Chapter 3 The Moca Republic

• The Moca republic is a country with middle-grade military power, directly opposite the Sparta republic in terms of territory comparison. They were neighbors in a sense, but that was just a title without any close sentiments attached to it this era.
• Due to invasion being a norm in this century, the Moca republic has always coveted the Sparta republic’s territory. The Moca republic is more advanced than the Sparta republic technologically, but not by much. This has served as a catalyst, for the Mocans aggression against the Spartans.
• Spartans are indoctrinated into the hatred between the two countries from birth, so there is hardly any good interaction between them.
• No business transactions are made. Instead, they trade blows through small skirmishes and a major invasion attempt from either side. But the Mocans are more enthusiastic about it, as they are slightly stronger.
• Clark, as a Spartan, was naturally indoctrinated into this hatred between both states as well.
• He sat close to Leonard in the helicopter, as it flew into the big tropical forest. The only ammunition provided to them by the military, is a pair of daggers, a standard Spartan cadet uniform, a pair of boots, a pair of military gloves, and a sword made from reinforced steel.
• What made them resentful, was that the government refused to provide guns for this part of their training.
• He silently observed his ten teammates, who were all serious and stone-faced. He silently prayed, when he felt that no one was looking in his direction. He felt slightly nervous, “God give me the strength and brains to blast through this training”.
• He suddenly felt ridiculous, when he realized what he was doing. “Am I afraid? No, shit, that’s for cowards, plants like Leo. I’m not afraid, I will crux through this man.”
• As he thought, his friend suddenly turned to look him in the eye with a grin. His expression saying, “hahaha, nervous piece of shit”.
• He almost wrestled him there immediately before Leo chuckled, suddenly saying, “Clark don’t die, please.” He jerked a little in his position, as his heart softened.
• No matter how his friend pulled at his nerves, they were still bosom friends at the end. These little antics were not harmful, as it’ll only make their bond stronger.
• A friendship without any antics, nor mischievousness, is just a farce. He told his friend, you too, as this was the best answer he could muster. In his mind, he just fought a fierce battle.
• Being 18-year-olds, there was a lot they have not encountered yet. This is their accumulation years; they were not ready to waste the joyfulness in it by being serious all the time.
• “I’m going to use this training to train my reflexes and obtain real battle experience,” he muttered to himself silently, as he slowly clenched his fists.
• Fifteen minutes later, Leonard was dropped in an unknown part of the forest. Ten minutes later, Clark was the last cadet remaining about to be dropped, he looked at their escort Sergeant Leroy.
• The sergeant noticed his stare. He turned to look at him, smiled, and spoke. “Clark of this batch of ten cadets under me, you are the most exceptional, don’t disappoint me.”
• He only smiled in reply, as he quickly dropped down from the sky. After the helicopter departed, he exhaled.
• “Variant beasts, come on. I’m ready bro,” he suddenly said sarcastically, to improve his spirit for the training. You never know, the smallest gesture now, can be what will save your life in the future.
• The area of the forest he was dropped, was kind of swampy, he wisely decided to leave this area to a drier environment. Five days of survival in the forest are not beans, he reminded himself to be self-conscious of his surroundings.
• At last, he finally found a dry area. He quickly prepared and set up a tent to pass the night. He unsheathed his sword to cut down some trees nearby, to get their broad leaves.
• As he worked, he was startled as something suddenly crossed his front with abnormal speed. He picked himself up with fast reflexes, as he hurriedly backed off. He looked, and to his surprise, it was a cat. He looked closer before realizing it was an augmented cat.
• “Shit, this piece of shit scared the hell out of me,” he thought in slight anger and embarrassment.
• “Shoo!! Get out of here, I don’t want to kill you,” he said out of sympathy, the main reason was mostly that he didn’t want meat at the moment.
• To his surprise, this punk started hissing with obvious hostility. It suddenly lunged forward with startling speed, almost reaching his face in an instant. He was also very fast, as he reflexively blocked with his sword.
• Dang!!! His sword was knocked away, as the cat tried to strike and claw at his face with its claws.
• He remembered the fundamentals, as he immediately rolled back. He stabbed forward with a dagger which was stored in his boot. It connected to the cat’s back, as it meowed in pain but still kept its aggression.
• It clawed with its other claw at his hand, as he suddenly felt a sharp pang of pain, almost disorienting him. He concentrated harder and pulled the dagger upwards to the cat’s neck, widening its injury.
• Already expecting its retaliation, he jumped back. He left the dagger behind, as he quickly got his other dagger. He threw it with practiced precision, it connected to his target’s left eye.
• Before jumping, he already calculated where his sword fell on. Upon landing there, he picked it up and immediately did a backward slash. The cat accelerated to him but it was within his calculations.
• The sword connected, removing its neck with ease. Blood spurted out of its neck, as his tense nerves finally relaxed a little.
• After killing it, he immediately turned around, scrutinizing his surroundings the way he had never done before. After feeling a little safe, he returned to the body of the cat. He stood there in a daze just staring at it, as he was still shocked.
• “Jesus, man, augmented animals are really scary,” he blurted out, still shocked. “It seems I won’t be cruxing past this test after all.”
• He picked the leaves that he cut down previously and arranged them in a slightly covered shape, to protect him from prying eyes in the night.
• He scouted the surroundings for any latent threat, seeing none at the moment he lit up a fire. He roasted the cat and nursed his injuries with the forest medicinal herbs he got in his way. This was just common knowledge, he learned through his implant.
• After eating a little, he suddenly wanted to sleep as it was already late. “What says the time? Where is my watch?” He asked himself before he remembered where he was, suddenly feeling foolish.
• “I’m in the forest, I almost totally forgot for a second there. Ok, I can do this. Just close your eyes after entering your tent to sleep.”
• He did just that, feeling satisfied that he could at least use the sun rays and his shadow for keeping check of time tomorrow. “That’s better, God is still with me”.