Stuffing the golden amulet back underneath the pillow, I placed the identification papers back inside the box and paced around the bedroom.

This is absurd… There’s no way I would recommend using a necklace like that.

Sitting down on the bed, I flipped back to that page in the notebook and reread that section of the notebook.

The section doesn’t mention anything about the disguise method and certainly doesn’t include anything about turning into a girl. Only implying if I refused to use it, I’m left to my own devices on figuring out a disguise.

Even, so I felt frustrated with myself. Obviously, instead of leaving it as a clean identity, I should’ve utilized the necklace when committing crimes. That would’ve made far more sense and kept my actual identity clean.

Unless that version of me didn’t want to wear it either.

…

*Sigh…*

… That’s probably the correct answer, isn't it?

Well, this isn’t something I need to deal with right now. I’ve got other things to do. Like killing that chicken and reading the notebook and… Uhhh… other complicated stuff.

Yeah... My schedule’s completely packed, alright? Nobody has time to mess around with a dumb amulet.

I glanced toward it out of the corner of my eye and a thought popped into my brain.

What if my theory’s wrong?

The notebook never explicitly stated that the amulet actually turned me into a girl. Shouldn’t I test it to confirm?

The thought was swiftly squashed into oblivion.

For those identification papers to be useful, it would have to turn me into a girl of similar looks. Nobody wants to see me turn into a girl. I don’t need any stupid amulet.

With a look of determination, I prepared to leave this accursed bedroom. Leaning down, I quietly pushed the box underneath the bed and slipped the amulet into my bag from beneath the pillow. Instead of sticking around in this bedroom, I temporarily left the house.

Grabbing some canned food from the truck, I promptly reentered the house and headed toward the kitchen.

No, I wasn’t getting hungry. Instead I’d decided to try and lure that chicken out of the basement. Since I wasn’t willing to go into that dark basement, I could only try luring the creature out and disposing of it.

Now, then… Where’s the can opener?

After spending a decent amount of time searching through the kitchen for anything remotely resembling one, I arrived at a depressing conclusion. The kitchen did not contain the essential item required to open canned food… or I’m obliviously blind.

To be perfectly honest, it could be either. As I’ve mentioned multiple times before, I’m usually not that observant.

Sighing, I picked up a random knife and stabbed it into the can. Utilizing it to force open the canned food.

I would use God-hunter, but it’s simply too degrading to use her for such a task. Plus, God-hunter would probably nag at me for even suggesting the possibility, which honestly I wouldn’t mind hearing right about now.

…

I closed my eyes and released a breath.

Without Rin and God-hunter around… it’s lonely. I tried dismiss the loneliness with the tiny shake of the head as I moved toward the barred basement door.

Everything will work out. Focus on the current task.

Leaving the open canned food by the basement door, I prepared the metal spear and removed the wooden planks blocking the door. Whilst I opened the door shortly afterward to complete the ambush preparations.

Now… we wait.

Time began to pass with nothing happening. Eventually, I heard movement from down the passageway.

“Squawk!” A noise sounded from below the stairs.

The noise caused instinctual terror and shook me to my core. I gulped and tried to suppress the fear.

Slowly the sound of footsteps climbed up.

I suppressed my instincts to run away and prepared for battle. Even when facing the basilisk in the first zone, I’d never had this kind of instinctual terror. It should just be mutated chicken, calm down.

The figure of the chicken gradually appeared into view and it glanced toward me with terrifying eyes.

I tried to stab out, but my body refused to respond.

“Squawk!” The chicken tilted it head before pecking at the canned food on the floor.

The squawking sound from its peak sent shivers down my spine. My hands began to shake and teeth began to clatter.

It’s distracted with the food, I need to attack it.

Despite knowing what to do, I found my body barely able to respond to my request. I tried stabbed forward, but missed completely due to the shakiness of my hands.

Calm down. It’s just a chicken. It’s not even acting aggressively. Kill it.

Whilst I was comforting myself the chicken flapped it’s wings in my direction and began squawking rapidly. “Squawk! Squawk! Squawk!”

I instinctively retreated a couple of steps.

The chicken seemed content with itself and grabbed the canned food with its beak before returning back into the basement.

Entire body was still shaking… The instant the chicken was out of sight, I immediately moved to slam the door shut. Then placed the wooden planks back over it to block it.

Breathing a sigh of relief, I gradually managed to calm myself down.

What the hell was that?

There didn’t seem to be anything particularly abnormal about that chicken. Nor did it seem to have any combat abilities. In fact, in hindsight, the chicken seems harmless to me. Yet, whenever I heard its cry, it sent shivers deep into my bones.

Why could it terrify me to such an extent? Is it part of the chicken’s mutation? A mental attack? The notebook implied it had some type of regenerative or physical defensive power, though.

Clearly, more research is needed about the animals in this place. If all of them have multiple formidable abilities… I don’t even want to think about it.

How have people even survived this long if all animals are like this? No... Actually, if this is an illusionary realm, it makes sense. After all, logic can be entirely thrown out the window for virtual and fictional worlds.

More importantly, why did I even keep such a terrifying creature? Had I gone insane? Who would want to live in the same place as it?!

Staring at the wooden door, I briefly remembered the iron cage that the chicken had torn its way out of to escape.

Maybe… I should improve the defenses blocking the door.

Remembering the weapons in the truck, I grabbed a few of them and used them to replace the wooden planks that were previously blocking the door.

Once finished, I glanced at the wooden door with nervousness. There’s no way that door would hold if the chicken wanted to escape.

The only reason the chicken’s still down there is because it wants to be. After all, it had a clear chance to escape… but, instead of doing that, it chose to return back into the basement.

I began regretting arriving at this place. Do I seriously have to live in the same house as that thing?

My eyes flashed with determination.

No, I need to kill it. Not only to have peace of mind whilst I stay here, but also to bind the spear of power to myself.

There’s no guarantee another animal will be easier to kill. At least this animal is passive livestock, which gives me near unlimited chances to kill it. Repeated exposure to its mental attack should lower the effectiveness.

To try discovering more information, I read the beginning of the book again. Ultimately that proved unhelpful, thus I decided to just continue reading from there.

Recommended Courses of Action.

Before going any further, I should inform you that my currently plan is to go after, and kill, the hunter that stole my weapon of power. Unfortunately, it’s seems he has become decently powerful. Some rumors states he’s on the verge of promotion into platinum rank. Once that happens, I will no longer have a chance. Thus, I cannot delay any longer.

With that in mind, I have some recommended courses of action.

If you haven’t already figured this out, I strongly suggest you keep trying to kill the chicken. If you still haven’t succeeded when Tarve returns to check on you, request his help in binding the spear… Ahem, also, if you don’t want him to bring you a death row criminal or another human, best to specify that you’d prefer to kill a monster.

Remember to look up the relationship section for how to interact with Tarve in a non-suspicious manner.

Once you have successfully bonded with the spear, life should will become simultaneously simpler and harder. There are various poacher’s guilds and illegal hangout places that will open up to you. Carefully utilizing those should grant access to more hunting grounds and monster locations. Those places are dangerous, but you can make a significant amount of money whilst slowly building up your kill count.

The only thing to note is that you’ll need to disguise yourself before entering them. Otherwise someone will definitely inform the government and hunter organization you’re still alive, which would be very bad.

For an normal poacher, they’d probably just create a file on you and release a bounty. The government usually doesn’t care much further beyond that… but, I probably hit a nerve with the assassination attempt.

Don’t worry, though, I’m extremely prepared! I left an appropriate disguise here for you. As detailed in the next section. Also please try to avoid entering, or leaving, this house undisguised. This place is out near the mountains and bought under a fake identity.

I’ve gone to great lengths to keep this house off the radar. There’s no electricity or water running to it, but a small stream running through the back if you need water. Anyway, this place's secrecy is almost unparalleled. Finding such a good location took a long time.

Try to avoid messing it up, ’kay?

Also, I’m afraid that you’ll have to abandon some of your items that stand out or are easily recognizable.

The first thing to get rid of is the musket. It requires mana to operate and there isn’t much of that around here.

Next, you’ll have to change most of your clothes. They’ll cause you to stand out.

Keeping the boots of teleportation and gloves of hatred is fine. Although there isn’t much mana in the atmosphere of this world, there’s no harm in keeping them.

There should be a backpack filled with clothing and useful items nearby. Somewhere close to wherever you found this book… Wait until you’ve found the disguise before opening it, though.

As for God-hunter, try and keep her out of sight. She’s extremely valuable and people will try to steal her if they realize you have her.

Flipping the page, I realized that was the end of the topic and merely sat there quietly for several moments.

A strange thought had occurred to me.

If I kept my stuff upon entering this place, presumably the other versions of Tobias also kept their items.

Doesn’t that mean there are multiple iterations of my items? Perhaps, multiple different versions of God-hunter? Would that have anything to do with why God-hunter has stopped replying to me?

Pondering that topic, I eventually arrived at the conclusion that it didn’t particularly matter. There wasn't much I could do about it regardless and it was only pointless speculation.

Moving back toward the living room (where I initially found the book), I searched for the backpack described in the notebook.

Last time, I’d been focused exclusively on the notebook. Looking more carefully, though, I found the backpack underneath the table.

The backpack, whilst relatively light, was completely full.

Opening it, the top portion seemed to be filled with various clothing. Removing the clothing, I didn’t notice anything odd until later when I pulled out something that obviously didn’t belong.

A black bra.

This wouldn’t be…

Pulling up the other clothing, I quickly realized my initial assumption had been correct.

This is female clothing.

While some of the clothing is genderless that felt more like an accident instead of the intention. The majority of the clothing was clearly designed for females.

I’m not a bloody girl!

Dropping the backpack onto the floor, I pinched the bridge of my nose before sitting down on the couch.

I’m guessing this means the amulet doesn’t provide clothing. The amulet probably is a physical transformation, if it was an illusion, providing clothing would’ve been pointless and an obvious choice.

Whilst I felt like screaming at myself for even having these things, it’s better to think things through logically.

… and, logically, it’s better to have these just in case.

I still feel like punch myself, though. I should've prepared men's clothing as well!