Chương 20: Chapter 19: Meeting a Fallen God

I left headquarters since I had a clue on how to progress my swordsmanship, similar to how I had progressed with magic by learning about God-tier magic. I decided to go somewhere related to a god to learn swordsmanship, so I chose to go to the Temple of Swordsmanship. It was a temple that once worshiped the God of the Sword, but it had since declined and turned into a ruin. As I journeyed, it took me a few days to travel through the Human Continent before finally reaching my destination.

Arriving at the temple, it was truly a sorry sight; the building was in shambles, with only a few rooms on the bottom floor still being remotely livable. As I walked toward the temple, I tried looking for any clues about the swordsmanship this temple used to practice. Unfortunately, everything near the temple was completely in ruins and did not provide any information. I then directly entered what was left of the Temple of Swordsmanship. Inside, I finally found a few books that remained intact.

I read through them, hoping they might contain some useful information. To my misfortune, these books only contained the code of conduct of the swordsmanship temple. I continued to look around, hoping that maybe there was something worthwhile left behind. As I continued searching, I reached the center of the temple, which contained the statue of a very beautiful tall woman with long blonde hair braided behind her. She was wearing tight clothes and held the pose of someone who was about to attack with her sword.

I wondered who this woman was and tried looking around the statue for inscriptions. Something then caught my eye, and I brushed off the dirt to reveal some words that described the statue. The inscription said: The Goddess of the Sword, Selen. May honorable people take the path of the sword and strike down enemies that bring destruction. Be devoted, disciplined, and hold integrity.

As I read these words, I wondered how people who held such beliefs could end up in such a ruined state, as this temple was now completely abandoned. Continuing my search to improve my swordsmanship, I ignored the statue and continued to search the temple. When I was about to completely pass the statue, a voice suddenly spoke to me with words I couldn't quite catch. I turned around, wondering what had just spoken to me.

Turning around, I saw nothing but the statue, and I thought that I had just hallucinated the voice. I turned my attention away until I heard a voice again, but this time I heard it clearly as a feminine voice: "Why have you come to my temple, strong one?" This time, knowing I hadn't hallucinated, I turned to see that the statue I had seen before was coming alive, and the once stone statue had become a living person. I then replied, "What does it matter to you that I have come to this temple?"

The statue that had turned into flesh said, "I am the former Goddess of the Sword, Selen. I have a right to know why you have trespassed upon my temple." Realizing she was the goddess of the temple, I instantly felt some fear, as this was an almighty god. Any god was far more powerful than I was, and I could only be at their mercy, just like how I was when I was first transported to this world. I then replied, "I came here hoping to learn swordsmanship."

The Goddess Selen then replied, "You are far too late to learn swordsmanship at my temple. As you can see, my temple has long since fallen. After disagreeing with the High-Level Goddess Trisha, I was stripped of my godhood and now no longer have the right to spread my faith." The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident. Hearing such explosive news, which gave me the explanation of why this temple was in ruins, I couldn't help but be shocked.

Even so, I wanted to know if I could still learn God-level swordsmanship. I then asked, "Even if you have fallen, would it be possible to learn swordsmanship from you?" The Goddess Selen replied, "I can still teach swordsmanship, but why would I? Now that I have been stripped of my godhood, I can no longer absorb faith and am now just a mortal like you. The only benefit of being a former god is that I can have a very long life without dying of old age.

Even still, I can only stay here now as I hide away, trying not to offend the Goddess Trisha any further." I then wondered what this godhood she had been talking about actually was. Since I was curious, I decided to take a look at her stats with my Outsider System. What I saw surprised me, as this former goddess was at Level 4999, while her main skill was [EX] Divine Swordsmanship (Lv. 24). This kind of power was more than enough to kill me several times over.

Yet, this wasn't even the strength of a real god, but a fallen god. I was completely amazed by what I saw and wanted to learn from this fallen god even more. This made me ask, "What do I have to do to make you teach me your swordsmanship?" Goddess Selen replied, "If you truly want to learn swordsmanship from me, then I can give you two options. The first option is to restore my godhood and let me accept faith again.

In which case, I will be more than happy to teach you, as your faith can help me increase my strength. The second option is that you prove that you are worth training. In this way you can demonstrate my path of the sword is the correct one. If you have the potential to become a truly great swordsman one day under my tutelage, then my name will spread and I can gain enough faith to become a god again." Learning another piece of news, I became even more amazed by my conversation with this goddess.

Every sentence from her gave me new information I had never heard before, such as how to become a god. I wondered if I gained enough faith, could I become a god too? I then asked, "Since I don't know how to restore your godhood from the first option, how do I become worthy of your second option?" Selen then replied, "I will administer an assessment on you. I normally don't do this, but I can tell that you are strong.

The only thing is that I don't know if that strength comes from you being a swordsmanship prodigy or something else. If you do pass my assessment, I will put my full effort into training you." Seeing a path to learn divine swordsmanship, I couldn't pass up the possibility of leveling up my skills. I was even more eager to learn from her now that I had already seen her power. I asked, "When can we start this assessment?" Selen then came down from the platform that the statue was originally on.

She drew her sword and got into a combat pose. She locked eyes with me and spoke: "We shall begin now. Draw your sword and show me you have what it takes to become my student." Not wanting to pass up my opportunity, I quickly drew my sword and prepared to fight the fallen god. The Goddess Selen then explained before starting, "As you are still a human who has never attained divinity, I will lower my power to a point where you should barely be able to keep up.

Your role is not to beat me in this fight, but to survive ten minutes under my attack. If you show me some potential in your swordsmanship, you should be able to pass these ten minutes. Otherwise, if your swordsmanship is not up to my standard, I will stop holding back and fail you instantly. If I heavily dislike your swordsmanship, I might even directly kill you. Do you still want to take my test?" I had already made up my mind. Even though I could die from this assessment, I needed to get stronger.

Some risks were worth it as long as I could level up my swordsmanship to the divine level. I then replied, "Yes, I want to take your assessment. I am ready even if I suffer the consequences and die by your hands." Seeing my determination, the Goddess Selen no longer tried to dissuade me from stopping. Instead, she confirmed a few final things from me. Selen asked, "Do you have any last words if you happen to die?" I then replied in a confident voice, "I won't die and will definitely pass your assessment.

Only losers think that they will fail, so I will confidently believe that I will pass and learn your swordsmanship." Impressed by my words, she softened the cold and unfeeling expression she had on her face before. The Goddess Selen then said for the last time, "Since you have nothing left to say, then I won't say anything else. We shall begin right now."