Chương 52: Chapter 51: Training to Defeat Trisha with Selen

Freed's method was simplistic, as it was just combat that took advantage of someone's weaknesses. Every time I saw that I could take advantage of Selen's blind spot, I would do so. This would make her learn to defend the weak spot the next time. Due to my superior skill level, I saw the small weak spots she still had, which were quickly fixed when I exploited them. Selen's talent in swordsmanship far surpassed mine, as it only took her five years after we started to reach [EX] Divine Swordsmanship (Lv. 60).

At this rate, it wouldn't be long before she caught up to me. I was fine with this, though, as the more help I could get in fighting Trisha, the better. My swordsmanship, on the other hand, progressed extremely slowly. I haven't leveled up in all these years, but I have learned new things while teaching Selen. Teaching others indeed brings unexpected benefits, as it brought to light some things I never noticed before. It didn't progress my level, but it did solidify what I already knew.

After another fifteen years, she reached [EX] Divine Swordsmanship (Lv. 70). This truly made me genuinely impressed, as she has dedicated the last twenty years to swordsmanship without stopping. I usually become bored and lose motivation, which stalls my progress somewhat, but Selen has been at it without rest. My motivation improved when I saw her, and I started trying harder too. Another thirty years passed, and Selen's talent was starting to make me feel inferior.

Though I was the one teaching her, she has learned far faster than I ever could. In merely fifty years since we started, she had reached [EX] Divine Swordsmanship (Lv. 80). At this rate, she will reach my level of swordsmanship relatively soon. It seems the roles are going to be reversed again, as the student surpassed the master yet again. Still, I continued training her, as her talent will be very useful when fighting against Trisha.

I, on the other hand, have only made little progress despite so much time passing. It took the entire fifty years for me to reach [EX] Divine Swordsmanship (Lv. 92). The progress was very slow for me, which was not ideal. Finally, after another hundred and thirty years, Selen fully caught up to my skill level in swordsmanship. At this point, we were both at [EX] Divine Swordsmanship (Lv. 95). If I didn't use my level advantage when fighting against her, she now had a slight advantage in a fight.

This brought me newfound hope, as I originally thought I would face Trisha alone, but now Selen could provide a helping hand. With her current strength, fighting mid-level Gods wouldn't be a problem. The other positive side is that she started bringing a challenge in our spars, which brought me unexpected benefits as our swordsmanship level was so close. Whenever she made a mistake, I would share a similar one, and we would correct each other.

In this way, my skill started growing much faster than before when I was training alone. We did so every day, as it was the most efficient method to make our skills stronger. In the end, it took only another two hundred years for both of us to reach [EX] Divine Swordsmanship (Lv. 100 MAX). We had finally reached the pinnacle of swordsmanship. With this change, we were finally finished with our training, as we could no longer get stronger this way.

In this time, I had gotten very familiar with Selen's fighting style, as we had been together for hundreds of years. I was no longer afraid of any challenge with her by my side, as I fully trust her strength. This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience. Now being at the max level, I found that my confidence had significantly increased, and I became eager to test it on the outside world. I had stayed in the forest for far too long and needed to finally step out.

After hundreds of years of nonstop training, I could finally see the outside world again, as I was too busy training previously to do so. At this point, I started to forget what the outside world looked like, as I have only been inside the forest all this time. Wanting to look at the outside world as soon as possible, I made a suggestion to Selen.

"How about we go outside and kill some Gods?" I asked, showing my enthusiasm to leave the forest.

"We should be strong enough now that anyone other than Trisha is no longer a challenge."

"Sure, let's do that," Selen replied.

"I feel that my swordsmanship has plateaued, and there is no longer a reason to continue training here. So where do you have in mind?"

"Nowhere in particular. We'll just hunt Gods as we go and get stronger in the process. Fighting each other all day no longer brings any more benefits, and we should fight new people."

"I'm ready to leave when you are. I'm fine with wherever you decide to go."

"Then let's leave right now." For the first time in three hundred and eighty years, I was finally traveling outside Freed's forest. I missed having new experiences rather than staring at trees all day. I led the way as we quickly passed through the unending rows of green trees that never died in Freed's forest. These trees have not changed no matter how much time passes, and none of them have died in all this time. There was something truly special about this forest, but I doubt I'll ever find out the reason.

I'm just grateful that I was able to come in and out of the forest as I please. Once we passed through the last few trees, I was greeted by the familiar sight deep within my memory. The image was so refreshing, as it was no longer just the trees I was so used to. There were no Gods around, probably having left after not seeing me for hundreds of years. I was allowed to just stand in place without being bothered by anyone. The sun was shining so brightly in the distance.

It shone on the beautiful landscape that looked like clouds everywhere. The view was further enhanced by the flying clouds that had structures on them. While admiring the view, Selen was quite indifferent despite her being stuck in the forest for the past three hundred and eighty years just like me. Still, she had the courtesy to wait until I was finished and patiently stood quietly to the side. After I was finished, I turned back to her and gestured that I was ready to continue moving.

She nodded as she understood, and we quickly left the edge of the forest. Since we didn't have a particular destination in mind, we just traveled wherever we felt like. Whenever Gods recognized me as the enemy of Trisha, they would turn hostile towards us. The result of such encounters ended in us easily killing them. During this time, we had to travel constantly to avoid being tracked down by Trisha. While we did so, many Gods were continuously killed so that we could get stronger.

As the years passed by and we constantly leveled up, I felt things were going quite smoothly, as Trisha was unable to stop us from killing Gods and running rampant. Once another hundred years passed by in the blink of an eye, Selen and I had killed an uncountable number of Gods. Due to this, whenever Gods see us or recognize us, they would try to run away to save their own lives. Selen and I have become famous as God killers that managed to survive despite being enemies of Trisha.

I disliked this fame, though, as it slowed down my progress of leveling up. Still, in just a hundred years of nonstop killing, I had reached level 9822, which was getting very close to Trisha's level. Selen progressed rapidly too, as she was now a strong mid-level God at level 7930. At this rate, it wouldn't be long before our final confrontation with Trisha, and I couldn't wait for the day that I could kill her and walk around without needing to hide.

So with a clear goal now in mind, Selen and I continued our journey to become strong enough to kill Trisha. She had terrorized us for long enough, and it was soon to be her turn to experience this fear. In this way, another fifty years passed with nothing in particular that happened. Selen and I continued to progress smoothly, slowly inching closer to our goal. I had now reached level 9902, which meant I was at the last stretch before reaching Trisha's level.

Selen had reached level 8255 and was progressing just as fast. I felt that nothing could stop us now, but was soon proven wrong. Trisha had been quiet for a long time and had been planning something in secret. This plan of hers was very effective, as we were forced into a confrontation with her. Trisha appeared right in front of us one day, right after killing another God. Her appearance was so sudden that I didn't even notice how she had arrived and found us.

Seeing as this wasn't the right time to face her yet, I tried to leave with Selen quickly. Unfortunately, Trisha was as powerful as ever, as she appeared in front of us to block our way.

"Where do you think you two are going?" Trisha asked, as joy appeared all over her face.