Birth Of The Crafts-God

One day had gone by since Wally and the other senior year students of Greendale Highschool had arrived at the Bayena Plain.

Thanks to the preparations by the academy's staff, there was no recorded case of death, but there were injuries. This was inevitable, as the students were up against desolate beasts for the first time in their lives.

Although the strength cap of the beasts was at the second level of the Apertures Opening stage, the majority of the students were still at the peak of the Body Strengthening stage or below. Wally, for instance, was at the third level of the Body Strengthening stage.

Against a first level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast or abomination, he would likely end up severely injured, and if not for the security measures by the academy, killed.

It was for this reason that Greendale Highschool didn't prevent forming teams between students with no limit to their number. Nonetheless, they still prioritised the last hit on the monster to be the receiver of the points. In this way, the academy was testing the students' team-working capabilities and leadership abilities.

As for the absurd gap in strength between the mainstream students and the peak limit of desolate beasts and abominations, it was just as Astar had said—these monsters existed to test the strength of the top three students who had already reached the peak of the Body Strengthening stage.

For the Heavenly Trio, as they were called, they could take on a first level Apertures Opening stage abomination with a vestige in hand. If they worked together, it might be possible to face a second level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast.

Due to this, the academy had only let in one second level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast and one second level Apertures Opening stage abomination into the region. The peak first level Apertures Opening stage creatures were less than ten, while the regular first level Apertures Opening stage creatures numbered at least fifteen.

The remaining monsters below this—both desolate beasts and abominations—were in the hundreds. There were, after all, three hundred students or thereabout, so the monsters had to be a lot.

Apart from limiting the number of elite creatures, the academy had also provided the students with special bracelets that could project a light shield capable of blocking attacks from a peak first level Apertures Opening stage desolate beast. It could also survive three hits from a second level desolate beast.

However, there would not be a need for that as the operating area of the second level creatures was limited and quite a distance away from the students' landing zone.

Wally, Astar and Klein had naturally teamed up for the practical test. All three had vestiges, and they have been familiar with one another for over a year. Their strengths were also roughly the same, with the strongest being Astar, who was at the fourth level of the Body Strengthening stage.

Long term familiarity, similar strength, and good understanding made it so that teamwork wasn't an issue for the trio.

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Klein took the lead as he was the most knowledgeable amongst them. His grades in the theoretical aspects were well ahead of the other two, and he was more logical in his thinking, making Klein the best option to be in charge.

They were currently in a slightly bushy area of the plain. There were a couple of trees here, which made it suitable for ambushes. The tactic they used was to have Astar bait some abominations or desolate beasts towards the target location, where the other two would now launch their attacks on the prey.

The target location was rigged with traps to help take down the monsters quicker, and after each assault, the area would be cleared out and the traps renewed.

"We've already scored the required points with this." Klein said as he dropped his bow-wielding arms and sat down to take a break.

"Finally." Astar sighed with relief.

"Giving just three points for peak Body Strengthening stage and one point for fourth level Body Strengthening stage monsters is crazy. Had us grinding for so long just to get sixty points." Wally lamented.

"I doubt just anyone can pull this off so quickly on their own like us. Excluding the obvious trio." Astar said.

Klein shook his head as he said, "You're forgetting the few like yourself. As long as they form a team of at least three, taking on peak Body Strengthening stage monsters shouldn't be difficult with vestiges. They might even be able to get sixty points in a day."

"Twenty one monsters in one day? Is that even doable?" Wally was shocked by the statement.

Taking on just a single peak Body Strengthening stage monster, whether abomination or desolate beast, wasn't easy. At the very least, one would need seven of those to get the required points, as each one gave three points, adding up to a total of twenty one points. Even with a vestige in hand, it would be difficult for students as this was the very first time they faced monsters as their opponents.

"It should be. A fourth level Body Strengthening stage practitioner with a Grade 1 or 2 vestige can deploy strength on par with a peak Body Strengthening stage practitioner, and even burst out with the power of a first level Apertures Opening stage stellar practitioner. If there are three of them, it wouldn't be difficult to take down a peak Body Strengthening stage monster in a few seconds.

Sixty in a day shouldn't be impossible." Klein explained.

"It's too bad that we can't see the leader-board yet. It would take at least two more hours before it's uploaded." Astar commented.

The leaderboard was a table that displayed the students with the most points, but it would only come online halfway through the tournament, which was at noon on the second day.

"Doesn't really matter to us. Now that we have our points, surviving and avoiding elimination should be our main goal." Klein proposed while stretching his arms a bit.

Elimination entailed when students were attacked by monsters and their defence shields were activated, or when they got severely injured. Once a student is eliminated, regardless of whether they had accrued the required twenty points or not, they would be deemed to have failed the test.

Klein was of a cautious mindset and preferred that the group find somewhere safe to wait out the test, which was why he made that suggestion.

However, not everyone was of the same mindset.

"We should work for more points." Astar suddenly said.

It should be recalled that the Greendale Highschool was a subsidiary of the Greendale School of Refiners, which was a pure school of the Technical path. It didn't exactly cater to students of the Civil or Practical path, but the information that it could input to one's Student Data Folder was very valuable.

However, for students who dreamed to walk those two paths, they had to perform exquisitely in the required mid-term or final term practical tests. The term practical tests for the senior years was aimed at those who intended to walk the Practical path. Astar was one such student.

Telling him to simply quit and be satisfied with the bare minimum of twenty one points was the same as cutting off his future. If Astar wanted to get into a good university or college, especially a pure school, he had to perform superbly in both the mid-term and final term practical tests. There was no way he would end up being satisfied with the bare minimum.

Despite this, Klein wasn't of the same mind. Klein, unlike Astar, pursued the Technical path, so as long as he passed this test, there was no problem. Whether he got twenty one points or even forty points, made almost no difference for him, as the Greendale School of Refiners didn't care about one's fighting ability.

"What do you say, Wally?" Klein turned to face Wally.

As the third member of the group, he was the deciding vote in this poll.

Wally glanced at Klein, then turned to gaze at Astar. He could understand the latter's feelings.

"We can't just quit right away. Let's at least keep hunting for today." Wally said.

His response was appropriate, as he didn't truly side with any of the two options, but managed to satisfy both sides. Killing monsters for the rest of the day would help the group gain more points, benefiting Astar. However, after the day was over, they would have to stop.

Whether Astar went on his own or not would be left to him, but at the very least, their relationship wouldn't be affected as much.

Klein narrowed his eyes, quite impressed by Wally's response and nodded. Even Astar had nothing to say about it.

Just then, a loud roar sounded a couple of metres away from them, spooking the trio. Alarmed, they immediately rushed into hiding.

"What the hell? How did it get past our perimeter?" Astar couldn't help but curse over the team channel using his communicator.

When the group had found this place, they made a circle of motion sensor bots around the area to ensure that they wouldn't get sneaked up on by any monster. This circle of motion sensor bots was nicknamed the 'perimeter' by the trio.

"The motion sensor bots can only cover a limited range. If we had expanded the range, there would have been too many blind spots." Klein suddenly said.

"What's your point?" A slightly irritated Astar questioned.

"Even with that arrangement, there still exist some flaws in the perimeter. We've been overlooking it for a while, as we didn't notice any monster that could get through the perimeter through that method." Klein calmly continued his explanation.

"You mean..." Wally suddenly sucked in a cold breath of air as he understood where Klein was heading. He immediately raised his head up.

Astar might have been slow, but he wasn't dumb. It took him only a second or two later to finally guess what the two were referring to. Right away, Astar looked up as well.

"Roar!"

A mighty roar hollered from midair as a large beast cast a shadow down to the ground.

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