Mercenary Guild

It was really easy to lose himself by searching randomly in his scroll. It was a whole new world with a whole new slew of movies, books, and TV series! But he pulled through the temptation.

Although some movies he could already skip, like the Spruce Willie's, they were copies of ones of his world.

With that thought he tossed aside his scroll and focus on his aura, trying to pull it to the surface of his body. It was incredibly hard, even with his perk [Fast Learner I], but its effect wasn't something significant. Yet.

Jaune found out fighting was a pretty big sport in Remnant, so there was no lack of teachers, recordings, and lessons on DustTube.

There were even arenas in the gyms where people could spar. It made sense, with the constant threat of Grimm, people would try to have some measure of skill, or would admire those that did.

He had wanted to go as soon as possible, but he didn't meet the criteria. He needed to master the basics of aura first.

Shield his entire body with aura. It didn't have to be permanent though. Just for the duration of the fight.

Otherwise, there was a pretty serious risk of injury.

There was a problem though, people usually took a month or two in mastering even the temporary version.

With that information, he had wondered how did Jaune master it instantly.

It was there he proved to be part of the main cast.

There were some people with so much aura that they mastered it instantly. They had too much aura and it would leak out and act as a shield the moment they unlocked it.

When he read that in his scroll, he had been dumbfounded. Chances of that were one in a few million people, and considering Remnant dwindling population, he guessed there might not have been more than 200 people with such a trait.

But he wasn't discouraged, he felt that his semblance would help him match up or even surpass that level of aura with [Aura Capacity]. Though, it would take time.

The time he didn't have. As Beacon's admittance test was three months away and he knew nothing about fighting, aura, and most school subjects.

Not only that, but he also had to complete missions if he didn't want to be kicked out of Vale.

Jaune could say with complete confidence that he was fucked.

But he had a plan or part of one.

Step 1- Accumulate as many achievements as he possibly could and stack as many perks as possible. That would increase his advancement of aura if he stacked [Fast Learner I] and [Aura Control].

Step 2 - Work hard.

It was a pretty brainless plan.

But he didn't have any more options.

Jaune couldn't buy transcripts, it was more likely than not that he would be ripped off.

He couldn't wait around Dust till Dawn, firstly because he didn't know when the first episode happened. Second, because they were a franchise with more than ten shops around Vale.

Even if he got lucky and stumbled on the scene and by some miracle managed to helped out, he was sure Ozpin wouldn't even glance his way.

Jaune was pretty sure that Ozpin was only there because of a familial obligation with team STRQ to watch out for their children. After all, why would a have Headmaster go to meet a single student from a Combat School that wasn't even from the same city?

But things changed when he saw Ruby's silver eyes, at that point he decided to offer a spot in Beacon.

There was always a chance that Ozpin had a plan for the original Jaune Arc, as he might have known about his transcripts and let him attend anyway, so it might work just the same if he applied by the traditional routes.

Even then, there was a chance he would not enter Beacon and for that route, he only had one option:

Don't let Emerald use her semblance in the Vytal Tournament, and hope for the best. She was essentially the spark that lit up the explosion that was the Fall of Beacon.

During the time he was wondering, he was also focusing on bringing his aura to the surface of his skin. He had only managed to bring a palm of his hands worth which would snap back in place the moment he lost focus, which was pretty often.

Jaune sighed as he started again. Aura exercises could be frustrating, with that feeling he started again.

-LB-

Jaune was awake first thing in the morning and was on his way to the Mercenary Guild. He wanted to do a mission early so he could get it out of the way and focus on other things.

Jaune also researched how missions worked, it wasn't based on pay, but danger level.

One could get paid ten thousand liens for an E-Rank, but generally, the higher the level the higher the pay. That excluded missions that required certain semblances.

For example, some rich guy had trouble sleeping and was at the end of his rope, so he posted a mission for someone to put him to sleep for a stupid amount of money.

But those missions didn't matter to him as his semblance only focused on himself.

Missions also bought you 'time' in Vale. The higher the mission level, the more you could take between missions.

S-Rank- Six months

A-Rank- Three Months

B-Rank- One month

C-Rank- Two weeks

D-Rank- One week

E-Rank- Two days

E-Ranks were worth so little because they didn't even involve Grimm, it was grunt work and you would even get paid less than If you worked at the company that hired you.

But they were safe and you could work for a day and rest or train the next.

It was at that moment he reached the Mercenary Guild and he was amazed at the building in front of him.

Its entrance was made of glass but its surroundings were made of cement. It was at least fifteen stories tall, not very tall by Vale standards, but it's wider than any building he had seen before, it took at least a couple of blocks.

The lobby was massive, it had a desk several feet long, there were also fancy looking chairs, couches, and tables littered across. What nailed it home was how far the ceiling was, at least a couple dozen feet giving a sense of vastness to the lobby.

Jaune approached the front desk where a light green-haired woman in a business pantsuit said while looking his way, "Hello, how can I help you today?"

Jaune laid his hand on the front desk as he said, "Yeah, um, I'd like to join the Mercenary Guild."

The receptionist gave him a smile, "Okay, let me get the paperwork in order."

He replied, "Sure." He looked at the name tag, "Thanks, Jade."

She flashed him a smile, and said, "Be right back."

The next half an hour passed with Jade explaining the paperwork and him just nodding along and signing.

That was until Jade asked, "Would you like for the Mercenary Guild to look for a teacher for you?"

Jaune tilted his head and asked in a confused tone, "What? Like for free?" He wasn't expecting that, so far he felt like the Mercenary Guild's only importance was money.

Jade nodded and explained, "Not exactly free." A there it was, "Depends on the teacher."

Jaune was a bit skeptical, but after some thought, he realized it was just good marketing. They could create a tighter community around the guild while also making better mercenaries and reducing the risk of death.

They also made more money by having better mercenaries because they took higher-ranked missions.

In the end, he nodded and said, "Sure. I'd like to get a teacher."

Jade then asked, "Okay, do you already have a fighting style?"

He didn't have Crocea Mors with him as he expected to do grunt work, and it would only slow him down.

So he said, "Sword and Shield."

Jade types it in and after a moment, she said, "Okay, I'm not supposed to say this," She looked at her sides as if making sure it was safe and continued, "but teachers are only, at best, in two of three categories."

He was a bit bewildered as she was saying this but he wasn't going to throw her kindness away, so he listened to Jade, "They are: good, tough and expensive."

Jaune leaned forward a bit and said in a quieter voice so the secretary that just arrived wouldn't listen," I prefer good and tough. "It didn't seem she did, good thing the front desk was so long.

Jade nodded and went towards the printer and took a paper out of it and as soon as it was out, marked a few things and passed it on to him.

He took a glance, noticed a few names underlined, and tucked it away in his jeans.

Jaune smiled at her and said, "Thanks for helping me out."

She gave him a small smile, "No problem."

He was about to say goodbye and she expected it too, but he had come here for a mission so he asked, "Can you help me pick a mission?"

Jade replied, "Of course."