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

making a pact with a demon, turning

goal was to turn this test

fabricate a couple of scenarios where some talented individuals built

such example was building a grudge against an

lost miserably, their pride would cause them to build a grudge against Kevin, not

course, some would choose to give up right away, but certain prideful and arrogant individuals would of course not accept their defeat and seek revenge

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

point, professor Thibaut would finally make his move by offering

a pact would

was full of ulterior

to get a

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

trees...I should be on the east

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

grasp of the main character's locations, I started to formulate

main characters was not because I was obsessed with them, no, rather it's because all the events that will

to me, as

I could make a rough estimate on the timing of the events, and how

1 hour, while it does sound easy, excluding the high-ranking students, strong simulations of beasts will be roaming the map

that the professor didn't

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 hunting them could perceive their location through their acute sense of smell, resulting in

hiding, but actually try to develop survival skills

trying to get a good grasp of his surroundings before making his

conflict with Jin, but they then decide to work together when they

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

my head I quickly discard the

at the center, that's where the strong

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

only left me

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

first option. Just the thought of interacting with Arnold pisses me off. Moreover just because I know what

center, and if I follow him there, he won't kill me, but he'll definitely find ways to make things hard for

As for the rest?

have the slightest idea of where they could

leaves me with only one

Complete the hidden task.

map. One in the

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

if I was really rank

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

I thought it

have a clue as to where the

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 task hidden somewhere around this area, I really had no clue

only harden myself and aimlessly walk to where I thought the

the hidden tasks could be located, allowing me to have some

Johnson has died - Team

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 shake

ignoring me because of my

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

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

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

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,

if that were to

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