"Really? For free?"
The idea that Mel would do anything for free didn’t sound right. He stared at her with narrowed eyes, trying to see if she was lying.
"Of course," she said. "It won’t be anything element-specific, so I won’t need to use an elemental stone, but it will be a good one nonetheless."
Jax considered it for a bit. "How long would it take?"
"You can pick it up around this time tomorrow, along with your armor," she said, feeling around the scarlet obsidian, as well as the bronze-colored handle. "You can go a day without hunting, can’t you?"
Jax smiled. "I’ll make do somehow. Take good care of my axe."
Jax left afterward and decided to head over to the Wine Hermit, where he sold his few things from today, earning another 15 stones.
"No herbs?" the hermit asked in his child-like voice.
"No. I haven’t had the chance to visit the Ink Hermit today," Jax said. "I have some free time tomorrow, so I’ll go and learn then."
The hermit didn’t question how Jax did things. "Do how you want to do things. As long as I get my flower, I’ll be happy."
Jax wondered what the flower did. Was it some magical flower to improve one’s longevity? Or did it perhaps turn back one’s age to become a child again?
Was this flower how the hermits had remained alive for so long?
Jax hoped his questions would be answered tomorrow when he read through the Ink Hermit’s notes on the herbs and plants of the forest. He couldn’t wait for it.
Jax once again didn’t see Mel at dinner. She had been working hard on his armor, which made him wonder if the cost was right at all. Sure, he was risking his life, but he had earned enough these past 2 days to pay for his armor.
He didn’t want to admit it, but an armor of the quality he was promised was too cheap for its price. At least, that was how he thought about it.
After dinner, Jax practiced Weapon Fortification on a few things he had with him, such as knives, daggers, bows, and arrows.
Each thing was of a different shape, which required a level of focus to pour Navi into them. It wasn’t an easy task for Jax, but he found it not that difficult either.
He just had to get used to doing what he was doing long enough that he could do it without any thought. He had trained enough for Body Fortification that he knew what he needed to do.
He absorbed some Navi when he was finally free, training to improve his Navi stage. He did it for as long as he could before he was occupied with some other matters of the night.
The next morning, Jax left early to visit the Ink Hermit.
The large house, built in multiple parts around the oak tree and on the oak tree, was a sight to see no matter how many times one looked at it.
He walked up to the door and knocked on it.
The door opened, and the man named Zane poked his head through it. He saw Jax and narrowed his eyes. "You do not get to come here whenever you want. Leave."
He shut the door on Jax.
Jax blinked at the closed door, stunned at how easily the man had sent him away without even hearing him. He knocked on the door again.
The door opened.
"I told you already. You can’t just come here. You need to—"
Jax pulled out the metal token. "I was told I would get something from Sir Ink if I were to show him this."
The man narrowed his eyes and took the token from Jax’s hand. He looked at it carefully before glancing back at Jax.
"Who gave you this?" he asked.
"The Wine Hermit."
The man sighed. "Alright, come in." He opened the door.
Jax walked in, staring at the wooden house that hadn’t changed a bit since he had been here last time. In fact, it seemed to have only become messier. No one seemed to be doing much cleaning.
"The hermit is busy, so I will complete the deal for you," the man said. "What do you want?"
"I’m looking for books on herbs. Most of the ones around the forest. I want to learn enough about them to help me in gathering them."
"Herbs?" the man asked. "Alright, sit around. It might take a while for me to find it."
"Please, take your time."
Jax sat on the couch and waited. He looked around the place, looking at the various books that were scattered on the table. None of them were placed back on the shelves yet.
He sat around just staring at the wordless covers for a while, but after a short period of time, he got curious enough to see what they had been reading.
He took the first book, which he thought was quite clean and new. He could only wonder how recent the information it held was.
He opened it to take a look inside, but to his surprise, the book was entirely empty. Flipping through, he quickly saw that nothing was written within it.
He flipped through 2 others that were empty as well.
’They’re just notebooks,’ Jax thought. He absentmindedly opened a fourth book as well, and was surprised to find text within it.
He quickly flipped back to the front where the title of the book would be.
"The Recorded History of the Nombian Genocide."
Jax’s eyes narrowed. The hell was a Nombian?
He was about to flip to the next page when the book was taken out of his hands. "You do not have the permission to read this book!" the man said, having returned with Jax’s book.
"I’m sorry. It was just here, so I was curious."
"Next time, remember to ask, so I can say no," the man said, dropping the other book he carried onto the table. "This is yours. Read and leave when you’re done."