The graduation assignments that Ves handed over to his students were anything but normal.
Their difficulty was hellish!
Different schools and different teachers adopted different approaches towards graduation assignments. Some treated them as ordinary exams. Others approached them as previews of what mech designers needed to face in the real mech industry.
Ves did not want this to be a forgettable test for his students. He held high expectations for the two kids, but that also meant he was considerably afraid that they would squander their opportunities once they started their careers!
Obviously, Maikel and Zanthar did not look as if they realized that this was for their own good. The difficulty of their assignments was so formidable that they had to put a lot of time and effort into their first independently designed mech designs.
Even then, the chances of passing the actual tests were not that high!