"Friends"

"Congratulations, you are now directly a First class Private." She smiled.

"Thank you Chief!" Leon saluted back and then a line was made behind based on their ranks and they each received their promotion.

Alice moved forward to receive hers and the Sargent stepped up.

"First class private Johnson, Did you realize your mistake during the test?"

"Yes sir."

"Good, Don't be a Liability next time. Next!" He replied coldly as she moved away and Luke stepped forward with a frown on his face.

"You got something to say to me soldier?"

"No sir."

"Then get that scorn off your face and train harder. Next!"

"Yes sir" He nodded and walked away.

 "Goddamn it" Luke muttered under his breath as he looked at Alice walking towards Leon.

"Hey.."

"Hm?" Leon made eye contact with Alice who flicked her hair back and declared.

"This time was an accident, I won't lose to you next time."

"Well, something like that could've gone worse, do your best next time then?" Leon responded back awkwardly

"Don't patronize me"

"I am not, I am just stating it as it is. In regards to speed, you are superior to me." He admitted as he looked away when she approached closer.

"Hm I see.. anyways" She pulled up her hand up front.

"I'm Alice Johnson" she introduced herself with a serious expression.

"Leo Regalis" Leon shook her hand while Luke who was staring joined in.

"Hey Alice, do you feel better now?" Luke casually enters the conversation and looks at the two of them turning towards him.

"I'm still tired but I think I will be alright after some sleep." She replied.

"This is Luke, he's a childhood friend of mine."

"We met before the test, congrats on third place." Leon said with a face without an expression.

"Don't worry about it I will rank higher than you next time, anyways we need to talk" Luke looks him in the eye and then indicates him to come aside.

'hm?' Leon nods and looks at Alice "We'll talk later private Johnson, your friend has something to say to me."

"Okay?..." Alice hilts her head in confusion as he walks away with Luke to a side.

'I wonder what he wants to say... after all he's done.' Leon's purple eyes glistened with interest as they stop by the wall and Luke squares up to him.

"Alright man, I'll give it to you straight to the point, I will excuse your disrespect earlier and call it even since you are from the 6th and you don't know how things work around here."

'Eh?' Leon's eyebrow and the side of his mouth twitched as Luke puts his hand on Leon's shoulder.

"I am the top Dawg of this crew and I don't care who you are and what you have done before, but you see Alice back there,

she's mine"

'This bastard..' A vein popped up on Leon's temple as Luke continued yapping

"So for your own sake, stay in your line and we're cool" Luke warned him.

"You're threatening me?" Leon taps off Luke's hand off his shoulder and looked him with a menacing glare.

"Follow the bro code and we are cool." Luke repeated himself while maintaining eye contact.

Leon looks over at Alice and then looks over at Luke and scoffs.

"I don't need to follow the code of a Dawg who wants to wag its tail to its mistress, I'll do as you please my "friend" so I'll suggest you to not restrict my freedom." Leon turns away.

"Hey you son of a bitch!" Luke yelled and tried to grab him once more but Leon instinctively dodged the approach and Luke fell on the floor.

"And stop barking so much." Leon looked down on him as his purple eyes glistened from the reflecting light sending chills to Luke who froze at the sight.

"shit..." Luke grinded his teeth as he got back up staring at Leon walk away.

"What you guys talk about?" Alice approached Luke as Leon left.

"None of your business, its boys talk." Luke looked away.

Zap!

"Ow!" Luke yelped.

"Are you trying to kill me?! you said you can't control that yet!" Luke yelled at her as she smirked.

"Small bits are fine, if you die to that, then you don't have what it takes to fight beside me then." she flipped her hair.

"But It doesn't matter, I won't be telling you anything."

"Oh, You'll tell me soon." She winked at him and left him staring at her.

'God she's gorgeous.' Luke thought to himself as he followed behind her to where the rest of the group were present.

"I'll be taking my leave, you take it from here Sargent." Chief said and turned as the final promotion was completed and looked at her schedule.

"Yes Ma'am,

SOLDIERS! SALUTE!" The sergeant commanded.

BOOM!

A loud echo of a salute in unison as the chief exited from the place.

"Now that you are First class privates, you are half the cannon fodder you used to be but cannon fodder none the less, the test showed your limits and what you all have to work on.

All of you are going to see your rankings and your overall grades and work on yourselves, IF I don't see any improvements in you lot, I'm kicking your asses back! You hear me?!" 

"Yes sir!"

"Good, now don't disappoint me. You are all dismissed!" Seargent Kim ordered and they all were about to leave the place.

"Except you." He pointed at Leon.

"You got in lucky and I am going to have my eye on you." He declared openly.

"Thank you for your attention sir-"

"I was not done talking soldier!" Seargent interrupted his reply.

"Sorry sir."

"You don't know your way around our base since you came from the devil's Anus of a place, So I am going to do you a favor.

First class Private Hiro Nakamura!" He yelled out Hiro's name who stepped forward immediately.

"Yes sir!"

"Show the newbie around on how our camp works"

"Yes sir!" Hiro replied and the Seargent turned away while the rest of the cadets stared at him.

"Do you all want to run another mile? Scrat off!" He yelled without turning as everyone fled the scene.

"Hah these kids are not ready" He sighed.

~~~~~~~~

The remaining cadets were in a sour mood, not everyone made it through, and some of them had to leave their friends behind and move on in their path of strength.

Leon walked along with Hiro as they were heading towards the dining area for lunch.

"So that's the range and there's the gunsmith place, there's the visual training room, there's the Gym..."

"Go on, I am listening." Leon insisted 

"But you didn't even look? and why are you smiling like that" Hiro replied in confusion.

"For no reason, How are your fists, for the punches you were throwing back there, very impressive I got to say."

"they're alright, I could've gone faster." Hiro mumbles as they entered the dining hall.

"Faster than that?" Leon raised his eyebrow.

"Yeah Well, leaving it at that, this is the dining hall. you can grab the food given or cook them yourself." Hiro explained 

"Hey hey hey now! I-" 

"I know, I know~"

Hiro and Leon turns around to see Luke and Alice enter the area with Luke's face flushed red.

"Hey there!" Alice waved at them and Leon nodded back.

"Did something happen?" Leon enquired

"Nothing too serious, its just that this guy has never even close to winning against me was saying that he would've got first today" she teased Luke and then walks forward towards Leon.

"And say, you are from cocoon 6 right Leo?" She asked him.

"Yes, I am?" He lied and nodded along.

"Thats Interesting, Let's get something to eat! I want to hear your stories." Alice smiles and walks forward.

"Huh?" Leon was surprised.

"That is if its okay with you?" She asked politely while Leon glanced back to see Luke was staring daggers at him.

"Well I don't mind but I'd be bringing him along as well if it's alright with you." Leon said while pointing to Hiro.

"Hmm?"

Hiro who was zoned out looks at Leon with a surprised expression.

"Y-you sure?" Hiro stammers but then Leon nodded and looked over for their decision.

"Fine by me" Alice gave a confirmation and Luke just grunted and walked forward with his hands behind his head.

"They all go and get their rations of bread and steak with cheese and a boiled egg on the side and take a table to eat, Luke and Alice sat next to each other while Hiro and Leon sat on the opposite end.

"So how did you end up all the way here from the 6th, as far as I remember, It's a continent away from here." Luke initiated the conversation as he cut his steak and sandwiched it with a piece of bread.

The others were also silently listening to what Leon had to say as the man sighed and replied.

"I was sent here by a company, and before you ask, I am not a criminal." Leon stated it out clear and ate a piece of the steak.

"Then why were you from there anyways?"

"I was born there." Leon shuts down his question and looks at him while Alice looks at the way he was eating.

"But it looks like you lived a decent living there didn't you Leo" she murmurs and the rest of them directed their gaze at where she was looking and saw the way how Leon was holding his cutlery.

"W-well, I was living and trained by the company that employed me and brought me here, so I picked up some habits along the way." Leon managed as cold sweat dripped down the side of his forehead.

"Which company do you work for?" Hiro asked this time.

"I cannot disclose that." Leon refused.

"Oh come on Leo, you can tell us." Alice pressed onto it but Leon shook his head

"It's an NDA, No can do."

They would never know and who even takes contracts seriously now anyways." Alice replies mockingly.

"Well...., the guy who came from the prison cocoon." he countered the argument and it went on while Luke and Hiro stayed quiet.

'He won't last long' Luke sighed as Alice started to bicker with Leon and after a few minutes.

"Fine I fold" Leon agrees with great difficulty and they finish their meal.

"Hehe" Alice grins at her victory while Luke chuckles as if he knew it was going to happen.

"Its called SYL" Leon gets up and leaves the seat with his plates and nudges Hiro to get up as well.

"SYL? I have never heard of such a company before?" Alice ponders and then turns to Luke.

"Have you heard of it?" she whispers to Luke

"Nope, but I can look into it for you." Luke offers and she nods.

"Please do, and where are you guys off to?" She turned her attention to the two leaving.

"Well there's still plenty of space for Hiro to show me so I'll be roaming around, See you later." Leon left off with Hiro.

"Well the last place to show you is the combat training room actually." Hiro tells him as they walk along.

"Yeah I know." they entered the field and Hiro turned around. "This is the last facility to show you, after that you got to go to our cabins and chill out.

"Alright then-" Leon suddenly leaned back and rolled over a combo of punches that Hiro hurled at his direction.

"Hey what was that for?!" Leon retorted while Hiro nodded.

"You were unfocused but you still dodged it, was it your ability?" He asked Leon.

"So what if it is?"

"Its a highly ranked one for sure."

"Do you seriously trust your fists that much?" Leon enquired as Hiro clenched his fist and punched the air.

Sissss!

Leon's eyes widened as small amounts of smoke emerged from Hiro's fists.

"Believe me I know."

Gulp

"I-I believe you" Leon replied as he stared at Hiro waving off his hands and then got back into position.

"Good! so lets help each other!" Hiro smiles and claps his hands together.

"Huh?" Leon arched his eyebrow.

"I am currently without a Pair for training and with someone of your ability, I think you can keep up with me." Hiro proposed.

"And what would I benefit from that?"

"You'll gain some real good combat experience that keeps your lie that you came from cocoon 6" Hiro added in.

"what makes you think that I lied?" Leon questions him back.

"Intuition"

"Bullshit" Leon called him out.

"Then why did you lie about the company name back there?" Hiro added on and Leon cracked up.

"So you caught on to it huh, Not bad Nakamura."

"I mean See You Later for SYL, It was a bit uncreative you know" Hiro reasoned his claim.

"Well, that was the only way I could break her stubbornness man." Leon sighed

"Agreed, So what's your decision?"

"The company name is a no go, you and me being sparring partners is a good to go." Leon agreed.

"Good choice Regalis" They both took positions and began their spar.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

[Female's corporal's cabin] 

"Hey, did you hear anything from my date yesterday, he left me without any message or anything." A girl complained while a blonde girl sighed and combed her Hair back.

"Don't get me started on that, I had to clean up all those bottles in the end."

"You drank some of it." She retorted while the blonde with bright blue eyes sighs and then ties her hair.

"Well, I am paying for it with a terrible hangover."

"Anyways, I heard more than 20 cadets cleared the promotion test this time." The roommate chimed in.

"So?"

"Apparently there was a newbie who cleared directly to first class private and he was from Cocoon 6"

"That's interesting, you got a name on them?"

"Yeah, It was Leo Regalis, I think"

"Leon who?"

***********************************

Quest 1 - [Military drills are baby steps - part 1]

BECOME A SEARGENT [5%]

Subtask 1 -NEW LOOK[Completed]

Subtask 2- Get yourself admitted into the military [completed]

Subtask 3 [optional] Get a girl [Not started]

Subtask 4- Get awakened [Completed]

Subtask 5- Attain the First class private rank [Completed]

Subtask 6- Attain corporal Rank [Initiated]

Subtask 7-???

…

Penalty: Death offered by Hel

Reward: Unlocking a random rune.

Quest -2 collects 3 human souls [Not started]

Deadline [ 90 days left]

Penalty: Permanent Death

Reward: ??

***************************************