The Author's POV

Soon after the professor initiated the simulation, my surroundings started to change.

Thick lush trees started appearing from beneath my feet followed by soft and crumbly soil that caused my feet to slowly sink.

My visibility slowly started getting blocked by the towering trees that started sprouting from the ground at an incredible speed.

Extending my hand forward to touch a tree, I was immensely surprised by the realistic sensation that spread through my fingers. Running my hand along the tree trunk it felt like I was touching the lines and wrinkles of an old man's face. It had an uneven surface where I could feel the flaky nature of the dark exterior, that crumbled and peeled, with a crackling sound at the slightest pressure exerted by my fingers.

It almost felt like I was touching the real thing.

It didn't feel like I was touching a bunch of codes, but an actual tree.

"How intriguing..."

[Rank 1750 Ren Dover - Team points: 6]

As I was busy being mesmerized by how realistic the trees were, a notification popped up in front of me.

Seeing the notification, I quickly swiped left to discard it and fell into deep thought.

The game was simple.

Each student had one point, and every time a teammate died the team would lose a team point.

The teams that reached 0 points would then be automatically eliminated and hence lose the game.

The only way to gain points was through completing the hidden tasks available on the map.

At the end of the test, there will be a ranking list that ranks the teams in accordance with their performance.

Taking a good look at my surroundings, my teammates were nowhere in sight.

In fact, although the professor never mentioned this to us when briefing us on the rules, I already knew that everyone was going to be separated from each other.

Well, I was the one who created the scenario in the first place.

The main goal of this test was to survive for 1 hour.

Although it sounded easy, it was in fact not. If it were that easy what sort of test would this be?

The lack of information provided by the professor was intentional because this essentially meant that there was only 1 rule.

And that was to 'survive'

Each person was directly given a weapon, which was automatically given to them depending on the weapon that they had registered on the first day of the academy.

In my case, a sleek black katana rested on the side of my hips.

-Shua! -Shua!

Swinging it a couple of times to adjust myself to the weight of the sword, I nodded in satisfaction.

It feels identical to the katana provided to us by the academy.

Sheathing the katana back into the scabbard, I warily glanced towards my surroundings.

When telling us the rules, the professor never mentioned anything apart from the fact that you must survive, and the more teammates survive with you at the end of the test, the more points your team had.

He purposely left out the details in regards to killing, and because of this, the students automatically assumed that killing was allowed.

Which was his true purpose.

Professor Thibaut's goal was to further divide the line between the 'competent' and 'incompetent' students. This was so that he could exploit the feeble mentality of those who were being

doing so he could easily lure students into making a pact

to turn this test into a hunting party

scenarios where some talented individuals

building a grudge against an incredibly

cause them to build a grudge against Kevin,

choose to give up right away, but certain prideful and arrogant individuals would of course not accept their defeat and

realize the gap between themselves and Kevin's overwhelming talent, they fall into depravity and despair at their inability to take

they reached this point, professor Thibaut would finally make his move

a pact would be made,

test was full of ulterior

trying to get a grasp of my

technically a cheat, and thus knew the general features of the surroundings, I could roughly

by trees...I should be on the east side of the

and Jin spawned on the north side on top of the mountains, while Emma is on the south side where the desert is located...Melissa and Amanda should both be on the west side near the ocean, thus meaning that no

get a good grasp of the main character's locations, I started to formulate a plan regarding my next course

not because I was obsessed with them, no, rather it's because all the events that will happen will be centered

to me, as I

I could make a rough estimate on the timing of the events, and

does sound easy, excluding the high-ranking students, strong simulations of beasts will

was another thing that

they would've never expected that the creature that was hunting them could perceive their location through

that students wouldn't only focus on hiding, but actually try to develop survival skills for situations where they were being

surroundings before making his way towards the middle of

Jin, but they then decide to work together when they encounter

make my way towards the center where a large

head I quickly

definitely going to gather at the center,

I had were to either

left me

complete a hidden task so

Arnold pisses me off. Moreover just because I know what will happen, doesn't mean I know where the

most likely make his way towards the center, and if I follow him there, he won't kill me, but he'll definitely

As for the rest?

even have the slightest idea of where

me with only one

Complete the hidden task.

there were five hidden tasks placed on the map. One in the north, south, east, west, and center

each task was different, moreover, the difficulty of the task should be something that a rank 1750 like me couldn't hope to

that is if I

rank 1750, I decided to head to where

I thought

a clue as to where the

have ever stepped foot on the east side, where I currently was, I knew nothing about this place. Apart from the fact that this was a forest-type terrain and that there

walk to where I thought the hidden task

of where the hidden tasks could be located, allowing me to have some sort

William K. Johnson has died

where I estimated the hidden task was located, I saw a notification once again

ignoring

don't really see our team having more than 2-3 points which

by all means is not a bad score, but for someone like Arnold, this could be considered a humiliating score,

honest, I really don't

because of the annoying things that could come as a consequence of my

if that

many ways to get rid of some stray dogs that didn't know their place. Though,