Gods, Falna, and Adventurers

"Where are the rest?" Kisuke asked as they walk back to the abandoned church.

"Kuroka, Koneko, and Aika are going around gathering information about the daily life here in Orario while Sona and Medusa are gathering information on cuisines available here," Yoruichi answered.

"...Hey... Kisuke-kun..." Hestia then suddenly called out to Kisuke after staying quiet for the good half of the trip.

"Hmm?"

"Are you sure not accepting Loki's offer? I think she can give you more than me who has nothing to offer aside from my Falna..."

Kisuke looked at her for a few seconds before looking forward again, "If we join a top group just like that, we'll attract more attention than we wanted. We wanted to adapt and gaining everyone's gaze isn't good. Another thing is a lot of people would know our secrets. In big groups like that, there are bound to be one or two spies for other Familias and even if there's actually none, I still wouldn't be able to believe it. And most important of all, just like what I said to her, I already promised you."

Hestia stared at Kisuke for a few seconds before painting her face with a big smile, "Is that so~? You're a better guy than I thought~! Ehehehe."

Kisuke only chuckled in response to that. A few minutes later, they reached the abandoned church and Kisuke and Yoruichi checked their surroundings first before entering their underground hideout. Instead of going to the Japanese mansion, they immediately went to the center of the hideout and set the barriers again for Hestia to grant Kisuke her Falna again.

But before they actually started, Kisuke faced Yoruichi and asked, "Did you do your own investigation?"

Instead of answering him, Yoruichi just passed him a small notebook from her pocket. Kisuke looked through it and it's the information on adventurers that even the Guild doesn't have. Yoruichi got all of this by infiltrating the small Familias and copied their records regarding their members. This is a piece of important information for Kisuke as this can confirm some of his hypotheses regarding the nature of Falna and the Gods in general, "I see... So that's really how it works..."

"What did you found out?" Yoruichi asked curiously and Hestia also looked towards him to hear what he's going to say.

But before he answered, Kisuke first reminded Hestia, "Hestia-sama. What you're about to hear is just a rumbling of a mad man so you don't have to take me seriously. However, I would like to ask you something later and do something about it. I would also like for you to keep what you'll be hearing a secret."

'Rambling of a mad man? Yet you want me to keep it secret?' Despite her doubts, Hestia nodded her head in agreement.

"First of all, based on the result of my short research... Let's see... To explain it easier, Tenkai could be likened to a Cloud Service while the Gods serve as the Servers... Well, that's not the whole story but that's the closes analogy I could think of."

"Cloud Service? Servers?" Hestia asked in confusion. However, Kisuke didn't entertain her question as he continued his explanation to Yoruichi, "The Tenkai that hosts and links all the Gods and the Gods that manages all the data. Then the children of the Lower World who receive their blessing or Falna are the End Users."

"Which means, the Falna serves as the connection between the Serves and End Users." Yoruichi understood what Kisuke is trying to say, "How does that strengthen the Adventurers?"

"Hmm... Just think of it as actions like fighting, crafting, and many more as gathering data for the Servers and the Servers will reward them the processed data which will be embedded to the Adventurer's soul and body. However, this is only effective if a Server or a God is connected to an Adventurer. Once they lost that connection, their status will become dormant, although this can be reactivated if the Adventurer manages to get his connection back to the Cloud, in other words, receive a Falna again."

Yoruichi furrowed her brows and asked, "Why would it need to become dormant if you already have it?"

"I'm not really sure... But if I would have to guess, it's because the Gods themselves are the one processing the Adventurer's abilities."

"What do you mean?"

Instead of answering Yoruichi, Kisuke asked, "What do you think about the information that you just gave me?"

Yoruichi contemplated for a minute before giving her answer, "Magic... Skill... Developmental Abilities... They're too limited... And the way it's learned, it's too easy. As if this is an RPG where you can get a new spell by just leveling up."

Kisuke smiled, "Exactly~."

"Wait! I haven't been able to follow what you two are talking about, but skill acquisition, isn't it normal this way?" Hestia suddenly interjected.

Kisuke then faced Hestia, "Remembered my magic last time?"

"...Y-yeah... More than three magics and all at the same time... Isn't that a unique skill?" Hestia replied and that's what she firmly believes even after introducing to her a unique race and inability to receive Falna. She thought that the God who gave him Falna before did something special.

"Nope~. I learned all of that by myself... And by the way, I never received a Falna in my whole life."

"What!? That's impossible!" This gave Hestia another shock.

"From the place where we came from, nobody did..."

"...You're kidding..." Hestia then started staring into the distance.

"Nope~."

Hestia held her head and pulled her hair a little bit as she shouted in frustration, "What the hell!? Did you guys came from another world or something!?"

Kisuke and Yoruichi immediately looked at each other and seamlessly resumed their conversation to avoid answering that question, "Ehem... In other words, if you severed your connection with God, as an Adventurer, you'll lose someone processing your abilities."

"I see..." Yoruichi muttered, 'If this is the case, then it's understandable that people of this world would be very dependent on God's Falna instead of developing their own technology and magic. Due to this world's Mana's volatility, they have no choice but to focus on Falna to fight monsters that threaten to kill them...'

Kisuke knew that Yoruichi came up with her own conclusion and didn't further elaborate. He instead looked towards Hestia, who is muttering to herself about the world she knew, "Hestia-sama, about the thing I wanted to know..."

"...Yes?"

"Is Falna always have been this way? From a thousand years ago..."

Hestia was forcefully forced out of her self questioning to think about his answer, "A thousand years ago... Right, I heard that there is a different version of Falna a thousand years ago... However, almost all of those who received it failed to learn any magic or skill."

'Bingo~.'