Jax had absorbed a lot of Navi before going to sleep, mostly thanks to using a Navi stone. According to Gemma, most of the stone's energy went to waste since he didn't yet have a skill to absorb Navi just yet. Since he was basically doing something on his own, he was doing it badly.
Still, the rate at which he improved was nearly tenfold that of if he had absorbed it out on the training ground.
To do it properly, he needed to learn a proper method from someone else. As for who, Jax wasn't sure just yet. Jax had already paid the 10 stones to Julian for the week of stay, and now, having used another one, he only had 4 remaining.
He planned on buying some weapons and armor using those 4 stones.
With only about a month remaining before the time to find the Maze and the ticket within it, Jax needed to hurry.
There was no restriction to entering the maze, so he could do it as soon as he was confident enough in his own abilities.
As long as he was strong enough, Jax could leave.
For that, he needed to improve his strength as quickly as possible.
"I need more Navi stones," Jax mused. "I can go work as a porter for high-leveled warriors and sorcerers and get a good amount, or I can go fight some weaker beasts and take all the stones I get."
It was obvious to Jax what he needed to do.
"I would rather keep all of what I get."
Thinking as much, he left the training center early in the morning and made his way to the western gate of the city.
Seacrest City had 4 different areas with monsters.
The western grassland was where the weakest of the monsters were found, with most of them being giant ants and worms.
North of the grassland was the Dead Woods, with lifeless trees. These monsters were slightly stronger, with the main ones being lizards and a slightly corrosive variety of slime.
The Cobweb Forest was stronger than it, with its main beasts being the Great Black Bear and the spiders.
Finally, the area where the strongest beasts could be found was south of Seacrest City, in the sea. The ocean was filled with all types of monsters, and rarely anyone chose to try and hunt monsters there.
Jax decided that he was going to go to the grassland to find the ants and worms. He was certain he would be fine alone. If it didn't work, he could always find a party the next day.
Jax went around the city early in the morning, buying what he needed. The shops opened before dawn mostly since most of the warriors and sorcerers needed to buy items before they left.
Jax bought two blades, one a short dagger and another a longer knife. He wanted a small saw as well, but it would cost him more than a stone, so he decided to work with just the two.
He got 3 metal coins in return, each of which had a crown on one side and an imitation of a face on the other side. These were the lesser currencies used by the people of the Talaris Kingdom that Seacrest City was a part of.
The remaining 3 stones were spent on buying a few food provisions for during the day when he fought, a spare change of clothes, along with a single potion.
Healing potions were expensive. Even the potion Jax had drunk the other day cost a full 3 stones, so he wasn't able to purchase even that. What he did purchase was a potion that stopped a person's bleeding and made them numb to the pain.
It only cost him a stone and a half, the rest of which went to the other things.
Jax had but 5 coins remaining by the time he was done buying everything. By the time he arrived at the western gate, there were a plethora of people who were waiting around for their party members to arrive or were searching for party members themselves.
There were also a few people willing to work as porters.
Jax was a little taken aback to see porters on this side when they would earn so much more on the other side, but it made sense. The Cobweb Forest was too dangerous for just about anyone. The only reason Jax had even gone there was because he didn't know any better.
"Oh, the locomotive has picked up a lot of people, it seems. So many new people," Gemma said.
"How often does the train get new people? If I remember correctly, it took about 90 minutes to reach the other galaxy. How long does it stay in those galaxies?"
"It stays about half a day but tries to pick up at least one passenger from each planet that is inhabited by any sapient species that wouldn't be dangerous to the regular inhabitants of the Celestial Express."
"There are species that are dangerous?" Jax asked.
"Mostly demons," Gemma said. "They tend to be highly combative and corrupted by nature, so they bring a lot of chaos. The Navigator doesn't pick up demons anymore."
Jax nodded slightly. "So how many people does this train take in a single day on average?" he asked.
"Around 20,000 people each day. 10,000 from each galaxy," she said.
Jax was stunned. "There are 10,000 planets with people in a single galaxy?" he asked.
"Not necessarily. Sometimes there is more than a single person from each planet. But generally, yes. Each galaxy has thousands of planets with life in it. So each day, this city ends up getting around a dozen or so new people."
"Wow! The city's population must be a major issue then," Jax said. "How are they handling so many people?"
"The cities generally have just as many people leaving it as there are coming in, so it balances out."
"Oh! To go to the maze?" Jax asked.
"That, or they just end up dying to monsters," Gemma said. "It is a dangerous world out there, after all."