68 Chapter 68: Rank Up (2/2)
”No, please don't. I'll buy a new suit myself.”
Even as I said that, I was aware of how expensive the blasted thing cost. Glancing through my account, I paled when I saw the tiny amount left. I must have been spending too much money on games and tabletop miniatures recently. Whoops.
Well, I guess it was about time I go on a mission and earn not just some monetary rewards but also a bunch of prestige points. We were safe for now, but…better safe than sorry, right?
*
”Hello, Allison. I'm here to take on a mission today.”
The administrative clerk, Allison, glanced up when I approached her desk. She nodded and waved a hand in the air, conjuring a blue-tinted holographic screen.
”Have you already decided?”
”Yeah. Another combat mission. I was thinking Mission E012, against Ghastly Goblins.”
Ghastly Goblins were rank F monsters, and relatively easy to dispatch when compared to other monsters. That didn't mean I could afford to underestimate them. They were cunning, and in certain ways more dangerous than mindless Phantoms. They gathered in tribes, hid in caves and were capable of even setting up traps and using advanced tactics to ambush mages. That was why, even though they were rank F, missions that involved slaying a nest of them were considered rank E. More than once, amateur combat mages took the mission, but their parties were wiped out and the girls raped because they underestimated how dangerous and terrifying these little green monsters could be.
I recalled there was one high-ranked mercenary who specialized completely in slaying Goblins, and he made a name for himself. Like Dad, he was mostly a solo operative, which was why I remembered him in the first place (okay, and because I read the manga and watched the anime). The thing was, nobody had ever seen his face because he kept it hidden behind a helmet all the time.
”Hmm…” Allison was about to input the details when she noticed something. Her finger hovering over the blue touch-screen that came with the holographic image, she turned back to me. ”Speaking of which, do you realize you've ranked up?”
”You mean student rankings? Yeah, after I defeated Jie Bing the other day…”
”I don't mean that, I mean in terms of mission rankings. You now have access to rank D missions.”
Oh, right. In the past, when I just started, I was only allowed to take rank F and E missions. Such as that escort mission I took for the very first time, which was ranked E. I was never allowed to take rank D missions if I insisted on going solo, even though I technically accomplished a rank D mission when helping out Alicia and her beleaguered party that other time. But that counted as me reinforcing and joining a party, so there was no problems with the administrative details.
But now I could take a rank D mission solo, as a result of completing a bunch of missions and raising my academic ranking. Sweet.
”What do you suggest I take?”
”You can look through the catalogue, though I wouldn't advise you take the highest-paying rank D missions immediately.”
Even though missions were ranked, within each of these categories was a broad range of difficulties that were represented by the monetary rewards. A rank D mission that paid a thousand dollars was obviously easier and less dangerous than a similarly ranked D mission that paid out ten thousand dollars for the completion of the mission.
Most of the times students would mitigate the dangers by going in parties, but I was too enamored with my Dad's decision to go solo all the time that I decided to go solo too. Not that I hated the world or anything, or because I was confident that I could do everything on my own, but I preferred the freedom it afforded me, and the lack of restrictions. I wasn't arrogant enough to make a remark like I didn't want anybody to hold me back or get in the way – more likely I would be the one dragging everyone down. But I had my own pace and ways of doing things – methods that I had learned from Dad.
After looking through the list, I decided to pick a relatively safe one that would give me a thousand bucks. There was no need to risk my life, after all. I mean, of course there would always be an element of risk involved, but there was no necessity to take a more dangerous mission, not when I was determined to go this solo. Plus I just needed enough money to buy a new suit, and a mission short enough to complete before the weekend.
”Mission D016?” Allison scanned through the details and nodded. ”Ah, the Mad Monkeys. Be careful.”
I nodded. ”I'll do my best.”
The Mad Monkeys were similar to Ghastly Goblins in that they were cunning, hunted in packs and favored ambushes. That was precisely because I picked it – because I could employ a similar strategy that I already prepared for the Ghastly Goblins against the Mad Monkeys. There would be differences, and I would have to change it up a little, but nothing too serious.
Thanking Allison, I then left to embark on my new mission.