A year quietly passed for Jacob in the forests of the Frontier. Shortie had grown to over seven foot tall and mounting him, Jacob felt like a comic book hero.
There were too many ways he could lose his life, so they both stuck to hunting small prey, it had been a slow process but he wasn't sure what he was going to do with his life, his goal for a long time had been to return home but with each passing day it seemed more distant. Jacob had grown strong enough to feel like he could contribute in a fight but for all of his hunting, not much of the animals had a chance of actually fighting back, Shortie's attacks were brutal and he was an excellent predator.
What Jacob really needed was guidance and training, he needed to find a school. There were some things that he wanted that couldn't be found in the wild, companionship other than Shortie was one of them but more importantly, he wanted to feel like he belonged somewhere.
On Earth, his strength was less than average but with the many meals of precious meats and herbs, Jacob had gotten not just strong but buff. As a child he never expected to have muscles, his father was a Fat Manager that sat behind a desk and Jacob knew that if he hadn't been whisked away, it was a fate he would have shared.
While passing through a familiar part of the Forest, a familiar smell came from far away and Shortie rushed toward it with Jacob on his back. The Saddle had seen many days of riding and Jacob was able to sit comfortably on it and not fall, even when he wasn't holding on. Standing on top of Shortie while he hunted wasn't completely impossible but once things got dicey Jacob was already on the ground.
Shortie sped through the trees until he came to a road and a Cart rounded the bend. There was an Old Man smoking a pipe, he had a new cart this time and when he saw Shortie coming toward him, he stopped the Cart.
"SHORTIE!" Zadkeil called out.
Jacob frowned.
"Meat. Meat. Meat." Shortie wagged his tail and several girls came out of the back of the Cart. They saw the large beast and then saw the Old Merchant petting the top of its head.
"So Big!" One of the girls was scrambling out of the back of the Cart when the others were moving back. Jacob recognized this girl, she was Zadkeil's Granddaughter and she had just had her Fifteenth Birthday. She saw Jacob standing beside Shortie. "Who's this?" Her tone turned to contempt.
"That's Jacob, be nicer, had he decided, you would be his bride already." Zadkeil was messing with them both, it made him laugh inside. "You've grown. What have you been doing all this time?" Looking Jacob over, Zadkeil turned his head to Shortie and asked.
"Meat. Meat. Meat." Shortie was still wagging his tail and enjoying the reunion. Jacob pulled out some fresh meat and tossed it over.
"We've spent most of the time hunting, its been a while. I haven't even been into town since you left." Jacob puffed out his chest like he deserved a pat on the back. He felt deflated when no one responded to him. 'Can I get some acknowledgement here?' Jacob's mood soured slightly but he wasn't doing anything special otherwise he would have earned the praise, or so he thought. He had put a lot of hard work into 'measuring up' and with the silence around him, there was little question to his success.
"Grandfather, you can't be serious.. Look at him, its like he's never bathed." She turned her nose away and came up to Shortie, she pet his head while standing next to Zadkeil.
"Perhaps, but, it was he who helped your grandfather last time. Without him, do you think you'd have all those nice presents on my last trip around?" Zadkeil pressured the girl, she begged him to reconsider but eventually, she was forced to apologize.
"Sorry, Shortie, you don't stink." She gave Jacob a stink eye and went back into the carriage.
"My granddaughter," He sighed. "She's usually friendlier." Zadkeil fixed his shirt and sat upright. "Do you have any more Denendo meat to sell?"
"Unfortunately I haven't found another, it seems they are truly rare." Jacob remembered well what the Auctioneer had said, the antlers were likely to become daggers for Assassins and Hitmen. Jacob didn't want people to know that there was a particularly large herd of them three weeks to the northeast. It weighed on him, he might have given a killer a weapon of great power, two of them if he considered the girl he had never seen after that day.
He could still remember the way she smelled, 'like the wild.' Jacob caught himself daydreaming and Zadkeil had already started to move the carriage again.
"You were saying something?" Zadkeil was guiding the Carriage along when Jacob jumped, clearing Shortie's height and mounting him in one go.
"Do you have anything cool to trade?" Jacob asked.
"Cool?" The word was familiar but he hadn't heard it for a while. "I have some interesting things, since you're an old friend, I can let you take a look.
There were hundreds of potions and hides.
Zadkeil had sunk his fortune into restocking on his last few journeys, he now had four carts that traveled on other routes simultaneously. Whenever they passed through the Mazdi passage, they would stop until the others arrived. Traveling was a lifestyle change that Zadkeil was happy with. His three sons and their families ran the others, this was his granddaughter's second trip around since Jacob had met the Old Merchant.
"I'm looking for something to help me train, I want to learn how to fight." Jacob wasn't resolute in his decision but asking was better than not.
"Fighting? I have some technique manuals, but they are all low level." A pile of books appeared and Zadkeil put his hand on top of them.
"Oh, this is a good start. How much for them?" Jacob asked.
"What, do you want to trade? Or just buy?" It was a good question, if he was going to buy, then profit could easily be made but if it was a trade, it had to be something of value. "What 'cool' things do you have?" Zadkeil used air quotes properly, it made Jacob laugh before he pulled some things out.
What caught the Old Merchant's eye first were the sheer amount of treasures that came out. The Cart came to a stop and he stepped off to take a closer look.
"This is nice.." Zadkeil picked up a stone, it was about the size of a head. "This Monster Core is enormous."
Jacob was stunned, "That's a monster core? I always thought those were just something else." A few hundred more cores came tumbling out. "I have these."
Zadkeil's heart couldn't take it, he flinched.
"Are you okay?" Jacob saw the Old Man was speechless.
"Nothing.. Nothing. I should have expect as much from you but you still surprised me again. Kid, what the hell do you do all day?" Zadkeil fumbled through the pile of cores, he pulled out eight that looked alike. "These, these are Ice Beast Cores.. How did you find Ice Beast Cores in this region?"
"I found those in a cave near some other corpses, they had a lot of stuff." Jacob pulled out a set of Earrings, "Give these to your granddaughter." He saw the look in the Old Merchant's eyes and stopped before handing them over. "Its not a dowry, Just a gift."
Zadkeil banged on the Carriage ferociously. "Granddaughter.."
Poking her head out, she seemed confused. "What?!"
"Get over here." Zadkeil sounded impatient, when she arrived he stopped her. "This friend has given me this gift for you, I hope that you will accept it." Passing the Earrings over, he spoke again. "These are very precious, make sure you thank our guest."
She looked at the Earrings, they were exquisitely covered in small precious stones and were in the shape of coils. "What makes them Precious?"
It was like a slap to the face of the Old Merchant, he grimaced in embarrassment. "These are Gemmed Coil Earrings, I've only seen them at auction once before. They are typically for Dragonkin and large beasts that can transform. They are spacial devices like my ring but much more rare, living creatures can be stored in each gem."
Jacob was floored, he had just given away something like that and didn't even know what they were for. Regretting his decision would do no good, he watched as she took out the ones in her ear and put them on.
"Un." She nodded, "Thank you Shortie." Turning to leave, she skipped to the back of the Carriage and disappeared.
'What an ungrateful granddaughter of mine..' Zadkeil looked back at Jacob and smiled. He picked up a single core at random. "This will cover the books."
"Do you have any potions or food?" The pile was still laying out like Jacob could care less about their existence.
"Food? No but, I do have lots of potions." Zadkeil pointed to the ones that were already out, "Are these not what you're looking for?"
"No, no, nothing is wrong with those but is this your whole stock?" Jacob wanted to know if he could get a good deal of them instead of just picking through them at random.
Zadkeil smiled. "Of course, I have lots more. But, I have to warn you in advance that I'm taking advantage of you if you let me take more cores as payment. These are far too precious." Thinking it over, Zadkeil pulled out another book that he wasn't going to sell. It was a reference book, it was a written record of auctions and materials that were highly sought after, along with a brief summary of what they were for, then, he passed it over. "Take it before I change my mind. I can always buy another one from the Capital the next time I'm there."
Jacob looked at the book in his hands, "In that case, I don't care if you take a few off my hands, I honestly don't know what I have that's of value and this book seems like it was the best thing I've picked up so far." Jacob thumbed through it while Zadkeil rolled his eyes and picked up another five cores.
The boy's luck was just too good.
When the Old Merchant was done picking through them, he pulled out several boxes of potions. "That's my whole stock of potions.." he laughed, selling the potions individually would have taken days or even weeks but now he only had to sell five cores and that was incredibly easy.
"Are you sure?" Jacob still had no idea of the material value in things, he was still on the first few pages of the book.
Zadkeil clicked his tongue. 'Che' "I've already told you, by trading for Core's I've already taken advantage, of course I'm sure.. are you?"
They both exchanged laughs and Shortie licked at Jacobs face.
"Meat. Meat." Shortie wanted more.
"Why don't you feed the cores to Shortie?" Zadkeil asked with a curious expression on his face.
Jacobs first reaction was rejection, 'if the rocks were really cores..' His head spun.
Jacob had been feeding Shortie constantly over the past few months, it was like Shortie had become a bottomless pit.
Shortie was still waiting for meat.
Zadkeil picked up a core that was brown, "This is a Beastkin core, it probably came from a humanoid one too." He threw it toward Shortie's mouth like a ball.
Shortie picked it up between his teeth, it cracked..
In the next moment, Jacob was thrown backward by a force, the monster cores scattered along the road for a dozen feet or so before they stopped. Shortie was bursting with energy, there was a visible aura around him that looked like a heat mirage and Zadkeil was thrown a few feet. He stood up and started to dust himself off, "Next time maybe wait.."
Shortie shook his whole body, his ears made a loud flapping sound while he was shaking and the birds in the trees nearby flew away.