Birth Of The Crafts-God

The Greendale Highschool's term practical tests were the most important evaluation exercises for the students, as the results of these tests would go into their student data folder.

The Student Data Folder (SDF), was a digital folder that contained the performance of a student in all previously attended institutions. One could think of it like a résumé for students.

For the students of Greendale Highschool, the mid and final term practical exercises were very important, not just because they would be inputted into their data folders, but that the high school was a subsidiary of a pure college. As such, it's evaluation was taken even more seriously.

It should be noted that the term practical tests weren't always 'practical' in nature and could simply be a quiz or a written exam.

For the first years, or freshmen, their mid-term and final term practical tests were written exams focused more on courses of the Civil path with the other two paths taking lower stances.

The second year's (Sophomore year) term practical tests focused primarily on courses of the Technical path, a bit on the Civil path, and the Practical path barely taking up much space. Much like the first year's term exercises, they were also theoretical.

The third year's (junior year) term practical tests were slightly more complicated. The mid-term practical tests were an equal mix of Technical path and Civil path questions, but the final term practical tests were a mix of exercises from the Technical path and Practical path. However, unlike the first and second years, the third year's term practical tests were hands-on exercises.

The Technical path tests involved maintenance and repair of some technological equipment and vestiges. The Civil path tests were questions that required intense reasoning and knowledge on the application of the various topics. As for the Practical path tests, they were sparring sessions against fellow students.

The fourth and final year's term practical tests were focused on the application of the knowledge accrued from the past years.

For the mid-term practical tests, the students would take two tests. The first was a written examination on the Practical path. The written test would gauge their knowledge about various desolate beasts, how to deal with them and how to identify resources in the wild.

After that, they would be shipped to a designated region for the second test, where the students would have to survive three days against desolate beasts. Survival was only one aspect of this test, as they were expected to hunt down the beasts in exchange for points.

"Damn. I've never written a test so hard." Astar looked downtrodden after exiting the examination hall with two other boys his age.

"Tell me about it." Wally, who was beside him, sighed. He glanced at the boy by his side, who looked much better and relieved than himself.

"How did you do, Klein?"

The third boy, Klein, was a mutual friend of Astar and Wally. The trio made a clique and were quite similar to the other, one way or the another. While Astar and Wally became friends in their second year, Klein was a longtime friend of Wally since their first year.

"Hmm, I think I've decided on what I want to do in the future." Klein suddenly said.

Although confused by the statement, Wally asked, "What's that?"

"I'm going to give up on being a freelancer and just take after my dad's shop." Klein responded.

'Yeah, he's fucked up too.'

Wally and Astar thought at the same time.

"Let's look at the bright side. The written part only accounts for thirty percent of the final scores. The survival test is what matters most." Wally tried to cheer his colleagues up.

"True, but it still won't be easy. This time around, out opponents are desolate beasts. Any small relapse and we could die." Klein said seriously.

"I don't think the academy would let that happen. There should be some security measures in place for us." Astar countered.

Klein nodded, but he still argued the statement.

"True, but what if they don't come in play at the right moment? What if something goes wrong? Or something out of the ordinary occurs? Let's not forget, we signed a possible death contract before the practical tests. Also, accidents have happened before."

The trio recalled that during their freshman year, the final term practical tests for the then senior years had ended with a mishap. Usually, the Practical path aspect of the mid-term and final term tests for senior years was to hunt and survive against desolate beasts in a designated zone.

The zone would have been secured by the academy and made safe, in the sense that there would be a limit of the strength and number of monsters -just enough to make sure they don't die. However, a mistake had happened back then.

Apparently, the zone prepared for the Practical path trials for the senior years was secretly harbouring a third level desolate beast. For the high school students, who were usually at the peak of Body Strengthening stage or the first level of the Apertures Opening stage in their last semester, a third level beast was an opponent they could not beat, even with a Grade 3 vestige.

That incident had resulted in ten students dying before the academy swiftly took the monster down. And this was with the academy responding almost immediately. If the desolate beast was left to roam the field a bit more, at least half of the students would have died then.

"Well, not like we can bail out now so what use is there in worrying." Astar shrugged.

"If we work as a team, we should be safe. Even if we encounter a first level desolate beast, taking it down shouldn't be too much of a challenge. Escaping would be even more easier." Wally said.

The other two nodded as he was right.

The Greendale Highschool didn't prevent students from teaming up during the tests, but what mattered in the end was one's points. Points couldn't be shared and only the student who gave the final hit would take it. As such, teaming up was an occurrence only for students who weren't confident in their skills and strength.

For the geniuses and talented ones, they would rarely team up together unless their target was strong. Like for instance, a late rank first level desolate beast, which was the strongest grade of monster found during the trials.

A short while after, all three hundred or so students of the senior class were done with the written aspect of the mid-term practical test. They were then guided by their teachers to a large vehicle that was hovering in the parking lot.

The vehicle looked like a really large bus with a 'nose' just like an airplane. It was also wide but shaped like a cylinder. This was a Sare shuttle [1], the typical vehicles used by freelancers in dangerous regions. However, this one was much larger and could carry up to five hundred people at once.

For the less than four hundred students of the senior class, along with some teachers and freelancers for security reasons, the vehicle was more than enough.

When every required party had boarded the vehicle, it lifted off and blazed towards it destination: the Bayena plains.