A little curious about what awaited him atop the hill, Micah walked toward Pride’s Mansion. And since he had a youthful body again, he didn’t have to worry about climbing the hill. Not that it was very tall. It was just wide with a mostly flat top that was occupied by the mansion and its estate.
However, Micah didn’t get very far after leaving the town before something strange happened. The air had begun shimmering slightly a meter off the ground and several meters away from Micah.
With a tremble, the air stopped flickering.
“Bleurgh!”
A figure slightly larger than Micah’s fist flew out of the weird phenomenon in mid-air, after which the air returned to normal.
“Finally! Stupid fucking temporal delay!”
The four-winged eyeball fluttered off the ground and shook itself to clear its mind. The eyeball looked around and caught sight of Micah.
“There you are! Did you wait long?”
Micah looked at the eyeball for one and a half seconds before answering.
“Why the fuck are you here?”
“Right. I forgot you were like that.”
The eyeball sighed.
“Do I even need to bother telling you that it is fucking rude to say stuff like that?”
Micah shrugged his shoulders.
“Whatever. Can you get me my innate ability now that you’re here, anyway?”
The eyeball narrowed its eye as it hummed and flew a couple of rounds around Micah before it spoke.
“I guess you didn’t wait for me. What have you done? And how long has it been since you arrived?”
“That’s not how it works, demon. If you want me to do your work for you, answer my questions.”
The eyeball groaned.
“Agh, fine! I’m here because I’m your guide slash assistant. And no, I can’t awaken your ability yet. Now. Can you answer my questions so that I know whether you’ve already blown your First Task?”
Micah pointed toward the town as he answered.
“I visited the local attractions and made a couple of friends. What’s the big deal?”
The eyeball looked doubtfully at Micah.
“Nothing else? You didn’t tell anyone about what you were doing in Hell?”
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“Why is that bad?”
Micah put on an innocent expression as he asked the eyeball with a worried tone.
“Don’t tell me you did?! That’s so not good!”
The eyeball began panicking and flapping around in circles in place. Micah watched on for a few moments with a calm expression.
“Calm down, demon. I’m just messing with you. I’m not stupid enough to do that. I just gathered some information.”
The eyeball demon hesitantly calmed down its flapping wings and uncovered its eye to look at Micah.
“Really?”
“Yeah. Now start doing your job, guide.”
Since the eyeball demon claimed to be his assistant and hinted that it would be able to help Micah awaken his innate ability later on, Micah decided to be a little more courteous and at least take the demon somewhat seriously. Of course, a little hazing first didn’t bother anyone. Except for the eyeball demon.
Upon seeing that Micah was joking about telling people about what he was doing in Hell, the eyeball demon calmed down and composed itself.
“First of. My name is not ‘What the fuck is that?’, or ‘demon,’ or ‘guide.’ My name is Baldas, and you should do well to remember it.”
Baldas folded one pair of its wings as a human would fold its arms as he haughtily stated his name and tilted his half-closed body backward.
“Baldas. Ok. Why can’t you awaken my innate ability yet?”
“You don’t have enough pol. Right! You don’t even know what pol is, do you? Alright, so-”
“Stop. I know what pol is.”
While he spoke, Micah held up a few of his bronze coins and showed them to Baldas.
“It’s these things, right? They come in silver and gold as well. I got a quick rundown from a friend in town. Now just tell me how much I need.”
Baldas looked a little stumped as he blinked thrice before speaking again.
“W-well. I guess that’s good. It saves us some time.”
Baldas closed his eye and sank into thought quickly.
“Ahem. According to my estimations, you’ll need about a silver coin for me to be able to guarantee your success.”
Micah had thirty-four coins. Four from his initial ten and then thirty from Rego and Bunt. He needed to gather another sixty-six before he could get a hundred, which would transform into a silver coin.
Rego had said that a person needed about five bronze coins to last a day, which meant that Micah could get about ten coins from Rego and Bunt every day. And then, the five Micah would have left over every day. That meant it would take about four or five days until he had enough.
Micah rubbed his chin.
“I can work with that.”
“Really. You know you need a hundred bronze coins for that?”
“Yeah.”
“And that you need to consume five bronze coins’ worth of pol every day to maintain your body, whether it be the physical coins or pol stored in your body?”
“That I know. But tell me more about the ‘pol stored in my body’-part.”
Micah’s ask showed that there was something he didn’t know, and Baldas naturally didn’t let it slip, as he got a haughty attitude at once.
“Hmhmm. I see. You want to know about that. I guess your new friend didn’t tell you everything, then?”
“No, but I can go and ask him right now.”
As he spoke, Micah didn’t show an ounce of hesitation as he turned around and began walking toward Vanitapolis again.
“A-ah?”
Baldas hurriedly unfurled the pair of wings still folded in front of him and flapped all four wings to catch up to Micah.
“W-wait! I was just joking!”
Micah didn’t even look at Baldas and just kept walking toward the town.
“Seriously! Pol in coin form is to make it easier for transactions and exchanges. But humans can absorb the pol into their bodies. They can’t take it back out, and the pol is still consumed at the same rate as if they hold onto the coins. But absorbing the coins can strengthen the bodies of humans until they reach their peak!”