The others did not know the uses of the "Intermediate Practices of Energy Absorption," so they could only envy Steve for receiving another award. Steve's level of cell activation had reached 75% now.

As the level of cell activation increases, the effects of the serum would grow weaker. Despite that, Steve's progress was already quite amazing. After the award ceremony, Wendy offered encouragement and congratulations to everyone, then moved on to make the announcements.

"You have a break of seven days! After that, you shall join the military officially. Keep in mind that the military's rules and the recruit's rules are different. I hope that you'll be able to grow and become a qualified soldier soon," she announced.

Cheers rang out, as they were finally able to enter the military officially. But, they were most excited by the fact that they had a seven day break! After all, it had been more than three months since they'd been able to go back home, so they had missed their families.

After the meeting was over, the soldiers went back to prepare and pack their things for their home visits. The instructors could not bring themselves to smile alongside the soldier's elated grins, as they knew what the soldiers did not yet know... These would be their last peaceful moments.

After entering the military, only endless war and blood would accompany them. Then, maybe not long after, these brothers and sisters laughing beside them might lose their lives on some battlefield and be gone forever.

The new soldiers could still laugh today, because they did not yet understand the ruthlessness of war. Naturally, Steve did not know what he was going to face in the future. He could not wait to go back home and tell his little sister, Elizabeth, the news of his military initiation. But, for now, he had more important things that needed to be done.

The crowd dissipated. Seeing that Lucy was about to disappear into the crowd, Steve chased after her immediately. Sofia also looked at Lucy, wanting to chase after her, but stopped after a moment of hesitation.

"Where are you going?" Steve grabbed Lucy's hand.

Lucy's body trembled. Steve had already enveloped Lucy in a hug, and her delicate voice cracked a little as she said, "I don't know. How can I face.."

After losing that day, she had a big fight with Sofia. She had been wishing to reconcile their sisterhood, but was afraid that Sofia had not changed. She did not wish to return to their previous relationship status, but also did not wish to become further estranged from her sister.

"Don't worry. I'm here, I'll help you solve this problem," Steve said gently in her ear.

Lucy felt a strange sense of safety being near Steve. She turned and asked him, "What do you intend to do?"

"Follow me, I have an idea that'll help you guys patch things up." Steve held Lucy's hand and led her to Sofia's quarters.

"What do you intend to do?" Lucy asked.

"You'll know in a moment," Steve replied, pressing the doorbell.

The door opened immediately. As Sofia had not been expecting Lucy and Steve, her expression was one of complete surprise.

"You guys.." Sofia began to say, but Steve interrupted her, saying, "Let's talk inside."

Steve held Lucy's hand and, without waiting for Sofia's reaction, walked straight in.

The three of them sat on the sofa, forming a triangle. The ambience was a little awkward, as Lucy was acting very reserved and Sofia did not know what to say.

Right at this moment, Steve asked, "Sofia, do you still remember our promise? If I win, you'll agree to one condition?"

"What condition do you have?" Sofia was nervous as she said, "If you want to split my sister and I up, I will never agree to that."

Steve laughed out loud, then assured her, "I wouldn't do anything that would make Lucy unhappy. I feel that the both of you should sit down and have a nice talk."

At this moment, both of the girls' eyes met, their gazes complicated.

"Sorry."

"Sorry."

Almost at the same time, the both of them said the exact same thing. Because of this one single word, the tense atmosphere had an inkling of reconciliation. Steve smiled, knowing that this was a good sign.

Ding-Dong!

But, right at this moment, the doorbell rang. Steve's brows wrinkled, and Sofia, who was rarely annoyed, was also ruffled. This was because the problem between the sisters was about to be solved, so this incident was interrupting at the worst possible time!

With a wave of Sofia's hand, a projected screen appeared in front of them, showing an image of three familiar figures standing outside her door.

"Why...It's him!"

"His injuries have recovered?" Steve was perplexed.

The person standing at the door was Stuart! It seemed that he had already recovered from the injuries that he had suffered yesterday, as he now had a flushed and healthy complexion.

"Why is he here?" Sofia furrowed her brows, thinking for a moment, then asked, "Could it have something to do with the mission?"

"Sofia, I know you're in there! I have something important to discuss with you," Stuart said, looking into the security camera lense.

As Sofia did not have an alternative, she looked at Steve and Lucy and said, "We'll have a nice talk after I settle things with him. Also, he'll be angry if he sees you guys, so you'd better go and hide in my room."

Steve and Lucy had no choice but to go and hide in Sofia's room. Sofia tidied up the living room, then went to open the door. Upon entering Sofia's room, Steve was stunned and asked,"This is Sofia's room?"

"Hehe, I bet you did not expect her room to look like this, right?" Lucy grinned.

The whole room was decorated in girly pink tones, with lots of cute cartoon stickers on the walls. The huge crimson bed in the middle had a bedsheet with a huge heart on it. In the middle of the heart was a cute picture of the hottest cartoon character now.

Tons of cartoon dolls were placed at the side of the bed, while three life-sized dolls were also nearby. The accessories on the table were cute and very feminine as well. If he had not known Sofia's strong and independent personality, Steve would've thought that he had entered some silly little girl's room.

"Actually, my older sister's personality was not that of a strong woman before her fighting days. In fact, she was like a little princess, who loved to dress up prettily. It wasn't until later on that she changed, when lots of things were happening at home. She had no choice but to buck up in order to protect me, so she pretended to be a strong woman.." As Lucy explained, her beautiful eyes were filled with sadness.

The two of them sat on the bed, Lucy leaning on Steve's shoulder, while she talked about the past. With Sofia's and Lucy's family status, they had not needed to become soldiers to acquire training resources.

Growing up, their family environment had been good, as their parents were evolved beings and even had a small business. They were even considered to be rich, at least definitely better than any other soldiers in the military!