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.

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

easily lure students into making a pact with a demon, turning them into

this test into a hunting party

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

building a grudge against an incredibly

them to build a grudge against Kevin, not because he was strong, but because of

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

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

would finally make

pact would be made, and

was full of

was trying to get a grasp of my

wasn't provided to us, because I was technically a cheat, and thus knew the general features of the

be on the east

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

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

was trying to get a grasp of the main characters was not because I was obsessed

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

good grasp on what the protagonists were up to, I could make a rough estimate on the timing of the events,

it does sound easy, excluding the high-ranking students, strong simulations of beasts will be roaming the map preventing me from staying in a single place for too

another thing that the professor

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 knowing what had hit

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

good grasp of his surroundings before

with Jin, but they then decide

way towards the center where a large group

head I quickly

gather at the center, that's where the strong

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

only left me with two

so that even if I

discard the first option. Just the thought of interacting with Arnold pisses me off. Moreover just because I know what will happen, doesn't mean I

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

As for the rest?

don't even have the slightest idea of

me

Complete the hidden task.

map. One in the north,

the other, in the sense that the goal 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

is if I was really

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

where I thought it

a clue as to where the hidden task was

of the main characters 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 was a hidden

harden myself and aimlessly walk to where I thought

where the hidden tasks could be located, allowing me

Johnson has died - Team

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

here you were ignoring me because

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

a bad score, but for someone like Arnold, this could be considered a humiliating score, which will result in more troublesome situations where I would have to interact

I really don't want to

last time was because of the annoying things that could come as a consequence of my actions. Moreover,

that were to

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