Micah considered putting Baldas back in his grave, but he restrained himself.
"No."
Micah's chilly smile let Baldas know that it was time to stop playing around.
"Ugh, okay."
"Well?"
"I'm sorry for laughing at you. But your suggestion was a little humourous. So, I couldn't help it. Still, I went too far."
"What was so funny about it?"
"There's no mastering your ability. It is part of your soul, so your ability is what your ability is. Your case is a little special since you had a forced awakening. But the HR- System is just going to help you get used to using your ability until you can do it on your own."
"..."
"Sure, learning how to use it in different ways and situations might make it look like you have increased your proficiency or improved the ability a little. But if your ability is to shoot fire out of your hands, that's what you can do. You won't magically be able to shoot water just by getting better at using your ability."
"Then what's going on with my ability? Is it just a book with one filled page on it now because the awakening failed?"
"After thinking about it a little, I have come to a conclusion. My initial estimations regarding how much pol you needed were clearly way off."
"So?"
"And there is one way an ability grows stronger."
"Can you stop stalling and spit it out already?"
"With more pol, you should be able to unlock more pages."
"It's that simple?"
"Yeah. Usually, your body awakens an ability after being saturated by pol. But I forced your awakening long before you had enough. Though, I don't think you would have unlocked all pages at once, considering how many there are. But as long as you accumulate more pol, it should be fine."
"If that turns out not to be true, do I even need to tell you what happens?"
Baldas sighed.
"No. I know. You don't have to worry. Hell will lose one loyal servant. But I don't think I'm wrong this time."
"You didn't think you were wrong about how much pol was needed for the forced awakening."
"..."
Baldas didn't have a response to Micah's painfully solid retort and just flapped his wings, depressed.
"Well? Now what? I don't think your Persuasion, was it, will work on the plants."
"We'll have to gather pol. Enough to unlock another page and hope it has something useful. If it doesn't, we'll just have to find another way to reach Pride. Though, we could also try and find out why Rego thought speaking Pride's name would give him power."
"Rego?"
"The friend I told you about."
"Right."
"You're coming with?"
Micah asked the question since Baldas flapped his wings and flew alongside him as he walked toward the town.
"Why not?"
"Didn't you say it would be bad if you were seen with me?"
"Oh, I just said it so that you wouldn't force me to come with you. But as long as we don't talk about the Hell Restoration Project among other people, it should be fine. Besides, I'm curious about how you got so much pol in only a few hours."
"Fine. But if you spill the beans, you're taking the fall."
"Yeah, yeah."
After Baldas waved away Micah's threat, the two moved toward the town in relative silence. Micah was thinking about what to do and how to gather enough pol for his second page. He also had to figure out a way to reach Pride if his second page turned out to be as useful in that regard as his first page.
Baldas' curiosity grew the closer they got to town, and when Micah was greeted by a bowing Rego, he couldn't help but be astonished. Micah had been in Hell for nearly a day, and he had already gotten more than a silver coin's worth of pol and at least one seemingly loyal subordinate.
Baldas realized that Hell had chosen the perfect candidate for the Hell Restoration Project Manager position. And he began feeling hope for Hell's restoration for the first time in what felt like forever.
"Greetings, boss!"
"Yeah, good work, Rego. How's the progress?"
"Dennis is willing to submit, at least on the surface. Chris is resistant. And Artholomew wants to play a game of chess with you before surrendering."
"Good. And the building?"
"I have found three buildings that seem suitable to use as headquarters. But they have different prices and are a little different. So, I await your final decision."
"Mmm. Take me to the first house."
Rego obediently led Micah to the first house, which was a decently fancy villa. But it seemed a little too unmodern and didn't quite fit Micah's likes and intentions.
The second building was a large cube that took minimalism and modernism to the extreme. Micah almost reconsidered Rego's position as the number one underling after he brought him there. But when he heard the reason, he stopped having those thoughts and instead thought about praising Rego for having such great insight. But he didn't say anything other than to ask Rego to make sure that no one else buys it, which, although it seemed unlikely, wasn't impossible.
And they finally arrived in front of the third building, which was a low-rise building, barely higher than the villas around it. It was probably one of the bigger houses in the town. It was just that the town was so small, and there weren't any really big buildings.
However, Micah liked it. With how things worked, it seemed like a possibility to remodel the house in the future when Vanitapolis grew.
Well, that was a matter for the future. For now, it was a large building that had a lot of rooms and beds, as well as a penthouse for Micah.
"Let's get this one and make sure that no one grabs the cube. That one is going to be important in the future. Also, go around gathering those who want to live in a decent room with water and nice beds instead of sleeping on the streets. The rent is one coin a day for the first ten. After that, it's two coins."
"Yes, boss. It's just that we don't have enough coins at the moment to buy this one. So, we'll merely be occupying it. We won't have access to running water and nice beds just yet. It will just be bare rooms and broken faucets."
"Alright, let's gather coins first, then."
After speaking, Micah moved toward the house where Rego's former group had stayed.
"Boss?"
"Yes?"
"May I ask what the deal with that eyeball is?"
"No."
"Yes, boss."