The boar’s hulking form barreled past him, barely missing Jett as he pushed himself off a tree and over the animal.

This is wrong.

He frowned at the huffing beast, which had already turned around and was running up to him at breakneck speeds again. The spear in its shoulder didn’t seem to impair it much.

Jett hadn’t really attacked it yet, he was mostly just dodging and observing it. Which was harder than simply fighting the boar, as he was continuously tiring himself out without inflicting damage on it, while at the same time accumulating small wounds himself, but there was just something very wrong about the whole situation.

It felt almost exactly like something he had lived through before. Which in and of itself wasn’t that unusual, as a regressor he often had to live through the same situation multiple times.

However the more he tried to remember what made this particular scene so familiar, the more his head started to hurt. And not just in a metaphorical way. Something was trying to prevent his memories from resurfacing, pushing them down into the depths of his mind whenever he was about to pull them up.

And that had never happened before.

Which made it all the more concerning.

Okay, no, I’m not gonna solve it like this.

He watched the incoming boar closely, his sword twirling in his right hand.

Just moments before it reached him, he jumped up and pushed himself off the tree behind him. Jett sailed smoothly over the beast, which half crashed into the tree he had just pushed himself off. His sword drew a smooth, glimmering arc across the boar’s head as he went over it.

Jett deftly landed on his feet a small distance away and immediately looked at his sword, frowning at the lack of any fresh blood on it.

The resistance when hitting it felt weird… totally unlike the strong hide of a Copper I boar. Way too soft. But I didn’t draw any blood either.

He looked at the boar, which, again, had already turned around and was rushing at him with the telltale speed of a Copper I beast. The pain in his head rose the more he focused on it and tried to make sense of the situation, but he kept observing it as closely as possible regardless.

I think I know what you are, but…

It wasn’t his first time encountering such a situation, but it should have been absolutely impossible in the Tutorial. There had never been anyone capable of it at this stage or grade, at least not to this extent.

The shadows are all right and there are clear impacts on the environment.

Even the damn smell is correct.

He hesitated. His instincts told him it had to be it, but it severely conflicted with his memories of his many years reliving the Tutorial.

But then again, something was messing with his memories right now anyways.

Hmmm.

Well, if I’m wrong, it’s only gonna hurt like absolute hell.

Making up his mind, he knelt down, laid his weapons beside him and looked the incoming beast straight into its eyes.

The animalistic hatred of a Tutorial beast stared back at him, spittle flying off its snout as it continued to eagerly rush at him.

He held his gaze frozen on it, unmoving, as its grunts and huffs got louder and louder, until it filled up all his vision and until he could feel its warm breath hit his face.

It crashed into him, knocking him over, its tusks burying itself deep into his flesh and…

His headache disappeared.

He let out a shaky breath he hadn’t realized he had held. Still kneeling in the same position, his eyes started wandering around the trees and forest floor, the previous signs of battle reduced to only his footprints and other marks clearly made by a human, not an animal.

Looking down on himself, some of the scratches and cuts he had gotten from this whole ordeal had also vanished, as if he had never had them in the first place.

I knew it.

He dusted off his clothes, picked up his weapons and stood up again.

But also… how the fuck?

****

Laira felt like she had turned into some sort of athlete.

Not because she was showing off any amazing physical feats, but because her body once again felt like she had competed in some kind of inhumane race. Maybe a triathlon. Though she didn’t truly know what that would be like, she wasn’t a sports person. That’s just how she imagined she would feel after participating. Exhausted. Physically and mentally. Hurting everywhere.

It honestly wasn’t as bad as the first time, her not staying unconscious until nighttime was proof of that as well, but she still felt pretty shit.

Her foot got caught in a root when she didn’t lift her foot high enough, making her stumble.

The strong arm under her shoulders easily caught the fall and kept her steady.

“Careful,” a soft voice hummed next to her. ”You sure you don’t want me to carry you? We’ll be faster that way.”

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

She shook her head at the blonde and tall man supporting her and continued walking forward.

“No… it’s fine. I got it. But thanks.”

Lukas only nodded in response, and then continued scanning the sea of trees around them with his eyes.

Honestly she knew it would probably be better and safer if he carried her, but she was just too embarrassed.

There was no way she would let a stranger hold her like a princess in distress… Because if her sister would find out, she would laugh and tease her about it forever.

Well, he did carry her for a bit at the start, traversing quite the distance running with her in his arms, but she had quickly stopped that once she had regained even a modicum of strength.

Now she was still struggling a bit on her feet, her steps slow and clumsy, but it was getting better every minute.

“How far until the camp?”

Lukas briefly stopped his constant surveillance of their surroundings and squinted at the sky.

“Hmm, I don’t see any smoke yet, but we’ve been walking for quite some time, it shouldn’t be much longer anymore. A couple minutes at most and we should get clear of the forest and be able to spot it.”

Laira grunted in reply, her thoughts already wandering to the camp.

She honestly couldn’t wait. She was absolutely parched, the few leftover drops out of Lukas’ makeshift waterskin hadn’t helped much to alleviate her thirst. She was eager to finally get to the lake and drink as much as she could.

And hopefully she would meet her sister again at the camp. That’s where they both had wanted to go after all.

Laira was also curious about the people at the camp. From what Lukas had told her along the way, they were all quite powerful. A side effect of being the survivors, many of their group had died in the first few hours of the trial, but nonetheless.

And when speaking about their leader, Brett, Lukas sounded truly impressed. Not only because he managed to unite so many people and create such an organized camp out of strangers, but also because he was apparently really, really strong. Supposedly he had a Copper II skill already, though Laira had no idea how different that would be to a Copper I skill.

But she felt reassured that Lukas thought so highly of them. The blonde guy had been very friendly so far, and she judged him to be a good person. So if he thought the camp was so great, it must really be quite good and she would probably be safe there. At least safer than wandering around in the woods, lost and alone.

“Here we are.”

Lukas’ voice pulled her out of her thoughts and she looked up to see the trees getting sparser. After a few more steps, they both finally broke through the shadows of the forest and blinked against the unobstructed sunlight.

They were standing on a small hill, their view spanning large swathes of forest and, in the very center of it, a vast clearing with a sparkling blue jewel embedded in it.

They had finally arrived at the lake.

A small conglomeration of shelters and people could be seen at the very start of the lake, smoke rising from various small fire pits. It looked a bit… smaller than she had expected, but after Lukas’ many praises her imagination had wandered a little astray, depicting glamorous war tents and soldiers in fabulous uniforms saluting a giant of a commander in her mind.

Reality was obviously slightly more modest.

“Nice view, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. Definitely better than just trees all day long.” Laira agreed.

They both took a deep breath, enjoying the calming sensation of the light breeze on top of the hill and the sun on their faces.

They stood there in silence for a while, before Lukas spoke out again.

“Alright, should we?”

Laira reluctantly opened her eyes and sighed.

”I guess we should. Let’s go.”

Their slow descent down the hill lasted barely a couple of minutes when loud sounds coming from behind them made them freeze.

*Hooooowl!*

“Wha-”

Her question was abruptly cut off as a sudden jolt pushed most of the air out of her lungs.

Lukas had lifted her up without much decor, throwing her over his shoulders like a sack and started running downhill at breakneck speeds.

“Lukas!” she yelled in protest from behind his back.

“Sorry, but we have no time,” he huffed. “Those are definitely wolves! I’m sure I can’t fight them alone, we need to make it to camp as soon as possible or we are dead!”

The urgency and fear in his voice made her go quiet. She tried to stabilize herself on Lukas’ shoulder and glanced up to the top of the hill. It took a few moments, but soon after she spotted a gray-furred form coming to a stop at the edge. Then a second. Then a third and a fourth.

And then they started running.

“Ohhh shit.”

****

Jett examined the two distinct footprints which converged behind a bush. One of the tracks, with large and deep prints, clearly belonged to Lukas, the other, less noticeable and smaller footprints, presumably to the girl.

Which meant the girl had been, in fact, not a part of the illusion. At least not fully.

Honestly, that just makes it all the more confusing.

After the illusion had shattered, his next attempt at trying to remember anything about that weird scene had been rewarded with a sudden and vivid recollection of memories. It was as if some kind of mental pressure had been building up every time he had tried to remember them, and once whatever had been holding them back had disappeared, they shot back into his mind like a sudden wave bursting from a broken dam.

The girl and the boar were clearly from his last regression. He fucking died to that very same boar last time. And the situation wasn’t just similar, it was an almost exact replica of what had happened last time. The spear lodged into the boar from one of the girls, the red haired girl crying for help and getting run over by the beast, the boar charging him.

Everything happened the same way.

But also some things didn’t.

Jett hadn’t been dealing with the boar the same way he had last time. Not only did he have weapons now, he had also put much more effort into surviving the actual fight. And still the beast had reacted naturally to whatever he did, like any Copper I boar would.

Which meant it hadn’t been just a simple illusionary replay of one of his memories, but something more.

Which again, was something that had never happened before nor was supposed to ever happen this early on.

This regression is just getting better and better. I don’t think I’ve ever been this confused.

First the System bug and now actual scenes from my last regression are somehow carrying over.

He couldn’t help but wonder if both things were somehow related.

His eyes followed Lukas’ trail away from the bush, the man’s footprints imprinted deeper in the ground than before, indicating he had been carrying someone away.

Hmm… I’m probably not gonna catch up with them before noon.

He sighed and stood up. Thinking for a short moment, he started making his way into a slightly different direction than Lukas, a bit more to the west.

I’ll definitely figure out what the hell happened here and what that girl’s role is in all of this… but for that I’ll need to survive a bit longer.

They’ll be fine as long as they make it to the camp, but I won’t be if I don’t hurry.

He picked up his pace, falling into a quick trot.

In his mind plans for the next couple days formed, starting with surviving the next few hours, to testing his crafting hypothesis, to catching that girl and figuring out the weird things that had happened today.

A rare smile formed on his lips.

Things are getting a bit exciting, eh?