A Guide to Becoming a God Starting from a Monastery

Any martial art, if given enough time to fully develop, will develop into a large system. Even a long sword has been studied so carefully, it is clear that Giuliano's swordsmanship is definitely not just for show.

"Okay, this is the second weapon I recommend, the Swift Sword." Giuliano picked up the second weapon. "Its characteristics are obvious at first glance: slender and long..."

He began to talk about each weapon one by one. When he was almost done, or when he saw that Thomas had caught his breath, he urged him to start the next round of training.

"Okay... Now, let me introduce the last weapon," Giuliano said, holding a weapon Thomas was very familiar with. "A dagger. It's different from the short sword we just mentioned. There's a huge difference... A dagger is practically incapable of standing up to any other weapon in direct combat. Its essence is very simple, yet incredibly difficult!"

Thomas stared at the weapon in the other man's hand.

"For most warriors, a dagger is usually used to kill seriously injured and defenseless enemies. But if it is used as a combat weapon, it has only one use - stealthy attacks. Simple, right? But true dagger masters are also rare."

“When it’s hidden and out of sight, it’s halfway to success!”

“Where’s the other half?” Thomas asked.

"The other half is footwork. In close combat, the dagger is a weapon that relies almost entirely on footwork. In fact, it relies entirely on speed and distance. When attacking, you must stick to the opponent and never allow the opponent to escape the dagger's attack range. When defending, it can only be used for blocking and retreating quickly. Retreat desperately, get out of the enemy's weapon's attack range. Don't expect any counterattack."

"So I only know two of its footwork: flash step forward and jump step backward! Its requirement is also simple - fast! Faster than any opponent!"

Giuliano demonstrated it, a very simple step.

But such simple footwork is the most difficult to master. In other words, it's incredibly difficult to master such simple movements to the point of being a fraction faster than others. It requires constant practice, completely eliminating all unnecessary movements, to achieve that tiny advantage.

The dagger relies on this tiny advantage to win victory.

"That's all for today's explanation. It's getting late. You should go back." Giuliano said. "Take it seriously!"

"One last question, teacher. If your martial arts skills are calculated by levels, what level are they at?" Thomas asked the last question before leaving.

"Me?" Giuliano thought for a moment. "I'm probably somewhere between the elite and the mid-level, or perhaps even at the upper end of the mid-level. But in actual combat, I wouldn't be able to match the mid-level elite in the army. Furthermore, actual combat isn't just about rank. If you're caught off guard and hit in the vitals by an ordinary person, even a mid-level or even elite expert will die. So, ultimately, this is just a rough comparison. Martial arts proficiency is one thing, combat performance is another; the two are similar but different. Often, victory or defeat comes down to the individual, and even luck. After all, anyone hit in the vitals will die."

Section 21 New Uses

After receiving another sacrament in the city church, many novice monks faced the most painful course, Latin.

A truly painful course.

A teacher with absolutely no sense of responsibility, teaching a foreign language that is so difficult to describe that it is hard to describe.

Even though Thomas had experience in learning foreign languages ​​in his previous life, he felt completely at a loss.

The teacher is just perfunctory, and the study materials are insufficient. If you are not a genius, it is impossible to master it!

Even though Thomas thought his IQ was not low, he was still confused after listening to the class.

I can’t remember… Do teachers these days only teach foreign languages ​​once?

Just leave after teaching without any delay?

The teacher had left, but the students did not make any move to leave the classroom.

In a few minutes, another ascetic will come and give a lecture.

Thomas looked at the classmates around him. Except for a few people who had probably studied it in the past and had a sufficient foundation, they were all similar to him.

Joshua looked over, with a hint of determination in his eyes.

Some people could have a good career in the church system without academic achievements or even literacy, but the sons of merchants or farmers were not among them.

“Thomas, they’re right,” Joshua whispered.

"what?"

“If you want to learn Latin, you have to learn it yourself,” Joshua said.

"Learn by yourself? What do you mean?"

"Yes, everyone pools their money to find a teacher."

Thomas instantly understood what was going on.

So that's how it is... Or rather, it should be like this.

In the church, corruption is commonplace, with everyone striving to make money. The powerful are making money, but don't the powerless also want to make money?

They will definitely take advantage of every reasonable or unreasonable opportunity to make money. If there is no opportunity, they will create one!

Compared with the previous life, those teachers were not active in normal classes, but were enthusiastic in extracurricular tutoring.

In the past, there were moral constraints like teacher ethics and various institutional safeguards, so everything was at least within a reasonable range. But this place is completely different. The ascetics are trying every possible way to make money, with no moral concerns or institutional constraints.

Want to learn? No problem, give me the money and I'll give you extra lessons!

Without extra classes, you won’t be able to learn - unless you are really a genius.

Thomas cursed inwardly. What he lacked most now was money!

As for giving up and not learning… Thomas hadn't considered it at all. Because in the future he envisioned, book knowledge was an indispensable part. Some things must, and can only, be learned from books.

Just like in the previous life, if you want to achieve academic success, English is the threshold you must master.

Thomas thought about it and decided that maybe it was time to conduct an experiment.

He closed his eyes slightly, looked inward, and saw the damaged godhead.

Three balls of divine power surrounded the damaged godhead, one of which was acquired just yesterday.

Start using your consciousness to drive the divine power... and inject it into your brain.

It seemed as if nothing had happened, but the divine power had indeed been consumed.

Thomas opened his eyes and looked at the bunch of foreign words on the blackboard that had seemed very unfamiliar to him just now.

The teacher only explained it once and the students only read it once. It is impossible for a normal person to remember their pronunciation and grammatical rules.

But when Thomas saw them, he found them very familiar. Or rather, he remembered everything the teacher had only taught him once without any hindrance. It was like a genius with a photographic memory.

Just as Thomas was surprised, a new teacher arrived and began teaching. He was still completely irresponsible, completely disregarding the students.

But Thomas found that listening to what he was saying was effortless. The teacher only needed to explain it once, and he completely grasped and memorized it. It was an indescribable feeling.

After a day of classes, for most of the novice monks, the first few courses were confusing and the latter few courses were like a mystery, but Thomas really got the hang of it.

After the study time was over, he could even take the book and understand some of the content with some difficulty.

As expected... the damaged godhead still has great potential, and there is a use that has not been discovered before.

It not only adds points to physical attributes, but also enhances learning ability.

At the end of the day, some people would simply give up and lay down, not caring about anything else. Those who still had a bit of ambition would gather together and figure out how to raise money to hire a teacher for careful instruction. Joshua was a typical example of this group.

Thomas went directly to Giuliano.

Today's martial arts class was devoted to practicing basic footwork. According to Giuliano, there were nine fundamental footwork techniques: alternating steps, striding steps, sliding steps, short steps, retreating steps, evading steps, thrusting steps, jumping steps, and single steps. Before mastering these nine, no weapon could be held.

In other words, only after mastering the footwork can one be qualified to pick up weapons for training.

Before this, they were not even qualified to hold weapons.

The first step is the alternating step. The basic stance is surprisingly similar between the East and the West—both begin with feet shoulder-width apart, then one foot takes a half-step forward with the toes pointing straight ahead, while the other foot's toes point outward at a 45-degree angle. This stance is called a T-step in the East.

The so-called alternating step involves alternating forward movement of the left and right feet, while always maintaining a T-shaped stance. In combat, the attack is coordinated with the starting stance based on the enemy's position. Therefore, the alternating step was originally practiced in conjunction with the starting stance, but Thomas was a complete novice in martial arts, so Giuliano had him start with this stance.

Thomas only practiced a few steps when he noticed a strange feeling.

The talent he had for Latin did not carry over to his swordsmanship. In fact, he was rather clumsy, forgetting Giuliano's instructions more than once and requiring him to repeat them over and over again.

Fortunately, Giuliano was not particularly impatient. Obviously, it was normal to have such behavior at this stage.

Only then did Thomas realize that this skill point was not added randomly.

It seems that what has increased is not his learning ability... because the learning ability he showed during the sword training process has not increased.

To be more precise, what is increased is the proficiency of a certain skill, or it can be called skill points.

Of course, this skill cannot be created out of nothing; it must have certain prerequisites, such as something that is currently being learned.

Simply injecting divine power into the brain obviously wouldn't work. He didn't just learn Latin out of thin air.

Everything still needs further experiments - of course, it can only be done next week, after I get new divine power.

In any case, you must save two points of divine power to save your life - this is the principle that Thomas has decided to implement throughout his life.

Chapter 22, Reunion 1

Since the Latin courses began, polarization has appeared among these new novice monks.

In other words, two groups of people emerged, one group can be called the slackers, and the other group can be called the hard-working ones.

The losers have realized that their future depends solely on God's mercy, and have basically given up on learning. Not only foreign languages, but even the local language is no longer a thing to be learned.

Thomas' roommate, Joshua, was a typical example of a hard-working person. He contacted a group of people, pooled their money, and hired a monk to give tutoring.

This tutoring class is completely different. The teacher teaches with all his heart and answers every question.

Although corruption is rampant in the church system, the virtue of accepting money to do things is still prevalent.

Of course, in addition to these two categories, there is also a third category.

That's a very limited number of people, such as Otto.

Otto actually didn't appear in class many times. He basically just showed up a few times and then disappeared quietly.

No one found it strange—after all, he was not of the same kind as them. And there was no doubt that he had received the corresponding education when he was a child, so these courses were unnecessary.

Thomas also continued his fulfilling and intensive studies.

Time flies, and more than a month has passed in the blink of an eye.

After repeated experiments, Thomas now understands that divine power can really increase skill proficiency.

However, different skills require different levels of proficiency. Language and writing are the simplest, and a ball of divine power can allow people to achieve a small level of success.

Martial arts are different. Obviously, the coordination of hands, eyes and mind consumes more divine power, but once a ball of divine power is applied, one can also feel obvious progress.

Without divine power, he could only mechanically imitate Giuliano. But with divine power, he possessed an incredible spirituality or understanding. Suddenly, he seemed to master every tiny part of his body, sensing the speed, force, height, and even the resistance of his steps.

The basic steps used by the beginners were stiff and chaotic, a result of lack of training. But Thomas was able to develop his own rhythm and frequency in a short time. It wasn't perfect, but it was definitely astonishing.

Even Giuliano was amazed.

At noon that day, Thomas finished Giuliano's lesson plan for the day.

"Almost there," Giuliano announced contentedly. "Your footwork is pretty good now... a little faster than I expected. The initial training is over, and we'll be adding new content later. Next time you come, you can officially choose a weapon. Also, you're having trouble finding a suitable opponent for sparring... never mind, I'll be your opponent!"

The reason why Giuliano would train one-on-one was that Thomas had a cultural course and that he was starting from scratch. Training for a novice did not require sparring.

But practicing any martial arts requires sparring, especially sparring between opponents of similar levels.

"By the way, we should go over to Otto's place today," said Giuliano. "Go follow him more often when you have time."

He didn't say more, but Thomas could guess.

I guess he was forced by his father to stay in the monastery before, but now he is getting more and more impatient and wants to go out for a walk.

The vice president obviously noticed Ni Duan, but he had no good way to restrain his son, so he had to let Thomas take the stage.

After lunch, Otto dressed neatly and went out. After a few steps, he saw Thomas waiting in the corridor outside the door.

"Are you the follower Dad was talking about?"

"Brother Otto." Thomas saluted quickly. Although they had entered the monastery together, there was actually a slight age difference. Thomas was about fifteen or sixteen, while Otto was a year or two older. "My name is Thomas."

If you must count it, you can count it as a senior. It is not a loss to bow to a senior.

"Well, just stay away from me and don't get in my way." Otto said bluntly.

He didn't recognize the man before him. It was Thomas, whom he had helped once before. The relationship between them could only be described as vaguely familiar.

Otto was wearing a red tunic, completely different from the attire of an ordinary monk. It was clear that he was going out.

He was definitely a handsome young man—first of all, his skin was very fair. One could tell at a glance that he had never done farm work, been exposed to the sun, or been exposed to the wind.

Furthermore, this robe was truly exquisite. Even in Thomas's previous life, when clothing was innumerable and colorful, it would have been wearable.

It is true that clothes make the man, and this outfit must be of wealth or nobility.

"As the vice-president requested, I will always follow you. Please forgive me." Thomas replied seriously.

His existence is to reduce Otto's risk.

"I understand." Otto had obviously been instructed, so he just waved his hand impatiently.

Moreover, these days, it is normal for children of nobles or wealthy families to be accompanied by servants and attendants - it is rare to have no servants or attendants.