It wasn't difficult introducing Rohan to Izzy and Mike, considering they were all around the same age, and it was easy enough to introduce Rohan as 'my student from the Academy with a few difficulties.'
"You are just picking them up hither thither, like strays on the street, aren't you?" Jacob's comment at the end was unwarranted, no matter how close it was.
Yes, he had picked Mike, Deus, the twin fox Spirits, and now, Rohan, like they were Pokemon.
But he had a very genuine reason for this.
The world was going to end soon at the hands of Demons, and he had to be prepared to survive that. It was justifiable for him to use his knowledge of the novel.
Now that all introductions were done, he pulled Jacob aside in a separate room.
"There's something I wanted to talk to you about."
"I could see that." Jacob took a seat on the bed. With how serious Ray's tone was, it seemed that it would take long, and Jacob's knees were hurting.
"Jacob, you are quite an experienced hacker, aren't you? With quite a lot of connections, no doubt, considering you were even able to hack into the Aurum Guild's information network?"
"Is this out of curiosity or an interrogation?" Jacob seemed skeptical of Ray's questions.
Ray quickly shook his head. "Out of curiosity...I plan on forming a mercenary group, and was wondering how good you were at working behind the scenes and information gathering."
"A mercenary group..." He kept brooding over that word, before saying. "You do realise the problems with mercenaries, right?"
"Of course, I know that..."
Mercenary groups were organisations that operated much like the Guilds. They recruited Awakened, hunted monsters and Fallen for money, and sometimes, if the group did well, they could wield quite a lot of influence in society.
However, they both also had their differences.
Guilds, from a legal point of view, came under the Hero League. The League gave them resources such as scouting Dungeons and providing help.
In return, Guilds would report their findings to the League, such as their missions, their discoveries regarding the Dungeons, the Skill Orbs, and manuals in their possession, and would also receive annual audits from the League.
Of course, all Guilds kept some important information to themselves, and the League turned a blind eye to that.
It was basically an exchange of legitimacy and information, keeping each other in check.
Mercenary groups, on the other hand, didn't answer to the Hero League. They were completely free from the scrutiny of the League, meaning no one would care what they did, as long as it wasn't associating with the Fallen or harming the peace of human society.
Of course, since the League couldn't keep an eye on them, the mercenaries had no access to important information and would have to learn everything themselves, and wouldn't receive any help from the League if their group got stuck inside a Dungeon.
To compensate for this weakness, most mercenaries made deals with Guilds, completing the dirty jobs their official members couldn't, in return they got money and information.
This was the perfect set-up for Ray to exploit, considering he had access to a vast pool of information, both from his knowledge of the novel, as well as the EX Skill - Appraisal.
He could find out everything he needed to know about a Dungeon, with just a simple scan and conquer it within a fraction of the time other Guilds would take.

YOU ARE READING
The Transmigrated Professor
FantasyTrapped in his friend's sci-fi novel, the protagonist is possessed by the character Ray Laxon and must navigate a dangerous world filled with dungeons, monsters, magic, and demons. Accused of associating with the villains, Ray and his family face e...