Transform into a magical girl after getting off work

Standing before the wall, the three members of Emerald Sparrow's team looked at one another. They all noticed the conspicuous scene but had no idea what it was, so they hoped someone else in the team might have a clue.

But clearly, no one knew.

Even Emerald Sparrow, who had participated in tests before, knew nothing about this, as the field assessments varied every year. Although a maze-walking project might have appeared in some previous year's assessment, it definitely wasn't the year she participated. Now, her abilities and knowledge as a Magical Girl certainly surpassed these kids, but in terms of understanding the assessment rules and accumulating information, she was no different from ordinary candidates of her cohort.

"What should we do?"

"Let's go up and examine it."

"...Okay."

After a brief agreement, the trio stepped forth together, standing beside the wall.

Considering the team's safety, they didn't investigate it all together. Tu Dinggui silently volunteered to lead; she placed her hand on the wall and initiated Magical Power Perception.

In Emerald Sparrow's vision, Tu Dinggui's magical power fluctuation suddenly overlapped with the glow on the wall. Aside from the change in magical power, Tu Dinggui herself seemed frozen before the wall, turning into a statue with no movement.

This process lasted a moment. Just as Emerald Sparrow started to wonder if something was wrong, Tu Dinggui released her hand.

"How was it?"

Emerald Sparrow asked her.

"I think I have some understanding of what's going on."

Tu Dinggui wore a cryptic expression: "This is an extra checkpoint."

"An extra checkpoint?"

"Yes, there's something buried within this wall. I tried to take it out, but it didn't seem to have any effect." Tu Dinggui shared openly.

Knowing it wasn't a trap, Emerald Sparrow and Dew Grass didn't hesitate any longer, stepped up, and extended their sensation to the wall. Along with a twisting sensation of stretched perception, an intricate picture emerged in Emerald Sparrow's mind.

At the center of this picture was a glowing sphere emitting a magical power fluctuation. From its fluctuating traits, this sphere was likely the cause of the wall's persistent glow.

Emerald Sparrow attempted to touch it with her magical power, and the sphere quivered slightly under its influence, proving its presence within the wall. However, when Emerald Sparrow tried to further push it with her power, the sphere seemed confined, unable to move an inch.

Upon closer inspection, plant stems encircled it, forming a passageway equal in width to its diameter. The pattern created by these passageways undeniably depicted a "maze."

Such a complex design hardly seemed coincidental. The glowing sphere within the wall and the small maze trapping the sphere were very likely the hidden "extra content" the Examiner had hinted at in this assessment.

From the visual guidance, finishing this extra content seemed to entail figuring out how to extract the sphere from the maze—but how exactly?

It was known that magical power couldn't move the sphere within the maze. To extract it, it seemed evident they'd have to navigate through the maze surrounding it. But how exactly? Could there be another undiscovered mechanism to move the sphere? Or perhaps, could the wall itself be movable, contrary to their expectations?

Pondering this, Emerald Sparrow walked back and forth along the wall but found nothing that could be a control mechanism; she also attempted to push the wall with her magical power, but it yielded no response.

Just as she was about to try something further, Dew Grass hesitantly spoke up:

"Um... could it be a treasure map?"

This suggestion instantly caught the attention of the other two.

"Uh, I mean... look, the maze on the wall has a long exit in the upper left corner, which, in terms of scale and position, resembles the wall we're facing. Is it possible that the wall before us is the 'exit' indicated on the diagram, meant for the little sphere?"

Suddenly being stared at by both, Dew Grass nervously organized her words: "Then, if we backtrack from this position... maybe the sphere in the diagram corresponds to something that really exists in the maze beneath our feet?"

"A treasure map..." After listening to Dew Grass's analysis, Emerald Sparrow couldn't help contemplating the wall again.

"Seems plausible." Tu Dinggui, whose action-oriented nature surpassed hers, thought Dew Grass made sense and immediately veered to the right following the maze map on the wall—

Bang!

Seconds later, under the gaze of Emerald Sparrow and Dew Grass, Tu Dinggui stumbled heavily against another wall.

"...Well, seems like it was wrong."

With a red mark on her face, Tu Dinggui returned to her spot calmly, as if nothing happened, and continued analyzing: "Although the exit in the diagram seems similar to the wall before us, the maze in the diagram doesn't match the actual terrain we're in. For example, the path to the right shows it's open in the diagram, stretching out and then turning down..."

She pointed to the right: "But in reality, our right side is a dead end."

"Come on, you could tell by just looking. Why had to crash into it?"

Dew Grass couldn't help retorting: "I was just suggesting a possibility, don't be so reckless!"

"Without actually crashing into it, we couldn't rule out the possibility of the dead-end we saw being a Blind Eye Technique and the maze map being the real path."

Perhaps it did hurt a bit, so Tu Dinggui still rubbed her forehead: "But unfortunately, I tried, and the drawing on the wall probably isn't the real map."

"Even so, that was too reckless..."

Dew Grass mumbled softly and then suggested another possibility: "Well, could it be the map of another floor? The same position on the plane but a different floor?"

"No, there's still a good chance it's the map of this floor. Besides, if the map on the wall belonged to other floors, finding one specific floor in a maze with so many levels was too difficult, contradicting its purpose as an 'assessment.' An unsolvable by logical deductions, relying only on exhaustive searches, seems devoid of elegance to the question setter."

Somehow having placed her hand on another wall, borrowing the maze's Magic Technique to sense the surrounding area, Emerald Sparrow released her hand: "I think you're making sense, so I re-examined the actual map of the maze and found something interesting when comparing it to the wall map."

"What?" Dew Grass couldn't help asking. Tu Dinggui beside also showed a look of anticipating analysis.

"Here, here, and here."

Emerald Sparrow used her magical power to sketch a map in mid-air, setting it next to the wall map so both could be compared: "Although it's only a part, there is a shared exit in both maps."

She didn't conceal her discovery since the other two had already provided significant analysis. Thus, she said this and layered her map on the wall map, completing the overlay: "Look, to get through this part, although most of it is a dead end, it's not entirely impassable."

"In other words, the wall map doesn't conflict with the actual maze map..." Dew Grass murmured softly.

"...Instead, overlaying both maps creates the true treasure map?" Tu Dinggui also grasped Emerald Sparrow's meaning.

"Yeah, and on this basis, other conjectures might arise. But we need to find the position shown in the map first."

Emerald Sparrow retracted her magic, looked at the other two: "Let's head out; if it truly is a treasure map, who knows when another team might arrive here, beating us to it."