Chapter 2: Biding complete:Battle test begins in ten minutes."
Nie Shi sat alone in the waiting room, fingers still tingling. His hands were wrapped in bandages—not because they hurt, but because the feeling was too weirdly familiar.
His head was a mess.
Ten minutes ago, he was just some Memoryless kid no one cared about.
Now, he had a black spear in his hand, and the system had thrown him straight into a "Binding Test."
That was what they called it when the system found a weapon it couldn't recognize. They'd make you fight. If the weapon went crazy, they'd destroy it—and maybe you, too.
"That thing's not in the records," one of the instructors said, giving him a sharp look. "Might be a wild Armament that forced its way into your body. Get ready."
Nie Shi didn't answer. He was staring at the system panel. The red text kept flashing: [User: Nie Shi]
[Armament ID: Unknown]
[Class: Not detected]
[Energy: Unstable]
[Recommended action: Force test. Limit access.] Even the system didn't know what this spear was.
He looked down at it. The black spear rested on his knees, quiet and still. No glow, no energy pulse. Just clean, old lines—and near the end of the shaft, a faint, carved line: "Only by returning the memory can you survive." He didn't get what it meant.
But every time he read it, something in his chest twisted.
"Test starts in sixty seconds."
An alarm rang. The door opened, revealing a silver corridor. Nie Shi took a deep breath, picked up the spear, and walked in. The test field looked like a small arena. A big circle of sand, surrounded by barrier fields and psychic blockers. Fake blue sky was projected above. Like some old gladiator pit.
"Test opponent: Simulated memory beast, class: Rend-Tooth."
Nie Shi had heard of this one. A monster built from memories of fear and failure. Not real, but strong—about the level of a mid-tier Armament user.
It appeared with a growl.
A huge, ugly beast, like a metal-covered hyena. Its eyes were blank. Its body cracked like old stone. It roared, loud enough to shake the walls.
"Begin!"
Nie Shi grabbed the spear. The second he did, something inside him flared.
Not his own memory—
But the spear's will.
It wanted to fight.
The shaft warmed in his grip, like a heartbeat. The beast leapt at him with crazy speed. Nie Shi didn't even think—he just raised the spear and blocked. Bang! The impact rocked through him. He staggered back, arm shaking—but the spear held. The beast slid back, claws digging into the ground. [Energy stable. Sync rate rising…] The numbers on the system screen flickered. Even the computer looked confused.
Nie Shi clenched his teeth—and charged.
He had no idea how to use a spear. But the spear seemed to know how to move.
His body followed it. He swung in a wide arc, the wind howling off the tip. The strike went straight for the beast's neck.
The beast lunged back. Nie Shi turned, shifted, and stabbed— Crack! The hit landed clean.
The beast flew back, crashed into the sand, and rolled.
Nie Shi was panting, heart racing, sweat on his face—but his mind was clear.
This wasn't just a weapon.
It wasn't borrowing his memories.
It was… helping him fight.
It felt like the two of them were thinking together. Outside, a bunch of instructors were watching the data scroll.
"This is off the charts," one muttered. "Normal Armaments come from memory. This thing has no emotional signal. No memory source."
"Was it implanted?"
"Or is it some kind of parasite?"
"Does that even exist?"
"More like… a weapon that was forgotten."
They kept talking. No one had answers.
Back in the field, the beast roared and fired a beam of energy—half fire, half lightning. Nie Shi brought the spear up again. The force made his bones rattle, but he didn't fall.
He had to win.
He had to know where this thing came from. [Sync level: 74%… 81%… 91%…] The spear started glowing. Dark red lines crawled up the shaft like veins. [Initial Rank: Break-Class]
[Armament System Ranks:]
• Trace-Class: Basic form, weak memories
• Deep-Class: Emotional link, stronger tactics
• Form-Class: Shape-changing or memory-copying
• Myth-Class: Rare, semi-aware weapons
• Break-Class: System can't analyze. Marked as unstable. Nie Shi's spear had officially entered the danger zone.
"Binding complete."
The system announced it right as the beast roared one last time—
And he drove the spear straight through its chest.
Light exploded. The beast vanished into mist.
Silence.
Nie Shi stood there, the spear still warm in his hand. The red lines hadn't faded.
One last message floated in front of him: [Source not found. No match in memory archives.]
[Possibly from "collective forgetting" or a "deep memory abyss."] He stared at the weapon, mouth slightly open.
This wasn't his memory.
So why did the weapon choose him?
Why did it break every rule to get to him?
He touched the spear's surface.
It didn't fight back.
It just… waited.
And that's when Nie Shi had a terrifying thought: Maybe he did have memories. They just didn't belong to this world.