I kept an eye out for a dilapidated church, which is less easy than it sounds in a medieval town filled with decrepit buildings.

Bump!

"Owww..." a midget girl with huge boobs bounced off me and fell down.

Hestia emanated a special feeling too, holy or divine. Lisa eyes widened at her, then she turned towards me. "You already know who she is?" Lisa guessed from no obvious clue. Damn mind powers.

I gallantly bent down to pick up the tiny Goddess, and dusted her off. "Excuse my inattention, little girl. I was staring around, trying to find the church of a fallen divinity. But you also smell like one. Didn't know Gods came in such small yet pretty packages..." I murmured in a half-confused voice.

"You're lying!" both girls yelled at me, then turned and measured each other in confusion.

I waved a hand in dismissal. "I might have exaggerated a bit, so cute instead of pretty?" I continued without a care.

Hestia blushed and waved her palm. "No! Pretty works just fine..."

Lisa just glared at me.

I poked the small Goddess on her button nose. "We want to enter the Dungeon, but my companion doesn't have a Falna. Do you have a free slot in your Family, Goddess?"

"...Free slot ?!?" Hestia exclaimed in half-awe, half-outrage.

"Yes, for this girl. She already has some power, but nothing much." I noted while ignoring the raising hostility of my companion.

"But not for you? You do not have a Family either." Hestia observed with her Divine senses.

I shrugged, not really concerned. "I doubt a Falna would work on me."

Hestia took this as a challenge, of course. "Follow me to my house, my new Children"

Our route took a convoluted way to reach the real church, hidden among dozens of ravaged buildings.

Then as we entered the basement, Lisa drew close to me. "Are you sure about this?" she asked me sounding cautious.

"Hestia is a great Goddess, despite the obvious poverty. We need to farm some monsters in the Dungeon for money, then we'll fix this place right away."

I said in a convinced voice.

Lisa seemed doubtful, as the church seemed barely holding on.

"So, what are your names, my Children?" the Goddess asked as she found herself alone with us.

"I am Pef. I like grilled meat and energy swords. I dislike werewolves and vampires." I began with an easy voice.

Both girls glared at my obvious lie.

"You can call me Sarah. I like ice-cream and magic powers. I dislike liars and obnoxious guys." Lisa said next, somehow making her statement about me with an obvious glare. Very careful of her, using her 'real' name of Sarah, instead of her usual self-chosen name as Lisa Wildbourn. Then again, Hestia was a Goddess and would have sensed a lie.

Hestia sighed and patted her bed. "Come, lay down here, girl. The Falna goes on your back."

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"So you two met only an hour ago?" Hestia asked while lowering the jacket on Lisa's back.

The Falna took easy enough, not that I expected any problems for Lisa. Gods have actual powers here.

"I read about Sarah in my hometown. She has a minor following for her deeds, and some people even like her personality. But we never met before." I mused out loud. Somehow, Hestia doubted me even so.

And Lisa already knew this wasn't Earth Bet. Or even any universe exposed to the Worm powers and Shards.

Instead, she held her paper Falna in hand, sometimes muttering to herself. I could bet her stats sucked, since she never dived in the Dungeon before.

"Come here Pef, and lay down. I never heard of someone able to reject the Falna." Hestia demanded with a finger pointing at her bed.

Oh well.

I took off my jacket and the T-shirt and lay down, while a Goddess climbed on my back.

I could sense something had changed in the air, as if tension was palpable now.

A tingle of magic touched my back, and Hestia gasped. "Owww. Restricted? You dare to restrict me from my Child?" her voice rose and a hum of Divine power filled the church.

See? I told her. My screen was enough anyways...it burns....burning my back. Why?

Hestia collapsed on top of me, her energy spent from trying to impose her Falna on top of my Level Up system.

Lisa came close and pushed the Goddess off to look at my back. "Hmmm. There are some lines and squiggles on your back now. It seems you're not actually immune to Divine powers." she observed with a teasing voice.

I grunted and stood up. My back still burned, so I opened the game screen.

Nothing had changed. Wait.

New title: High Commissioner.

A single word, but probably holding some hidden meaning. The Falna was someone's life story. Their legend, as told by oracles and prophets and myth.

What was written inside was not a literary story, but my deeds. Heroic deeds, if I ever had some.

I left my jacket on the nearest chair, only wearing the T-shirt as I walked out. A grinning skull with the Megadeath band on it. Rather fitting for my new job.

"Let's go visit the Dungeon now. Goblins are not difficult anyways." I explained as Lisa ran alongside.

"You were surprised to find the Falna works on you?" Lisa asked as we made our way towards the huge tower in the middle of Orario.

"Half-surprised. I am only Level 0 after all. And Gods are powerful." I answered with a shrug.

"How much do you know about me?" Lisa asked instead, her voice a bit cautious now.

"Nothing about this new you with Esper powers and such. You were supposed to have an alien Shard giving you computer powers. Deduction, inference and such." I said in a softer voice.

Lisa frowned, and her hand rose to her temple by reflex. "No headache. My Shard is truly gone then."

"I'd assume so, yes. My screen said you would have Esper powers, mind-reading ,emotion bending and such. Like Imp, perhaps..." I continued with a softer tone.

"Imp had...oh. I can delete myself from people minds. And not only that..." Lisa realized as she swiped an apple from a cart and the owner failed to notice.

"What was her name, Cherish? She could bend emotions, right?" I asked with a glance at my Master-Stranger sidekick.

Lisa sighed. "Everyone in that room is long since gone. So you did read about me, after all."

"I wouldn't know. Your universe sits sidewise in time, and I don't know where in the timeline you come from. Which is the last city event?" I asked in half-code.

Lisa measured me for a minute. "We had just landed in New Delhi."

"Behemoth. Scion kills him there." I remembered with a sad smile.

"What?" Lisa asked as I stopped and let a high-level party move first into the Dungeon.

"That guy is a werewolf." I pointed at a certain man.

Lisa glanced at me a bit bewildered. Then she focused on the werewolf with her Esper powers.

"Hmmm. High level Brute then." she noted with an expert's voice.

I nodded slowly. "A smarter Hookwolf, and much faster too. Falna gives adventurers an unfair advantage."

As we entered the first level of the Dungeon, I drew out my Spirit Weapon, shaped like an energy sword, and began looking for goblins. They appeared right away, and rushed us with crude daggers.

Slice, slice, stab. I was far stronger and faster than a regular human, or even a new adventurer after all. And my Spirit weapon was of high grade too.

Lisa kept to the back, mostly hiding herself from goblin perception and only stepped in to collect monster crystals from the mobs.

About 8 hours later, we returned to the surface and went to cash in our loot. Only 5000 valis, but the first floor wasn't the goldmine. Merely early practice.

When we entered the church, Hestia was still sleeping, possibly too tired after installing my Falna.

Lisa ate her stolen food she grabbed on the way, and I simply stared at my screen.

Pef - Level 7

Title: High Commissioner

Strength: 10

Speed: 10

Mind: 1

Magic: 1

Chi: 2

Endurance: 31

Free points: 7

For a single day of work, I had become 3 times stronger.

I lay down beside Hestia and fell asleep. I could get used to this.