"Crew? Are you referring to organized criminal groups, sir?" asked Rizok, his tone somewhat surprised. "I've been told that they exist in Tal'Qamar, but I know little about them. Are they truly that dangerous?"
"It depends on who you are," Hudson's admitted after a moment of thought. "The Merchant Lord didn't like anything that made foreign merchants afraid to come to the city, so they tended to stay away from foreigners. They're pretty active in the poorer parts of the city though."
At least they were… last time I checked.
As soon as he started making money, Hudson's had done everything he could to cut the people he used to associate with out of his life. As a result, he wasn't actually up to date on things in the worst parts of the city.
Rizok's curiosity seemed to be satisfied with his explanation, and the rest of the journey was spent in comfortable silence. The Adventurer's Guild was located in the same district as the rest of the city's Guilds, so it was naturally one of the more active areas of Tal'Qamar. Hudson's wasn't much of a fan since he didn't enjoy large crowds thanks to his rural upbringing in his first life.
Thankfully, the district had been intentionally designed to be easy to navigate with wide streets and signage advertising a variety of Guilds, so it wasn't as bad as it could be.
Such organizations were very common due to the nature of the System. People with a certain variety of Class would often learn, monopolize, and then leverage secrets of their Class to accumulate wealth and influence. The Guilds were usually organizations dedicated to maintaining that monopoly of information and advancing the interests of their most powerful members.
Not all Guilds were like that though, with the Adventurer's Guild being the most obvious exception.
"Hmph. Why am I not surprised that the Adventurer's Guild is the least impacted by the change in government?" Hudson's muttered as he watched a constant stream of people going in and out of the large building constructed along the edge of the oasis.
Tal'Qamar was a very diverse city, but the adventurers were even more so. Hudson's could see individuals of several species who were rarely found in this portion of the world, such as a tall six-armed shivarath wearing heavy armor or a diminutive dwarf who looked to be some kind of [Mage]. Even the humans were rather diverse, with many of them carrying features more common in foreign lands.
However, none of them seemed all that concerned about the subtle tension that enraptured the rest of the city.
"That was never in question, sir," Rizok said in agreement. "If they reacted to danger like a normal person, then they wouldn't be adventurers."
Unable to argue against that point, Hudson's merely sighed and began making his way into the Guild. The interior was just as bustling as the exterior, with several people standing around a large bulletin board examining the various request postings. Others were chatting at long tables in small groups, most likely discussing plans for future expeditions.
Hudson's mostly ignored them, making his way straight to the counter that ran along the back of the hall. Behind it, an older, harried-looking human woman with graying hair was dealing with a particularly agitated adventurer. He caught a few words of the conversation, noting that the man seemed to be arguing over the belongings of a recently killed teammate.
After a couple of minutes, the adventurer stomped away in a huff, leaving the woman, who was likely a [Clerk] or some other type of administrative class, to rub her temples. Seeing her free, Hudson's approached.
"Rough day?" he asked, placing a hand on the counter to gain her attention.
She looked up with a weary smile. "Oh, not at all. Just another day in the Guild. What can I do for you, sir?"
"I'd like to negotiate a series of requests with one of the adventurer groups and potentially set up a long term partnership," Hudson's explained. "I was hoping you could recommend to me an experienced group that has proven themselves to be… reliable and consistent."
The woman gave him a knowing look before nodding. "Ah, I see. Well, we have a few groups who fit the bill. Just a moment."
She turned to a large wooden cabinet behind her and began shuffling through a series of parchments and scrolls. After a moment, she pulled out a couple of parchments and spread them out on the counter.
"I have three groups that might fit your needs. The first one is a local group called the 'Silver Serpents'. They're a mixed group, led by a naga named Sylira. They've been consistent in their missions and have good feedback from their clients. They're currently ranked at Silver, and have been for some time," she explained, pointing at the detailed profile of the group on one of the parchments.
It included details of their prior missions, the Classes of its members, and an approximation of their Levels.
"The second group is the 'Dusk Hunters'. They're a human-centric group, led by a man named Kael. They're a foreign group that only recently came to the city, but their ranks have climbed quickly because they're willing to take on a wide variety of requests. They've just broken into Gold rank."
"The last group is one that came from Eldamir, the 'Pathfinders'. They're a diverse group led by a shivarath named Kajal," she stated, indicating the third parchment. "They've been rather dependable and have a reputation for being very thorough. They're currently Silver, but they're on the cusp of becoming Gold if they continue as well as they have been."
The clerk paused, allowing Hudson's to look through the information as he carefully considered his options. There was a reason that he had specifically asked for groups that were reliable, and it was the same reason why the Adventurer's Guild was different from any other Guild.
Because adventurers were a group of people well known for fanatically chasing Levels.
The System was more opaque in how it functioned than Hudson's would like, but the general factors which contributed to an increase in Levels were widely understood.
Level increases depended on how often you did an activity related to your Class, the overall difficulty of that particular activity, and the danger involved in said activity. As a result, the Adventurer's Guild catered to individuals who constantly placed themselves in dangerous situations so that they could Level up quickly. Hudson's hadn't met many Adventurers in his life, but the few who he had gave off the impression of being power-leveling obsessed adrenaline junkies.