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.

divide the line between the 'competent' and 'incompetent' students.

making a pact with a

was to turn this test into a

professor Thibaut could fabricate a couple of scenarios where some talented

building a grudge against an incredibly talented student, like

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

away, but certain prideful and arrogant individuals would of course not accept

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

they reached this point, professor Thibaut would

by the offer a make a pact would be made, and a new villain

was full

to get a grasp of my current

was technically a cheat, and thus knew the general

be on the east side of

top of the mountains, while Emma is 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 no important figure is in

a good grasp of the main character's locations, I started to formulate a plan regarding

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

will happen to me, as I have

up to, I

is to survive for 1 hour, while it does sound easy, excluding the high-ranking students, strong simulations of beasts will be roaming the map preventing me from staying

that the professor

that the creature that was hunting

focus on hiding, but actually try to develop survival skills for situations

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

but they then decide to work together when they

thus to make my way towards the center where

I quickly discard

were definitely going to gather at the center,

had were to either directly get killed by one of them or get used

me with two

a hidden task so that even

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

the center, and if I follow him there, he won't kill me, but he'll definitely find ways

As for the rest?

don't even have the slightest

this leaves me with only

Complete the hidden task.

there were five hidden tasks placed on the map. One in the north, south, east, west, and center of

task was different, moreover, the difficulty

if I

regular rank 1750, I decided to head

where I thought it

don't have a clue as to where the hidden task

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 with regards

myself and aimlessly walk to

a general idea of where the hidden tasks could be located, allowing me

K. Johnson has died

hidden task was located, I saw a notification once

here you were ignoring me

I don't really see our team having more than 2-3 points

is not a bad score, but for someone like Arnold, this could be considered a humiliating score, which will result in more troublesome situations where

I really don't want to involve

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.

that

rid of some stray dogs that didn't know their place. Though, at the expense