Transform into a magical girl after getting off work

As the candidates were relentlessly exploring within the maze, outside the maze, in the central square of the Silver Corridor, many magical girls had already gathered.

Compared to the candidates who had been forming teams in the square not long ago, these magical girls gathering now exuded a mature and competent aura, completely absent of the subtle greenness found in the candidates. It was easy for an observant person to deduce that these were the "guests" mentioned by the examiners who came to observe.

Most of these "guests" hailed from the Kingdom's Five Institutes, being at least word plate level magical girls. By the standards of the Magic Kingdom, where typically only white card and word plate assessments are conducted, they could all be considered "examination graduates."

In previous years, these "graduates" wouldn't have been specially invited to observe the assessment, but this year's assessment coincided with the Queen's Year, introducing some changes.

From the Royal Court's perspective, it wouldn't be appealing if the Queen and her subordinates found the observation seats empty and desolate. Additionally, it wasn't just the Queen expected to come, but likely the Gemstone Scepters as well. Therefore, the Royal Court requested the employees of the Magical Affairs Institute and Research Institute responsible for the assessment to open up the observation spots for this year's assessment.

Orders from above resulted in the lower ranks racing around, as to the Royal Court, it was merely about "finding more spectators." Surely, there would be magical girls in the Kingdom willing to sit with the Queen. However, for the employees executing this task, it became a significant hassle.

The first consideration was personnel deliberation. For safety reasons, the Exam Institute certainly couldn't completely open up the examination premises, allowing external personnel to come and go as they please. Thus, after much thought, they decided to only send invitations to magical girls within the Five Institutes, verifying the list of those willing to attend, and ensuring they were seated accordingly.

However, upon hearing about the opportunity to participate alongside the Queen, most magical girls accepted their invitations, meaning the number wishing to attend greatly exceeded expectations and the Silver Corridor's hosting capacity... Leading to a ton of stressful wrangling work, the Exam Institute finally managed to finalize the list amidst various constraints.

Therefore, those magical girls ultimately able to sit in the observation seats were well aware of the rarity of this opportunity, sitting with the mindset of "thoroughly appreciating" the experience. Gathered in the square, their focus was the high platform previously used for explaining the assessment rules. However, at this moment, the projection on the platform had already changed its content—displaying the images of candidates exploring in the maze.

In reality, after most candidates entered the maze, the projection content had shifted to these scenes. Therefore, the images on the high platform could be considered a real-time broadcast. Although there was about a half-minute delay compared to the actual situation in the maze, it already provided feedback on the real progress within the examination room in the first instance.

Of course, due to the nearly real-time footage, there would inevitably be varying teams simultaneously executing "noteworthy actions." At such times, the projection on the platform would split off, ensuring all the "highlight scenes" could be witnessed by those present.

At this moment, the platform had split into four projections, simultaneously displaying the exploration situations of four teams in the maze.

These four teams could be said to be among the fastest advancing within the maze; each had found a hidden puzzle in the maze, engaged in solving the puzzle.

Among them, the progress of "Team 277" was the focal point of everyone's attention.

This focus was only because this team's progress was indeed far ahead. With the strong perception abilities of the magical girl named "Tu Dinggui" and the team's solid execution base, the team members could each provide their insights into the puzzle, quickly approaching the puzzle's solution.

Among the magical girls in the observation seats, there was even the puzzle setter herself—this magical girl originally believed her puzzle shouldn't be so easily unraveled. However, she now felt somewhat embarrassed under the slightly teasing gazes of her colleagues.

The light wall indeed contained a treasure map, yet it hid numerous thinking traps.

The first was the ball fixed in the maze. The candidate might likely think the puzzle's content was "to retrieve the ball," wasting time seeking ways to move the ball is quite normal.

Secondly, the discrepancy between the treasure map and the actual map—even though overlaying the two maps doesn't reveal the true answer, because, in fact, both maps are genuine.

However, the real map is for candidates, for people to navigate through; the treasure map on the wall is for the ball to traverse.

Candidates must first locate the actual sphere in the maze according to the map's corresponding location. After finding the true sphere, they will discover: when holding the sphere, they continually hit "air walls."

The principle is simple, as the sphere's body has been specially processed with magic techniques, moving according to the treasure map's trajectory. Conversely, in the real maze, holding the sphere and not following the treasure map, the candidates will hit "air walls."

Thus, the final challenge emerges: when the two types of maps conflict, and walking through the real maze leads to air walls, whereas carrying the sphere along the treasure map path leads to colliding with the maze walls, how can one escape?

The answer is: the sphere's body can pass through walls.

Just as candidates don't need to consider the treasure map's "walls," the sphere also doesn't need to follow the real maze's route because it only needs to adhere to the treasure map's trajectory, so the maze's restrictions don't apply to it. Candidates must follow the treasure map's route to throw the ball; the sphere naturally reaches the trajectory's end point, after which the candidate follows the real maze path to the ball's resting point, picks it up, and throws it again, repeating this cycle.

Currently, Team 277 is essentially performing this final task.

Unquestionably, this final challenge is a ponderous task; even if candidates find the correct approach, a considerable amount of time is still consumed. Given the numerous differences in paths between the two mazes, candidates must navigate, often retracing steps in the real maze to reach the sphere's position.

Overall, solving this puzzle is definitely not a simple task. In fact, regarding actual difficulty, this puzzle ranks above average among all maze problems: it requires not only the correct approach but also the whole team's execution to successfully pass; otherwise, there's a high chance of being stuck at some part, wasting a lot of time.

It's amusing that this puzzle became the first one to be cracked in the entire event.

As Team 277 approached the finish line, the reactions from the audience grew more enthusiastic, and even the puzzle maker himself could only show a somewhat helpless smile, lightly clapping to affirm the team's performance.

"This cosplay team definitely has something; I originally thought they were just here for fun, but it turns out they have some skills?"

"I thought from the beginning that this cosplay team looked like championship material."

"Oh, I misjudged them, thinking that nowadays young people's hobbies are just prejudiced. I thought kids doing cosplay weren't serious."

"Indeed impressive, even though they're into cosplay."

The discussions on the viewing platform were lively and frequent.

The magical girls present, despite their age, might be mothers or even grandmothers in the Material Realm. However, after joining the kingdom and gaining eternal youth, most magical girls have a much younger mindset compared to others their age.

Because of this, some of the guests have watched magical girl-themed animations like "Sweet Angel" or "Colorful Sky Angel." Whether for their own enjoyment or accompanying their children, the result was that they had seen these shows.

After the guests exchanged a few words, the origin of the clothes worn by the magical girl "Long Dan" and foxtail grass became known to everyone, somehow giving Team 277 the nickname "cosplay team."

Moreover, the team's exploration progress was indeed ahead, becoming the focus of the projection content early on due to discovering the puzzle, and the nickname quickly spread.

This nickname even managed to reach the top tier of the viewing platform.

Numerous magical girls from the Royal Court Guard were lined up there, forming a human wall to separate the central seats from the outside world. Sitting among them were the Gemstone Scepters and the indistinct figure wearing the Crown.

There were three Gemstone Scepters present: Pigeon Blood Red and Purple Diamond, who arrived together, and Emerald, who lazily came to the site after a nap.

In terms of such specifications, the fourth Gemstone Scepter, Golden Green Cat's Eye, should have been present as well, but the Scepters were aware that the Investigation Bureau had been assigned a major case, keeping everyone overwhelmingly busy. So Golden Green Cat's Eye chose to take leave, and no one had any objections.

Even the current Purple Diamond, who looked as if everyone owed her money, just muttered a couple of words when it came to matters involving Golden Green Cat's Eye, unable to say much more.

Ultimately, the three Gemstone Scepters and the figure wearing the Crown were the most distinguished guests of this assessment.

When the nickname "cosplay team" reached the VIP seats, others didn't react much, except the Emerald, who originally looked drowsy and was leaning on the armrest yawning, froze for a moment, then forced a twisted expression as she tried to stifle her laughter.

Unfortunately, her back was to most of her colleagues, so no one noticed her unusual reaction.

After all, although the "cosplay team" performed well and stood out among the newcomers without a Validation Card in this session, it was ultimately just a minor part of the assessment. Execution and judgment are indeed essential standards for assessing newcomers, but conversely, as long as one passes the assessment, they're usually proficient in these aspects.

The brightest member of the team is "Tu Dinggui," a disciple of the current strongest Flower Card "Blue Star" in the Material Realm. This identity is enough to earn respect from the Scepters and the Royal Court Guard, but it isn't particularly prestigious for them.

Besides, another magical girl seriously assisted Tu Dinggui, continuously analyzing the situation, and lastly, one seemed to be analyzing something as well, but most of the time only appeared in the footage by showing the top of her head.

——An ordinary team of excellent students, with a captain of notable identity, a member skilled even while cosplaying, and another barely visible in the footage who also seemed to be cosplaying.

These were the guests, including the Gemstone Scepters' impressions of Team 277 at the time.

So swiftly, as this team cracked the puzzle and achieved a leading score, the on-site footage was replaced by another scene more worthy of attention.

That was a battle between teams.

According to materials provided by the presenter on stage, the captains of these two teams seemed to have old grudges, so during this exploration, one team specifically targeted the other, launching a surprise attack.

At present, the surprise attack was gradually heating up.