Gram’s price for teaching Jax Weapon Fortification was 20 stones. While that was a lot at first glance for Jax, compared to what he had to pay Carlton, it was barely anything at all.
He was quite honestly thrilled to get to learn an amazing skill for so cheap.
The decision was then made to start learning during their hunting sessions for the next few days. Gram didn’t have to do much except teach Jax how one used the Skill.
After a decent bit of self-practice, he would gain the Skill easily.
It was afternoon when Sho decided that they had hunted enough for today. So, following their map, they returned to the village, going back in through the two monoliths on the northern end.
Once inside, they began splitting their loot. The decision had always been to have it be split equally, with the remainder that couldn’t be split going to the leader. Jax hadn’t been counting, so he was curious how much that was going to be.
Sho brought up the number, which quite surprised Jax.
"We have 136 stones today," he said. "I will be passing along 27 to each one of you, with 1 extra remaining for myself. Anyone have any complaints?"
Jax shook his head, and so did everyone else around him.
"Great. Here you go!"
<Inventory Transfer Requested>
<You are being transferred [27 ’Opal Stones’]>
<Do you accept?>
Jax quickly accepted and the money slid into his inventory. With the payment received, there was no reason to stay around, except maybe have Gram teach him the skill right away, but Gram seemed to have prior engagements, so he left quickly.
So, Jax left, deciding to go back and have some meal. He was incredibly famished after a long day of battle, so he returned to the tavern for some snack.
The atmosphere around the tavern was the same as yesterday, and yet today Jax didn’t feel the same sort of bashfulness as he did the other day.
Having learned what he had, the confidence within him was sky-high.
After he was done with his meal, Jax went by to his room to wash away all the dirt, and rest away his fatigue after a long day of battle.
He hadn’t even realized when he took a nap.
Jax woke up before sunset and wondered if he should just lay in bed until he was done with his meal. However, when he remembered all the monster parts he had brought back after the hunt, he knew that he would have to go search for a place to sell them.
"Ugh, I should’ve asked them if they knew where I could sell them," Jax spoke in a low rumble. "Now I don’t know what to do."
"Just ask someone else," Gemma suggested. "It’s a small village, so people should have an idea as to where you should go, shouldn’t they?"
"I suppose," Jax said and left his room.
He went down to the tavern hall, where the owner was busy passing around wine and snacks to the people that came to her tavern to enjoy.
"Dinner isn’t ready for another half an hour," the woman said after seeing Jax and turned around to pick 4 large jugs of wine and brought them out from the back toward a table in the hall.
Jax waited for her to return. "I’m not here for dinner. I just wanted to ask if you knew about something."
"If you have to ask something, then start with the question. Don’t waste my time." She placed the empty jugs she had brought back to the side and pulled clean ones from a rack on the wall.
Jax felt a little embarrassed at her direct words. "I went hunting today and I brought back different monster parts. Where can I sell them?"
The lady pulled out a large jug and seemed surprised at its lightness.
"Neeva!" she called out to the back, and a young woman poked her head out. It was the same woman that Jax had been with on the first night.
"We’re running out of wine. Hurry and go get some," the owner commanded.
"Okay!" Neeva said and walked out of the kitchen, getting out of the apron. She paused in her steps for a split second upon seeing Jax, but it wasn’t long enough for anyone else to notice.
Neeva walked away, and Jax looked back at the owner, waiting for her to answer his question. Instead, she just pointed toward the door.
"Go!" she said.
"Sorry?" The abrupt command took Jax off guard.
"Go follow her. The Wine Hermit will buy your things."
"The wine— oh. Thank you."
Jax quickly turned away and followed Neeva to the door.
Neeva was surprised to find him following her. "What are you doing?" she asked.
"The owner sent me to follow you," he said as he walked beside her. "She said the Wine Hermit will buy some things I have."
"Oh, did you bring back some herbs from the forest?" Neeva asked.
"Herbs?" Jax raised an eyebrow. "No, I just brought back monster parts. Those are the things I’m used to selling."
"Oh, yeah he’ll buy those too," Neeva said. "Let’s go."
Along the way, she proposed the idea of selling herbs as well. "If you’re going to the forest anyway, you might as well grab some herbs. It won’t earn you much, but every little amount counts, right?"
Jax thought about it and found himself liking the idea. It wasn’t as though he would have to take a detour to find these herbs or anything.
All he would really have to do was take an extra second or two to find the herbs on the way and pick them up. But of course, he couldn’t just pick anything random.
He needed knowledge of what could be sold, and what couldn’t be sold. For that, he would have to visit the Ink Hermit again. But of course, that came with its own complications as well.
Jax wondered, did he even have anything interesting he could tell the Hermit about?