Secrets of Falna

"My request is for you to be nicer to people."Stella was glad that Bete did not back out of the deal even when the game was rigged from the start.

The other members of the Loki familia burst out laughing after hearing Stella's request. Gareth, Tione and Tiona started mocking Bete, while Finn Riviera and Loki herself were trying to hold their laughter in.

"Obviously you haven't known Bete for very long, something like being nice is REAL hard for him!"Tione found the request that she had made to be really funny.

"You would be correct about that, but I saw him secretly help the weaker members early in the morning."Stella admitted

"I never said it had to be instant either, change takes time after all."

Bete had a slight blush after hearing that someone saw him in the morning but quickly suppressed it.

"We have wasted enough time, we are going to miss out on drinking if we keep making fun of Bete."Loki was surprised that the new member already saw through Bete's tsundere exterior.

The familia made it to the Hostess of Fertility and started the party, Stella found that the food here was really good, and they had a huge selection as well. Out of all the bad things that her old world had, there was one good one that she missed, the alcohol.

Stella did miss her world's alcohol, this mead wasn't bad but it was on the light end. Normally she would spend her time in town by drinking all night then sleeping off the impending hangover so she never found out what kind of drunk she was because she would always blackout before anything got too interesting.

After a few hours of drinking, some of the members tried to get Ais to drink, she learned why she should never let Ais drink. Riviera at this time had noticed that Stella had been drinking and took away the alcohol from her.

"That's not fair! I could drink all of you into the ground!"Stella was starting to get tipsy after an hour or 2 of drinking.

"Children should not drink, you are lucky that you were able to hide it for so long."Riviera was unhappy that Loki had allowed Stella to drink even after knowing that she was 14.

Shortly after Bete started to talk about how Ais had saved another adventurer and they ran away. He went on to insult the adventurer calling him weak for crying even though he was a man.

Bete went on to say some insensitive stuff, and Riviera rebutted him saying it was their fault in the first place. Stella was unhappy that Bete was being so mean even after he had just promised to try to be nicer.

Stella was willing to give him the benefit of the doubt that he only said this stuff because he was really drunk. She watched as a small white-haired boy had run out of the tavern crying.

Stella assumed that that was the kid they were talking about. Ais returned shortly after looking sad but the night continued on. Most of the lower-level adventures were the first to tap out, then Bete blacked out, Finn followed shortly after.

The night came to a close shortly after, Stella had been sneaking drinks behind Riviera's back much to her dismay. When she got back to her room she was definitely drunk, but she couldn't sleep for some reason, the stuff about falna and excelia were still on her mind. She muddled over it until she remembered something Loki had said at the Hostess of Fertility.

"Huh? The dungeon? Oh that stupid thing, Chronos keeps going on and on about how its alive, and how gods should never enter it, but then again all the old man does is sit in prayer."

And then it hit Stella, if the dungeon is alive then what if? It all came together, and she stood up and burst out the door rushing to Loki to tell her what she found out.

Busting into Loki's room and seeing the goddess jump up at her entrance, Stella quickly told her what she found out.

"Loki, I figured out how falna affects the body, and how excelia works!"

"What? Don't you realize how late it is, shouldn't kids like you be sleeping?"

"I don't want to hear that right now!"

Stella then explained that your stats added up and how if you are strong before you get a falna then, the improvement is higher. That before you level up you should try to maximize your stats because they carry over as shadow stats. She explained that excelia was based on your motivations and goals, that if you have a strong feeling to get stronger then if you pushed yourself then your stats reflect that.

"Do you have proof?"Loki was interested because the kid had been in her familia for only 2 days and she might have found something huge, if the kid could prove it then this could be a huge boon.

"Yes the guild has records that back my claims up!"Stella was ecstatic that she discovered something like this."There are instances where adventures with higher stats leveling up were stronger than those with lower stats."

Stella went on and presented information she had pulled from the guild records she had. Loki was quite impressed that she had been able to deduce this much with only a few books.

"What about the emotions and goals stuff?"Loki was sold on everything except that because she had not presented proof of that yet.

"That's the easiest part, you have your own examples in your own familia!"Stella really hoped that the guild would pay a lot for this so that she could buy some new clothes and tools."Didn't Ais during her starting time as an adventurer do increasingly suicidal moves in an attempt to get stronger?"

"Yeah, but what does tha-"Loki realized, all of her executives had been in situations where their life was on the line, and their stats improved the most because of it."Ok, you have convinced me, do you have a proper report on this?"

"Yea, It's right here!" Stella handed over the report she had written while she was drunk.

"WHY DIDN'T YOU JUST HAND THAT TO ME?!"Loki screamed, she was happy that she got told the report rather than having to read it, but she was tired and wanted to sleep.

"Well, here you go! Good night Loki."Stella made her way back to her room but ended up falling asleep on the stairs up to her room.

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Word Count: 1114

Some inter-character development and then the big discovery! Your suggestions and power stones are always welcomed!