Off Work, Then I Become a Magical Girl

Book 2: Chapter 189: The Observers

Vol 2 Chapter 189: The Observers While the examinees continued exploring the maze, many Magical Girls had already gathered at the central square of the Silver Gallery outside the maze. Compared to the examinees who had been forming teams in the square not long ago, these gathered Magical Girls appeared much more mature and capable, completely devoid of the faint immaturity that lingered on the examinees. Any discerning eye could easily tell that these were the "guests" mentioned earlier by the head examiner—those who had come to observe the proceedings.

Most of these "guests" came from the Five Courts of the magic nation, all being Magical Girls with at least character card qualifications. Given that the magic nation's examination system typically only involved white cards and character cards, they could all be considered "examination graduates."

In previous years, these "graduates" wouldn't have been specially invited to observe the examinations. However, this year being the Queen's Year introduced some changes. From the Royal Court's perspective, it would be rather unseemly if the Queen and her entourage arrived at the observation seats to find them empty and desolate—especially since it wouldn't just be the Queen attending, but likely the accompanying Scepters of Gems as well. Thus, the Royal Court made a request to the Magical Affairs Court and Research Court staff overseeing the examinations: to open up observation privileges for this year's event.

A single word from above meant endless running below. What the Royal Court considered a simple matter of "finding more spectators"—and surely there would be plenty of Magical Girls willing to share seats with the Queen—became a massive headache for the staff actually implementing it.

The primary concern was personnel selection. For security reasons, the examination authorities couldn't completely open the exam site to outsiders. After much deliberation, they settled on only sending invitations to Magical Girls within the Five Courts, then verifying the list of willing attendees for assigned seating.

However, upon hearing they could participate in an event with the Queen, the vast majority of invitees accepted, resulting in numbers far exceeding expectations and the Silver Gallery's capacity... What followed was a tedious process of negotiations, with the examination authorities finally managing to finalize the attendee list amidst various constraints.

Consequently, the Magical Girls who ultimately secured seats on the observation platform deeply appreciated this rare opportunity, sitting there with the mindset of "thoroughly appreciating the show." They gathered in the square, their attention focused on the high platform previously used to explain examination rules. But now, the projection on the platform had changed—it now displayed footage of examinees exploring the maze.

In fact, the projection had switched to this content soon after most examinees entered the maze, making it essentially a live broadcast. While there was about a half-minute delay compared to actual events in the maze, it still provided real-time feedback on the examinees' progress.

Of course, being nearly real-time footage meant there would inevitably be moments when multiple teams simultaneously performed "noteworthy actions." At such times, the projection would split to ensure all "highlight moments" could be seen by those present.

Currently, the projection had split into four screens, simultaneously showing four teams' exploration progress in the maze. These four teams could be considered the fastest progressing groups in the maze, each having found one of the hidden puzzles and working on solutions.

Among them, "Team 277" received particular attention—simply because their progress was significantly ahead. With Valerian's exceptional perception abilities and the team's strong execution, coupled with each member contributing insights to solving the puzzle, they had quickly approached the solution.

Among the observing Magical Girls was even the very creator of this puzzle—a Magical Girl who had thought her puzzle wouldn't be solved so easily, now feeling somewhat awkward under her colleagues' teasing gazes.

The light wall indeed contained a treasure map, but it also hid numerous mental traps. First was the fixed sphere in the maze—examinees might reasonably assume the puzzle required "removing the sphere," thus wasting time trying various methods to move it.

Second was the discrepancy between the treasure map and the actual maze—even overlaying the two maps wouldn't yield the true answer, because both maps were real. However, the actual map was for examinees to navigate, while the treasure map in the wall was for the sphere to follow.

Examinees first needed to locate the sphere's physical form in the real maze according to the map's corresponding positions. Upon finding it, they'd discover that holding the sphere would constantly make them hit "invisible walls."

The principle was simple: the sphere's physical form had been treated with special magic—it could only move along the treasure map's trajectory. In the real maze, anyone carrying the sphere without following the treasure map's path would hit "invisible walls."

Thus emerged the final challenge: when the two maps conflicted—where following the real maze path led to invisible walls, but following the treasure map path with the sphere led to hitting actual walls—how could one proceed?

The answer: the sphere's physical form could pass through walls.

Just as examinees didn't need to consider the "walls" on the treasure map, the sphere didn't need to follow the real maze's paths—it only needed to follow the treasure map's trajectory, making the maze's restrictions irrelevant. Examinees simply needed to throw the sphere along the treasure map's path, where it would naturally land at the trajectory's end. Then they'd walk through the real maze to the sphere's landing point, pick it up, and throw it again—repeating the process.

Currently, Team 277 was doing precisely this final step. Undoubtedly, this last challenge was tedious—even with the correct approach, it would consume considerable time. Because the two maps' paths differed significantly, examinees would need to detour and even backtrack repeatedly in the real maze to reach the sphere's positions.

Overall, solving this puzzle was no simple task. In fact, in terms of actual difficulty, it ranked above average among all the maze's puzzles—requiring not just the correct approach but also strong team coordination to complete successfully;otherwise, teams could easily get stuck at certain stages, wasting significant time.

Amusingly, this puzzle ended up being the first one solved in the entire venue. As Team 277 neared completion, the observers' reactions grew increasingly enthusiastic—even the puzzle's creator could only offer a somewhat resigned smile, lightly applauding in acknowledgment of the team's performance.