As the days passed, Jax got better at everything.
He was much better at hunting now, so much so that he was sure he could survive in the forests on his own. There would be cases where he might have to run away, but that was unlikely in almost all cases due to how he had gotten used to fighting these monsters.
The only beast he might have had any issues with was the Giant Mud Slime since none of his attacks worked on it, but Jax had fashioned a sort of net with his strings so that he could catch onto the stones within the slime’s body and steal it without even having to go in himself.
Jax had also improved in butchering, but his improvement had shown more in recognizing herbs. He could now recognize almost every herb within the book he had, save for a few he had yet to find.
Those seemed perhaps too rare for him to find to begin with.
He had also learned the new skill ’Weapon Fortification,’ so he could now deal way more damage at every strike, leading to the hunts ending faster.
After activating the skill, he could empower any weapons he had, or anything he considered a weapon.
Upon learning about the skill, he had started trying out to see if he could make use of his threads as weapons, but he was struggling to do much with it.
As of now, he couldn’t yet consider it a weapon. He needed to continue learning.
While much had improved, things had remained mostly the same as the first week for Jax. He went on a hunt every 3 days, and on the 4th day, he took a break.
On break days, he either just rested around in his room or went out to check on Mel and her new equipment she had made. He regularly commissioned her for different weapons and armors, just so he could pay her the money.
In the past 2 months, he had paid close to 1500 stones, so it shouldn’t be more than a month or so before she was done with her quest. It would’ve been a lot faster if Mel could make everything faster, but she couldn’t speed things up just because she wanted to.
Making proper weapons and armors took time.
While Mel would soon complete her quest, Jax still had no idea how he was supposed to complete his. He had not yet found the Lakeborn Monkey, let alone fight it.
His only chance would be if he seriously searched for it, like he had searched for the Spider Queen’s lair.
There had been one change in Jax’s life that he wasn’t so happy about. He had been kicked out of the tavern around 3 weeks in, so he had to find another place.
After the first week there, he had downgraded to a simple room that cost 2 stones a day. However, that hadn’t stopped the women from finding a way into his room at night.
He had rarely spent any nights alone for the first three weeks, but after that, the owner couldn’t stand it at all.
"You’re bad for business," she said before asking him to leave.
Jax had no choice but to do so. And since then, he barely had any company at night, except on a few occasions when Neeva sneaked away into the tavern he was staying in to meet him.
That had been maybe 3 times since he had been kicked out.
During the first few days, Jax had been worried about what he was going to do now that no one would come for him. However, along with the loneliness at night came a sense of freedom.
Every night, after dinner, he could spend his time absorbing more Navi, and then immediately go to sleep. He no longer woke up lacking sleep.
He didn’t mind that.
It took Jax 2 months to reach the 5-Star stage. It was partly his fault for not focusing on it as much during the first 3 weeks, but once he had the time to, he had improved so very quickly.
At his current speed, he had a feeling that he could reach the next stage in less than 3 months.
Jax had seen a slow decrease in population in the village for the past 2 weeks, as if the village had been breathing out slowly, releasing that which it held inside.
People always left the village to go to the outer city. They were either bored or wanted to visit the other cities.
Jax had always wanted that, but he couldn’t leave just yet. Once he completed his quest, he could leave.
With all the people leaving, while Jax knew that was happening, he never thought it would ever come to affect him at all. However, it changed when his own party decided to leave.
"Come with us, Jax," Cici said. "Our party is like clockwork. We work so well together."
"I’m really sorry, but I can’t," Jax said. "I must stay back. Even if I wanted to leave, I couldn’t."
"What is your concern really?" Sho asked. "Is there something we can help with?"
Jax shrugged. "Perhaps, but I don’t think it would be a good idea for me to ask it of you. Truth is, I’ve already decided to become a party with Mel for a long time now. So unless we have room for 2, I can’t come with you."
"But—"
Sho stopped the others from talking. "You have made your decision, and I will respect it," he said. "I wish you all the best with this decision."
Jax nodded. "Good luck to you all too. Leave the forest safely."
Sho nodded.
They parted there, the party of 4 leaving all on their own. Jax didn’t have to worry about them though, since they would be leaving in groups of many people for their own safety.
He simply turned and returned to the village, where later today, the new batch of newcomers would be arriving from the 10th Carriage.