Bountiful Outcome

"He really didn't want to give these to me in the end but man were they worth the blood spilled. I'm already eager to use them in battle." Rain says as his torn up hands grip onto the prize he's claimed.

"Tidal weapons, you're lucky to even get one of them." Serena sighs at a loss for words for Rain's brashness. 

"What do you mean these are rare or something?" Rain says twirling them around in his hands like windmills.

"Well yeah one tidal weapon normally goes for 10s of thousands of credits." Serena says, biting her beak down on her tongue seeing Rain's ignorance.

"Thousands!!?" Rain says with a dopey expression as he stops twirling the blades.

"Is that a lot?"Rain says, still trying to quantify everything lost at the allure of the blades' edges.

"Yes Rain its a ton most people don't have one because of how rare and how expensive they tend to be so count your lucky stars you managed to get one." Serna says putting her stray tentacles to her head trying to soothe her headache. 

"So how do these even work?" Rain says already predicting with the blades slicing through the open waters with as much force as his muscles will generate.

"I swear ill never get used to your obliviousness. It's an incredibly sharp weapon on its own but if you can add enough magic to charge it you'll be able to access its special effect." Serena explains with her palm slamming into her face.

"Oh it's got some secrets to it man the blood spilled was really worth it." Rain says looking at the blood wounds partially covering his body from the fight.

"Yeah not many would be as insane as you to even think of such a thing. Try to keep up now, don't get too distracted with your prize, we still have to report to the collectors in scavengers reef to hear what they have decided." Serena says as she continues to swim in the direction of bright pillars of light in the open dark waters.

"Hey do you see it up ahead, the pearl lights off in the distance? Those are the guiding lights of scavengers reef they help guide thousands of merchants back to the safety of the reef and the business it provides." Serena says letting out a sigh of bubbles as she swims to her sanctuary, a place where she can recover.

"How much do you think they will pay us now you think?" Rain says as he struggles to keep up with Serena's swimming pace, still trying to improve at it but struggling all the same. 

"I'm not too sure and it might not be as easy as you think you just do in two of the regula collectors that tend to take on the higher end jobs. They are going to have to collect tax and other fees before we get our full shell payment." Serena says as she slows down her swimming pace to keep in tandem with Rain.

"Well at least that's something to look forward to. It should be a big payment of shells." Rain says with a bright smile happy to know that his efforts have paid off and helped not just him but Serena too. 

"Still Rain that hasn't happened often there is definitely going to be some dust kicked up from this little deal of yours." Serena says, already imagining the chaos forming the collectors office, having heard of such a happening.

"Nothing the two of us can't handle right? I'm sure you can manage the financial part of things lord knows i would end up getting us faced in the end." Rain says with another awkward smile scrubbing the scales at the back of his neck in the process.

"Yeah please do leave that part to me that fighting is your thing Rain. Last thing we need is you signing something you shouldn't." Serena says with a serious expression already imagining Rain signing anything in front of him. 

"Yeah you're probably right in that regard I would probably just skim through it." Rain chuckles already imagining how to deal with a stack of paperwork just sign everything.

"Exactly. If we're on our way to Scavenger Reef it might do you good to find a teacher." Serena says as she continues her way towards the pillar of lights in the open dark waters.

"For what? I took those two out easily." Rain argues with a laugh seeing how he took out the last two.

"I wouldn't say it was easy, Rain. You should look for a magic teacher anyway. You already found a crystal so you should have a decent mana foundation built up if your body manages to take to it well." Serena says with an unconfident look over the term easy.

"Scavengers reef has that?" Rain asks a little shock for the diversity of supplies and services this one place has managed to provide. 

"They have anything that can make a profit of shells. Rain, it's all about the money." Serena says already knowing full well what home is like for her you can sell the floorboards of your house if you have a buyer. 

"Damn anything. Well if i can get some insight on this whole magic stuff it will probably do me better then just my fists alone." Rain says, reflecting on the moments hes managed to tap into the little magic he already has available to him.

"You really don't know anything do you? Most people search high and low for any sort of chance at having the ability to access magic but it's restricted. You can only start once you have a mana foundation which is normally created through a mana crystal." Serena says ass the start to get closer to the entrance of scavengers reef.

"That's why it's so rare you idiot barely anyone can just get magic." Serena scoffs sighing over Rain's overall lack of knowledge.

"That's why you said I was so lucky to even have this opportunity." Rain replies, starting to piece together his own luck in this situation.

"Ye. It's also why you shouldn't waste any time and get used to using it as soon as possible. It is a tide turner in battle. It can genuinely save your life." Serena says recounting her own moments seeing battles change in the drop of a hat as soon as someone used magic. 

"Yeah you're not wrong at all there it saved me once already." Rain sasys remembering the wall of bubbles that blocked the lethal blow for him. 

"Wait what!?You've already managed to use it…what kind of monster even are you!?" Serena says startled as she crashes out of her swimming rhythm into the sea's sediment. 

"What do you mean, is that not a good thing?" Rain says, rubbing his scaly cheek with his index finger laughing a little. 

"It is a good thing but again for most sane people it takes them months to even manage using a small portion of their magic." Serena says struggling to gather her thoughts looking at rain in wide eyed shock. 

"I used all of it when I ended up fighting those abyssal pearl guys." Rain recounts the amount of exhaustion that hit him after he ran out of air attacks.

"No wonder your life was on the line, that's normally how most people are able to learn how to use it but all of it at once is still abnormal." Serena replies as she guides Rain towards the entrance of scavengers reef.

"We're here now so after the collectors we need to find you a competent teacher. You shouldn't have much trouble getting one if you can already use magic like that." Serena says as she comes closer to the rusted iron gates made of various scrap with aquatic plant life lined to guide people to the entrance.

"Hehe guess I'm a natural prodigy." Rain chuckles to himself at the thought of having not had much talent for anything all his life.

"No you're a monster. I've never seen anyone get a mana foundation and use magic on their first couple days with it, let alone someone who's been asleep for the last couple years. You'll probably scare your own teacher at this rate." Serena says still stunned by Rain's monstrous progress.

"Hehehe good to know, best try and downplay it not to shock anyone." Rain says rubbing his nose trying to be modest.

"Are you dumb!? Always show your strongest side you want people to notice so you can get more hires and jobs. Not just that but people will start to rely on you. Scavengers always had a tough time with pirates, especially the abyssal pearl." Serena squawks out as the too of them sit by the entrance point to Scavenger's Reef.

"Alright alright i'll take note of that." Rain says awkwardly, absorbing Serena's advice the best he can.

"Where here those are the gates into scavengers reef has been made of the toughest metals we can find to try and keep up any unwanted threats." Serena says pointing her thumb over to the gates the two of them have been sitting in front of. 

"You'll need to set up an id in scavengers reef. Otherwise you'll have to always go in as someone else's guest." Serena says with a sigh getting her id ready for entrance verification.

"Yeah that would be a pain in the fins to deal with. Got a lot on my to do list once I got in." Rain replies already recounting the amount of things he has to do once he gets inside.

"You certainly do Rain." Serena says as the two of them approach a burly pufferfish guard waiting for any moment to puff out his spikes.

"Id please ms." He says in a matter of fact way.

"Yes i've got that right here this merman will be my guest going forward, we're setting up his id." Serena responds as she grabs her id out of her scavenging bag.

"Hmph, not a problem if your id is valid." The pufferfish man says with a snort.

"It certainly is, don't you worry. See, there you are." Serena says as she presents a bright pink pearl the size of her palm carved with the merchant symbol and her name.

"I apologise I haven't seen your store before. I didn't know you were a merchant of scavengers reef. Welcome back." The pufferfish man says lowering his hostility to the pair of them in recognition of the id. 

"Thank you, you're all good, you're just doing your job. Thanks for keeping the reef safe." Serena says with a bow before taking Rain by the hand inside. 

"Just my job, Miss but you're welcome." He responds back with a small smile.