Viridian

Loma couldn't believe his eyes at how easily Jax had killed the lizard. A single spell was used in the entire thing, and it wasn't even that good a spell. He had just wrapped the lizard's mouth and then subsequently killed it.

"Sorry about the mess. It's hard to accurately target the lizard with the axe," Jax said and moved away. "You can still do your thing with this, right?"

Loma nodded slowly, moving closer. He arrived before the dead lizard and brought out his daggers. Then, with Jax by his side, he began teaching Jax how to butcher it.

Each cut Loma made was intentional. Each snip, each stab, each drag was not wasted movement at all. There were no unnecessary actions taken during the butchering process.

As Jax sat and learned, he saw how everything Loma did served to release the hide or the organs from the rest of the body with as much grace as possible. He cleanly dismantled the lizard, taking out its hide and organs, down to its bones.

Jax felt like he learned a lot watching the man.

"So, the very first thing I need to know is the anatomy of the monster, huh? The more I know how its body works, the easier a time I will have," he said.

Loma nodded. "Of course, it's not so simple as to just learn the anatomy of the monster, but that is where you start off."

Since Loma's job today wasn't to be a porter but a teacher to Jax, he took his time, letting Jax observe everything with great detail. Once they were done, they moved on.

They found another lizard next, which they didn't spend as much time on. Then, they encountered a slime.

"Have you fought a slime before?" Loma asked curiously.

"Yes, why?" Jax asked.

"How did you kill it?" Loma asked. "As far as I know, you do not have a good spell."

"I actually haven't killed it yet," Jax said. "I usually just run away since I can't do anything on my own. But I was able to steal its stone the first time, so I intend to do the same today."

Jax brought out a few long threads and tied them around the tree tightly. Then, he started stripping out of his clothes.

Loma was confused. "What are you doing?" he asked.

"Um, jumping into the slime," Jax said. "I'm going to steal those two stones, then we will run away."

Loma seemed unable to decide whether he should take this as a joke or not. What Jax said was so stupid that he wasn't sure how he should take his words.

"You do realize that the slime is corrosive, right? It will destroy those threads. Also, at least get a rope if you're going to do this!"

Jax smiled. "Don't worry. My threads are good enough."

After saying as much, he jumped into the slime. Having done this before, Jax knew how to navigate the inside of the slime. He quickly grabbed onto the stones and poured Navi into his arm, strengthening it before pulling himself out.

He dragged himself to the ground, at which point he quickly took out his dagger and cut the thread where it hadn't been touched by the slime. The clean part could be used for later.

He quickly scraped off the slime around him and looked toward Loma. "We should leave now."

Loma looked at him as if he was looking at a monster.

As they walked away, Loma couldn't help but ask, "Are you sure you're not a Warrior? You fight more like one than a sorcerer."

"I am a sorcerer, but I don't have a good spell for fighting, so I need to get physical. You understand me, right?" he asked.

"No, I do not. I'm a Sorcerer too, without a spell. But you don't see me walking around fighting."

Jax was taken aback. "You're a sorcerer? I thought you were neither."

"I'm technically not a sorcerer yet, but I have a sea of Navi, so that makes me one. I just need to learn a spell and I will be considered one," he explained.

"Wait, wait, wait. I'm pretty sure you said you were never registered. Can you still be a sorcerer without it?" he asked.

"It's difficult, but you can," the man explained. "We just need to struggle until we can go to the next carriage. Then we will be one for real."

Jax was stunned. "I was under the impression that people who weren't registered couldn't do anything at all."

"You're not wrong, but we can also get registered easily by moving up carriages. We don't start with the same advantage you guys do, but it's not that bad either. We just have to work harder."

"I see…" Jax said, turning to Gemma. "You never told me this."

"It never came up," Gemma said. "I would've explained if it came up."

Jax couldn't believe the sass on her.

"Heads up. We have a monster."

Hearing Loma's words, Jax focused on the task ahead and went on to fight.

Jax fought a snake, another lizard, and went through two more slimes. By that point, he had gone through seven monsters and had gotten 14 stones. He just needed one more monster to cross 15 total stones so the deal he made with Loma didn't end up worse for him.

Walking on, he heard some shouting coming from up ahead, seemingly very serious. He rushed immediately to check and see the situation, while Loma lagged slightly behind with his heavy bag.

Jax arrived at a clearing in the woods, where the ground sank a little. At the center was a large mushroom, bluish-green in color, the size of a small house. Surrounding it were a group of five people, each of whom were fighting this very mushroom.

Jax looked at the mushroom, surprise filling him in at that moment. This was it, he understood. He had finally found the thing he had been wanting to find since he got his spell.

This was the boss of the Dead Woods.

The Viridian Mushroom Boss.