The three soldiers approached whilst the other stayed back examined the surroundings. I raised up my uninjured hand in surrender.

Well, they didn’t straight up shoot me… So that’s good news.

“Drop your weapon.” A soldier gestured toward my spear, whilst keeping his gun trained on me.

The thought of dropped my main weapon, especially the spear I needed to complete the trial, caused a frown to briefly appear on my face. However, I complied with their request and dropped the spear.

The three soldiers relaxed significantly after the weapon had left my hand. Lowering their guns toward the floor, another soldier demanded identification, “Name, level, and ID.”

“Tobias… lost my ID awhile ago.” I stated, completely ignoring the level component as that could literally mean anything. Level could indicate anything from potentially video game mechanics to some military rank.

Technically, I did lose my ID awhile ago. It didn’t get teleported with me into this universe, thus it was lost.

Another soldier bent down and examined my spear without touching it. Before raising his automatic assault rifle toward me, “He’s lying. There’s no registration on the spear.”

The two other soldiers raised their weapons, “A poacher? Why is did he come here?”

“I’m not a poacher, I just got lost.” I denied the accusation whilst quietly pondering the situation to myself. Why is their first belief that I’m a poacher?

The soldier doubtfully raised his eyebrow, “In a hunting grounds… with an unregister weapon of power.”

Hunting ground? Weapon of power?

My eyes flashed from the sudden valuable information. It might not seem like much, but it actually provides a lot of information.

The monsters are somehow trapped in this forest and are being hunted. There are poachers and registered hunters. Both sides seem to have weapons of power… which are similar to the trial spear. Additionally, weapon of power as a name indicates the power system in this place likely revolves around weapons.

“I haven’t killed anything.” I stated after carefully thinking over a response.

A poacher is someone who kills animals illegally (or monsters in this context). Thus, not having killed any monsters should absolve me of any crimes.

The soldiers clearly didn’t believe me, but didn’t protest my statement and politely said. “Regardless, you were trespassing on military grounds. We have contacted someone to arrest you.”

I nodded. There wasn’t much I could say to refute that. Although I had no idea whether it was accurate, I wasn’t about to argue with them. I doubt my current body could survive being shot at by assault rifles, so I didn’t have much of choice besides surrender.

Regardless of where they kept me, I was confident I could escape though. I only needed a moment to summon the spear from in my wristband and use a piercing strike to smash through a wall. Once I’m healed, escaping should be easy.

“Before anything else-” I gestured to my wounded and bloody right arm, “-could I get taken to a hospital?”

The soldiers looked at each other with a strange expression, before someone spoke up, “They should have medical treatment there.”

The rest of the soldiers nodded, however expressions showed their confidence in that statement was rather low.

“The hunter should arrive shortly to escort you.” The soldiers said before lowering their weapons and returning back to their companions in the distance. They didn’t seem interested in putting me in handcuffs or confiscating the spear I’d dropped on the floor.

Actually, they seemed to completely avoid approaching me. Fear or caution?

Judging by their relatively polite attitude, poachers might have a decently high status. Then again, in any society, people with power will have a high status. Regardless of whether they follow the rules of that society or not.

To wait out the time, I sat down within reach of my spear and my mind wandered.

What’s the point of this trial? Every test is trying to test for something. So, what exactly is it trying to test?

My combat skills? No… Although she stated that killing 10,000 monsters completed the test. If they were testing for combat skills, just summoning 10,000 monsters to fight would've sufficed. It would be far quicker and simpler.

Instead, they seem to have created an entire world and culture.

Do they want to test adaptability to a foreign environment or survival? Why would they give unlimited lives then… that would neglect the point of the entire test.

I’m still missing critical information.

Whilst I was lost in my thoughts, the hunter (?) arrived. He wore a long brown coat and a black bow similar to the one offered before.

Gesturing for me to stand up, the hunter gruffly stated. “Let’s go.”

Before he began walking away… without checking that I was following.

I frowned at the lack of care, but I picked up my spear and followed after him. I wasn’t about to leave the weapon I needed to complete this test behind for no reason.

Nobody objected, or did anything that indicating they cared that I was carrying my weapon. Thus, I decided to quietly follow after the hunter for now.

After following him for a short while, I found myself astonished. There was a parking lot with various motor vehicles. He stepped into a truck, and gestured for me to follow him inside.

Confused, I glanced around.

I could accept automatic assault weapons, as they had something similar in the magic side… but cars and trucks? That’s a staple of earth. There’s no reason for them to exist in a magic universe. To put it simply, cars and trucks work on completely different principles that render them obsolete in a magic universe.

When you can teleport, create artifacts that allow flight, and other such magical techniques to move around. The idea of a car in comparison is simply wasteful and overly complicated.

For an illusionary realm to have them…

I shook my head and followed the hunter into the car. Best to not make baseless assumptions. Wait until I have more information on the creator of this virtual space.

The moment the door closed behind me, the hunter slamming his fist onto the steering wheel.

“What on earth were you thinking, Tobias?!” The hunter began berating me. “Why didn’t you meet me at the safe exit?! Do you know the number of strings I had to pull to ensure this is kept off the record!”

I stared at him blankly and asked, “Do I know you?”

He twitched at my statement and slammed his right fist onto the steering wheel before point it at me, “Don’t you dare play the amnesia card, right now. Amnesia doesn’t work that way and you know it.”

So I’ll take that as a yes… You do know me.

Strange… so this test includes some type of background and judging by his ability to get me out of trouble, a large one.

For what purpose? Why give a background and a relatively powerful one at that on a test to simply kill things?

“I got lost after getting attacked by a panther.” I stated whilst shrugging. “My ID also disappeared.”

The hunter rolled his eyes, “Did your nonexistent ID happen to disappear around the same time your nonexistent brains left you? The hell did you pull this kind of stunt for?”

Nonexistent ID… So I never had an ID? Hmm, interesting…

“I expect a full explanation and apology later.” The hunter gruffly stated before beginning to drive.

Coughing lightly, I gestured toward my arm and asked, “So… what should I do about my injury?”

“You messed it up, deal with it yourself.” The man stated gesturing toward the back of the truck.

Right… I glanced into the back of the truck and saw various weapons, canned food, and parts of different monsters.

Stepping into the back, I found a medical kit and removed the torn off clothing wrapped around my wound. Beginning by cleaned off my wound, I applied antiseptics (medicine to prevent infections). Then began wrapping bandages around the wound.

“Where are we heading?” I called forward whilst examining the weapons in the back. None of them were made of the same metal or material as my spear, yet they all gave off an ominous vibe.

“Did you actually lose your brain after faking your death?” The hunter called back to me whilst keeping his eyes ahead on the road, “Your safe house, obviously.”

Faking my death? Safe house? Has this illusionary realm's background set me up as a criminal? Hmmm… Odd. Best to avoid talking until I learn the general situation of this world.

Time passed whilst I quietly pondered the situation and waited for us to arrive.

My mind drifted to Rin in this quiet moment, but I quickly tried to stop thinking about her. It wouldn't do any good and would only serve to distract me.

Soon, I found the truck parking in an enclosed house with large walls obscuring the view of others.

“Alright, I’ll be back in a week.” The hunter said whilst getting out of the truck to signal our arrival. “Keep your head down… and I shouldn’t need to say this, but don’t leave and create more trouble for me.”

I nodded, showing my acknowledgement of his request. Although I might decide to ignore his request and leave anyway.

After confirming my understanding, he disappeared through the front gate. Leaving the truck with various supplies behind.

I blinked at his casual abandonment of a truck filled with various valuable materials... Unless the food and supplies inside it were for me? I guess that makes sense if he’s going to be abandoning me for a week.

Do I need to eat, though? How realistic is this illusionary realm? Well, whatever… I’ll find out sooner or later.

Before I do anything else, I need to explore this house for clues. Any hints regarding my background in this realm would be extremely helpful.

The door was locked, but the door’s key was underneath the welcome mat. (Seriously, though, who actually hides their key underneath the mat?)

Entering, I found the entire place was a mess.

Although it wasn’t the ‘ransack the entire place and threw everything on the floor’ kind of mess but instead the ‘I haven’t cleaned up in several months and cannot be bothered to start now’ kind of mess.

However, a notebook on the table labeled with a suspicious ‘READ ME!’ caught my eye.

Approaching the suspicious book, I opened it up without second thought and began reading it.

Hey… so, I guess I failed. Tough luck, but hey it’s your turn now.

First thing’s first, I’m you… and yes. When I say that I do mean you, Tobias. I have a million different things I want to explain, but that’s the most important.

That annoying teenage girl neglected to mention one tiny little flaw with the resurrection mechanism. You do NOT keep your memories.

Any memories made after entering this place disappear upon death.

From what I can tell, there were two others Tobias’ before me. That number doesn’t include any that failed to make it out of the forest and into civilization. I have since erased their existence from any database I could find.

The main theme of this test should be ‘pathing the way for future success’.

Second, the next most important thing, kill something (anything) as soon as possible. Whether it’s a human, animal, or monster. You need to kill something ASAP.

Upon killing anything with the spear, it will be bound to you and nobody can take it until you die. I failed at that and had it taken away. That’s the second biggest trap of this place.

One you’ve killed something with the spear, you’ll be considered an illegal poacher and likely be hunted down…

Although normal people will leave you alone for fear of revenge, most hunters will try to collect the bounty on your head.

Trust me, the legal alternative is out of the question. We don’t have a legal identity… plus, considering my current plan, I doubt you’ll be able to use the legal route.

If everything went well, Tarve, (bad-tempered but dependable hunter) should’ve picked you up from the secret exit of the forest and escorted you here.

Tarve is trustworthy keeps his word. There are various political undercurrents in this world that I had to get involved in to plan for the future, he’s part of them.

Hopefully, with his help, your starting position will be higher than mine.

I’ll state this right out. The quickest and easiest way to complete this test would be a mass killing of humans. However, the risks involved are obvious… especially with us losing our memory upon death.

Thus, I’m not going to recommend that course of action.

Before reading any further, go down into the basement. Check whether the chicken is still alive. If it’s alive, kill it and bind your spear. (I really hope you didn’t lose it like I did.)

Closing the book, I blinked repeated as I went through the information it contained. I couldn't quite believe it, but for some reason it sounds... plausible.

Still, losing memories of what happened in this illusionary realm upon death sounds extremely familiar. I stared down at my wristband in suspicion.

Also, technically, isn’t this just a reverse of Rin’s ability? Just, instead of the world resetting, I resurrect without memories whilst the world keeps going forward.

I felt a headache coming over me. So I wasn’t actually given a powerful background, instead I created one for myself. This keeps on getting more confusing.

Why couldn’t this have just been a simple combat simulation with all my abilities and strengths?