Three days later, Han proposed another sparring match, but with weapons this time. Schwartz showed off his broad shoulders and gladly accepted. They each selected a weapon they wished to wield. Han armed a spear, and Schwartz chose a heavy sword.

Tak!

Han stabbed his spear forward aiming for Schwartz's neck. It was a blunt spear, but it would hurt nonetheless. Schwartz dodged bending over backwards.

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'Next the legs.'

His spear rotated around and aimed for Schwartz's shank. His opponent flinched and lost his center of balance.

'Another rotation around to the head.'

Schwartz took a clean hit to his blind spot and couldn't recover. It was hard to believe that a rookie third year would be this good at weapon handling. He felt dizzy trying to make sense of the chaotic spear movements. The attack and defense movements were in perfect balance with each other and it was difficult to predict his next move.

"Punk!"

Schwartz took a blow to gain a hold of Han's spear. It sounded like the bone of his finger broke just now. Schwartz didn't mind it at all as his sword's attack seemed to roar.

Han spun his body around to dodge the attack. His opponent made a large pulling movement to bend the spear. The muscle fibers of Schwarz fingers snapped from over exertion.

'This is a newly transferred third year?'

Schwartz underestimated Han's weapon handling skills. Han's application and reflexive skills were above average of most experts. Han wielded his spear like it was an extension of his own body. Spear handling came easy to Han who had excellent reflexes and dexterity.

Additionally, his body was artificially strengthened a great deal. Put plainly, Han was a genius spear wielder.

'I can easily predict his next move,' Han could read all of Schwartz's movements. Han took his time to study about Laocha, Johnny, and Schwartz the past three days.

He thoughtfully kept track of all of Schwartz's attack patterns and small habits. He watched Schwartz's battle clips and memorized his attack speed and patterns.

'This should be what it means to make the situation more advantageous for oneself.'

Han had been doing this since long ago. He would try to understand his opponent's weaknesses to defeat them. Laocha helped to finesse Han's battle methods.

'This should be enough. I will win.'

Han purposely held back from dealing the deciding blow. He purposely acted like he was being pushed back by Schwartzs' counters. In the end, Schwartz sent Han's spear flying. Schwartz' knife stopped just before Han's neck.

"Haa, haa."

Han and Schwartz tried to regain their breath. Schwartz thought something felt amiss, but he was too tired to realize his grave mistake.

'There is no need to go so far as to ruin the close ties you have with comrades just to prove your strength.'

This was something that Laocha said to Han. Schwartz was a veteran first generation psyker. Han was a new transfer third year.

No matter how talented Han was at the spear, Schwartz would greatly lose face if he were to lose against a rookie third year.

Schwartz wouldn't outwardly display these feelings, but he would most likely distance himself from the other.

'If we become awkward due to this one spar battle, it will become difficult to ask him for more favors to continue my training in the future.'

Laocha watched Han and laughed. Being the strongest isn't always the best choice.

There are times when it's necessary to show one's weaknesses. In the wild, there are times strong animals will pretend to be weak, and there are times when weak animals will bluff that they are stronger.

"You're strong. Fairly talented. Chan." Schwartz said. He was barely able to make a comeback in the battle and was feeling good.

"It's Han," he said while wiping his sweat. It didn't seem like Schwartz would correct himself any time soon.

"Well, who cares? Let's go Chan. Let's eat lunch together. I'll introduce you to some of my friends." Han looked to Laocha who was observing from a distance. Laocha was leaned against a wall and gave a nod.

Han was able to form a closer bond to Schwartz. Schwartz endlessly bragged about Han's excellent spear handling skills.

Silence had returned to Ark a few days ago. He hid together with the team he was dispatched with in the wilderness of the Amazon to take care of all the grunts.

The military operations that squads are deployed to are often times these sort of simple missions. The third years and P.F. veterans would go out together for the sake of acquiring battle experience. Real life battle experience was more important than any amount of institutional training.

-How did you manage to become friends with Johnny Schwartz?

Silence asked Han upon his return. He witnessed the two converse without any honorifics or minding their ranks.

"It just somehow turned out that way."

Han felt it would be too difficult to explain everything and answered in a roundabout way. Silence wasn't satisfied with this answer.

He'd spent quite a bit of time with Silence, and was able to read small body movements to observe the other's mood.

Han had excellent observation skills.

– It is good to befriend others.

"How did your deployment go?"

-It was so hot and annoying.

"..I'm sure."

Han thought of Silence's battle helmet and said. He suddenly felt Silence behaved younger than he appeared to be.

The more he got to know the other, his once powerful and charismatic image slowly disappeared. It could be possible that if he could speak, he would be a chatterbox.

'Silence is the same age as me, so.'

Han spent most of his time training with Laocha, or practicing to pilot the psychofram with Octo.

Gradually, he got to befriend more people and became accustomed to daily life on the Ark. Second year felt like such a long time ago, and every day he missed his friends. He thought of the days he played card games with his friends late into the night.

After a month since Han was transferred to third year, he received a message on his data bracelet. Han stared into his data bracelet rubbing his eyes to see if he was seeing things.

-Mission deployment for Johnny Schwartz and squad. Briefing will be held at 1030 hours.

Han received his first official mission. He washed his face with cold water in the bathroom. All the drowsiness disappeared at once.