#5endless landAI Model: gemini-2.5-flash
Chapter 5 Endless Land
The Adventurers' Guild, that was the official name of the guild Wood mentioned.
The guild's office was located at the end of the main street directly opposite the port exit, making it very conspicuous and visible as soon as you came out. The only confusing thing was that the huge building had several doors. So many entrances, yet not a single sign; a complete novice who didn't know anything would probably get a headache.
Fortunately, with Wood's guidance, Ethan knew he had to enter through the leftmost door, which was specifically for newcomers. Handling membership applications, arranging accommodation for new members, and so on were all dealt with there.
Wood and the others were going to the hall most frequented by veterans to handle some matters. Their ship had sunk, and several crew members had died; all of this needed to be reported, and they needed to withdraw their stored assets to buy a new ship, among other things.
Watching Wood and Rodney gradually disappear into the increasingly dense crowd, Ethan couldn't shake the feeling that Rodney seemed to be glancing at him intentionally or unintentionally, and that look was definitely not friendly.
"Is it because of the magic stone?"
Magic stones are the most miraculous existence in this ocean and the most difficult resource to obtain. As long as you find one, even if you don't use it yourself, you can exchange it for many things you need; they are the true hard currency of this world.
"A fire-attribute magic stone... I wonder what exactly it can do?"
Apart from circulation, the greatest value of magic stones lies in their miraculous effects. For adventurers, the most useful one is a water-attribute purification magic stone. With just one small purification magic stone placed in a barrel storing fresh water, whether it's seawater or polluted dirty water, it will be purified into the clearest, cleanest water.
"It's a pity this one isn't a water-attribute purification magic stone... I wonder what effect this fire-attribute magic stone has?"
He carefully put away the magic stone and tightened the backpack on his back. It contained all his important belongings, most notably the large stack of books the Ancient One had given him.
He didn't dare leave these things on his completely exposed small boat; who knew if someone might just casually steal them.
Walking quickly into the Adventurers' Guild's newcomer reception hall, Ethan found it much quieter compared to the main hall where people were constantly coming and going. He looked around and realized he was the only one there.
At the counter by the main entrance, only one young man stood, enthusiastically waving at him: "Welcome to the Adventurers' Guild! Are you here to apply for membership?"
"Ah! Yes!"
Ethan nodded and walked up to the counter.
"Excuse me, is there a membership fee for this?"
He had actually forgotten about this question before. Living in this world for so long, he hadn't seen any currency-like items and had gotten used to bartering. For a moment, he didn't think that guilds and similar organizations usually charged fees.
"No, there isn't. We only take a portion of the resources when you store items, order or repair ships, or conduct commission transactions through the guild in the future."
Ethan nodded. So they only charged for using the services, which was very suitable for a penniless newcomer like him.
"Actually, even though you don't need to pay anything to join, fewer and fewer newcomers are joining now." The young man opposite, perhaps not having seen anyone for too long, was so happy to see Ethan that he kept talking on his own: "You're the first person to apply for membership in the past six months."
"Ah?" Although Ethan could see it was a bit quiet here, he didn't expect that no one had joined for half a year. Was it inappropriate for him to join so abruptly?
The clerk opposite immediately saw through Ethan's thoughts and quickly spoke to keep him there: "Actually, joining the guild has many benefits. We can provide better ships and help you recruit more experienced sailors—there are quite a few adventurers in the guild who have lost their ships or are on the verge of bankruptcy. Although their situation isn't great, they are experienced. Also, storing and consigning resources can save adventurers a lot of time."
"In short, we will help adventurers solve all their worries so they can focus on exploring the sea and collecting resources."
"What's more, every time an adventurer returns from a voyage, even if they have no harvest, we will provide them with three days of free accommodation and food, allowing them to get sufficient rest before throwing themselves into a new round of adventures with renewed vigor..."
He rattled off a lot, and Ethan felt that the guild was indeed quite conscientious, and there seemed to be nothing wrong with him joining.
"Then why haven't any newcomers joined for half a year?"
The clerk sighed helplessly: "Fewer and fewer newcomers are able to successfully reach Strat Island from their 'hometown' now, and most of them are conservative old fogeys. They are unwilling to give up even a little bit to the guild, thinking the guild is taking advantage of them."
Shrugging his shoulders, the clerk didn't hide the contempt on his face at all: "In my opinion, those people just want to muddle through. Every time they go out to sea and find resources, they exchange those things for what they need to live, taking it one day at a time, until they have almost nothing left before going out to sea again."
"That's still okay, they at least save some for going out to sea. There are also some who won't go out unless they can't live anymore, and because they don't have any extra resources left, they can only prepare some fresh water when they go out... Nine out of ten of those people never come back."
Ethan understood. Those who were unwilling to join the guild were probably similar to the people who had left his home island before. They were not young, and after coming here, they found life seemed even worse, losing their motivation all at once—reaching Strat Island was already like picking up a life, so every extra day they lived was profit... If they couldn't live, it was just losing something they should have lost long ago.
"Then how do they exchange the things they find for food and so on?"
"Oh, you go out from here and turn right, follow that gravel road, and you'll see a market before long. That's the biggest market on this island; in fact, even adventurers who join the guild go there to trade. Only things that can't be traded quickly are brought here to the guild for storage or entrusted to the guild for sale."
"Ah... So that's how it is."
"Okay, next I need to help you fill out some basic information."
Ethan nodded. He had decided to join the guild. Putting everything else aside, the guild could provide a lot of information to help him understand this world better.
"Name?"
"Ethan."
"Age?"
"Seventeen."
"Gender?"
"...Male..."
"Height?"
"Uh... Haven't measured..."
The clerk was extremely skilled at his job, measuring and filling out the form in one smooth motion.
"Ship name?"
"Uh... This..." Ethan hadn't named his ship. He was stunned for a long time when he heard this question, finally pinching his forehead and casually came up with one: "Dawn Goddess."
"Oh~ That's a good name."
After filling out the basic information, the clerk picked up a white magic stone from the side. Without seeing him do anything, a blue light beam shot out from the magic stone and scanned Ethan's face up and down.
Then he scanned the paper with Ethan's basic information on it with the magic stone again. Immediately after, the paper filled with basic information slowly disappeared.
He then raised his hand and slammed the magic stone forcefully onto the table. With a crisp 'snap', when he lifted his hand, the white magic stone had turned into a white strip about a finger wide.
All of this happened too fast. By the time Ethan reacted, all he could think was, "Magic stones can be used like this too?"
Then he saw the clerk motion for Ethan to extend his hand, and then slapped the white strip onto his wrist. With another snap, the white strip tightly wrapped around Ethan's wrist, looking like an ordinary wristband.
"This will be your guild member proof from now on." He then briefly introduced the simple usage of this item.
The white wristband could be taken off at will and didn't necessarily have to be worn on the wrist. Because it was quite elastic, it could also be worn around the neck, arm, or leg.
Also, there was no need to worry about losing it. The guild had a backup of Ethan's information. If the basic identity proof was lost, he just needed to go to the main hall to get a replacement.
"By the way, if you don't like white, we can also help you change the color, but that would require an additional fee."
"What do I need to pay to change the color?"
"A magic stone of the corresponding color."
"..."
Ethan remembered that his fire-attribute magic stone was red. Although it wasn't as useful as the water-attribute purification magic stone, it wasn't much worse. As a result, at the guild, it could only be used to change the color of a wristband?
"Uh... It seems I can't afford this service for now."
"It's okay, magic stones are actually not as rare as you think." Having attracted the first newcomer in half a year, the clerk was in a very good mood and told Ethan a lot more things: "In fact, the probability of magic stones existing on each Floating Island is over eighty percent, it's just that most people haven't found them."
"Really?"
"Really. Actually, this isn't much of a secret, but the basic information about the Calm Sea provided by the guild doesn't record this point, because it's a kind of screening..."
"Screening?"
"Yes, screening for more potential adventurers."
Ethan suddenly felt like he had discovered a big secret.
"What do they do after selecting the more potential adventurers?"
"Do what?" The clerk noticed Ethan's thought and gently shook his head: "It's not what you're thinking... Selecting potential adventurers is to help them grow up quickly, and then let them cross the Storm Sea earlier to find that endless land."
This was not the first time he had heard this legend: that boundless, endless land where tens of millions of people could live in peace and prosperity, was at the end of the great sea. As long as they could find it, they could live happily ever after.
"Could this really not be a deceptive legend?"