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.

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

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

test into a hunting

scenarios

a grudge against an incredibly

cause them to build a grudge against Kevin, not because he was

choose to give up right away, but certain prideful and arrogant individuals would of

between themselves and Kevin's overwhelming talent, they fall into

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

would

was full of

trying to get

a cheat, and thus knew the general features

surrounded by trees...I should be on the

side on 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 my

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

I was trying to get a grasp of the main characters was not because I was

me,

a good grasp on what the protagonists were up to, I could make a rough estimate on

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

thing that the professor

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

made so that students wouldn't only focus on hiding, but actually try to

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

a slight conflict with Jin, but they then decide to

best way to survive is thus to make my way towards

I quickly

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

had were to either directly get killed

left me with

task so that even if I die I

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

make his way towards the center, and if I follow him there, he won't kill me, but he'll definitely

As for the rest?

the slightest idea of

this leaves me with

Complete the hidden task.

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

the other, in the sense that the goal of each task was different, moreover, the difficulty of the task should be something that a rank 1750 like me couldn't hope

is if I was

I decided to

where I

have a clue

main characters 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

aimlessly walk to where I thought the hidden task

idea of where the hidden tasks could be located, allowing me to have some sort

has died - Team

saw a notification

you were ignoring me because of my

don't really see our team having more than 2-3 points which would put us

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

to be honest, I really don't

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

if that were

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