A Deal

Jax found two lizards, two slimes, and a snake afterward. He took care of the lizards with relative ease, but the slimes were difficult. Because of how much Navi he had to use to get any stones from them, he chose to leave them alone for someone else instead.

It just didn't feel profitable for Jax to spend more than a fourth of his Navi on just the slime.

He did fight the snake, and it was a rather difficult fight too, but one that he preferred.

The black snake was nearly 10 feet long and thick enough to be as big as one of the large branches of any of the dead trees. It was one of the rarer monsters of the Dead Woods, and one of the more dangerous ones too.

It killed its victims mostly by constricting them with its strong body. If they were nimble and escaped it many times, then it started swinging its thick tail around, trying to slam it onto its opponent.

Its attacks were about as dangerous as the Giant Black Bear in the Cobweb Forest, but it wasn't as quick as the bear, so the people fighting it had an easier chance to dodge around.

Jax was hit once during the entire battle, during which he moved around the snake, making tiny cuts until they became lethal for the snake.

That one hit had surely broken one of his ribs, but he got back up and kept on fighting, finally winning in the end. When he won, he was damn sure that he never wanted to fight a snake again.

Jax returned to the city with earnings of 12 stones. He was quite happy with his earnings and wanted to continue the next day as well.

He returned to the training center first to get washed and get his wounds looked at. After that, he made his way to Loma to learn more about butchering.

The two hours of lessons with Loma were quite helpful to him. This time around, he asked Loma about the lizards and snakes, and Loma was quite surprised. He hadn't expected Jax to kill those beasts all by himself.

"You managed to kill a snake? A lizard is one thing, but a snake too?" Loma asked.

"Yeah, I have its skin with me too. Well, part of it. I tried to cleanly take all of the snake's skin, but it tore in multiple places, and I got rid of those," Jax said, bringing out a piece of the snake skin.

Loma was truly surprised. "You really are capable of fighting them all on your own, aren't you?" he asked.

Jax smiled. "Yes!" he said. "So, will you come with me tomorrow?"

The man shook his head. "How many stones did you earn today?"

"Twelve."

"And how many of those would you be willing to pay me if I were to go with you today?"

Jax paused. He needed four stones at the least to buy his food provisions and potion. And of the remaining eight, he needed to put aside at least two to pay Julian at the end of the week.

That left six, of which he needed one to absorb Navi from to improve his Navi stage. So, the answer to Loma's question, if Jax were to keep nothing in the end for himself, would be five.

That was nowhere near enough for Loma to find it acceptable. Going to the Cobweb Forest with a decent party would get him way more than that, and he wouldn't have to be a porter to a single man who likely wouldn't be able to do anything should another monster attack him again.

"Forget it," Jax said. "I'll just learn from you right here."

Loma looked at Jax, seeing his dejected face. After some thought, he let out a sigh. "What was the answer?" he asked.

"Sorry?" Jax looked at him.

"How many would you be able to give me?" he asked.

"Of the 12 I made today, five if I took absolutely nothing for myself," Jax said.

Loma nodded. He thought for a long moment and said, "The day after tomorrow, I will have my day off from the shop. I was going to go with some other party members, but since you saved my life, I owe you. So, I will go with you to the Dead Forest."

Jax's face lit up suddenly. "You will?" he asked. "But… what about your payment?"

"How's this? I'll take 30% of everything you make. If the 30% ends up being less than five stones, then I take five stones. For that price, I am willing to teach you how to butcher and dismantle corpses in the field. Do you accept it?"

Jax took the man's requirements into consideration. 30% by itself for a porter was absurd, but this man was going to be more than just a porter.

Not to mention, he was also putting his life on the line, going along with a single person. It didn't take much longer for Jax to come to the conclusion that he was okay with this.

"Alright," Jax said. "I can deal with that. The day after tomorrow?"

"Yeah. I have to stay at the shop tomorrow," Loma said.

"Got it! I will be fully prepared for that day," Jax said. He needed to gather a bunch of different weapons for that time. The knife and dagger were beginning to not be as useful against these beasts.

'No, I need to think bigger. I need weapons to last until I leave this carriage,' Jax thought. That would need a bit of a budget.

'I should go check what sort of weapons I can buy now that I have a few more stones. I should be able to get one of decent quality.'

Jax worked in the butcher's shop for a while longer, honing his skills in butchering, de-boning, removing skin, separating cartilage, and whatnot.

Once he was done with it all, he asked Loma for a recommendation for a good weapon shop.

Once he knew where to go, Jax left.