The voice goes on to say. [Gods are not all that powerful. In fact, some gods are even weaker than other species. Think of it this way Poseidon the god of the sea and Buddha the enlightened one. Who do you think is stronger?]

Reiki stayed silent as he kept on walking, the voice continued. [The one who's stronger by a fair amount is Poseidon. And the reason for it is simple. Faith. You see faith is a double-edged sword. There are those who are still powerful without it. Gods like Poseidon and Odin are completely fine. But those without it... Would be dead within the hour. When false gods saw the gap between the two of them some wanted to shorten it. And some more so than others…]

[But here's the weakness in being a god your growth in strength goes into a grinding halt. And there are very few ways to improve one's strength as a god. Meditation, Body cultivation, and some even seek... Higher beings and make a deal. But even then the rate of improvement was still crippling slow. But get this, those gods were tricked into being one.]

[An... Incomplete path from primordial beings themselves. And not those primordial gods like Gaia, Eros, or even Tartarus. Primordial Beings have no records of information some of them don't even have "bodies" and are just made up of pure mana. Even Primordial gods like Gaia are not even sure if they're real or not. They're even older than the great old ones. So you think how does faith come into play? Let me tell you a story. Hundreds of thousands of Eons ago another being was able to transcend and achieve godhood.]

[But this god was on the prideful side, he refused to make compromises and never liked knowing the fact that someone is stronger than him. To show dominance he tracked down another god who transcended a bit earlier than him. Roughly a few hundred thousand so not too long of a time frame the end result. He was beaten an inch to his death in public. In front of his peers, lovers, and beings he once called allies. With his pride crushed and his lovers stolen from him as his "allies" left him one by one.]

[It's safe to say this god has nothing left but hatred. And what did he do when he can't even put up a fight against the weakest god? He started to slaughter countless civilizations until one day he met someone who was outcasted by their own kind. He ignored the lone outcast thinking to himself. "So what if others think I'm evil I have nothing to lose anymore." As the god destroyed buildings and killed everything that moved soon the civilization was no more but ruins. The god left shortly to search for another civilization to slaughter.]

[After the massacre, the outcast visited the former bustling civilization all that was left were nothing but crumbled buildings and the stench of blood everywhere the outcast searched for the god night and day. When the outcast finally met his "benefactor" the outcast said. "I don't have anything. But my life the only thing I wanted was my kind destroyed for taking everything of mine. Since my strength was insufficient and you have already killed every last one of them all I can offer is to be your follower."]

[The god ignored the outcast and continued to search for another civilization. After each slaughter, the outcast would scavenge the same thing over and over again. Just enough food to last him until the next civilization, the best wine he could get his hands on, and lastly, he would search nook and cranny of each civilization the god slaughtered to find the best weapon or spell he could find. After finishing the scavenge the outcast would offer the wine and weapon or spell he found to the god. Fast forward a few thousand more civilizations and all sorts of people started to follow and witness his slaughter.]

[Soon it was more than enough to form his religion. Another fast forward of a couple of years the god who slaughtered civilization finally had started own and slowly started to stabilize itself. But unlike the rest, this one has an additional building, and inside that church was the god on a pedestal on top a flight of stairs looking down on all of his followers. Then some fool did something unheard of in that period he made a "request" from a god. In the past two years with nothing to do the god decided to humor the man and did his request.]

[And did you know what the god gained? It was the very first discovery of the curse of faith. And what else could be the request but to kill someone that the man wanted dead, he requested someone to be killed and all for one woman. After that, the man started to worship the god and soon started to spread the word. Very soon the god discovered he improved and not by a small amount. The only thing that comes to mind is the only thing he gained was his follower's faith.]

[Something inside the god clicked and soon he thought of the means to gather more power. He went on another mission to slaughter but with a different objective to gain more followers. Rapidly the more followers he gained the more powerful he became. And soon started to search for the god who took everything from him. After issuing the challenge everyone gathered around to watch the beating but the results forced gods to take action. The god was able to get his revenge by killing the god who humiliated him in the past.]

[And for all those previous lovers and allies was no exception. He made sure to kill every last of them in front of each other as he laughed like a mad man. What happened shortly after his display of power? The god and his band of followers "mysteriously" vanish in the dead of night. Some say it was karma, Some say it was justice, and I say it was fear. Fear of the fact that this god made progress that took them hundreds of thousand years in a span of roughly two years. And those gods thought it was a good idea to do the same.]

[But this raised a problem for them. Since those "gods" killed the god who was using the curse of faith it would tarnish their so-called "prestige" for "lowering" themselves to duplicate the cursed god method. Since their land is divided based on power and few places are as desolate of resources of the first cursed god which is how he was able to go unnoticed till he killed the god one measly rank above him too fast. Some gods had the same intention.]

[The lower realms. Did you ever question yourself why some descriptions of gods are so detailed while some have barely information on them? There are even some "gods" who even took the approach to be "fictional" characters like Cthulhu, Zeus, and Odin were on to something when harvesting a different power from you humans and lower beings. They just decided to take a long term approach, on the whole, you lose faith, you lose power.]

[Do you see what the story indicates? Or at least what I'm trying to imply here? There are no shortcuts when it comes to becoming powerful. Think of it this way when building something the more time and effort you put in it the less likely it won't collapse on itself. The less time and less effort you put into something even if you relied on the best medicine or have the whole realm at your beck and call to gather resources for you. No matter how pretty it looks and how expensive it is.]

[There will come a day when that expensive thing will break when the test of time comes into play. Soon flaws will reveal themselves at a time. And when the time comes that they suddenly regret merging with that ten-thousand-year-old lotus or try mixing their blood with a "superior" species. They won't know they've shackled themselves until it's too late. Until they have two choices to make.]

[They either A. Cripple themselves to start again or B. Add more medicine to further mix in their own blood just for that little bit of improvement. But who's willing to start over and lose everything? Especially if you offended more than one major force. Every one of them is the same. They're like sharks the second, they smell blood you can consider their targets to be as good as dead. And the people who get caught up in the crossfire can't even complain.]

Reiki thought to himself. Can't they just use more resources to boost their power? The voice continued on. [They can keep using all the resources they want to help aid themselves in their aim for power. But how many places are bathed in lightning constantly? How many places that have an abundance of fire? How many places do you think are suitable for cultivation that they can actually use? Why do you think Ifrit stays near sources of lava?]

[Why does Leviathan stay submerged in the deepest dark of bodies of water while Poseidon stays in his so-called golden "palace" not because they have to. They want to. Take fire for example the more heat it emits the more likely it is to be a better source of cultivation and has a better chance for it to turn the surrounding mana into its natural attribute. It's the main reason why whenever an X element crystal vein mine is discovered beings with the same attributes will flock towards it and it always leads into the same conclusion war.]

[The higher the grade the crystal vein mine is the more likely a major force is willing to do anything to gain total control over it. You see the higher crystal vein grade means better purity. They then have to recalibrate the magic runes they have already installed to adjust the amount of mana that the recently added crystal veins absorb. And I'm not talking about small veins either. The crystal veins I'm explaining are as big as your realms sperm whale.]

[Major forces usually put them underground at their headquarters so it removes all thoughts of thievery. Those that do... Well, you can take a guess an-.] The voice came to a sudden stop as Reiki slowly reached the location where he agreed to meet Arashi. The voice continues saying. [ Well looks like that's all you get out of me for the meantime have fun with your new friend. And let me tell you this "no" guarantees. ] The voice says as he emphasized the word no.

Reiki mused to himself. No guarantees... But before he was able to think about it anymore Reiki heard someone calling him.

"Reiki-kun!" Arashi shouted while slowly walking towards him with her grey string bag slung over her right shoulder held by Arashi's hand. She spoke as she was getting closer to Reiki. "Lil bro what took you so long?" Before Reiki was able to reply she continued. "Any longer and Onee-san here could've been kidnapped by a group of suspicious people." As she let out a light giggle. Reiki thought. Oh, I highly doubt that.

Arashi's eyes were scanning Reiki from head to toe as she kept on speaking. "So anyway now that your back how about we go get some-..." As she spoke Arashi saw Reiki's eyes had a hint of red that was slowly disappearing which made her stop mid-sentence. Which made her suddenly dashed towards Reiki.

Reiki's eyes slightly widened at Arashi's sudden movement, he thought. What the f-. As he attempted to dodge and try to predict her next move Arashi suddenly sped up. Before he knew it Arashi was suddenly cupping his face. Reiki thought. Was she always this fast? Arashi stared right into Reiki's eyes trying to discern anything from it. Reiki kept his breathing steady as he looked back into Arashi's eyes without flinching. A few seconds passed and Arashi gave up trying to find any sort of hints and asked. "Why?" Reiki replied. "Why?... What?" Without missing a beat. Arashi's eyes narrowed and spoke in a calm voice. "Why are you injured?"

Reiki answered. "I'm not injured. What makes you say that?" Arashi stared at Reiki's eyes, letting a few seconds pass by. She scanned Reiki again using a few glances, Arashi said. "Then explain..." As she unexpectedly reached for Reiki's left arm. She yanked his long sleeve to see that his left arm is covered in bruises with hints of swelling coming from his joints. And continued. "This!" As she looks at Reiki's battered arm. Reiki looked at his arm and then shifted his sights to Arashi. He didn't say anything and shrugged his shoulders. The gesture infuriated Arashi and she spoke in a cold voice. "Who did this to you?"

Reiki's first thought was. You're looking at him. He said. "I'm fine." Arashi answered coldly. "No, you're not. Kids shouldn't have this kind of injury." Her eyes became increasingly colder. "Where are they?" Arashi questioned. Reiki answered. "They've already been dealt with."

Arashi said. "I doubt that." Then Reiki replied. "It's true." Which only further angered Arashi. Before saying anything else she took a deep breath and said. "Look Reiki, I'm not gonna do anything out of line if you could just give me at least one of their names I can-." Reiki interrupted. "They've already been dealt with. Trust me on this okay? A person can grow when fighting against adversity." To which Arashi remarked. "Kids shouldn't be facing any kind of difficulty in the first place." Reiki said. "Well, some do."

Arashi stayed silent and looked straight into Reiki's eyes. Reiki didn't flinch and met Arashi's gaze. Arashi let out a long sigh and said. "Fine. Fine... But this is not over. Understood?" Reiki shrugged not saying anything. Arashi thought. That's right keep that facade up. Sooner or later it'll break and that's where I'll come into play. You'll warm up to me eventually.

Arashi started to rummage her grey string bag and threw three coin pouches towards Reiki. Caught them all as Arashi spoke. "You took too long to get back so we don't have any time left to set up camp. So instead I already got us a room to stay in for the night. There are two beds, a bathroom, and a basic kitchen." Reiki asked. "How much was the room?" Arashi smirked and answered. "It's fine. I know who owns the place. They said I can use it when I'm in the neighborhood. They're currently on a mission personally requested by one of the many guild branches."

Reiki said. "Well lead the way then and I'll follow." As he searched his pockets and took out a dark grey-brown pouch roughly the same size of an apple it looked old and might as well be made out of patches. Arashi took notice of Reiki's action and said. "Is that the only pouch you have?" Reiki replied. "It's not the best but I'll make do with it." As Reiki opened up the tattered pouch and started to empty out the other pouches a few handfuls of bronze coins fell from each pouch and three pieces of silver. As he was emptying the three pouches the tattered pouch didn't move or make a sound which made Arashi think. Did he even bring anything with him? Or does he not even have anything on him? While Reiki was thinking. How big is this thing?

Reiki then put three of the empty pouches inside the tattered pouch and pocketed it again. He saw Arashi staring at him again and said. "Well... Lead the way." Arashi replied. "Do you need anything on the way? I can get you a few thin-" But was cut off by Reiki. "It's fine. Like I said, adversity can help with personal growth." Arashi started to walk back into Akihabara with Reiki beside her. As they walked past lighten up billboards with all sorts of advertisements the duo took their time as they admired the scenery around them. After walking for a good five minutes Arashi and Reiki were in front of a medium-size ramen shop.

It had a simple sign on top of it surrounded by lights that were turned off. And the storefront was painted a simple black with windows. Reiki reading aloud. "Ramen Made Simple... What's with the name Arashi-san I'm curious." Arashi replied. "Ohh the two of them don't know how to make ramen. But they love it so they give it their best to make ramen as simple as possible." Reiki pondered and said. "Then wouldn't that be just broth, noodles, and toppings." Arashi answered back. "I thought so too. This place is pretty popular with adventures... Ohh but we can't touch any of the broth inside anything else is fair game. Especially their giant walk-in freezer they won't mind since there just low-level monsters they can catch in herds."

Arashi walked towards the door and all of a sudden she was holding a key and unlocked the door and entered. She said. "Pardon the intrusion." Arashi dashed deeper inside the shop, opened a door to get some indoor slippers and tried to get Reiki to enter. "Come in, they won't mind. Unless we use up all the broth then we'll get an earful until our ears fall off." Arashi winked and continued. "And even if we did I'll make sure to take the blame." Reiki looked at Arashi and then shifted his gaze to a pair of plain white indoor slippers she was holding out to him. Reiki walked inside the shop and said. "Pardon the intrusion." Reiki looked around the shop and said. "Not to be rude or anything but with the size outside I expected it to be bigger."

Arashi responded. "Yeah, same here when I first dropped by. You actually need a reservation four days in advance to eat here. And despite how it looks they can fit around 40 people and trust me the people eating here order more than two servings." Reiki observed the shop and didn't find anything different than a row of barstools in front of the counter. Chairs and tables and wooden chopsticks

inside of small glasses.

Reiki found a menu and picked it up. And saw that the prices were in bronze or silver. Arashi, seeing this, walked up to Reiki and asked. "Do you know the rate of conversion? And the equivalent of each coin to Yen?" Reiki said. "No." Arashi looked at him and narrowed her eyes. But Reiki suddenly said. "And no, I did not run away from home. I still have a big sister and a little sister to take care of."

Arashi's eyes widen at Reiki's sudden claim. She scratched the back of her head and explained. "The rate of conversion is simple, it's sixteen to one. Meaning 16 bronze coins can be traded for a silver coin 16 silver coins can be traded for a gold coin and so on. A bronze coin is worth ¥100, silver goes for ¥1,600, and gold is ¥25,600. Lastly, platinum coins go for ¥360,000. You can go to banks to exchange coins but you cannot buy coins using yen."

Reiki suddenly asked. "What about other countries' coin systems?" Arashi was taken aback by the question but still answered. "The 16:1 conversion is universal but how much varies by countries currency. And don't go using Japanese coins to trick another coin system. Banks have a way to tell if it's fake and each coin has a code they decrypt before giving you the money. There have been incidents where counterfeit was a problem when first implemented. But that was decades ago and the flag is usually an indicator." Reiki searched his pockets and open the tattered pouch and rummaged to search for a coin. When he felt something metallic he took the coin out and took a look at it. And found engraved on the coin was the Japanese flag.

Arashi said. "Alright, you go take a bath I'll make us dinner. It's at the end of the hallway to the right you can't miss it." Reiki narrowed his eyes and asked. "Arashi-san... Can you really cook?" Arashi instantly replied. "Of course I can!" Reiki said. "Then can you teach me I want to learn." Arashi froze then said. "Are you sure Lil bro? Feel free to take a bath I can make dinner it's no big deal." Reiki stayed silent while Arashi slightly lowered her head in defeat while heading towards the kitchen.

______________________________________________________

At The Kitchen

Arashi said. "Let me get our main dish for the night." She walked towards the door next to the walk-in freezer as Arashi left the door open. Reiki observed the kitchen thinking. Four commercial rice cookers and two stainless steel ovens each with its own four burners. And an array of different knives... Didn't she claim this was just a basic kitchen? All of a sudden Reiki heard a wet thud sound coming from the door Arashi went in. Reiki turned his head as Arashi said. "Ta-da! Hope you like meat cause were having bear tonight." Reiki looked at the large lower half of the bear that was cut above the waist.

Arashi spoke while raiding the large fridge. "Bear stew sounds good, right? Now, all we need is some carrots, peas, potatoes, and celery." She closed the fridge using her foot and placed down 5 large potatoes, 3 carrots, 2 celery sticks, and a bag of frozen peas. Arashi picked the closes knife to her and attempted to slice the potatoes. Reiki passed her a wooden chopping board. Arashi asked. "What's that?" Reiki replied. "It's a chopping board it's where you put what you're trying to slice in half right now." Arashi slightly blushed and said. "Right. I was just trying to see if you knew the basics and you passed."

Reiki kept silent and looked at the cleaver in her hands. Noticing Reiki's stare Arashi said. "Now what?" Reiki answered. "Well, you're using a cleaver which is used for food preparation. While the kitchen knife is in the same place when you took the cleaver." Arashi blushed again and placed the cleaver back where she took it from. Reiki continued. "How about I make dinner? Do bear fried steak and karaage sound good to you? I can even make some wedge cut fries if you want." Arashi started to blush even more while Reiki continued. "You can help by making the rice... You can cook the rice right?"

Arashi turned around with a slight blush on her cheeks and said. "Don't be rude even a kid can make rice using a rice cooker!" Reiki retorted. "Well I'm a kid yet I'm the one making dinner." Arashi pouted and started making the rice. Reiki asked. "How much do you eat?" Arashi ignored him and opened up two rice cookers. Reiki said. "Can you also fill up the other two?" Arashi opened up another two rice cookers without saying anything. Reiki said. "Thank you." Arashi still ignored him and stayed silent. Reiki thought. Bear fried steak, karaage, and wedge cut fires... 15 minutes give or take.

~15 Minutes Later~

The table was already set with two plates and two chopsticks and a pitcher of water. On the table were another two plates with a mountain of karaage, two plates of fried bear steak, and a large bowl of wedge-cut fries. Reiki said. "Itadakimasu." Arashi was in a daze remembering what happened in the kitchen. She went back to normal when Reiki spoke and said. "Itadakimasu." Her first bite she instantly thought. Delicious.

She started eating with vigor. Reiki on the other hand was eating at normal speed and staring at her. Arashi noticed his gaze but something was a bit different and asked. "What's wrong, Reiki?" Reiki pondered to himself for a few seconds, then he put down his bowl and chopsticks on the table and finally asked. "Arashi-san... Can you loan me money? Until I pay it back I'll do whatever you want." Arashi thought. This is my chance to get closer to him. Arashi kept a straight face and asked. "How much?" Reiki gritted his teeth and he clenched his fist so hard it generated audible cracking noise. He said. "50 platinum coins."