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.

and 'incompetent' students. This was so that

lure students into making a pact with a demon, turning

was to turn this test into a hunting party for the

a couple of scenarios

grudge against an incredibly talented

in the hundred's challenged Kevin and lost miserably, their pride would cause them

give up right away, but certain prideful and arrogant individuals would of course not accept their defeat and seek revenge at every possible

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

they reached this point, professor Thibaut would

pact would be made, and

was full of

get a grasp of

wasn't provided to us, because I was technically a cheat, and thus knew

should be on the east

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

character's locations, I started to formulate a

I was trying to get 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 be

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

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

students, strong simulations of beasts will be roaming the map preventing me from staying in a single place

thing that the professor didn't

test, they would've never expected that the creature that was hunting them could perceive their location through

so that students wouldn't only focus on hiding, but actually try to develop survival skills for situations where they were being hunted by an unknown

surroundings before making his way towards the middle of the map, where he eventually

then decide to work

my way towards the center

I

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

there, the only options I had were to

left me with

my group, or complete a hidden 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 the

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

As for the rest?

have the slightest idea of

me with only one

Complete the hidden task.

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

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

that is if I

your regular rank 1750, I decided to head to where the

where I thought it

clue as to where the hidden

from the fact

walk to where I thought the

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

has died - Team points:

saw a notification once again emerge

you were ignoring me because of

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

for someone like Arnold, this could be considered a humiliating score, which

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

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 wanted to, he could use

if that were

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