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.

said before, Professor Thibaut's goal was to further divide the line between the 'competent' and 'incompetent' students. This was

easily lure students into making a pact with

was to turn this test into a hunting party

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

example was building a grudge against an incredibly talented student, like

ranked in the hundred's challenged Kevin and lost miserably, their pride would cause them to

give up right away, but certain prideful and arrogant individuals would of course not accept their defeat and seek revenge at every possible

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

would finally make

would be made, and a new

short, this test was

was trying to get a grasp of my

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

should be on the east

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

main character's locations, I

was not because I was obsessed with them, no,

what happened to them, but not what will happen to me, as I have

what the protagonists were up to, I could make a

simulations of beasts will be roaming the

was another thing that the professor

expected that the creature that was hunting them could perceive

so that students wouldn't only focus on hiding, but actually try to develop survival skills

spend the first 20 minutes trying to get a good grasp of his surroundings before making his way towards the middle of the map, where he

have a slight conflict with Jin, but they then decide to

to make my way towards the center where

I quickly

people were definitely going to gather at the center, that's

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

left me with two

reuniting with my group, or complete a hidden task so that even if I die I

the thought of interacting with Arnold pisses me off. Moreover just because I

his way towards the center, and if I follow him there, he won't kill me,

As for the rest?

slightest idea

me with

Complete the hidden task.

hidden tasks placed on the map. One in the north, south, east, west,

task differed from the other, in the sense that the goal of each task was different, moreover, the difficulty

I was

just your regular rank 1750, I decided to head to where the hidden

I thought

have a clue as

I currently was, I knew nothing about this place. Apart from the fact that this was a forest-type terrain and that there was a hidden task hidden somewhere around this area, I

walk to where I thought the hidden

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

has

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

here you were ignoring me because

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

score, but for someone like Arnold, this could be considered a humiliating score, which will result in more

don't want to involve myself with

lash out against him 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

if that were

say I knew many ways to get rid of some stray dogs that didn't know their