“Don’t come from the same world as I do?”
The revelation jolted Xi En from sipping his tea as he appeared stunned by the Goddess’ narrative.
His reaction elicited a giggle from the Goddess.
“You heard right,” the Goddess said with a grin. “There are many alternate universes outside of Omnipaltansen. In your previous life, the world you were in is only one of them. All these worlds share one similarity, that is, the worlds you guys were in are secular and ordinary. No gods, no demons, no special forces. They’re absolutely autonomous realms which even the gods can’t interfere with. We can only summon your kind who have the Warrior characteristics within the allowed range of the Truth. It’s the best we can do.”
How unexpected… Come to think of it, it stands to reason.
If the gods could summon people of the alternate universes as they wished, they did not have to create so many races back then to fight the demons. They could just summon their manpower from the other worlds.
The people from the other universes who qualified to be Warriors were scarce. Also, not everyone could awaken the Sacred Sword and exclusive skill belonging to them. Similarly, the people in this world faced the same conditions in this aspect.
They had no Sacred Swords, and not everyone could own an exclusive skill. The majority of them had to put in a lot of effort to level up and acquire the skills for them to succeed.
In a way, regardless of the world one is from, the same limitations applied if it was the issue of manpower being considered.
If the deities could summon anyone from the other worlds into this universe, most of them were probably similar to those in this world, having to train from ground zero without any advantage, with only a minority of them attaining their exclusive skills. Moreover, these exclusive skills might not be of any use in battles.
Only people with the quality to become a Warrior could awaken powerful exclusive skills and own the Sacred Swords which were uniquely theirs.
In other words, the gods only needed the Warriors. At the same time, the Warriors were the only ones they could summon.
It was just that the people who had the quality to become one were truly rare indeed.
There were less than ten Warriors who had been summoned to this world since the beginning of time, and each of them came from different worlds. That meant that each universe could probably only produce one Warrior at most. It was even possible that many worlds did not even have one person of such potential.
“Besides, there are strong and weak Warriors too,” the Goddess said. “In the past, the Sacred Swords and exclusive skills belonging to the Warriors have all been distinctive.”
It was only natural that certain Warriors would awaken incredibly powerful Sacred Swords and exclusive skills while the others were comparatively weaker.
A problem stood out, for sure, which was…
“Even as a Warrior, one may not necessarily be able to defeat the Devil.”
The Goddess turned sullen, disappointed even.
Xi En sympathized with her.
There was yet to be a Warrior in the past who had defeated the Devil. Otherwise, Xi En would not be here having a conversation with the Goddess if the Devil had already been eliminated.
It was because the Devil was still out and about that the gods had to keep summoning the Warriors.
Indeed, powerful was the Devil which no Warrior in the past could defeat.
What about him then? Could he defeat the Devil?
When Xi En mulled over it, the Goddess casted her gaze on him.
“I think you’re the Warrior with the best chance to achieve this goal.” The Goddess seemed to be talking to herself, “After all, I don’t think the past Warriors were better than you in terms of the Sacred Sword and exclusive skill.”
Xi En did not know how to respond. In fact, he should be happy to hear such comments but…
“You can’t find it in yourself to be happy, huh?” the Goddess was amused. “In your world, it’s common to have the protagonists of those novels and legends who are extremely capable. There are even cases of losers or average Joes who transformed into heroes and whatnot. Anything could happen to the lead character. Even when I say that you’re the Warrior with the most potential among the others, you’re disconcerted?”
Xi En felt the corners of his lips twitching.
The Goddess could not actually read someone’s mind, could she?
Anyway, she was a god. It would seem perfectly normal if she had mind-reading powers… Xi En thought that he should find out for himself.
Having made the decision, he began to imagine obscene scenes.
“…!”
The Goddess who was all smiles suddenly froze. She blushed involuntarily as her cheeks were flushed.
“Yo-you… What are you thinking?!”
The Goddess slapped the table and cried aloud, startling Xi En.
“So you can really read minds?!”
Xi En sprang up in astonishment.
“I didn’t say that I can’t, did I?”
The Goddess was flustered.
Surprisingly, it seemed she was chaste.
In the next moment, Xi En was facing a murderous glare which gave him the chills. He immediately focused his mind to be rid of all those salacious thoughts.
“Hmph!” the Goddess harrumphed and stood up. “That’s all for today. I’m sending you back!”
Before Xi En had time to react, the world around him spun again with a wave of the Goddess’ hand.
“Wait!” Xi En quickly said, “You haven’t told me your name!”
This was what Xi En wanted to know all along.
All this while, he only knew that she was a Goddess. Now that he knew there was more than one god in this world and a whole race of deities, naturally, he would want to know her name.
“Just call me Ni En.”
The goddess who addressed herself as Ni En then snapped her fingers causing Xi En and the warping world around him to disappear from the pantheon.
…
When Xi En opened his eyes, he was back in the inn’s room lying on his bed as if he had never left.
“I’m back? Just like that?”
He was perplexed, unsure if he was dreaming, but the lingering taste of black tea in his mouth assured him that everything that happened earlier was real and not a dream.
“I wouldn’t have acted like a rogue if I’d known. Isn’t it better to just ask questions?”
After all, there were still a lot of things that Xi En did not know.
Still…
“The Goddess is pretty cute when she’s shy.”
Xi En chuckled to himself.
The night slipped into silence.