Chapter 2: first phase of the advanced tech training

“FORWARD MATCH!!” Anderson yelled as the young cadets did their daily morning parade. He is the best cadet among this batch. Very good in leadership, marksmanship, and fighting abilities.

He is dark-skinned and slightly muscular, just like Clark. He stood out from the rest cadets, as he led them throughout the parade.

Sitting to the side with a batch of soldiers in Spartan military uniform behind him, is Captain Spoky, the leader of this military base leisurely watching the cadets.

He suddenly stood up, after they ended their parade, as he faced the cadets. “Good morning cadets”.

“Good morning captain,” they yelled in reply.

“I know a lot of you are excited because you will start your advanced tech training today. Let me give you a piece of advice cadets, don’t be too excited because your suffering begins today”.

“No time for pampering. Your training is two years early, so I expect you to all be two years more competent. After three months of rigorous training, I expect all of you to be officially soldiers of the Spartan republic, so act like one.”

“Your training today will not be the usual one,” he continued while keeping his stern face.

“The government provided standard guns and bullets for you all. So be prepared, because you will all be going to the forest. Your first training is to survive by yourself in the tropical forest for five days”.

“Do not expect to go there and sleep, because the government personally provided genetically modified predators, more dangerous than anything you’ve seen before”.

“Your implant may have boosted you in various ways, but so are the animals. Don’t be too hopeless though, because after these three months is over, the survivors from you three hundred will be given benefits you didn’t expect”.

“Good luck cadets, be dismissed for thirty minutes for preparation. Do not carry any accessory,” he reminded before they left.

“All you need will be provided by the military here. Your three months of suffering starts here,” he said, as a grin slowly morphed on his face.

…

“Oh, shit. Leonard I’m dead, we are going to the forest alone. They want to kill us; I swear, they want to kill us”. Clark blurted out, looking troubled as soon as they reached his room.

“Shit, stop it. Clark, stop behaving like a fly and let’s think of how to survive this man” his friend replied.

“What are we thinking of drunken hands, you can’t possibly think we are guaranteed to survive right?”

“I know Clark, no guarantee, but it is also not a sure way to death. Clark, I thought you were the fast and accurate guy, skilled in fighting and marksmanship. Just because of going to the forest, you want to soil your pants, chill man”. Leo said in a slightly provocative tone.

“Hey, I know. I am going to be the greatest soldier alive, helping my country ally with any of the big five, but I’m just being rational man. You understand what I mean”. Clark replied with a grin.

“Yes, I know Clark. Yes, you are the greatest. So, how are we going to go about this?” Leo finally asked the big question.

“I don’t know, what else? Go there, survive and save the country, that’s all. Or is there anything else?”. Clark asked, with a stop asking me stupid questions expression on his face.

“Ok Clark, be careful though, I want to eat before going, let’s go”. Leo ignored his friend’s expression, while calmly diverting the direction of their conversation.

“Ok Leo,” Clark calmly replied, as he also wanted to eat.

There was not much they could plan, so Leo [i.e short form of Leonard] quickly forgot about their little conversation, as they got ready to go. After eating, they both returned to the parade ground.

…

“Hey, he’s here man,” Clark nudged his friend.

“Leo, I said the Captain’s here. Keep quiet,” he raised his voice a little before his friend heard.

“Ok cadets, you’ll be divided into groups of ten,” Captain Spoky didn’t waste time as he directly started giving instructions.

“You’ll have to follow the sergeant your group is assigned to. Follow the sergeant leading you, to your designated helicopter. You will be dropped in segments, one by one. Good luck.”

Luckily, both friends were placed in the same group. Though temporarily, Clark still rejoiced as they had time to talk a little. “Leo, I saw you talking with Anderson, what was the talk about?” He suddenly asked as he leaned forward a little, to get closer to his friend.

“Oh, he is in the other group. Ahh!! Bro come closer, what I heard from Anderson was surprising,” Leo exclaimed, as he suddenly remembered something.

“Bro, Anderson told me the reason that our advanced tech training was brought forward. It’s because the Moca republic wants to invade our country earlier than expected, so the change of plans.”

“Shit, those blood-sucking Mocans. I hate them,” Clark blurted out in hatred. His overflowing hatred was not without basis, as he had a rather huge beef with the Mocan republic.

“Leo, if that’s true, then good. I will prove myself during this invasion and massacre those bloodsuckers. If that’s the reason, then I’m more eager to survive this training and trash those Mocans”.

“Me too Clark. I wish you luck bro,” Leo said, as he also understood his friend’s feelings.

“You too”.

[Thank you for reading this chapter I really appreciate. Please if there is any problem with the translation quality or there is any wrong spelling or sentence, indicate I'll try to fix it immediately.]