After the evaluation, both Cain and Jade were told to wait twenty-four hours.
That was the rule.
Results, departmental assignment, location-none of it was decided immediately. Requests could be made, preferences stated, but they only nudged probability. Nothing was guaranteed. Nort City required divers constantly, far more than towns ever did, but even that wasn't certainty. Cities burned through divers like tinder. Towns usually maintained one or two teams at most. Villages had none. If something went wrong there, they sent word to the nearest town and hoped someone arrived before it was too late.
That imbalance existed for a reason.
Most divers didn't last.
Some broke early-during their first or second dive-when what they experienced beneath the surface never really left them. Physical agony drove some mad. Mental torture hollowed others out until they stopped reacting altogether. Some became reckless, mistaking survival for invincibility, and died to beasts that should have never been challenged head-on. Others simply retired early, worn thin by years of exposure, leaving service in their forties or fifties with bodies that felt decades older.
Jade pushed the thoughts aside.
Overthinking wouldn't shorten the wait.
He and Cain left the library together, stepping back into Nort's streets. The city felt larger now that he wasn't just passing through. Roads branched endlessly, buildings rising higher the closer they moved toward the center. They passed two churches-stone structures heavy with ornamentation, bells hanging silent above wide doors. Houses clustered around them, followed by workshops, shops with open fronts, and narrow alleys that smelled faintly of metal, oil, and old water.
Eventually, the noise thickened.
The market.
It was louder than anywhere else they'd been so far-voices overlapping, merchants shouting prices, the clatter of carts and baskets. People moved in uneven currents, stopping abruptly, weaving around one another with practiced ease. Jade felt the tension in his shoulders ease just slightly. Crowds like this made it easier to disappear.
They found a stall without much trouble.
Food arrived quickly, steam rising from bowls set onto rough wooden counters. Jade ate without comment, letting Cain talk when he wanted, listening when he didn't. By the time they were finished, neither felt like lingering.
They decided on an inn for the night.
Before that, they returned to the library to request a visitor's map. Libraries weren't just archives. They were stations, rest points, coordination hubs, and, for some divers, homes. Those who worked directly under them were called 'librarians'. Churches had their own divers as well, 'saints' who operated under a different doctrine entirely.
Libraries also had another branch, mainly of depth 0, called Historians, as the name suggests, the studied history, mainly the one before existence mutated. They also were responsible for keeping tracks of mutated books and locations, though most of them were buried or far from any civillization.
The two institutions had never agreed.
Libraries fought the mutate-contained it, studied it, killed those who lost themselves to it. Churches treated it as punishment, something to be endured, fended off, but never fully opposed.
Jade took the map without comment and folded it carefully.
They found an inn not far from the market. One room for a day cost them a hundred pennies. Jade paid, noticing only after that Cain's coin pouch felt lighter than it should have. He didn't mention it.
Inside, Jade claimed the bed nearest the wall.
As soon as he sat down, he reached into his bag and pulled out the glass vial. The mutate inside bubbled faintly, more active than before-perhaps reacting to distance from its source. He uncorked it and drank.
Nothing happened.
No burning. No pressure. No familiar discomfort.
He didn't even feel it go down.
Jade stared at the empty vial for a moment before setting it aside. After waiting in silence and feeling nothing change, he picked up a book and resumed reading, letting the words carry him until exhaustion finally took hold.
Morning came quietly.
Jade woke, went through his routine, and left the room. In the inn's hall, he accepted a cup of tea, drank it slowly, then stepped back outside. The library loomed ahead, massive and unmoving, its presence dominating the surrounding streets.
A noticeboard stood near the entrance, larger than any he'd seen in Bertha. He glanced at it briefly, then followed one of the marked routes on his map.
The disappointment came quickly.
The mutate pool assigned to the area sat too close to residential buildings. Worse, a mirror had been positioned to observe it. Borrowing from it would draw attention. Jade turned away without lingering, folded the map, and changed direction.
At a nearby shop, he purchased an empty book and two small glass vials. Nothing else.
Back at the inn, he spotted Cain eating breakfast. Jade nodded once and went to his room. Sitting at the small table, he opened the new book and began writing. The pen moved steadily, stopping only when his thoughts did.
By midday, he closed it.
Jade left his room and knocked on the door beside his.
A pause.
Then footsteps.
Cain opened the door.
"It's time for the evaluation results," Jade said.
"Give me a minute."
The door closed again. Jade leaned against the wall beside it, waiting in silence, his head resting lightly against the wood. When the door opened again, Cain stepped out, dressed more neatly than before.
Jade glanced down at himself.
Formal clothes. He'd slept in them again.
He'd only owned two sets of casual clothing back in Aran. He hadn't gone to celebrations. Hadn't seen the point. Mocking himself silently, he decided to buy more after this was over.
They left together.
There was still time left on the room, enough to collect their things and leave without penalty. The library doors swallowed them once more.
This time, the evaluator sat at the desk.
He looked up and smiled.
"You both pass," he said. "And you'll be assigned here. Team Four."
Relief settled quietly.
"Get your things," the man continued, "and come back. I'll show you around."
Jade and Cain exchanged a glance.
Then turned to leave.