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.

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

students into making a pact with a demon, turning

test

could fabricate a couple of scenarios where some talented

a grudge against an

miserably, their pride would cause them to build a

individuals would of course not accept

Kevin's overwhelming talent, they fall into depravity and

reached this point, professor Thibaut would finally make his move

pact would be made, and a

was full of ulterior

I was trying to get a grasp of my current

technically a cheat, and thus knew the

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

while Emma is on the south side where the desert is located...Melissa and Amanda should both be on

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

was obsessed with

me, as I have never written anything outside

were up to, I could make a

excluding the high-ranking students, strong simulations of beasts will be roaming the map preventing me from staying in a single place

another thing that the professor

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

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

with Jin, but they then decide to work

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

I quickly discard

were definitely going to gather at the

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

me with two

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

interacting with Arnold pisses me off. Moreover

if I follow him there, he won't kill me, but

As for the rest?

don't even have the slightest

this leaves me with only

Complete the hidden task.

on the map. One in the north,

different, moreover, the difficulty of the task should be something that a rank 1750 like

I was really

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

where I

have a clue

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 the

tasks could be located,

has

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

here you were ignoring me because

our team having more

this could be considered a humiliating score, which will result in more troublesome situations

honest, I really don't want to involve myself with him

could come as a consequence of my actions. Moreover, if he really wanted to, he could use some of his influence to directly

that

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