The next day, Clark woke up to meet his friend already awake. Leo leisurely laid on the bed, while silently watching a morning show on the television. He was completely unlike someone who just came back from a life-threatening graduation training. Clark slept in his friend’s room, so after waking up, he conveniently prepared breakfast for the both of them. They ate, as they enjoyed the morning show with a smile. Ding!! Ding!! As they both relaxed after enjoying their food, they both suddenly received a message alert through their implant. They concentrated to immerse themselves, as they proceeded to see the message. “Good morning cadets, this is your captain speaking. The date of your graduation ceremony has been decided upon by the government. All cadets are to prepare for the graduation ceremony, which will be held 2 weeks from now”. “All cadets are to get their formal military uniform from the armory before the ceremony commences. Everything you need, is already provided there”. On checking their implant, Captain Spoky’s loud but rough voice was heard, as he passed on the audio message.“Tsk tsk, Leo, yesterday we were lamenting on how we’ll pass the first training session. But now, we already finished it and we are now waiting for the graduation ceremony,” Clark said in a nostalgic tone, as a smile bloomed into his face. “Oh, I almost forgot. I got some goodies for you, I’m coming,” he said, as he quickly ran to his room. He came back shortly after with a well-packaged bag, before handing it to his friend. “Clark what did you buy for me,” Leo asked, as he opened the bag. He was surprised when he saw the bag’s contents, “Clark you bought clothes and all these for me?” “I guess it didn’t cost you much because of the increase in our funds, but still thank you, Clark, I really appreciate it”. He appreciated his friend, as he admired the goodies in the bag. Clark just smiled; “you’re welcome, anything for my buddy”. Leo rolled his eyes at this comment. “Hmm, you are now acting as a generous sage again. What a lame way to inflate your confidence in your generosity,” he commented sarcastically. They both had their bath, after some time of lazing around. After that, they donned the identical pair of shorts and the fitting polo shirt that Clark bought. It was a very nice combination. They both smiled as they came out of the room, they looked just like a pair of twins. They felt like strolling around after wearing the new clothes, so they simply did a tour around the military base. … 2 weeks quickly passed, as the Captain finally ordered for an assembly of all the cadets. That morning, the cadets did their first parade in a while before they stood in attention, awaiting the arrival of the captain. Captain Spoky finally arrived with his entourage of soldiers, he smiled on seeing the neat line of cadets as he climbed the podium to address them. “Good morning Captain,” they greeted, as soon as he climbed the podium. “Good morning soldiers to be,” he greeted back with a wider smile on his face before he finally began addressing them. “I feel like just smiling forever,” he said smilingly at the cadets. After pausing for a moment to recollect his thoughts, he continued. “I’m proud of you all, you all lived up to my expectations. Cadets, you broke another record under my watch. I now feel like I did a good job in training you guys, and you didn’t disappoint”.“Of the initial 220 cadets who participated in this last training session, 5 died in the training while 3 others failed to get the cut-off mark of 50 points”. “I am glad to announce that 212 cadets from this batch graduated to become soldiers. And in this training, a very exceptional soldier emerged from your midst, or better still 2 soldiers came from your midst who broke the individual records for most points obtained”. All the cadets slightly shifted their line of sight to the only 3 high-grade soldiers from this batch on hearing this, as they were sure that the 2 exceptional soldiers were from the 3 of them. They stared more acutely at Anderson, as all the cadets believed that he was among the exceptional cadets; the captain finally broke their staring contest, as he continued. “I would be honored to announce the name of the 2 soldiers, but I’m restricted as their identity will be revealed at your graduation ceremony”. “2 days from now, which is on Monday is your graduation day at the Southern Sparta military headquarters. Cut your hair and be as neat as possible, because it will be an experience that you’ll forever cherish and remember”. “The 5 weapons you took for your training will be the primary weapons that you will use after graduation, so take them as your equipment now”.After all the speech, the captain ended it with a special closing greeting, before finally dismissing the cadets as he also left. Clark and Leo went directly to the armory to get their new uniforms, as they didn’t have any urgent matter to attend to. On reaching there, they met sergeant Modric who smiled generously at them as they exchanged greetings. Sergeant Modric led them to where the uniforms were kept inside the armory, they saw them hanged in a row. The unique color blue, black, and white of the Spartan military uniform stood out from the surrounding, making it look special. They did not linger nor freeze in place, as they quickly started looking for their size. After finding their size, they found a suitcase where they kept the uniforms after folding them. They also selected from the standard black military boots, which were kept to the side. They took one each for the both of them, before directly leaving after that. As they left, Leo continually talked about the awesomeness of the military boots. The Spartan military boots were really useful, as they had a wide variety of transformations and added gadgets. Most importantly, it was made using exotics. The boots can adapt to practically any situation. They can become magnetic if the situation requires it. They can produce an anti-gravity field that makes the user lighter, to enable them to move faster and perform unreal maneuvers that are impossible in normal gravity. Though the effectiveness of these add-on techs on the boots was not top-notch, they were still useful. These are just a small portion of their capabilities, as higher-grade boots can even enable the user to fly and do other inconceivable things. They finally reached Leo’s room, after about 5 minutes of walking. They both entered the room, as they stored the suitcases in a safe place before starting their exercise sessions. Exercise already became a daily routine for them; they never miss it. … Sweat beaded down Clark’s face, as he wiped it off with his right hand. After a long session of stretching and contracting their muscles, they finally rested as both of them laid down on the floor. “I think you broke a country-wide record Clark, getting 360 points out of 360 is still pretty inconceivable to me”. Leo suddenly said is they rested. He still could not get over this outrageous achievement. “There is probably going to be a huge reward prepared for you,” he rambled excitedly, as he turned to face his friend. “I also really hope for a great reward,” Clark commented with slight anticipation and hope, as a smile bloomed into his face. They spent the rest of the whole day doing meaningless things and lazing around, as the date of their graduation ceremony slowly drew nearer. They already passed the stage of work, work, and work again. They were now at the harvest of work, play, and play again. “We are finally being released from the constant training and drills bondage,” Clark thought with a smile. “I can’t wait to see Monday, it’ll probably be the biggest day of my life,” he muttered with a wider smile on his face.