"A new mission? I'm in the kitchen. I'll be right there." Xiao Ran's eyes lit up. He had thought they would have to grind F- and G-rank missions for a few days like the other teams, but another mission had finally appeared.
"Ralts, I need to go to the hall. Could you keep an eye on things here and put the cookies in the box once they've cooled?" Looking at the still-steaming Pokémon Cookies, Xiao Ran spoke helplessly to Ralts, who was busily devouring Sweet Soup beside him.
"Ral~~" Ralts answered without even looking up. Xiao Ran shook his head. Never mind. Leaving them here wouldn't hurt.
After tidying up a little, Xiao Ran returned to the dining hall. To his surprise, not only was Bai Tingjiao there, but the students from Imperial Capital Pokémon University and Modu Pokémon University were there too.
"Xiao Ran, over here!" Bai Tingjiao waved him over.
"Here's the thing. Just grinding G- and F-rank missions earns us points far too slowly. If we keep this up, we might not even pass the assessment," Xuan Yuan Tianyu began once everyone was seated.
"So I gave it some thought. Why don't we join forces and take on some of the easier D-rank missions? Afterward, we can split the points according to our contributions. That would be much faster than simply grinding low-rank missions."
"This is a D-rank Wilderness Area exploration mission we just found. Take a look before you decide."
After speaking, Xuan Yuan Tianyu handed a mission sheet to Xiao Ran and Xie Shirui. It had just been printed, and no one had accepted the mission yet.
"D-rank mission: A large number of non-native Pokémon have recently appeared in Phoenix Forest, southwest of town. Please investigate the cause. Rewards range from 100–200 points and 200,000–500,000