After the last yelp that the alpha of the pack echoed across the chamber, the flames died.
The two hunters were delved into darkness, illuminated only by the gray flames that danced on Bell's armor. However, Bell soon deactivated Ruination.
Aramine conjured some sort of lantern, and the area around them was illuminated slightly.
The ground felt cool underneath Bell's back, and she heard Aramine limp over to lay down beside her.
The two were breathing heavily as a result from the fight, and Bell was tempted to take a short nap.
"You look pretty banged up." Aramine simply stated.
Bell thought to herself, 'Nah... It can't be that bad.' Then, she said aloud, "I'll be fine."
Aramine chuckled and said, "Yeah, hopefully this damage doesn't transfer out of here."
"That'd suck." Bell replied with a smile. "Real bad."
Their weapons were somewhere else, and with the sudden calm in the room, Bell slowly heard the sounds of battle out of the chamber die down.
After a few deep breaths, Aramine stated, "I hope we get good grades for that performance."
Bell chuckled.
"Yeah."
Then, the two laid in nearly complete silence as they regained their strength and composure.
Minutes passed without anything eventful happening, and then Bell grew bored.
So, with a grunt, she stood up and picked up her bloodied longsword from somewhere near the corpse of the Dire Wolf Alpha.
Bell took a slight whiff of the blood, finding the pungent stench slightly horrific.
'Ugh... it's somehow worse than the bullet train...' Bell thought to herself with an expression of disdain.
Just as Bell tiredly reached the entrance to the main cavern, a window appeared before her with the sounds of victorious trumpets echoing all around.
The window displayed the following information:
[Dire Wolf Den Subjugation Simulation Complete!]
[Perfection rate: 92% / Amazing Job!]
[Hits taken: 146 / Amazing Job! That is just above 14 hits per hunter!]
[Detection Rate: 35% / You are the night!]
[Wolves Subjugated: 163/100% / Wonderful Job!]
[Exiting Simulation in 1m.]
Then, Bell turned around and walked to Aramine.
"Do you know what this nonsense means?" She asked.
Aramine examined the window in front of her a bit further before saying, "Nope."
After a few moments, a familiar sensation of tiredness filled Bell to the bone. Then, Bell prepared to transfer her consciousness, which streamlined her process a bit.
With a blink, Bell found herself in the Dreamer machine once more.
'Well, I was always in here... anyway...'
The Dreamer automatically opened, allowing Bell to stand up and look around. She found the rest of her team awakening and cheering their victory with such a high percentage.
Bell joined the small festivities, handing a few high fives while everyone shared compliments. Due to the fact that nobody saw what happened in the large chamber where Bell and Aramine fought the Elementalist Dire Wolf, they didn't share specifics.
Teacher Sofia walked up to the group and said, "Gather around."
After the students shuffled around into a makeshift circle, Teacher Sofia began her lecture.
"I'll keep this short, but you were all the fastest, so I'll be pointing out a few flaws that I saw in your simulation while we wait."
Teacher Sofia exited the circle and started walking around them all.
"Your plan was solid, but I would have had a third person in the fight against the Alpha, specifically you."
She pointed towards the boy who had the notes and journal, Bell remembered that he had a claymore.
"Your abilities would have saved the two a bit of trouble, and you wouldn't have had as many issues with your sword. But you all did good despite that."
Then, Teacher Sofia started going into individual issues and mistakes made. As it turned out, Teacher Sofia was looking at nearly every student like a hawk and had provided them solid plans on improvement. Bell mostly tuned out until it was her turn. Teacher Sofia smiled upon reaching Bell and began.
"You didn't have as many issues, but you had a few nevertheless. Firstly, you stayed too far away from your partner in the early parts of your hunt. Secondly, you utilized your ability to create too little; there were a few points where you could have avoided damage altogether if you had conjured something to combat the scenario."
Then, Teacher Sofia took a few steps and turned to face Aramine.
"You had the lowest number of mistakes, which is good, but you should have stayed closer to your partner. If you stayed close, you would have had more opportunities to shoot a few more arrows, and then restrain it further and further. But that's how I would have played the scenario with the cards dealt to you."
After she finished speaking to the rest of the students in the circle, Teacher Sofia announced to the group.
"Despite your downfalls, your cohesion with one another was like nothing I've ever seen from a group made up of seven new students with little to no information on your targets. Not only that, but you were also all the fastest with the highest number of wolves to hunt. Even with an Adolescent Elementalist Alpha, your two hunters did amazing. You'll all probably have the highest average marks on this exam."
Then, Teacher Sofia began for the desk, all the while saying, "You are dismissed, I'll send you all files on your performance and my evaluation on your actions."
The ten students all cheered and headed for the door, carrying conversation on their plan and the situations that they found themselves in.
The group seemed most interested in Bell and Aramine's scenario, who promptly explained what happened with a few hyperboles and mistakes in the information.
While they headed back to the classroom to pick up whatever they left there, Bell wondered about something.
'I should ask if I can get a replay of the entire simulation, I kind of want to evaluate my own performance...'
But she soon drove those thoughts off and gathered her notebook, journal, pen, and umbrella.
The group then said their farewells as a few subgroups had formed and began going in their separate directions. Bell, Shota, and Aramine headed directly for the cafeteria, soon exiting the building that stored the Hunting Class.
As they wandered to the cafeteria, Shota explained his role in the subjugation exam.
"Yeah, I was up at the entrance to the den, and I used one of my abilities to blind them all. The moles were able to fight back, though, but they couldn't do much... you know, they don't have the teeth to really attack."
Bell didn't want to imagine what the others had to subjugate, and certainly didn't want to think of the stench.
Aramine asked the question that floated on Bell's mind, though.
"How bad did it smell?"
Shota laughed darkly before replying with a hint of sadness, "I still smell it all."
Bell smiled and thought to herself, 'At least he didn't lose a set of clothes to the blood fiends...'
She internally mourned that set of clothing.
Despite the momentary sadness that Bell felt, her feelings were soon replaced by growing happiness as they had finally reached the cafeteria.
The three entered the room, dismissing their Marbles and closing their umbrellas.
'Lunch time!' Bell greedily thought.