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.

before, 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

making a pact with a demon,

to turn this test into

could fabricate a couple of scenarios where some talented

grudge against an incredibly talented

miserably, their pride would cause them to build a grudge against Kevin, not because he was strong, but because of his

and arrogant individuals would of course

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

reached this point, professor Thibaut would finally make his move by offering

offer a make a pact would

test was full of ulterior

I was trying to get a

cheat, and thus knew the general features of the

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

I'm not wrong Kevin and Jin spawned on the north side on top of the mountains, while Emma is on the south side where the desert is

character's locations, I

because I was obsessed with them, no,

will happen to me, as I have never written anything outside of the scope of the

were up to, I could make

sound easy, excluding the high-ranking students, strong simulations of beasts will be roaming the map preventing me from

that the professor

some sort of creature would be hunting them in the test, they would've never expected that the creature that was hunting

to develop

protagonist will spend the first 20 minutes trying to get a good grasp of his surroundings before making his way towards the middle

a slight conflict with Jin, but they then

make my way

my head I quickly discard

gather at the

of my rank were to go there, the only options I had were to

only left me

a hidden task so that even if I die I will have one

me off. Moreover just because I know what will

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

As for the rest?

the slightest idea of

leaves me with only

Complete the hidden task.

One in the north, south,

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

if I was really

regular rank 1750, I decided

I thought it

I actually don't have a clue as to where the hidden

about this place. Apart from the fact that this was a forest-type terrain and that there was a

aimlessly walk to where I

hidden tasks could be located,

K. Johnson has died - Team points:

towards where I estimated the hidden task was located, I saw a

you were ignoring

our team having more than 2-3 points which would put us in the middle

be considered a humiliating score, which will result in more troublesome situations where I would

be honest, I really don't want to

reason why I didn't 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 use some of his influence

that were

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