The Transmigrated Professor

As night descended over the Capital City, two figures emerged silently on the roof of a skyscraper.

“Are you sure you can do this alone?” Ophelia asked Kyla one last time, as the two overlooked the Hero League Headquarters.

“Sure? Pfft!” Kyla laughed at her friend’s question. “I am the youngest member to get accepted into the Beastmen Warriors. I can do this rescue mission in my sleep.”

“Alright. And make sure you rescue Amara without having your cover blown. Otherwise, we both won’t be able to go back to the Academy.” Ophelia once again reminded her about the importance of their mission.

A few weeks ago, the Humans had detected the Elves trespassing in their Dungeon and had captured one of them for information. She had been locked up in the League prison, being interrogated for information until now.

Fortunately, with her Moon-based Assassin powers, Amara was able to resist the Interrogation Skills of the Leagues’ Heroes. 

Having exhausted their current resources, The League was now relocating her to a special prison, designed to contain and interrogate the Fallen and other Awakened criminals. The interrogators there were much stronger than the ones at the Headquarters, so the League was hoping to force into her memories and directly access the information.

That is why, tonight Kyla and Ophelia were dispatched to rescue Amara before she can be transported to the special prison tomorrow. 

Kyla pulled a ski mask over her head. 

“Is that necessary?” Ophelia raised an eyebrow at her friend’s questionable tastes.

“WHAT?! We obviously got to go with cliches when committing a crime.” Kyla looked at her as if she was the weird one. There was a hint of excitement in her voice.

“Is that so?” Ophelia glanced at the rest of Kyla’s clothes. With her sports bra and shorts, she looked like she was going to the gym instead of trying to break out a prisoner.

“If there’s any problem while finding Amara, just send me a messenger butterfly. I will pause time so that you guys can get out safely.” Though to be honest, she doubted there was any need.

Her friend may be overconfident, but it wasn’t unwarranted. The League won’t know what will hit her.

“Be right back.” Kyla winked, giving her a two-fingered salute, as she free-falled from the roof.

“Guess I will have to just wait here for now.” Ophelia opened her smartwatch to pass the time. Unexpectedly, her messenger was flooded with messages from their friend and classmate at the Academy, Miyu.

They had given her the slip at night to do this mission, and it seemed like she mistook it for the two of them hanging out without her.

“Hey!(✿◕‿◕✿)”
“Where are you guys?!!”
“You guys left me alone again!!!! ＼（〇_ｏ）／”
“＞︿＜You guys are having fun without me, aren’t you?”
“You promised you won’t do this again!!!”
“WAHHHHHH!! (┬┬﹏┬┬)”

Ophelia quickly responded, knowing that the messages wouldn’t stop unless she did so.

“Sorry…Something came up.”
“We had to go back quickly…”
“I promise to make it up to you later…”
“BYE!”

‘Let’s just hope this mission gets over successfully.’

 

*****

Back on Indigo Street, the lights in the underground were on. After dinner, Ray had told everyone not to disturb him as he would be busy with some research.

On the desk, with a notebook open in front of him, Ray was writing down notes for the future. Now that the problem regarding his imminent survival was over, he had to focus on his long-term goals.

According to the novel, a Second Catastrophe will soon descend upon Earth, bringing about many changes. 

Firstly, the mana density of the Earth would spike rapidly, causing more people to get Awakened. 

The second change would be the increasing ease of moving up in Ranks experienced by Awakened, although it won’t be by much.

The final, as well as the most dangerous change that will occur, would be that Demons will finally be able to walk the Earth, rather than just manipulating the Fallen they have made contracts with to do their bidding.

Taking all these changes in mind, Ray had to make a perfect plan with the information available to him, otherwise, Humanity would soon find itself on the path to ruin.

“Well, there’s also that in the Fae Forest, but I can focus on it later.” Ray noted down the final point in his notebook.

‘Since I am inside a novel, should I follow the logic of novels, as well?’ 

Being a huge fan of fantasy novels, Ray was quite familiar with the ridiculous logic of the transmigration-genre.

Caring mothers would blame illegitimate children for the infidelity of their husbands.

Wise princes would dethrone their educated crown princesses, well-versed in political and management studies, for dumb daughters of barons, whose only redeeming qualities are their ignorant smiles and the harem of mindless boys that follow them.

Similarly, the way to defeat the Demon King has always been the same in every novel - to form a party of Heroes. Of course, Rhian, the true protagonist of this novel, would be building his own party at the Academy to defeat the Demon King. 

However, no novel ever said that there can’t be two parties of Heroes at a time.

But now begs the question, how should Ray form his party of Heroes?

In fantasy novels, these parties were usually filled with novices who would go on various adventures to increase their strength, and on their final quest, they would defeat the Demon King and save the world.

“If it's novices, Ryder and Mike would be perfect for it, since they just Awakened their powers. Lilliana hasn’t Awakened yet, but she will be a good addition too.” Ray remembered the various characters he had encountered in this world. 

“But I will have to find more members to balance the party. Since it’s an unconventional Second Party of Heroes, I can’t add just anyone. Mike, Ryder and Lilliana are perfect since they were future villains or non-existent characters in the novel, whose fate has been changed from the novel. Now who else can I change from the novel, without affecting the development of Ryder and his friends.”

Suddenly, one person crossed his mind. It was someone Ray had always thought to recruit but had always kept delaying it.

 

*****

 

Outside the office of Jaoquin Hernando, the President of Star Academy, a particular student was pacing back and forth, as if trying to decide whether to go in or not.

Rohan reached to knock on the door but then took an indecisive glance at the drop-out form in his hand, let out a loud sigh, and went back to pacing back and forth again.

Inside, the President let out another loud sigh. 

As a S+ Rank Hero, he had long detected the student outside his office. After Rohan’s hundredth “attempt” to enter, Jaoquin finally gave up and opened the door himself.

“Mr. Claeg, if you have something important to think about, why don’t you take a seat inside my office and do it comfortably? I am afraid you might scare the other students from coming to my office.”

Rohan let out a soft “Sorry!” as he entered the office in embarrassment.

“Now tell me, what is it you wanted to discuss that made you stand outside my office for the past hour.” Jaoquin asked, taking his seat.

“I wanted to give you this.” Rohan shyly pushed forward the form in his hand avoiding the President’s eyes, as if he had committed a grave crime.

“Hmm, you want to drop out of the Academy…Why?” Jaoquin asked, as he looked over the form.

“I believe I am not fit to be part of such a prestigious Academy with my powers.” Rohan timidly explained.

“Hmm. True. A Hero who can’t control his powers will never be able to help others.” Jaoquin, being the realist he was, could only give his student the cold, harsh truth. 

“However, you should know, if you keep being scared of your powers, forget being a Hero, you won’t even be able to function as a member of society.”

“Why don’t you give your decision some more thought and tell me your answer later.” Jaoquin handed the form back to Rohan. “I can even assign a Professor to give you after-class training if you feel that might help.”

“I will think about it.” Rohan meekly answered as he exited the office.

As much as having Skills was hyped by society, the reality wasn’t as beautiful as they thought. Many couldn’t shoulder the responsibility their powers brought and usually isolated themselves in a spiral of depression and anxiety.

Jaoquin was giving the boy a chance to not walk the path of self-destruction, but experience told him that the answer he would receive the next time might not be so different from the one earlier.

He could only sigh at his inability to help the poor boy.

 

*****

 

Sirens rang across the entire building as Kyla and Amara escaped the underground prison.

Kyla had long already crushed the anti-mana shackles to pieces, allowing  Amara to cast her Veil of Invisibility spell on the two of them and letting the two move around undetected. 

However once they reached the exit, a problem faced them. 

Due to heightened security, a huge barrier covered the entire building, preventing anyone from entering or exiting.

After a quick survey of their surroundings, Kyla instructed Amara. “Listen, I am going to punch that barrier and break through. You take this opportunity to sneak out, alright?”

“But, what about you? The moment you do, all the Heroes will be focused on you.” Amara asked her in worry.

“Don’t worry, they won’t be able to capture me. You are the one who needs to get out of here safely. We can’t afford to let you get captured again.”

Since she knew what Kyla had said was right, Amara could only nod helplessly as she brought Kyla closer to the barrier.

Under the Veil, Kyla briefly analysed the strength of the barrier and controlled her power just enough to punch a hole in the barrier. 

Immediately the cracks in the barrier alerted the defence system, revealing their position to the Heroes.

“Hide! And run when you get the chance!” Kyla quickly left Amara behind and jumped through the hole alone. Multiple Heroes rushed behind her to catch the intruder. 

With most of the Heroes already on her tail, Amara soon got a chance to slip out into the bustling city. 

With her powers as a Moon Elf, she was easily able to disguise her presence and casually waited with the pedestrians on the sidewalk for the traffic light to turn green. 

Since she was still close to the Headquarters and Heroes were swarming the streets, she remained vigilant, not to let her guard down for any sudden attacks.

As the traffic signal changed, a chill traversed down her spine. She looked forward to find that strange human wearing a robe with wide sleeves and weird designs, standing on the other side of the road.

Kazuya. Amara instantly recognised the man who had helped lock her away in the underground prison.

Despite her invisibility spell, Amara instinctively tucked away her pointed ears behind her hair to keep from noticing her.

As the two crowds began to cross the road, Amara and Kazuya also moved towards each other. In the middle of the road, Amara held her breath as she came close to Kazuya.

It was only when she had crossed the road completely did she let out a sigh of relief. 

“Was the mission a success?” Ophelia asked her as soon as Kyla entered the roof.

“Easy Peasy!” Kyla gave her a thumbs-up. “I didn’t even need you to stop time for us to escape.”

“It’s fine if you didn’t, but where is Amara?”

“Oh, we had to split up at the entrance because of the Heroes chasing us, but don’t worry, I will just send her our location now.” Kyla reassured her. 

Just as Ophelia was turning back to survey the situation around the Headquarter, she heard a “Uh-oh!” behind her.

Behind her, the messenger butterfly that Kyla had released to Amara was slowly burning to ashes.