressing!?", Nanling shouted as she ran after Guren.

Guren briefly turned around before smirking and said, "If you're judging me with novels, then I'll do the same, Miss Satirical Female Lead"

As someone that had expected the journey to become akin to what was essentially an escort mission in a video game, Atlas was pleasantly surprised despite having to spend more commute time than if he went alone.

Currently, Nanling sat down with Guren and both were enjoying a peaceful campfire in the desert. The firewood was obviously from his pocket dimension as trees did not normally grow in the middle of a desert and this one seemed to be harsh to even cacti. He could have used the trees from the oasis which probably was beginning to dissipate due to dependence on the lake which he had just removed, but he decided to use the usual timber. He did however, uproot a few of the trees to keep as samples for further study and sent them to Idyl.

As he was someone who could evaporate an entire lake, Nanling did not see the purpose in questioning where he got the timber and restrained her curiosity.

The bone-chilling temperature of the desert did not faze either of the two as both had commendable constitutions both mentally and physically.

"How far are we?", Nanling asked.

Guren once again activated the sword's beacon like light. The intensity of the light eliminated the night which had fallen but unlike the campfire, it provided no warmth.

"At our current pace, about 2 weeks", he answered.

Retracting the glaring light which would make the average person go blind, the color of night had once again returned.

It was the second day since leaving the oasis and the two which had previously started off on the wrong foot, were now more amiable towards each other and could be considered friends. The icebreaker between the two being their knowledge of literature and interesting philosophies. That and also of course, Atlas' culinary prowess.

As the Sword Saintess, her life could be quite luxurious whenever she wanted some downtime but her feasts at the palaces of nations could not compare with what she had had in the 2 previous days.

Taking another bite out of what resembled a scallion pancake, she just couldn't stop marvelling at the astronomical difference between what Guren produced and what the best chef in the Empire had produced. It was even better because she had subsisted off of preserved rations for a very long time.

"Is this even a scallion pancake? I doubt quality ingredients could make something like this", she mumbled as she savored her morsel.

"I guess you could consider it something else. This isn't exactly made with the same ingredients", Guren acknowledged.

"Makes sense. Skill alone couldn't make this. Like how effort alone doesn't improve skill", Nanling said while sighing.

Feeling inspired, Nanling then asked, "Would you say the sword makes the Sword Saint or the Squire makes the legendary sword?"

Considering it for a moment, Guren then responded with, "Ideally both but definitely the Squire makes the legendary sword. A legendary tool wielded by the greatest imbecile will only become the legendary waste", Atlas responded. Like how talent could only blossom when utilized by those compatible, only the user can determine the worth of the tool. After all, some legendary weapons became famous due to their owner despite being of average or subpar quality.

"But what if the sword could easily cleave through the better warrior's inferior sword?"

"Then the other person is clearly not skilled enough. Power is useless if it misses"

Only the crackle of firewood accompanied the banter between the two. Meanwhile, a sentinel awakened due to the proximity sensor detecting three intruders.