Get off work and become a magical girl

Chapter 373 Lin Xiaolu's Test
Like Bai Jingxuan, Lin Xiaolu was first told to wait in place for a while before being assigned to the equipment in the corner to test the values ​​of her magic armor.

The same equipment, the same procedure, the same examiners—everything seemed no different from Bai Jingxuan's test. Lin Xiaolu stood there blankly, watching the equipment sweep back and forth across the white scepter in her hand.

One minute, two minutes, three minutes... Just when Lin Xiaolu was starting to wonder why her examination was taking so long, the machine in front of her finally stopped.

Its open, ring-shaped detection structure slowly folded back into the instrument, and the raised analytical device gradually returned to the horizontal plane. The indicator lights on the entire instrument surface flashed in a fixed rhythm, and then—

—“Beep—”

The red light came on.

This strange noise immediately caught the attention of the examiners nearby. Lin Xiaolu didn't know what the red light meant, but they knew all too well: it meant the instrument was malfunctioning.

From Lin Xiaolu's perspective, one of the examiners put away the light screen, quickly walked to the instrument, fiddled with the interface for a while, muttered something under his breath, and then turned to look at her:

Did you touch the screen over there when you walked over?

"Huh? What screen?" Lin Xiaolu asked blankly.

"It's the part I was just working on," the examiner pointed.

"No, I was very careful when I walked over," Lin Xiaolu shook her head.

"When you extracted the magic armor, did you release too much magic power? Did the magic power fluctuations affect the backup controller over there?" The examiner looked puzzled.

"Of course not, it's not like I've never used magic armor before, how could I make such a basic mistake?" Lin Xiaolu said confidently.

"That's strange... nothing was changed, so why is the instrument reporting an error?"

The examiner didn't press further and didn't seem to suspect Lin Xiaolu, because she knew perfectly well that the equipment setup had been carefully considered for all sorts of special circumstances, and it would be difficult for a clueless candidate to influence the test results using conventional methods. Her questioning of Lin Xiaolu was merely a gamble.

After all, if Lin Xiaolu's operation wasn't flawed, then the problem must lie with the equipment itself.

"Wait a little longer."

So the examiner gave Lin Xiaolu some instructions, then walked to the other end of the instrument, placed one hand in a groove on the instrument, and unleashed her magic—she decided to delve into the instrument's interior to find the root cause of the error.

This process lasted for about five more minutes before the examiner removed his hand from the groove with a strange expression.

"Mentor, what does 'test data exceeds the upper limit of the bud-level report template' mean?"

She turned around and asked the examiner who was still on the other side of the examination room.

“…Huh?” The examiner, who hadn’t said a word the whole time, finally reacted.

"The data exceeds the limit of the bud-level report template," the examiner next to Lin Xiaolu repeated.

"Oh, that means exactly what it says. The result found is higher than the highest value in the database, so a report cannot be generated and an error is reported."

The examiner, referred to as the "mentor" and clearly more senior, put away the light screen and walked towards Lin Xiaolu and her companion: "What's wrong? Is this the reason the instrument is malfunctioning?"

“At least that’s the reason I see…” the younger examiner replied.

"Alright, let me see." The older examiner gestured for the younger examiner to move aside, then walked to the recessed area of ​​the instrument and placed his hand on it.

Before long, she, like the young examiner before her, released her hand with a strange expression: "It really is true, you didn't see wrong."

After she finished speaking, both examiners' eyes simultaneously focused on Lin Xiaolu's face.

"...What's wrong?" Even though Lin Xiaolu wasn't usually nervous, she felt a little flustered by the way the two of them were looking at her.

"It's nothing, it just might require your cooperation to test again." The old examiner remained expressionless, merely narrowing his eyes and smiling rather kindly before turning to the young examiner beside him: "Adjust to the flower-level standard."

"Really? It wasn't upgraded to the Lei level?"

"Just do what I tell you to do, stop with the nonsense." The old examiner reached out and poked the young examiner in the waist, causing the young examiner to gasp in pain.

Two minutes later, the equipment restarted, and the two examiners stepped aside, once again giving the stage to Lin Xiaolu.

This time, the adjusted instrument displayed a completely different appearance. The ring-shaped structure of its detection port had expanded into a door, completely enveloping Lin Xiaolu. The white detection light kept rotating, turning into a vortex, waiting for Lin Xiaolu.

"Your magical armor shouldn't be just a regular single piece of magical armor; it should also have an unfolded form, right?"

The old examiner smiled and said to Lin Xiaolu, "Remember to use it this time too; the result will be more accurate."

"Ah, oh." Realizing that her magical costume seemed to have something special in the eyes of the examiners, Lin Xiaolu was encouraged and felt much more motivated. So, she excitedly raised her hand and once again displayed her magical costume in front of the instrument.

"Wang Yao!"

The white scepter appeared in her palm as the light shone through, and the detection light in the instrument immediately fluctuated violently.

Clearly, with the standards raised, the instruments became more responsive to Lin Xiaolu's magical costume. But everyone knew this was not the end.

"Wang Yao, activate your form, Guardian Form!"

At Lin Xiaolu's command, the white scepter changed shape.

The staff was stretched, its head became sharp, and silk threads, seemingly appearing from nowhere, wrapped around it, forming a protective layer on its surface. Finally, the scepter in Lin Xiaolu's hand transformed into a pale blue spear.

This sudden change left the two examiners stunned. While the older examiner's surprise was brief, the younger examiner was completely dumbfounded, as if his worldview had been shattered.

"...Mentor, what's this?"

After a long while, the young examiner seemed to wake up from a dream before asking his question.

"do not know."

The veteran examiner's answer was very straightforward, but unlike the younger examiner who seemed confused, his eyes sparkled as he looked at Lin Xiaolu with the expression of an explorer who had discovered a gold mine: "All I know is that the research projects for the next few years are now secured."

"What project? Magical transformation?"

The young examiner looked at his mentor: "Is there any precedent for this? I've never heard of it before?"

"It's precisely because there's no precedent that it's worth studying. A magical suit that can transform—doesn't that sound interesting enough?"

The old examiner rubbed his chin: "Moreover, this child's magical armor has two forms. Let's leave aside the weapon-like form for now, but the scepter-like form... well, we can't just say that."

"A scepter-like shape? Mentor, what do you see?"

"Let's look at the report first."

The experienced examiner waved her hand, and at the same time, the equipment in front of them stopped operating; this time, a green light appeared. She then told Lin Xiaolu to rest aside, while she herself eagerly opened the test information on the screen.

The first two things that caught her eye were the most obvious results:
[Ability Specification: Level 4]

[Development Potential: Gem Scepter]

(End of this chapter)