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.

I said 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

so he could easily lure students into making a pact with a demon, turning

turn this test into a hunting party for the

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

was building a grudge against an incredibly talented

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

prideful and arrogant individuals would of course not accept their defeat and seek revenge at every possible opportunity they could

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

point, professor Thibaut would finally make his move

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

this test was full of

forwards, I was trying to get a grasp of

thus knew the general features of the surroundings, I could

should be on the east side

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

I started to formulate a plan regarding my

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

what will happen to me, as I have

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

sound easy, excluding the high-ranking students, strong simulations of beasts will

that the

creature that was hunting them could perceive their location through their acute sense of smell, resulting in many students dying without knowing

only focus on hiding, but actually try to develop survival skills for situations where they were being hunted by an unknown

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

Jin, but they then

my way towards the center where a large

my head I quickly

were definitely going to gather at the center, that's where

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

left me with

so that even if I die I will

off. Moreover just because

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

As for the rest?

even have the slightest idea of where they

this leaves me

Complete the hidden task.

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

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

if I was really

I decided to head to where

I

have a clue as to where

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

myself and aimlessly walk to where I thought

had a general idea of where the hidden tasks could

K. Johnson has

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

ignoring me because

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

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

be honest, I really don't want to involve

lash out against him last time was because of the annoying things that could come as a consequence of my actions. Moreover, if

that

know their place. Though, at the