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.

was to further divide the line between the 'competent' and 'incompetent' students. This was so that

easily lure students into making a pact with a

this test into a hunting party

scenarios

example was building a grudge against an

pride would cause them to build a grudge

away, but certain prideful and arrogant individuals would of course not accept their defeat and

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

this point, professor Thibaut would finally make

offer a make a pact would be

this test was full

forwards, I was trying to get a grasp of

provided to us, because I was technically a cheat, and thus knew the general features of the surroundings, I could roughly gauge my current

I am surrounded by trees...I should be on

the south side where the desert is located...Melissa and Amanda

grasp of the main character's locations, I started to formulate a plan

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

not what will happen to me, as I have never written anything outside

what the protagonists were up to, I could

1 hour, while it does sound easy, excluding the high-ranking students, strong simulations of beasts will

another thing that the

them in the test, they would've never expected that the creature that was hunting them could perceive their location through their acute sense of smell, resulting in many students dying without

hiding, but actually try to develop survival skills for situations where they were being hunted by

20 minutes trying to get a good grasp of his surroundings

then decide

survive is thus to make my way towards the center where a large group will be

my head I

people were definitely going to gather at

of my rank were to go there, the only options I had were to either directly get killed by

me

group, or complete a hidden task so that even if I

thought of interacting with Arnold pisses me off. Moreover just because I know what will happen, doesn't mean I know where

the center, and if I follow him there, he won't kill

As for the rest?

slightest idea

me with

Complete the hidden task.

map. One in the north, south,

was different, moreover, the difficulty of the task should

that is if I was really rank

wasn't just your regular rank 1750, I decided to head to where

where I thought it

fact, I actually don't have a clue as to where the hidden task was

this place. Apart from the fact that this was a

harden myself and aimlessly walk to where I thought

a general idea of where the hidden tasks could be located, allowing me to have

K. Johnson has died -

was making my way towards where I estimated the hidden task was located, I saw a notification once again emerge on the

were ignoring me because of my

go this way, I don't really see our team having more than 2-3 points which would

a bad score, but for someone like Arnold, this could be considered a humiliating score,

be honest, I really don't want to

last time was because of the annoying things that could come as a consequence of my actions. Moreover, if he really wanted to, he could use some of his influence to

that were to

some stray dogs that didn't know their place. Though,