Single Spell Sorcerer-Chapter 135: Carlton’s Worth

Carlton looked at Jax weirdly. "You want me to join your party?" he asked.

Jax nodded. "Yes, we need a fifth member and—"

"Alright, pay me," Carlton interrupted.

Jax blinked in confusion. "What am I paying for?"

"For joining the party of course."

"Why should I pay you to join the party?" Jax asked, his voice rising slightly. This wasn’t how party recruitment worked anywhere he’d been.

"I get paid for everything, not only joining the party. If I do join a party, I want to get paid for every spell I use." Carlton’s tone was matter-of-fact, as if this was the most natural thing in the world.

Jax frowned. "Are you being serious right now?"

Carlton grinned. "You’ve seen how great a fighter I am, so you’ve come to get me to join. If you want that, then you’ll have to outbid everyone else who wants me to join their party. You see, I’m quite popular around here."

Jax thought for a moment, trying to process this unexpected development. He’d traveled for a week to reach this place, expecting a simple conversation about helping each other. Instead, he was being treated like a customer at a market stall.

"Are you close to reaching the first Emerald stage?" he asked, hoping to at least confirm Carlton’s Navi Stage.

"I’m already in the first Emerald stage. Do you want me to join or not?"

"I do," Jax said slowly, "but I need to think longer."

He couldn’t have a person in his party that continuously asked to be paid to do what a party should always do. The whole point of being in a group was mutual support and shared goals, not some kind of employment arrangement. What would happen in the middle of combat if Carlton demanded payment before casting a life-saving spell?

Carlton shrugged. "Take your time. I’ll be going nowhere anyway."

Jax returned to his room and spent the evening thinking about what he wanted. He didn’t want someone so full of himself to join the party, but yet at the same time, he knew that there had to be something that was bringing forth that confidence in Carlton. People didn’t just demand payment for something as collaborative as becoming a party.

’Why is he like that?’

He wanted to check before making the decision.

The next morning, Jax waited for Carlton in the hotel lounge. The red-haired young man appeared early, looking refreshed and ready to leave. He wore the same clothes as yesterday, or at least similar ones. He frowned upon seeing him since these weren’t clothes meant for someone who was going to be fighting battles. They were far from flexible.

Jax walked up to him as he headed for the exit and was noticed by the young man.

"Have you made your decision?" Carlton asked.

"No, I want to see first how good you are first," Jax said.

Carlton looked surprised for a moment, then shrugged. "Alright, come watch me."

The two left for the gates where groups of adventurers gathered each morning to form parties for various expeditions. The moment they stepped into the area, people immediately turned toward them, pointing toward Carlton.

Immediately, the entire surrounding groups of warriors and sorcerers had turned their attention to Carlton, who seemed familiar with this kind of attention. Jax wasn’t even the focus and yet he wanted to hide somewhere.

"Carlton! Over here!"

"We need you today!"

"Carlton, name your price!"

Before Jax knew what was happening, people were already bidding on him.

"Thirty Opal stones!" someone shouted from a group of four adventurers.

"Forty!" another voice called out from across the square.

"Fifty!"

The bidding continued higher and higher. Jax stood there confused, unable to tell what they were betting on him so much for. Carlton stood calmly in the center of it all, his smile growing wider as the price went up. He didn’t even look particularly impressed by the escalating offers.

"Sixty!"

"Seventy-five!"

"Eighty!"

"10 Emerald stones!" someone finally called out.

The crowd fell silent. That was equivalent to a hundred opal stones, far more than what most people had to spend on a single expedition. Jax’s jaw dropped. The man hadn’t even gone hunting yet, and somehow he had already earned 10 Emerald stones.

How could this be?

Carlton walked over to the man who had won the bid. He was older, perhaps in his thirties, with the weathered look of someone who’d seen many trials. His equipment was clearly high-quality, and the three party members behind him looked equally well-equipped.

"Do you have space for another individual?" Carlton asked, gesturing toward Jax. "I have someone who wants me to permanently join their party. I need to show them how expensive that can be."

The other man looked toward Jax with mild interest, sizing him up quickly. "I can accept another person. It will be a six person party but that should be fine. I should warn him though that he won’t be helping much and will likely not earn much of anything in the end."

Carlton turned toward Jax. "Is that okay with you?"

Jax thought for a moment and nodded. He needed to see just what it was that made Carlton such a must-have in their party. The reason why he was so confident of his own worth.

If people were willing to pay 10 Emerald stones for a single day’s hunting, there had to be something extraordinary about his abilities.

"Fine," he said. "Let’s go."

The party leader nodded.

Carlton walked up. "Crimson Prairie, right?" he asked.

The leader nodded. "Please, lead the way."

Carlton nodded and began walking.

Jax followed, watching closely as to how Carlton was treated by everyone in the party. He turned around, seeing the disappointed faces of the many that had failed to win the bid on Carlton.

’10 Emerald stones,’ Jax thought. ’That’s the equivalent of defeating 2 bosses. What can he do that makes him worth that much?’

Jax couldn’t wait to find out.

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