“So why haven’t there been any newcomers in the past six months?”

The clerk sighed helplessly. “These days, fewer and fewer newcomers can make it smoothly from ‘home’ to Stat Island, and most of them are stubborn old conservatives. They’re unwilling to give even a tiny bit to the guild, thinking the guild is taking advantage of them.”

Shrugging, the clerk didn’t bother to hide the contempt on his face. “If you ask me, those people are just trying to muddle through. Every time they go out to sea and find supplies, they use those things to trade for what they need to live, just getting by day by day until they run out, and only then do they go out to sea again.”

“That’s actually the better case—they at least know to save some for the next trip. There are others who absolutely refuse to go out to sea unless they’re on the brink of starvation, and since they have no extra supplies left, they can only bring some fresh water when they do go out… Nine out of ten of those people never come back.”

Ethan understood. Those unwilling to join the guild were probably much like the people who had left his own island before—older, and after arriving here, found life seemed even harder, so they lost all motivation. Making it to Stat Island already felt like cheating death, so every extra day was a bonus… If they couldn’t survive, well, it just meant losing what they should have lost long ago.

“So how do they trade the things they find for food and such?”

“Oh, just head out of here and turn right, follow that gravel path, and you’ll soon see a market. That’s the biggest market on the island; actually, even adventurers who’ve joined the guild go there to trade. Only things that can’t be traded quickly end up here at the guild for storage or to be sold on their behalf.”

“Uh… I see.”

“Now, I need to help you fill out some basic information.”

Ethan nodded. He had already decided to join the guild. If nothing else, the guild could provide a lot of information to help him better understand this world.

“Name?”

“Ethan.”

“Age?”

“Seventeen.”

“Gender?”

“…Male…”

“Height?”

“Uh… never measured…”

The clerk was extremely efficient, measuring and filling out the form in one go.

“Ship name?”

“Uh… well…” Ethan hadn’t named his boat, so he froze for a moment at the question, then pinched his forehead and blurted out, “Goddess of Dawn.”

“Oh~ that’s a great name.”

Once the basic info was filled out, the clerk picked up a white magic stone from the side. Without any visible action, the stone emitted a blue light that scanned Ethan’s face up and down.

Then he used the magic stone to scan the paper where he’d written Ethan’s basic info, and immediately, the paper filled with information slowly disappeared.

Next, he raised his hand and slammed the magic stone hard on the table. With a crisp ‘snap,’ when he lifted his hand, the white magic stone had turned into a white strip about as wide as a finger.

It all happened so fast that by the time Ethan realized what was going on, he could only shout in his mind, “Magic stones can be used like this?”

Then the clerk gestured for Ethan to hold out his hand, and slapped the white strip onto his wrist. With another snap, the strip wrapped tightly around Ethan’s wrist, looking just like an ordinary wristband.

“This will be your guild member ID from now on.” He then gave a brief introduction on how to use it.

The white wristband could be taken off at will, and didn’t have to be worn on the wrist. Since it was very stretchy, it could also be worn around the neck, arm, or leg.

There was no need to worry about losing it, either, since the guild kept a backup of Ethan’s information. If he lost his basic ID, he just needed to go to the hall to get a replacement.

“By the way, if you don’t like white, we can help you change the color, but you’ll have to pay extra for that.”

“What do I need to pay to change the color?”

“A magic stone of the corresponding color.”

“……”

Ethan thought of his own fire-attribute magic stone, which was red. Even if it wasn’t as useful as the water-attribute purification stone, it was still pretty valuable. Yet here at the guild, it could only be used to change the color of a wristband?

“Uh… looks like I can’t afford that service for now.”

“That’s alright. Actually, magic stones aren’t as rare as you think.” Having recruited the first newcomer in half a year, the clerk was in a great mood and chatted more with Ethan. “In fact, the chance of finding a magic stone on any floating island is over eighty percent—it’s just that most people haven’t found one.”

“Really?”

“Really. It’s not exactly a secret, but the guild’s basic introduction to the Calm Sea doesn’t mention it, because it’s a kind of screening…”

“Screening?”

“Yeah, to pick out adventurers with more potential.”

Ethan suddenly felt like he’d discovered a big secret.

“So what do they want the more promising adventurers to do?”