This is a guide for Miyabi’s Ascension Quest, called Happiness, in Xenoblade Chronicles 3.

How to Start the Happiness Ascension Quest¶

In order to begin the Ascension Quest for Miyabi, you will need to have finished Side Story: Mio. This is a part of the main story in Chapter 6, so you won’t miss it. After completing that, Miyabi will join your party as a Hero. Make sure after getting her, you level up the Troubador class with Mio to level 10, as that is likely required. With those two conditions met, put Miyabi in your active party and head to the City. There will be a at the Michiba Canteen, which will start the quest.

How to Complete the Happiness Ascension Quest¶

The City seems to hold a cooking contest often to give the people in the City something to do. Both Miyabi and Manana want to participate in the contest, but they don’t know what to make, so they decide to ask around the City. There will be four people you need to speak to here, all marked on your map. Cubibi and Michiba are at the Michiba Canteen, while Mei is southeast of Centrilo Parade/Serene Square. The final NPC, Rozana, is located in the Caelum Residential Quarter, in the southern end of the City.

After speaking to all four residents, you will receive the Cooking Contest Info Fragment, so go ahead and discuss it at a rest spot. You will learn about the ingredients both Manana and Miyabi will need for their dishes. At this point, you will be asked who to start with, although it doesn’t really matter, since you have to do both of them.

Where to Find Miyabi’s Ingredients¶

Of the two, Miyabi’s Ingredients are definitely the easier, since you likely already have all but one of them. The Glitter Radish can be found in the Fornis Region, in the very first area in which you could explore, the Eagus Wilderness. Smushi Rice can be found in the Aetia Region, particularly in the Millick Meadows area. The Refreshing Piranhax Meat is a common drop from any Piranhax in the game, like the low level ones in the little lake just north of Colony 9, or the level 50ish ones in the water below Shark’s Jaws Cape.

The final ingredient for Miyabi will be something you don’t have yet, but thankfully, you won’t need to go far in order to get it. To acquire the Soyprimo Sauce, you will need to visit Boxy in the City. She will be found in the Caelum Residential Quarter in the south; just approach the marker for a short little scene that will net you Boxy’s Soyprimo Sauce. After collecting all four ingredients, return to Michiba Canteen to hand in the items, since you won’t be able to progress to the next step until you do so.

Where to Find Manana’s Ingredients¶

Manana’s ingredients are quest-exclusive, so you will actually need to go out and gather them. Most of them are multi-enemy battles, so you will want to make sure you are at least level 64 or so, which is the recommended level for this quest.

Where to Find the Killjoy Crustip Meat¶

The Killjoy Crustip Meat will be found in the Cadensia Region, in the Erythia Sea. There is an island in the southeast, called the Malevolent Hollow, which is home to some poison water that you can’t normally walk over. Don’t worry, as you don’t need to traverse this, but on the beach of that island is the Searing Strand landmark, if you’ve already done a lot of exploring. On that beach will be a trio of Crustips, a level 63 Grauw Crustip and two level 65 Purumii Crustips. Your goal is the Grauw Crustip, but all of them are linked, so you’re forced to fight all three at once. Once you’ve defeated them, you will get the Crustip Meat.

Where to Find the Cozy Rhogul Egggems¶

The Cozy Rhogul Egggems will be found in the Pentelas Region, in the Great Cotte Falls area. Fast travel to the Myma Gate landmark, then go east and a little south to spot the area where you need to be. Similar to the Crustips before, there are multiple level 64 Eghi Rhoguls at this nest and they are all linked to one another, meaning you will be presented with another multi-enemy battle. Thankfully, the Rhoguls have a pretty shallow health pool, so a good party makeup can absolutely down them quickly, but there’s a good six enemies here and things will be hectic at first. Although you will likely stay and fight, you could potentially climb up to the nest and snatch the egg, then hightail it out of there without fighting.

Where to Find the Lucky Marrin Thickcuts¶

The Lucky Marrin Thickcuts is probably the easiest item out of the four for Manana, but if you haven’t done Teach’s Hero Quest, Going Beyond Power, then you won’t be able to reach it. If you did, then fast travel to the Raptor Perch landmark in the Dannagh Desert (Fornis Region). Just west of there is a slippery slope you can climb, leading to an area with level 30+ enemies. As soon as you climb the first slippery slope, the level 65 Maroking Marrin should be mingling with some Ropls. Treat it like any other creature of the same species and you should be fine, as it does have a few AoEs, but isn’t really anything special.

Where to Find the Mottlemarble Aries Meat¶

The Mottlemarble Aries Meat is located in Upper Aetia, with the closest fast travel point being the Ladras Camp. They are just north of the camp, so you will have to drop off of the cliff, unless you go south and around that way. There are three level 65 Karorii Ories and a single level 65 Kallow Aries. The Kallow Aries is the one you need, but like with the Crustips, they’re all linked and you’ll be fighting all four at once. Of course, the Kallow Aries is a little meatier than the others, so you should probably save it for last, especially since battles with multiple enemies can be quite chaotic.

Return to the Michiba Canteen after collecting all four of the above ingredients. If you’ve gotten both sets, then you can choose to start the cooking contest. This will be a series of long scenes here, so sit back and enjoy them. The quest will be over after they are finished, which will increase the rank of Miyabi’s class to 20 and allow you to level up that class for other characters to 20, too. Note that you will also unlock all of the dishes made as recipes for Manana to make.