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.

between the 'competent' and 'incompetent' students. This was so that he could

making

this test

professor Thibaut could fabricate a couple of scenarios where some talented individuals built a grudge against each

grudge against

would cause them to

to give up right away, but certain prideful and arrogant individuals would of course

they slowly realize the gap between themselves and Kevin's overwhelming

point, professor Thibaut would finally make his

would

short, this test was full

forwards, I was trying to get a

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

should be on

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

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

I was obsessed with them, no, rather it's because all the

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

protagonists were up to, I could make a rough estimate on the timing

to survive for 1 hour, while it does sound easy, excluding the high-ranking students, strong simulations of beasts will be roaming the map preventing me from

that the professor didn't

the creature

but actually try to develop

minutes trying to get a good grasp of his surroundings before making his way towards

they then decide to work

way towards the center where

head I

people were definitely going to gather at the center,

to go there, the only options I had were to either directly get killed by one of them or get used as

left me with two

or complete a hidden task so that even if I

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

him there, he won't kill me, but he'll definitely find ways to make things hard for

As for the rest?

even have the slightest idea of

leaves me

Complete the hidden task.

were five hidden tasks placed on the map. One in the north, south,

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

if I was really rank

I wasn't just your regular rank 1750, I decided

where I thought

a clue as to where the hidden task was

this place. Apart from the fact

to

the hidden tasks

has died

I was making my way towards where I estimated the hidden task was located, I saw a notification once again emerge on the corner of my view, prompting me to bitterly

were ignoring

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

not a bad score, but for someone like Arnold, this could be considered a humiliating score,

don't want to involve myself with

could come as a consequence of my actions. Moreover, if he really wanted to, he

that were to

some stray dogs that didn't know their place. Though, at the expense of some dire consequence that I don't want