No matter what Hephaestus said, Hestias knew that her decision to descend onto Genkai was not an impulsive one. It had been a long time coming.

  After all, the decision had been centuries in the making.

  The truth of the matter was that life in Tenkai was…boring for her. Hollow. The gods were immortal, and because they were immortal, they knew of neither fear nor danger. Every day was spent in a static and predictable fashion. Gods did not get born; they just came into existence fully formed and perfect. They did not change.

  She…did not change.

  Because of that, Hestia had always been fascinated by mortal children and their exciting lives! They lived each day to its fullest, knowing that it could be their last. And then! Every night, they would gather around her hearth and share in companionship together. They told each other stories about what they each went through and rejoiced in their shared experiences.

  Their bonds growing stronger with each shared tale of joy and struggle.

  Hestia envied those bonds. There was nothing like that to be found in Tenkai. Bonds built on shared struggle and challenge were an idea utterly foreign to gods.

  And yet, or perhaps precisely because of it, Hestia had always longed to experience something like that.

  She knew that it was impossible.

  Or at least she used to think that it was. That was before Ouranos descended into the lower world like a blazing shooting star, ushering with him the Age of Gods that had endured for the past thousand years.

  He opened Pandora's box, and following in his footsteps, a flood of other gods began to abandon their divine duties in Tenkai so that they could follow Ouranos's example and similarly fall onto the lower world in search of mortal pleasures and entertainment.

  The gods began creating Familias by sharing their blessings with the mortal children.

  Hestia immediately wanted to go down and join them as soon as she heard!

  And yet…she hesitated. She hesitated for a long time because she was scared. More than most gods, she knew that life in the lower world wasn’t all perfect.

  She wasn't blind to the ugly sides of things.

  Hestia was the goddess of the hearth, family, and the very concept of home.

  Whenever a group of adventurers came together at night to share tales of loss around her hearth, she was there to provide them with warmth. Each day another family grieved the loss of their child; she was there feeling with them.

  She knew that although life was full of beauty, it was also full of sorrow. Hestia was scared of the pain she would inevitably invite into her heart by getting personally involved in the lives of the mortal children. She was scared of forming strong bonds, only to end up losing them.

  She knew what loss did to people, and although the feeling was unknown to her personally, in the thousand years since the Age of God began, she had seen numerous gods fall into despair and choose to return to Tenkai. They then refused to hear any more of the happenings of the lower world. Closing their minds and hearts to the affairs of mortals.

  The other deities never heeded the warnings those gods gave them, but Hestia did. While she did not fully understand them yet, she knew that the pain of loss, should she experience it, would hit her just as hard.

  Such consideration had held her back from immediately falling down to the earth below like she had wanted to. In the life of an immortal goddess, a few centuries was not a particularly long time, but it also wasn’t exactly short either.

  It was, however, just long enough for Hestia to finally overcome her fears and decide that just because opening her heart meant inviting in pain, that did not mean that it wasn't worth it for the possibility of love to enter as well. For the chance at experiencing real bonds the way only mortals could, Hestia was willing to endure any pain.

  With her mind made up, she had descended onto Genkai three months ago with an optimistic attitude. The reality of the situation that awaited her there was nothing like what she had been expecting.

  No words could describe what it felt like for a god to seal away their divinity and suddenly be cut off from the majority of the domains. The domains that had previously defined their very existence.

  It might not have been a big deal for most gods, but for Hestia…it was crippling. She had long grown used to existing in many places at once. Always surrounded by family and warmth. Despite not actually being part of said family.

  Without that constant connection, the mortal world felt cold.

  The people living in Orario were used to gods, and nobody paid her any special attention. When she asked some of the prospective Adventurers to join her familia, they even laughed at her!

  It wasn't what she had expected at all. The gods returning to Heaven never reported having had any difficulties with recruiting Familia members!

  Hestia knew that she did not have much to offer yet, but she was still a goddess. Surely there could not be so many gods walking Genkai that receiving The Blessing was worth nothing anymore?

  Utterly dejected, she had spent the last couple months freeloading in one of Hephaestus’s mansions. She had briefly grown disillusioned with the experience provided in the lower world and felt terrible. Falling into as close to what could be called a depression as a goddess-like her could.

  The things she saw in that time did not reassure her at all!

  Far from the tight-knit families she had expected when thinking of the word "familia," the Hephaestus Familia worked more like a business than anything. With the goddess functioning as the company head while her captain was the second in charge.

  The mortal children under her did not join because they were looking for companionship. Quite the opposite! A lot of them were even in heated rivalries with each other and would not miss a chance to knock one another down when the opportunity presented itself.

  Seeing all of that. Hestia felt saddened. From what her friend told her, her Familia was not the exception! In fact, most of them worked like that.

  The gods descended into the lower world for entertainment, not to become babysitters. Sure, they would take in people to grow their Familia, but they would often only have a handful of core members that they genuinely paid any real attention to and nurtured.

  Those few members were almost always the most interesting and outstanding members of their Familia. They would be lavished with gifts and attention, while the other members of the large Familia were lucky to have their Falna updated every couple of months.

  This preferential treatment created a system where those children who held their gods' favor only grew stronger by getting their Falna updated. Then they went on challenging themselves with their newly gained powers and in return grew even more once the interesting things they did attracted their gods' attention, who then updated their Falna again.

  Meanwhile, those who did not hold the favor of their deity were left out to rot. They either had to accept a life of mediocrity or die stupidly trying to tackle challenges they simply were not ready for in a futile attempt to impress the head of their Familia and enjoy some of the divine favor that came with it.

  That discrepancy was one of the reasons why the vast majority of adventurers in Orario never got past level 1 and why so many of them died every day in the Dungeon.

  Being an adventurer was not a profession that was kind to stupid people, and so, in a process of natural selection, only the brightest of them made it out of their rookie phase. This led to a state of affairs where most Adventurers were actually pretty smart!

  Still, they each shared one common trait that damned them all the same. They were too ambitious. One did not walk into the jaws of Hell each day for no reason.

  Every adventurer was looking for something they thought could only be found in the depths of the dungeon, and as such, they always went in deeper than they knew they should.

  Stolen story; please report.

  If one considered it with a rational mind, the first four levels of the dungeon would be enough for any adventurer to live comfortably and remain safe, yet that was never enough.

  Neither for the gods who demanded excellence from their children, nor for the adventurers themselves, who each thought they were meant for more.

  A lot of them were talented. Oftentimes, the people that came to Orario were the most talented people of the village they grew up in; sometimes they were even the most talented of their whole country.

  The world was a lot bigger than just Orario after all.

  And yet, it was in this place where the strongest people in the world all gathered and competed with each other. Talent was not a resource that was rare in this city, and because it was not rare, the gods did not value it.

  The only thing gods valued was rarity. Something as simple as talent alone would never be enough to excite them.

  The mortal children did not understand that. They thought that if they just trained harder, fought harder, and sacrificed more of themselves for the Familia, their god would eventually start valuing them. Start to take care of them.

  But that was simply not how the mind of an immortal deity worked.

  For gods, mortal lives were fleeting. Mortals came and went like day followed night. In every time period, however, there would be some mortals that were simply more than others.

  The tides of history flowed according to the movements of those rare, shining individuals.

  These mortals did not just have talent; they had a story that the gods were all desperate to witness. The world paid attention to them, and their every action was of consequence.

  These were the kind of people the gods were in a competition with each other to attain.

  The mortal children, either unable to see or accept this truth, wasted their lives fruitlessly chasing favor that was never going to be given to them.

  Once Hestia realized all of this, the true game her people were playing with the resistance of Genkai, her heart broke. She swore to herself right then and there that she would never allow her Familia to fall into such a state.

  No child of hers would ever have to think that they needed to risk their lives just to win her approval. They would have it from the moment her Falna manifested on their backs, and she would never let any of them have a single moment where they had to doubt her love for them!

  Unlike the business the other gods had turned their Familias into, hers would be a true Family! She would make sure of that.

  For a moment, she even doubted her plan to have a dungeon exploration-centered Familia, as had always been her goal. Would she really be able to send her children into that terrible place where hundreds, if not thousands, died each day, knowing she could do nothing to save them if the time came?

  To her shame, the answer she eventually came to was yes. Yes, she would be able to. Not because she was looking for the glory and prestige only the dungeon could bring, far from it, but because she knew that while working a trade could also be used to build up Excelia, nothing compared to the high-level Excelia that could be gained from killing monsters in the dungeon.

  Hestia wanted her future children to level up. She needed them to level up as fast and as often as they possibly could so that they would gain the boost to their longevity that would come with it.

  She understood the danger that came with mortality. For most mortals, death was only ever one stone's throw away. It was something difficult for a goddess like her to really conceptualize, living a life like that, but still, she understood.

  What she could not accept, however, was being forced to watch her children grow old and slowly waste away. Leaving her alone. She could not even bear the thought of it.

  She hoped desperately that her future children would share her wishes and seek to level up with all their might. She would make sure to update their Falan as often as they wanted if they did.

  —————-

  Once three months had passed. Hestia slowly dragged herself out of the facsimile of a depression she had fallen into; it was just in time for Hephaestus to have decided that enough was enough and it was up to her to throw her shut-in friend out of her mansion.

  Hestia did not hold that decision against her.

  She was a goddess after all. She needed neither food nor sleep. She was not a mortal woman who would die when placed on the street by her lonesome. If all else failed, she could simply go back to Heaven and all its comforts.

  Hestia suspected that this was actually Hephaestus' way of showing care. Her good friend knew of her inner struggles and likely sent her out into Orario so that she would either learn how to swim or sink.

  Seeing her socially awkward friend showing her support in her own typical clumsy fashion, Hestia felt guilty for having abused her goodwill for so long.

  Once her Familia was successful and rich, she would be sure to pay Hephaestus back!

  Suddenly being out on the street, Hestia had felt new determination taking hold of her. She had come to this world to build a family on her own, and she would not leave before she achieved that goal!

  Hestia felt herself getting agitated again while climbing on top of Cain's broad back as she recalled what had happened next. It was all in the past now, but she still felt aggrieved at the injustice she had suffered!

  After being out in the street, it did not take her long to find the abandoned church on the outskirts of Orario she had chosen to claim as her temporary home.

  It was quite a step down from her comfortable residence in Tenkai and then living in a home provided by a first-class Familia, but it was part of the authentic mortal experience, so Hestia did not mind it too much.

  She could not wait to bunker down and share her warmth with her first child!

  Once she went outside the next day to recruit said child, she was exasperated beyond words to see that nothing had changed. Just like her first day in Orario, she was rejected at every turn!

  She returned home later that day feeling slightly dejected. Yet still, utterly unwilling to accept defeat.

  That was when her fortunes finally turned for the better and she met her darling child!

  It was like a dream. Just as she reached a new emotional low, he appeared before her like a hero out of a story.

  The first thing she noticed about Cain was that he was tall. Really tall. Heastia knew that she was a petite goddess, not short! But it was rare even for her to have someone tower over her like this. He had to be at least two heads taller than her.

  The second thing she noticed was that he was quite good-looking. In a Bad Boy kind of way, like a handsome rogue. With bronze skin, amber-colored eyes, and dark hair.

  As a rule, every god was physically as close to perfection as possible. Some deities, with domains linked to beauty and desire, even decided to abuse their natural charm and enhance those divine looks even further. Being exposed to such physical beauty for an eternity already, Hestia had long grown used to it.

  Beauty alone would never be enough to impress her.

  Still, she knew that humans were not like gods, nor even like elves. Gods were all beautiful, and as a consequence, every god was also just average. Their beauty held no worth because it was common. A beautiful human was rare, and as such, they were exciting and interesting!

  The last thing she noticed was the intense look in his eyes. He stared at her with eyes that seemed stuck in a perpetual glare. However, the following short exchange reassured her that he truly meant no harm.

  She eventually ended up offering him a place to rest once she found out that he had no home yet.

  And oh boy, was she glad that she did!

  It led to her getting her first Familia member after all!

  Hestia's smile, the one that had not left her face since Cain had asked to join her family, widened even further as she got comfortable on his back.

  She blushed a little when she recalled the slight misunderstanding her telling him to undress immediately after leaving his embrace had caused. He seemed not to have known how falnas were applied.

  Anyways, that was all in the past!

  Now it was time for Hestia to officially get her own Familia. Her very own family!

  ?And now, I will let fall a drop on your back to inject a tiny bit of my divine power into you. Then, I will inscribe the divine letters that make up the falna directly onto your soul,“ she explained patiently as she got to work.

  Cain had asked her to explain what she was doing while applying the blessing. He looked at her with such clear interest and sincerity back then that she could not have denied him even if she had a reason to, which she did not.

  Cain let out a quiet humming sound as he felt her fingers trailing across his back. Seemingly utterly unworried at the fact that he had quite literally opened his soul to her. She always wondered whether the mortal children truly understood exactly how much leeway they gave gods when consenting to having their souls played with in these moments.

  Of course Hestia would never do anything to hurt her children in such a way, but still. There were a lot of ways a more malicious god could hurt someone when given access to their soul. None of which involved the application of a Falna.

  Hestia shrugged at that and got to work. ?My blessing will then resonate with your deepest desires and ambition. Eventually manifesting as a Falna. The physical representation of your potential. While I am working, you might feel a bit warm and tingly for a while, or so I am told. Please do not feel alarmed.“

  Cain relaxed even further at her reassurance. Hestia felt a warm heat spreading in her chest.

  He already trusted her so much, and they only just met today!

  She could not wait to see how much the bond between them would grow and develop in the future! The thought alone was so exciting that she could barely stand it.

  Just as she was about to complete the final step, something unexpected happened.

  It almost felt like something was…fighting the blessing she was inscribing into Cain's soul. The resistance barely lasted long enough for her to feel surprised before it disappeared, and she saw the Falna fully take shape on her first child's muscled back.

  That was weird? But probably nothing bad. It was the first time Hestia had applied a Falna herself, so she did not stress the slight anomaly too much. She quickly put it out of her mind and focused on the piece of art in front of her.

  It was the image of a hearth.

  Gods could personally design how their blessings would manifest, and she had spent a long time designing hers. She was quite proud of it!

  She felt emotions overtake her and smiled brightly.

  "We are bonded now, Cain. You and I, we are a familia, a family. You are my first child, and for as long as you will have me, I will always be the home you can return to.”

  She gathered herself and cleared her throat. ?But first! There is one last thing that needs doing“

  Without standing on ceremony, Hestia took to hand the blank sheet of parchment she had put aside for this exact purpose beforehand and placed it on her child's back. Letting his new status copy onto the paper.

  That was a trick she had seen Hephaestus perform the one time she was updating her children’s Falna. It was faster than manually writing down the status for each child every time.

  ?And finished, now let's take a—“

  Her mouth hung open as she looked at the page in front of her in shocked disbelief.

  ?What…what is that?“

  Name: Cain

  Level: 1

  Strength: I 0

  Endurance: I 0

  Dexterity: I 0

  Agility: I 0

  Magic: I 0

  Skills:

  Morsalis

  Each life taken with the Blessing of Death is used to empower the host.

  Magic:

  — None