Change in perspective

Alvar walked with the Loki Familia after closing his shop, talking with Loki and her familia members about the dungeon and asking about a few things in Tenkai.

Loki was surprised that Alvar didn't know much about Tenkai, but remembering him saying that he was similar to Hephaestus made sense. Having a deformity across his face might have caused him to lock himself away from everyone else.

So she used that to annoy Alvar, but much to her dismay, it didn't work at all. The other part that shocked her was the way he talked with the other familia members. Every deity has a subconscious way of talking to mortals and accidentally talking to them in a way a higher being would. But Alvar didn't have that at all; he talked to them as a normal person would, which ironically makes him abnormal.

Her Familia members didn't even notice how easily they started talking to him like they do with other mortals.

"When are ya plannin' to start a familia?" Loki asked him.

"...I'm not sure...I don't think I will ever start a Familia, but things might change as time moves on," Alvar answered truthfully.

"Did you bump your head on the way down? We are unchangeable as deities~" Loki slurred her words.

"We can still change, you know? My face and Hephaestus' eye are enough proof to me that we aren't perfect," he said with a hint of sadness in his voice.

"I have seen it happen, you know? How a god changed his mentality for the better. Their divinity in turn followed suit." Loki's eyes opened up halfway, proof of how shocked his words were.

"... Someone's divinity changed?" She nearly tripped at the thought.

"Indeed. I'm not sure if it can happen to everyone. But from what I noticed, one's divinity is given at birth and connects to our mannerisms and desires. This in turn means that if we can change those very aspects, we can change or evolve our divinity to follow suit."

"Are you a god of knowledge or something?" She rubbed her head lightly.

"Wisdom, fire, and forge," he answered.

"Your name suits you then, Cyrus." She said flirtatiously, but was upset when she remembered that he had a mask on.

"Thank you."

'It seems this name has a connection to the deities' language of this world and one from mine.' Alvar thought before Loki stopped with excitement.

"We're at the pub, y'all! Let's drink our fill!" Loki yelled as she stormed inside the pub.

"Quite the strange goddess you all have," Alvar chuckled as he saw the rest housing a wry smile, except for the dwarf, Gareth, laughing.

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"...Cyrus-sama-" Before the elf, Riveria could finish, Alvar cut her off.

"I said it previously, but honorifics are not necessary in the slightest for me."

"I prefer a respectful tone of voice more than nice words and honorifics."

"Alright, Cyrus, I wanted to ask you how you eat without moving your mask. It seems that the food only disappears before it touches your mask," she asked with intrigue.

"By using a bit of magic," Loki nearly spat her drink.

"Aren't you sealed? How can you use magic without having that divinity?"

"I learned how to use them even with my limiter." Alvar shrugged.

"Our vessels are made to be an exact copy of humans, no? So all I did was train and practice like a normal human would."

"Being a deity bypasses the need for a Falna while my capacity to grow has its limits because of the seal, but that only means I can grow much more until I hit that limit."

"Ya really are a god of wisdom, huh," Loki said as she downed another bottle of alcohol.

"And how are ya still not drunk??? I saw ya drinking like five bottles or something~" She slurred her words.

"Back to your words, Riveria. It is with magic that I fused into this mask of mine. It would transport anything I want it to through the mask. If it is food, then it gets transported into my mouth."

"That's fascinating. The magic of deities is interesting."

"This isn't exclusive to deities. As I said earlier, we got sealed into the body of a human, so I learned how to get strong as one... I won't lie and say that being a god of wisdom didn't help, but with hard work and dedication, one can learn how to use magic without a falna or even break the limiter of only having three magic slots."

"Can it be broken with a falna?"

"You already broke it on a technicality. I am unsure if you can break it further, but if you learn the fundamentals of magic and how it works, then theoretically speaking, you should be able to cast spells that aren't on your falna."

"If mages can exist in a world before we descended, then I am sure those after should be able to accomplish those achievements as well."

Riveria stayed silent after his words as she thought it over.

"...I think I understand. Thank you." She nodded absentmindedly, but her thankfulness was genuine.

"It is my pleasure," Alvar smiled under his mask.

"If Loki and you allow it, I can take a look at your research and give a few pointers to help you along your journey as a researcher." Loki stopped her ruckus as she heard this. Having a different deity, a god no less, rubbed her the wrong way.

"You are not trying to steal her from me?" She asked coldly.

"Do I look like a thief to you? I am a god of wisdom, forge, and fire, not of thievery or treachery." Alvar said in a deep tone.

"I indeed preach about change, but there is no way that I would change and fall that low," Loki stayed quiet for a while longer before bursting out laughing and going back to her drunken behavior.

"I wished I could have seen the look on your face!"

"I have no say in this matter; it's up to Riveria if she wants your help or not." She laughed as she fell on the floor, easily changing the atmosphere and focus from Alvar to her strangeness.

'Trying to gauge my personality and easily shifting the outlook to a prank. How interesting.' Alvar thought as he chuckled at her antics and shifted his sight back to Riveria.

"It's up to you then, but you don't have to answer now. I would like to apologize for my conduct, as this is supposed to be a celebration." Alvar said seriously as he poured some wine from a bottle he had hidden under the table.

"Eh! I knew there was a bottle missing! You really are a thief!" Loki pointed her finger at Alvar.

"I am paying for my share, you know? So how can I be a thief if I paid for this bottle?" Alvar chuckled as he lifted the bottle up high as Loki went to grab it.

"That's the last bottle of wine! Ain't no way in hell I'll let you take it from me!"

"Says the person who drank the rest~"

"Says the person who drank most of the beer!"

"Touche~" Alvar laughed as he kept Loki at a distance much to her discretion and to the amusement of the rest.

"Ay, captain. You should learn a thing from Cyrus' books too! This is a party, so there is no need to be so stuck up about it!" Gareth laughed while raising his mug from the table.

"Let's drink!" He bellowed as he chugged the entire mug and slammed it down to a round of applause and laughter.

Riveria and Ais were the only two who didn't drink anything alcoholic. Riveria didn't want to, and Ais is underage.

Ais was very interested in the topics that Alvar was talking about when it came to strength but wasn't able to ask him more about it because everyone else moved on to a different topic, and she was unable to chip in and change the topic back.

The topics jumped around frequently as Alvar also seemed to finally get drunk and started asking random questions as they partied and answered others.

"Ay~ Cyrus~ What's your relationship with Hephy?~" Loki slurred as she struggled to stand up straight.

"A friend and my student," Alvar answered, leaning back in his chair.

"Your student~? In what~?"

"The forge of course~ I am teaching her new ways for forging 'cuz I got bored~" Alvar started slurring his words too.

"Are you better than her in smithing then?"

"Yup~ My shop might be open tomorrow, so you can look at the weaponry I sell."

Everyone was already knocked out drunk, excluding Riveria and Ais who were staring blankly at the situation.

"Maybe I will after the Denatus~" She said before falling face first into the ground, blacked out completely.

"Looks like I won~" Alvar giggled as he stood up from his seat and stretched his limbs.

He made a gesture with his hands as a bluish light glowed from his head, and he let out a relaxed sigh.

Truthfully, it was only for a visual effect since he wasn't actually drunk.

"Now then, what are we going to do with the rest of them?" Alvar asked as he pointed at all the knocked-out adventurers.

"We usually throw them outside before we close," Mama Mia answered.

"Alright," Alvar nodded his head as he made another gesture that caused every unconscious person to float and slowly levitate outside of the building.

"Riveria and Ais, please show me the way to the Loki Familia. I can help you take the rest there."

They both absentmindedly nodded their heads as they walked outside the pub and walked ahead of Alvar and the floating 'corpses' to show him the way.

"...Are there ways to grow stronger physically without a falna?" Ais asked in her signature monotone voice, but the fire in her eyes was enough emotion to carry over.

"There are sadly limits to how much a falnaless person can grow when it comes to their physical aspects. No matter how many exercises you do, your muscles will stop growing stronger at some point, but you can overcome these aspects with technique. Ways to maximize your output and minimize your input, so to speak. Attacking someone in a random order would be more taxing to your body than controlling your movements and attack flow."

"But that would also mean if a person with a falna were to learn techniques, then they would still be far ahead of anyone without it, and with a huge enough level gap, it would render a falnaless person useless no matter how skilled they are. The only exception is if they are well-trained in other aspects as well, like using the terrain to their advantage or are lucky and perceptive enough to dodge high-speed attacks."

"Magic might be harder to start and learn when it comes to not using a falna, but you'll become stronger as you progress, while your physical body is easier to start with but has its limits, sadly. But if you combine magic and the physical body, then they can overcome those problems. Casting stat-increasing spells while using a sword skillfully could easily put you at the level of falna users."

"That is at least my theory on these matters from what I noticed, seen, and moderately tested in my time on Genkai." Alvar finished with a smile under his mask.

"What about the skills and magic that the falna gives us?" Ais asked after a while. Her face is slightly frowning as she is thinking.

"I don't have a familia of my own nor have I had one in the past. So I don't know how the falna operates at all. But what I do know is that it might limit your abilities on a subconscious level. Just because it says that you are a swordsman rank C doesn't mean you can't improve your swordsmanship on your own or even find different ways to use your sword. It is true that a falna makes it easier to get stronger in its own way, but you should still read and pay attention to what the skills and magic do, then find ways to use it either differently or slightly tweak it."

"I might be wrong in this aspect, as with what I said before, I don't have a familia and have never gifted anyone a falna as of yet."

Both Riveria and Ais stayed quiet for the rest of the journey back as both were deep in thought, and Alvar was happy about it because if they are able to use anything he said, it would lead to them growing stronger and, in turn, give them a subconscious sense of gratitude to him.

Depending on the level of strength increase, it might lead to them having a farther dungeon dive, which would cause their captain to be thankful as well.

'Having the core part of the familia in my 'debt' would be good in its own right, and I can use that to improve my relationship with them as well. I can then let them test out a couple of my future prototypes when they become loyal customers,' Alvar took in a couple of deep breaths to calm himself down.

'I am getting ahead of myself. I need to get ready for the Denatus first. I need to create a few of those badges for the Denatus. That should be enough to bypass the requirements of joining the Denatus from what drunken Loki told me.'

'I wonder what I can uncover tomorrow~'