After lunch, Xi Ya walked out of the cafeteria.
The Ranking Tournament was next week.
He urgently needed to improve his strength, or else he’d be like a stray dog on the road—kicked to death by his classmates.
Training with the Magic Golems in the academy was completely useless.
Defeating them gave no Experience Points, and no matter how much he fought, he wouldn’t improve.
His best option now was to go to the Teleport Hall and take on a commission.
The hall was filled with posted tasks, all put up by the academy to hone students’ practical combat skills.
Students could earn credits by completing commissions.
Those credits were important to Xi Ya, but even more crucial was the chance to fight beasts and monsters in the commissions to gain experience.
Xi Ya arrived at the Teleport Hall and stood before the Quest Board.
The board had once been plastered with all kinds of commissions, but now only a few remained, and all were B-rank or higher.
‘Too late.’
B-rank commissions were difficult.
Usually only second-year Elite Class students or above would take them.
First-years could at most handle C-rank commissions, and he, Xi Ya, was even weaker—he should be going for D-rank.
Xi Ya scanned the B-rank commission letters, hoping to find one that slipped through the cracks.
After searching for a while, he spotted one with a very simple description.
The commission introduction was only a single sentence: Investigate the Village Poultry Disappearance Incident.
‘This counts as a B-rank commission?’
Something was off.
The description was simple enough: investigate missing poultry.
He glanced at the neighboring B-rank commission, which had a goal to hunt a Griffin.
Below it, a dense block of text detailed Griffin information.
The two weren’t even in the same league.
Xi Ya pondered for a moment.
He figured this commission might be a difficult investigation task.
‘No one said commissions have to involve combat, right? I must have found a loophole.’
He took down the commission letter, walked to the Registration Desk, and handed it to the student council member in charge.
“You want to take this B-rank commission… Huh? You’re a first-year freshman?”
“Yes, Senior.”
Xi Ya nodded.
“First-years shouldn’t take B-rank commissions. It’s too dangerous.”
The senior rejected him outright.
“This commission is just investigating missing poultry. It shouldn’t be that dangerous, right?”
“Just because it’s written simply doesn’t mean it’s not dangerous.”
The senior shook her head and pushed the letter back.
“Wait until you’re a third-year to take B-rank commissions, or at least until you enter the Elite Class in your second year.”
“Senior, is there any rule saying first-years can’t take B-rank commissions?”
“Of course not, but do you know what happened to the last student like you?”
“What happened?”
“Went missing. Didn’t even find his body. That’s why I’m not approving it. Please go back.”
The senior stared into Xi Ya’s eyes, speaking seriously.
“Strange. This commission looks so simple, why is it rated B?”
She muttered to herself, but seeing the academy’s stamp on it, she didn’t think much and lowered her head to handle the next matter.
Xi Ya wasn’t about to give up.
He wanted to argue further, but then he spotted a hand reaching in from the side, holding out a commission letter.
“Excuse me, I’d like to take this commission. Please register it.”
A clear, cool female voice sounded.
Xi Ya turned to see a blue-haired girl.
Xi Ya recognized her.
She was the top student of the first-year Elite Class, the second romanceable heroine in the game, and the daughter of Duke Westwood—Aishalier.
Aishalier radiated an unapproachable noble aura.
Her sea-blue hair, carefully styled by her maids, looked exceptionally smooth.
She was tall and slender, the front of her uniform strained by a full figure, outlining an impressive silhouette.
Between her skirt and black knee-high socks, a sliver of slender thigh was visible, making her legs look even longer.
Unlike other female students, even in the same uniform, she gave off the feeling of wearing a formal gown.
Her posture was elegant, as if she were attending a court banquet.
Aishalier was the typical tsundere among the romanceable heroines, but Xi Ya had no interest in her.
In the character introduction, that tsundere label was a total scam.
Before triggering the CG, he couldn’t see any hint of Aishalier’s “dere”—it was all pride.
Aishalier was from a prominent family and looked down on commoners.
In the game, because she saw that Feili was originally a commoner, getting her affection was always difficult.
Her romance route progressed extremely slowly, and when the CG finally triggered, it felt forced.
The production team made Aishalier act shy and called it “tsundere.”
Still, her CG was pretty good.
Hehe~
But he had to make one thing clear: he pursued Aishalier only to get the full CG achievement.
It absolutely wasn’t to see the CGs.
Besides, after suffering through that grind for so long, rewarding himself with some CGs wasn’t too much, right?
“Another first-year taking a B-rank commission… Huh? It’s Lady Westwood! Sorry about that, I’ll register it right away.”
The senior immediately became attentive, taking Aishalier’s commission letter and starting the registration.
“Senior, why can’t I take it if we’re both first-year students?”
Xi Ya watched the senior’s expression change faster than flipping a book, and his eyelid twitched.
“Oh, I remember you now. You’re that Xi Ya, the one ranked last in the first-year Elite Class.”
The senior glanced at him.
“Xi Ya, I’m not trying to put you down, but with your practical combat scores so low, taking a B-rank commission is basically suicide.”
“She’s right.”
Aishalier spoke up.
“If you don’t have the strength, don’t go die for nothing.”
She swept her ice-blue eyes over Xi Ya, then turned and walked toward the Teleportation Array without looking back.
Several Archmages bowed to her and activated the array.
Her sea-blue hair swayed gently behind her as she quickly disappeared into the light of the array.
Xi Ya, still in the hall, grew anxious.
Among the commissions here, the investigation one seemed the least difficult.
The others were completely out of his reach.
If he didn’t take a commission, he wouldn’t have any way to gain experience.
He had to take this commission.
‘What do I do? This senior won’t give me a chance.’
‘Should I use Transformation to become Duoluolisi and pretend to be a second-year to take it?’
‘No, no. They need to register identity here. Duoluolisi is completely undocumented.’
Xi Ya spun around in place, frantic.
Now there seemed to be only one way.
Commissions weren’t restricted to solo takers; they could be taken as a team.
Even though the credits would be reduced, it allowed him to take on a higher-level commission.
‘Who should I team up with?’
The first person that came to mind was Feili.
If he could latch onto Feili’s strong leg, the commission would be a piece of cake.
Plus, the commission Feili would choose was one he knew well—he’d cleared it countless times in the game.
But unfortunately, Feili had left right after class in the morning.
At that time, he was too busy thinking about rushing to the cafeteria to eat.
He hadn’t even considered commissions.
‘Damn it! Eating screwed me over!’
‘No, maybe Feili wouldn’t bring me along anyway. She can handle that commission by herself. Why would she take me to split the credits?’
‘Aaaargh! Who should I ask?’
As Xi Ya thought, his peripheral vision caught sight of Dailina just entering through the door.
‘Got it.’