I was Reincarnated as an Incompetent Leader with Zero Popularity who met his downfall early on. Instead of banishing the hidden cheat Protagonist, I decided to embrace him, and somehow, I ended up being treated like a Hero instead. - Chapter 10

Summoning the Divine Dragon, the Inferno Sword, the Adamantine Barrier, and Complete Recovery.

The advanced skills listed in the book were all incredibly powerful and alluring.

However, it became apparent that they were far too advanced for someone like me, a mere Silver-ranked adventurer, to handle.

“These skills are designed for heroes who have defeated demon lords or prevented world-scale catastrophes,” the Goddess of Knowledge said with an apologetic expression.

She must have known this outcome beforehand. It made sense now why her reaction had been somewhat reserved when the skill acquisition announcement had appeared.

Indeed, a person capable of performing such grand feats must be exceptionally skilled as a warrior.
As for me, I lacked everything necessary to utilize those top-tier skills.

“But the skills are still obtainable. If you work hard and level up, you’ll eventually be able to use them!”

“You’re right. Thank you,” I replied, expressing my gratitude for Elena’s encouragement.
Even if mastering them immediately was impossible, that didn’t mean it would remain so forever.

Rather than feeling defeated, I chose to see this as a new goal in my adventurer’s life.

Still, if possible, I wanted a skill that I could use relatively soon and that would also be somewhat useful.

With renewed determination, I silently read through the book with greater focus than before.

“But since you’re suited to being a swordsman, skills that consume massive amounts of mana might not be ideal for you,” Elena remarked.

I nodded. No matter how much I leveled up, if my maximum mana remained low, I wouldn’t be able to use the highest-tier spells.

It would be like getting a “not enough magic points” error.

Although there was an advanced class of swordsmen called “magic swordsmen,” who could wield both sword and magic, that role was meant for the story’s original protagonist, Chrono.

For this selection, I was allowed to choose three skills.

After much deliberation, I chose one offensive skill and one defensive skill.

The offensive skill was “Slime Slashing”—exactly what it sounded like, the ability to cut slimes.
Indeed, slimes are highly resistant to sword strikes, making them difficult to cut.

But since slimes have no offensive capabilities, they can easily be defeated by smashing them with a stick or burning them with magic.

While slicing them with a sword would be impressive, it wasn’t really necessary.

Among the advanced skills, “Slime Slashing” was one of the few that could be acquired at a relatively low level.

Initially, I overlooked it for that reason. However, something strange kept happening—it was listed on every page I turned.
At first, I thought it was a printing error, but as I kept ignoring it, the text grew bolder, turned red, and even rainbow-colored.

“This isn’t my doing,” Elena said, immediately understanding my confusion as I shifted my gaze from the book to her.

“However, the person who devised this skill would be thrilled if you chose it.”

“Who came up with ‘Slime Slashing’?” I asked.
“That would be… one of the other goddesses. If I say her name, she might show up, so I’d rather not elaborate for now,” Elena replied, her expression troubled.

Apparently, there were multiple goddesses in this world, not just Elena.

Even though this world was based on the novel I wrote, it seemed several settings had been altered.

“To be fair,” she added, “your novel didn’t provide much detail about the gods. So, rather than alterations, consider this supplementary material.”

That made sense. My novel hadn’t survived in its entirety, and even then, I hadn’t come up with the concept of “Slime Slashing” as a skill.
If it was the creation of a goddess, she was probably a colleague of Elena’s.

Whoever she was, her relentless endorsement of this skill made me curious enough to try it.

Cutting slimes might be rare and, perhaps, even a useful trick to have.

With that reasoning, I decided to choose “Slime Slashing.”

Still, the goddess who came up with this skill must be a bit eccentric to classify it as an advanced skill.

I’d like to meet her someday.

As that thought crossed my mind, Elena suddenly pouted and glared at me.

“You’re thinking about another goddess already? That’s too quick to start cheating,” she huffed, her cheeks puffed out.