Get off work and become a magical girl

Chapter 372 The results are out
Despite having prepared thoroughly with Cui Que before the exam, Bai Jingxuan still felt a tightness in her throat when the secret was suddenly revealed. She stood frozen in place, her thoughts as chaotic as fallen leaves swept by a storm.

She tried to appear calm as she looked at the other person, but couldn't utter a single word of explanation.

"Do you know you are a deviant?" The examiner's questions came one after another, giving her no chance to catch her breath.

“I…should…” She swallowed hard, trying to buy herself some time to think, but this self-deception was obviously useless. Her chaotic thoughts were like a knotted ball of yarn; the harder she pulled, the stronger the knot became.

"If you know your true background, perhaps I can provide a more detailed report on your magical armor. But if you don't, it's a bit of a shame." Fortunately, the examiner didn't seem to be a strict person. Even though Bai Jingxuan showed a very unnatural nervous expression, the examiner only thought it was because the candidate was in the examination room and didn't think about it from other perspectives.

Perhaps it was because Bai Jingxuan was still young, and even among the candidates who were mostly underage girls, she seemed much more naive, that no one suspected her at first.

"What a pity...why?" Bai Jingxuan repeated the other person's words instinctively.

"Knowing your detailed deviation will help us analyze the relatively unique performance of your magic equipment. If our team determines that your deviation has a positive impact on your magic equipment, it may improve your potential score."

The examiner continued explaining, "Your true form is very underdeveloped. With the equipment here, I can't determine whether it's due to insufficient development or a negative impact caused by a deviation in your magic."

Hearing this, Bai Jingxuan finally relaxed a little.

If the other party can determine that she is a deviant, but cannot determine her true nature, then there is still room for explanation.

"...I know I am a Deviant, but no one has ever checked the specifics for me."

So, as planned, Bai Jingxuan gave a half-truth: "I don't even know what you mean by 'underlying nature,' I'm sorry."

This statement perfectly reflects Bai Jingxuan's background as a "magical girl from a small town in the material world".

The concept of background color is ultimately a rather obscure one. Most magical girls' understanding of this concept is limited to "knowing that there are such people as Deviant Ones".

Even in the magical realm, only research institutes conduct in-depth studies in this field, and there haven't been any widespread applications to date. Therefore, a magical girl from a small town would indeed have no reason to know about this.

Of course, all of this reasoning is based on the premise that the examiner does not recognize cornflowers.

As long as he doesn't recognize cornflowers, nor does he know the actual meaning of "Fangting City" in Bai Jingxuan's exam application materials, then Bai Jingxuan's statement is naturally unassailable.

What if the examiner knew Cornflower, or even one of the core members of the research institute, and knew that Cornflower was currently stationed in Fangting City?

In that case, there's even less to worry about.

Because the core members of the research institute naturally know their own position, even if they hear the loopholes in Bai Jingxuan's words, they would not expose them at this critical juncture.

"That makes sense. Let's not waste time on this issue."

After hearing Bai Jingxuan's reply, the examiner's attitude did not change in the slightest; she remained as rigid and inflexible as ever. However, she was clearly convinced by this explanation.

"Let's move on to the next test. Come with me to that piece of equipment over there."

Bai Jingxuan breathed a sigh of relief.

She knew that she had successfully overcome this hurdle.

The subsequent testing went very smoothly. Once Bai Jingxuan's identity as a Deviant was confirmed, the two examiners were no longer so surprised by some of the unusual qualities she displayed. Clearly, in their eyes, it was only natural that Deviants' abilities surpassed those of ordinary people.

Just like that, a few minutes later, all the test data about Bai Jingxuan's magic armor were displayed on the screen in front of the examiners.

[Ability Specification: Level 3]

[Scope of application: Medium]

[Application areas: Wide range, especially suitable for team combat and logistical support scenarios]

[Development Potential: Medium (Results may be inaccurate due to background color misalignment not being checked)] [Stability: Low]

Overall rating: Briza-

First, there's the range of "Heavenly Sound." It can only affect the area covered by the music box's music, and the music weakens and the effect diminishes as the distance increases.

Next comes its application. While the ability to activate magic and biological limbs isn't particularly rare, its ability to affect others without diminishing its effectiveness with increasing numbers greatly increases its value. Most importantly, it possesses a weak healing ability on the original form. Although the effect is very weak and insufficient to revive comrades near death due to the shattering of their original form, it can assist the wounded in regaining their combat capabilities. This is extremely rare throughout the entire history of the kingdom.

As for development potential, according to the examiner, "low degree of manifestation of true form" often indicates that the magic equipment has not been developed enough. However, considering that Bai Jingxuan is a deviator, the background color deviation will also affect this value, so in the end only a medium evaluation was given.

As for its stability, it depends on the magic power consumed by the magic equipment, the magic equipment's ability to resist interference, and its dependence on the user's state.

According to the examiners, Tianyin's performance in this project was even worse than some candidates who were rated as Dryas.

It's not just because Tianyin requires continuous energy expenditure, and this expenditure increases with the number of targets it affects. Its power is also strongly linked to music; if the music is disturbed or masked by other sounds, it will lose its effectiveness.

From this perspective, as long as the enemy finds a way to counter it, Tianyin's ability can be easily broken, which means that its stability is very poor.

In conclusion, although Bai Jingxuan's magical armor demonstrated capabilities and applicability far exceeding those of ordinary "single-piece" armor, it was hampered by other stats, ultimately only managing to break through the C-level rating and reach the B- level.

The so-called B- means very simply: Bai Jingxuan needs to win a battle in the subsequent rounds in order to truly upgrade her rating to B-level.

Bai Jingxuan herself didn't really care about this evaluation. After all, it was already a stroke of luck that she managed to get through the assessment without having her residual beast magic detected.

Besides, in her past battles, magical abilities have never accounted for a very high percentage of her strength, so she has never felt that her magical equipment is particularly powerful. Therefore, receiving a B rating is actually in line with expectations.

In her opinion, the fact that her magical armor could alleviate some of her mother's physical injuries already demonstrated its greatest value.

When she walked out of the examination room and told Lin Xiaolu and the others her score, everyone's reactions were different.

Hua Zhu was surprised to learn that Bai Jingxuan had received a B- rating with her "single-piece" magic armor, but she quickly regained her composure and said, "Cornflower's students are indeed different from ordinary people."

Mint asked with a hint of schadenfreude if her true colors had been exposed, but Bai Jingxuan glared at her and she shrugged to show her innocence.

As for Lin Xiaolu, besides congratulating Bai Jingxuan on "passing smoothly," she was also much more relieved about her own prospects in the magic costume test.

"We both only have one piece of magic equipment, and I was worried that we would only get a C grade this time."

She said, "Since you can reach B-level, then I should also have a chance to surpass C-level, right?"

Upon hearing this, Mint and Flower Candle didn't seem to react much, but Bai Jingxuan immediately looked at Lin Xiaolu with an expression as if she had seen a ghost.

"What's wrong?" Bai Jingxuan's expression was so obvious that even Lin Xiaolu couldn't ignore such a clear reaction, so she subconsciously asked back.

"No, I think... Senior, your magical armor is probably different from mine." Bai Jingxuan thought for a while before expressing her opinion in a somewhat tactful way.

"Well, since mine can transform, it's definitely a bit more powerful than a regular single piece, I guess?" Lin Xiaolu said, feeling rather optimistic.

After she finished speaking, Mint and Flower Candle next to her also started looking at her with expressions as if they had seen a ghost.

"...What's going on with you guys?" Lin Xiaolu finally realized that something was wrong.

However, before the others could explain anything, the door in front of them opened once more—

— “Candidate number 20000103931, please enter the examination room.”

This time, Lin Xiaolu's exam number was called.

(End of this chapter)