Drifter Recruitment

"So this is the organisation for the drifters?" Rain says as his yellow eyes lock onto the refurbished Bank under a new title the drifters guild. 

"Yeah you get one in every hotspot around the ocean, they're all interconnected through Pearls." Serena explains knowing the process all too well at this point living in the reef for so long.

"Pearls?" Rain says with an index finger to his chin.

"Through the use of mana the pearls have shown to have an interesting application allowing one to be synced to the other and vice versa allowing for a very efficient exchange in information with some of the higher quality pearls you can even have a projection displayed of the person." Serena explains having handled pearls for the last couple years at this point. 

"Does this mean that my drifter ID will be recognised anywhere in the ocean?" Rain ssays already thinking of all the possibilities it will provide him.

"Mostly anywhere some places don't respect drifters so you have to be sharp to where you decide to swim off to." Erin chimes in.

"Why wouldn't they accept drifters?" Rain says.

"Some see the profession as useless mainly the lawless areas where being a pirate is three times as profitable." Erin explains, recounting the past stories she's gone over that have ended badly for others.

"Well I guess piracy will be profitable no matter what world you're in. Can't blame them at all, people gotta eat." Rain says, putting himself in their shoes and probably making the same decision.

"But they could do a legal profession at least." Serena scowls thinking about her past interactions with pirates. 

"Some are not able to and some have been raised in the profession. Don't think all of them are scum, I'm sure they're trying to survive just like us." Rain says knowing full well most people would do anything to just survive or make it to another day no matter the cost. 

"How can you say that Rain after going through the abyssal pearl!" Serena hisses barely able to hold back her fiery temper.

"They are one group of many, they don't represent everyone, I'm sure." Rain says letting his mind stay open and non judgemental.

"Well yeah but they….. Ahhh fine you win this one Rain." Serena says, pulling at her tentacles in frustration.

'No discrimination, that will get you far, kid. This kid definitely seems like a gem in the rough, just what kind of blessing did I receive from the sea to end up meeting him.' Jett ponders to himself trying to get over just how unique of a person Rain is.

"Let's get my drifter ID." Rain says opening the old refurbished bank doors entering a bustling office section with many others swimming around filling out contracts and applications on kelp paper. 

"Then you have to find a mentor for magic Rain." Serena says, rolling her eyes, seeing Rain getting distracted once again.

"Right right can't forget about that." Rain says rubbing his cheek awkwardly trying to burn it into his memory at this point.

Rain walks up to the drifter office seeing a calm relaxed jellyfish woman going through multiple applications with ease. Her eyes go through the applications and paperwork withutter ease before looking up and seeing Rain waiting patiently.

"Oh sorry about that, I was a bit lost in my work, how can I help you sugar." The woman says with a smile as she lifts the brim of her head up as her other appendages manage paperwork.

"I'm here to sign up to be a drifter." Rain says with a warm smile. 

"Ah a drifter, a noble profession. I need you to fill out an application if you don't mind it will go towards building your ID." The woman says as she pulls out a piece of paperwork out of thin water.

"Not a problem." Rain says already prepping his mind for a lengthy piece of paperwork.

Rain fills out all necessary information about his race, sex and age along with combat information and mana information.

"Here you are." Rain says with a bit of sigh hating the whole process of paperwork.

"Wow you have a mana foundation as well that will definitely help with your rank." The woman says with an inquisitive look as she continues to scan over Rain paperwork.

"Alright you're all set up, you're recognised as a F rank drifter, you'll have access to G to D rank missions the more missions you complete the closer you'll get to an advancement test." She explains going over the basics quickly.

"If you can raise your rank you'll get some benefits as of now though the only thing you get is the protection that the drifter rank provides. Say cheese" She say holding up a pearl before it emits a bright flash of light capturing an image of Rain.

"Thank you for all of your help." Rain smiles once again 

"We hope to see you climb the ranks Rain here you are." She says with a tone of encouragement before handing over a cut out piece of quarts etched in with light magic with his name rank and picture.

"Keep an eye out for me, I'll be up there in no time." Rain says holding up the ID as he examines it with wonder. Before hanging it around his neck by the string.

"Alright rain stop showing off we need to get you a mana teacher asap." Serena says already pushing rain on the back out of the Drifters guild.

"Wait so he doesn't have a mana teacher." The woman says curiously.

"No, we're in the process of looking for one currently, do you have any leads by chance." Serena asks with a sigh tired of meeting dead ends.

"We do have one. He's a B ranked drifter he just got back from an expedition. His name is Ezekiel, well Zeke for short. He should be available; he normally hangs around the Vault of books." The jellyfish woman says going through her mental index of potential teachers.

"So a library?" Rain says a little confused by the difference in names.

"No, not publicly available books have become too valuable. You need special clearance and a hefty fee to enter, forget even taking any books out of there." The jellyfish woman says leaning on the desk a little entertained by Rain's cluelessness.

"Wow, things really have changed. Thank you for the information. I'll be heading there now." Rain says with a wave trying to fight against Serena's pushing.

"For now Rain me and Melvin have a story to write if you need any help or have any more stories to sell just stop by, you're more than welcome." Erin says waving off the trio before her and Melvin head back.

"Thank you for all your help so far Erin." Rain says waving the both of them off with a smile.

"Will be seeing you kid don't go dying on us now." Melvin calls out with a smirk.

"Wouldn't dream of it." Rain calls out waving them off and assuring them as the both of them depart ways.

"Well i guess let's get going to the book of vaults hopefully will catch him there still." Rain says still struggling to swim despite his urgency.

"Interesting." Jett says reflecting over what the woman in the guild had said.

"What's interesting, Jett?" Rain asks inquisitively.

"The way knowledge is being stored down here is interesting still using such primitive means of knowledge storage." Jett comments on the change of information storage.

"What do you expect after the flood!? How do you store information then?" Serena says, rolling her eyes.

"We store it digitally, why?" Jett says perplexed.

"That explains a lot the surface dwellers must've made a shift to completely digital storing." Serena says, as things start to make sense on how the surface have kept their knowledge intact.

"Yep, we've managed to create a new net of sorts as well. It's still in development but they plan to launch the public version of the net in the next couple of months." Jett explains remembering the latest developments on the surface. 

"I think we're here." Rain says as he gills struggle to take in oxygen from the intense struggle to swim to their destination.

"Thank you for another day of knowledge. I'll be back tomorrow and as many days as I can until my next expedition." A well groomed merman says, showing clear features of a lionfish.

"No no we should be thanking you, your patronage allows us to keep the lights on, not many come to study nowaday." One of the staff members of the vault of books says.

"If you ever fall into a financial crisis just ask, I want this place to remain here no matter what." The man says as he runs his hands down the sacred place of knowledge.

A toned merman descends the steps of the vault of books wearing an expensive battle suit made of the tough hide of a large fish reinforced with dark jett black scales that reflect part of the ocean.

A frill of thin fins decorate his forearms with a iridescent tone blending in with the ocean almost translucent. A tail fin follows him having an appearance similar to angel wings.

Stripes adorn all of his body and up to his face. Still containing a lot of humanoid features in his face the merman looks down towards the trio with intrigue with a mane of fins covering his head with the same iridescence meshing and blending with the seas with ease.

"Who might you three be?" The man says meeting the eyes of the three of them sitting on the stairs.