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 he could exploit

so he could easily lure students into making a

test into a hunting party

lucky, professor Thibaut could fabricate a couple of scenarios where some talented individuals built a

building a grudge against an

lost miserably, their pride would cause them to

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

the gap between themselves and Kevin's overwhelming

professor Thibaut would

offer a make a pact would be made, and a

this test was

I was trying to get a grasp of my current

a cheat, and thus knew the general features of the surroundings, I could roughly

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

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

a good grasp of the main character's locations, I

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

them, but not what will happen to me, as I have never written anything outside

protagonists were up to, I could make a rough

strong simulations of beasts will be roaming the map preventing me from staying in a

that the professor didn't

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

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

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

a slight conflict with Jin, but they then

my way towards the

I quickly discard

at

were to go there, the only options I had were to either directly get

left me with

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

there, he

As for the rest?

have the slightest idea of

leaves me

Complete the hidden task.

the map. One

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

that is if I

I decided to head to where the hidden task

I thought

don't have a clue as to where the hidden

nothing about this place. Apart from the fact that this was a forest-type terrain and that there was

walk to where I thought the hidden

tasks could be located, allowing

has died

I estimated the hidden task was located, I saw a

were ignoring me because of my

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

Arnold, this could be considered a humiliating

to be honest, I really don't want to involve

the annoying things that could come as a consequence of my actions. Moreover, if he really wanted to, he

that were to

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