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.

between the 'competent' and 'incompetent' students. This was so that he could exploit the feeble mentality of those

easily lure students into making

goal was to turn this test into a hunting

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

was building a grudge against

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

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

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

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

offer a make a pact would

this test was

forwards, I was trying to get

and thus knew the general features of the

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

if I'm not wrong Kevin and Jin spawned on the north side on top of the mountains, while Emma is on the south side where the desert

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

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

happen to me, as I have never written anything outside of the scope of the

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

is to survive for 1 hour, while it does sound easy, excluding the high-ranking students, strong simulations of beasts will

was another thing that the professor

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 in

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

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

have a slight conflict with Jin, but they then decide to work together when they encounter a

to make my way towards the center where a large

my head I quickly discard the

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

had were to either directly get killed by one

left me

my group, or complete a hidden task so that even if I die I will have

Arnold pisses me off. Moreover just

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

As for the rest?

slightest idea of

this leaves me

Complete the hidden task.

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

difficulty

I

rank 1750, I decided to head to where the hidden

where I thought

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

about this place. Apart from the fact that this was a forest-type terrain and that there

only harden myself and aimlessly walk to where I thought the hidden

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

Johnson has died - Team points:

towards where I estimated the hidden task was located, I saw a notification once again emerge on the corner of my view, prompting me to bitterly

here you were ignoring

our team having more than 2-3 points which would put us

by all means 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 would

be honest, I really don't want

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 some

that

just say I knew many ways to get rid of some stray dogs that didn't know their place. Though, at the expense of some