Subjugation Simulation (I) - Enter the Den

"What are you waiting for?" Teacher Sofia asked the class. "An invitation?"

The rest of the students stood up and began down the hallway, simply following Teacher Sofia to their destination. Some of the students around Bell and the other two were talking about the training equipment they'll be using.

"I can't believe we get to use the Dreamer!" One said.

Another replied, "Yeah! My dad used one a long while ago."

"Really? That's sick!" A third student exclaimed.

Bell was unaware of what the Dreamer was, but from what she heard, it was something cool. After a moment, she tapped her pathfinder and asked it, "What is the Dreamer?"

To which a window appeared, in fact, there were three all stacked behind one another. The first read as:

[The Dreamer is a highly advanced machine that allows one or many people to enter a simulation.]

An image of a metal casket was attached just below the first passage.

Bell thought to herself, 'Yeah, that thing looks like it's going to kill me instead. But anyway.'

Then, she continued reading the windows brought up by the pathfinder.

[The Dreamer's simulated worlds are highly customizable, and with special clearance, allows...]

Several lines were initially censored by black boxes but were then quickly turned to normal text. 

'Hmm, what was that?' Bell asked internally.

The censored lines read as follows:

[...allows highly realistic simulations of Domain regional biomes as well as the creatures that lie within. Dreamer's also allows the usage of Fragment ability usage as well as the summoning of real Marbles.]

'Why is stuff like this censored?'

[In lesser quality Dreamer's, "Simulated Marbles" are generated through examining real Marbles in the user's mind. These "Simulated Marbles" are then uploaded to {-----} database.]

'There's censorship on things I can read, too?' Bell thought with a surprised expression.

She had assumed that she had access to all information due to the censorship being lifted when she attempted to access information. However, this seemed to not be the case, as the black boxes returned to censor the name of the databases were these "Simulated Marbles" are stored.

Bell scratched the back of her head in confusion, but shook her head of any questions that she could have had.

'I'll just add them to my journal when updating it tonight, I guess.' Bell shrugged.

Over the course of Bell reading the documents, the class slowly but surely got closer to the room filled with the Dreamer's. Now, they had reached the room, and four rows of ten of the Dreamer's rested against the ground. The ceiling in this room was at least triple that of the other rooms in the building.

Teacher Sofia stopped their march after reading the middle of the room, as such, the rest of the students stopped as well.

"Welcome to the simulation room." Teacher Sofia said. "You'll be entering these, and I'll get the simulated Dire Wolf Den set up. You will all be in groups of ten, each row of the Dreamer's will act as a team, so enter whichever one's you want to use."

She then walked to the back of the room where a desk sat, and then sat in a chair in front of it. After a moment, she stood back up and announced.

"Go stand in front of whatever Dreamer you're going to be taking the exam in."

Aramine, who stood just beside Bell, asked both her and Shota, "Want to team up?"

"Sure!" Shota said with an enthusiastic smile.

Bell didn't have anyone else that she knew in the class, so she agreed as well.

"Yeah." Bell replied.

Aramine raised her fists to the other two, to which the three then did a three-way fist bump. Bell almost internally cringed at the action, but smiled, nevertheless.

It was kind of cool, in all honestly.

The three then started walking in the isles of Dreamer's and found an unclaimed set of three in the same row. The three then stood in front of their Dreamer machines and awaited further instructions.

They didn't need to wait much longer, as Teacher Sofia then announced.

"The simulation is now loaded for all four sets of -----'s, if you enter, you'll be scanned and then your minds will be transported to the simulation. Before you do, however, I'll be using the next few minutes to explain the rules of the exam."

Teacher Sofia then threw something towards the ceiling, and it seemed to loop through something before coming back down into her expecting hand. Teacher Sofia then pulled the entwined thin material, and a large projector screen came rolling down. After it reached its full extension, it wiggled around for a few moments before evening out.

Teacher Sofia turned a projector on from the desk, and a document with a few lines came up. A list of guidelines to do well on the exam were listed, but Bell waited for Teacher Sofia to explain.

"To do well on the exam, you'll be evaluated on a few things." She began.

"The simulation has cameras following each of you, and the entire simulation is recorded for later review. Your grades will be announced through papers I'll be passing out on Monday."

Teacher Sofia then began walking around the front of the room while continuing to explain. She snapped, and the document changed to a depiction of a group of armored knights and robed mages attacking several Dire Wolves.

"To do best on the exam, you and your group will have to follow the objective of the simulation, which is to subjugate all Dire Wolves in the den."

The slide changed to a diagram with percentages and data, but Bell didn't entirely care about it, simply examining the Dreamer machine.

"You will be graded on the efficiency of your subjugation efforts during the period of the simulation. There are many ways that you will be able to complete the simulation, however, you will be graded on the efficiency of your actions rather than your strategy."

The slide changed once more to a group of hunters taking down wolves of all types in a forest.

"If you were to just do an all-out raid, you will be graded on how well you all take down the enemies, how you use their weaknesses and weak points, the works."

A new diagram was displayed with the changing of slides; this slide portrayed people taking down wolves from behind with arrows and daggers.

"If you were to try to take them all down using only stealth, you'll be graded on your knowledge of the den, how you lure the wolves away, and how you take them down."

The slide changed once more to show a mix of the two diagrams, with a few having a frontal assault while others silently took down stragglers.

"Of course, the best strategy, at least from what I've seen, is giving each member a unique role, and for every member to contribute equally and efficiently to subjugate the den."

Then, Teacher Sofia paused in her walk and addressed the students directly.

"With the guidelines and objective instructed to you, you are now allowed to enter the Dreamer machines and begin your synchronization process. Afterward, you will automatically be placed in a waiting room with the remaining students."

The Dreamer's came to life, opening on their own, the insides were very cushioned bed-like stations. Bell turned to look at Aramine, who locked eyes, and with a smile, climbed into the machine.

So Bell followed suit, deciding to take her shoes off before climbing in.

Upon doing so, Bell found that the cushions were extremely comfortable, and the air was warm. After she climbed in, the door closed above her. A hatch was next to both her right and left arms, it looked like they were the mechanism that allowed one to open the machine from inside if the need arose.

The casket-like machine was extremely comforting, and a window appeared before Bell, it read:

[Begin synchronization? Yes / No]

Bell lifted her arm and tapped the [Yes] option. Afterward, the window shattered like all pathfinder windows and a new one took its place.

[Please relax, higher synchronization rate if more relaxed. Highest synchronization rate if asleep.]

With how comforting the room was, Bell was tempted to outright fall asleep, but didn't for one simple reason.

'I'm not going into a nightmare just before this exam. No thank you.'

So, Bell decided to simply wait while on the verge of sleep, her mind was fuzzy, and her body was comfortable. It was truly hard to stay awake, but Bell found a way, the fear of another nightmare kept her just awake enough to not fall unconscious.

After a few minutes, a new message came to Bell.

[Synchronization complete, entering simulation.]

A feeling of her mind falling unconscious filled Bell, but it was as if her body was staying awake. The sensation was strange, but Bell blinked, and she found herself in a white room with a few other students.

Bell looked around with a bit of confusion, but she waved towards the others with a polite smile.

"Hello." She said.