Exploration

"I'm sorry, I often unconsciously make certain movements when I'm thinking. I apologize for offending you."

After being reminded by Larkspur, Tudingui belatedly lowered his hand, looking apologetic. "I often do this with my younger sister at home, so it just happened..."

"Hmm, it's okay."

Since the other party was willing to stop, Larkspur had no intention of pursuing the matter further. She simply replied to indicate that the matter was over and continued walking forward.

The three-person team continued their silent exploration of the maze.

The maze wasn't very bright; in fact, it was rather dim. However, the three girls present were all quite powerful magical girls, and their vision was no longer affected by simple light and dark, so navigating in the dark wasn't a problem. However, this conclusion seemed to be limited to Larkspur's perspective, because after walking a short distance, she felt the surrounding environment suddenly brighten.

Turning her head, she saw Tudingui raising his hand and casting a Spell Formula to provide auxiliary lighting.

"You're going down stairs ahead, watch your step."

Perhaps because her subconscious act of touching the Larkspur's head earlier made Tudingui feel somewhat embarrassed and apologetic, she deliberately kept a few steps away from the Larkspur, only tossing the Spell Formula next to it.

Seeing this, the Foxtail Grass silently withdrew its outstretched hand.

Larkspur glanced at the ball of light beside her, then at the stairs not far away, wanting to say something but unsure what to say.

She wanted to say that this was excessive concern, but then she thought that "Gentian" was indeed a child in other people's eyes, and there was no reason for him to resist other people's kindness so much. Explaining so much was worse than not explaining at all, so in the end she just said "thank you" and went downstairs with the ball of light and the team.

Following the route given by Tudingui, the group first went down one floor, then passed several turns, and after walking steadily for about five minutes, they could vaguely hear voices coming from the darkness ahead.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be another team of examinees.

As they got closer, the team noticed Larkspur and her group, and their cheerful conversation abruptly stopped, replaced by wary stares.

Everyone had memorized the Rule the examiner had mentioned before the exam. "Attacks or interference with other candidates are not prohibited," which meant that all teams could potentially be enemies. If two teams made contact and one was completely unprepared, their elimination was likely imminent.

Of course, even when they are on guard, their focus will only be on Tudingui.

As a prominent figure among this year's examinees, most magical girls who aspire to achieve excellent results will surely remember Tudingui's image. Therefore, when they meet on a narrow path, the other party immediately recognizes Tudingui's identity.

This is probably the downside of having someone on the "Carry Ranking in the team.

After all, the same Rule in the assessment also stipulates that if a candidate is attacked by an opponent and becomes incapacitated, thus being eliminated, then as long as she can identify the attacker afterward, she can obtain all of that attacker's points for that event.

Now, the two teams have only met once, and the other side has already recognized Tudingui's identity. It can be said that they are already prepared—if they are attacked and eliminated by Tudingui here, they should report her name when they leave.

In this strangely tense atmosphere, Tudingui stared at the magical girls expressionlessly for two seconds, then slowly spoke:

Hello.

The atmosphere at the scene froze.

Upon hearing this simple greeting, the magical girls opposite her all caught their tongues, the "protest" or "intimidation" that had been escaping their throats. After a moment, their leader hesitantly asked, "Hello?"

"Did you find anything on your way here?" Tudingui continued to ask.

"Uh... I don't think so?" the other person replied after a moment's thought.

"Okay, thank you. We came down the stairs from the right rear. We've explored that area too, but there's nothing there."

Tudingui nodded politely in thanks. "If you want to explore further, you can go to the left."

"Oh... okay." The other person nodded blankly.

"And in this labyrinth, both the walls and the ground are covered with a kind of Spell Formula that can be used, did you know that?" Tudingui asked again.

"Huh? What's that?" This time, besides the leader, the other magical girls also spoke up.

So Tudingui explained the usage of the Spell Formula in the maze to the other party again.

After this explanation, the opposing team completely lowered their guard and began exchanging information with Tudingui: although they didn't know about the maze Spell Formula, they had managed to find a few dead ends by brute force, and they told Tudingui all of them.

"It really scared me to death. The first team I encountered in the maze was Carry Ranking."

After finishing his explanation, the leader of the other side scratched his head and laughed, "I felt like I could see my great-grandmother waving at me."

"You're really lame. I was just a little weak in the knees," her teammate teased.

After a brief exchange of information, the two teams bid each other farewell and continued their exploration. The opposing team resumed their cheerful chatter, and their figures, accompanied by laughter, disappeared from Larkspur's sight.

She didn't linger on the now-empty corridor, but suddenly wondered: was the atmosphere in her squad a little too somber?

Judging from Tudingui's behavior so far, she doesn't seem to be a taciturn person; she interacts with others quite naturally. Foxtail Grass isn't the type to resist communicating with others either; she's just currently a little shy.

Although none of the three women are inherently averse to their teammates, for various reasons, their relationship has made little progress so far. As a result, while other teams chat and laugh along the way, they seem to be under some kind of Spell Formula, remaining silent for long periods of time.

Is it my own problem?

The Larkspur couldn't help but think this.

It has to be said that, compared to the introverted Foxtail Grass and the seemingly oblivious Tudingui, she is indeed the most suitable person to "break the ice in team relationships".

In fact, it's precisely because she hasn't shown any interest so far, and even reacted rather coldly to Tudingui's previous subconscious attempts at intimacy, that he's now in an awkward position.

If I were a little more proactive in the conversation, wouldn't it be more beneficial for the team to work together? For example, when Tudingui mentioned his sister earlier, if I had seized the opportunity to ask him about his daily life, wouldn't that have given the team another chance for internal communication?

She did want to hide her true abilities, but that didn't mean she would shirk all her responsibilities as a team member. To put it bluntly, she wouldn't actively try to be the "carry," but she also wouldn't be a member who dragged the team down.

Tudingui's individual abilities are indeed very strong, so he should be able to pass the assessment no matter what. However, "passing" and "ranking at the top" are two different things. If the team's inaction leads to poor teamwork and affects the subsequent rankings of the other two members, then it will be Larkspur's fault.

However, while she was pondering this matter, the team's exploration suddenly made new progress.

--A wall of bushes, which was inexplicably emitting a shimmering light and looked particularly eye-catching, appeared before the three of them.