Solving the Puzzle

Standing before the wall, the three members of Larkspur's team exchanged glances. They had all noticed the incredibly conspicuous sight, but had no idea what it was, so they pinned their hopes on their teammates, hoping that someone other than themselves might have a clue.

But obviously, nobody knows.

Even Larkspur, who had participated in the assessment before, knew nothing about it, because the practical assessment items were different every year. Perhaps this maze-solving item had appeared in an assessment in a previous year, but it certainly wasn't the year she took the assessment. Now, although her abilities and knowledge as a magical girl were superior to these children, in terms of understanding the assessment Rule and accumulating information, she was no different from the ordinary candidates of the same year.

"What to do?"

"Let's go up and take a look."

"... Um."

After a brief decision, the three of them stepped forward together and stood by the wall.

For the safety of the team, the three did not explore it together. Tudingui silently took the lead, placing her hand on the wall and using her Mana Perception to sense it.

In the Larkspur's vision, the magical fluctuations emanating from the other party instantly merged with the light on the wall. In addition to the change in magical power, Tudingui himself froze in front of the wall, as if he had suddenly become a statue, no longer making any movement.

This process lasted for a moment, and just as the Larkspur began to wonder if something had gone wrong, Tudingui released his grip.

"How about it?"

The Larkspur looked at her and asked.

"I think I know what's going on."

Tudingui's expression was somewhat puzzling. "This is an extra level."

"Extra levels?"

"Yes, there's something buried inside this wall. I tried to take it out, but it doesn't seem to be working," Tudingui said frankly.

Realizing it wasn't a trap, Larkspur and Foxtail Grass didn't hesitate any longer. They stepped forward and used their senses on the wall. Accompanied by a distorted sensation of their senses being stretched, a rather complex image appeared in Larkspur's mind.

In the center of the image is a sphere radiating light and magical energy. Judging from the characteristics of its energy fluctuations, this sphere should be the reason why the wall is constantly glowing.

The Larkspur tried to touch it with its magic, and the sphere trembled slightly under the touch of the magic, proving that it was indeed present in the wall in front of everyone. However, when the Larkspur tried to go further and push it with its magic, the sphere seemed to be imprisoned in place by something, and did not move at all.

Upon closer inspection, its surroundings are covered with stems and branches of plants, forming "passages" of the same width as its diameter. The pattern formed by these passages is remarkably similar to a "maze."

Such a complex design could not possibly be just a coincidence. The glowing spheres in the walls, and the small maze that surrounds them, are most likely the "extra content" hidden in this assessment that the examiner had not explicitly mentioned beforehand.

Visually, to complete this extra task, one must find a way to retrieve the spheres from the maze—but how exactly should one do that?

It's known that magic cannot move the sphere within the maze, and to remove it, one must navigate the maze surrounding it. How can this be done? Is there some undiscovered mechanism nearby to move the sphere? Or is it the other way around—that the wall itself is movable?

As Larkspur pondered this, he walked back and forth along the glowing wall, but found no controllable mechanisms. He then tried to push the wall with his magic, but it didn't react.

Just as she was about to try something further, the Foxtail Grass beside her hesitated and spoke up:

"Could this... be a treasure map?"

This statement immediately caught the attention of the other two people.

"Uh, what I mean is... look at this maze on the wall, it has a long exit in the upper left corner, and considering the proportions and location, it's actually quite similar to the wall in front of us. Is it possible that the wall in front of us... is the exit for the ball in the diagram?"

Suddenly being stared at by two people at the same time, Foxtail Grass nervously organized her thoughts and said, "Then, if we work backwards from this position... maybe the ball in the picture corresponds to something, and it actually exists in the maze beneath our feet?"

"A treasure map...?" After listening to the analysis of the Foxtail Grass, the Larkspur couldn't help but look up again to examine the wall in front of her.

"That sounds plausible." Tudingui, however, was more proactive. She thought Foxtail Grass made sense, so she immediately followed the maze map on the wall and turned right.

Bump!

Seconds later, under the watchful eyes of Larkspur and Foxtail Grass, Tudingui crashed solidly into another wall.

"... Okay, it seems that's wrong."

With red marks on his face Tudingui calmly returned to his original spot, continuing his analysis as if nothing had happened, "Although the location of the exit in the map seems similar to the wall in front of us, the maze in this map doesn't match the actual terrain we're in. For example, the path on the right is shown as open in the map; you can go all the way to the end and then turn down..."

She pointed to the right. "But actually, our right side is a dead end."

"No, you can tell just by looking, so why did you still run into it?"

The Foxtail Grass couldn't help but retort, "I was just suggesting a possibility, don't be so rash!"

"Before we actually crash into it, we can't rule out the possibility that the dead end we see is an illusion, and the maze on the map is the real route."

Perhaps because it did hurt a bit, Tudingui reached up and touched his forehead. "But unfortunately, I tried it, and the drawing on the wall is probably not a real map."

"Even so, this is still too reckless..."

Foxtail Grass muttered something under her breath, then suggested another possibility. "Could it be a map of another floor? The location is the same on the floor plan, but on a different floor or something?"

"No, there's still a considerable chance that it's a map of our floor. Besides, if the wall depicts other floors, with so many floors in this maze, it would be far too difficult to find them all, which doesn't fit its purpose as an 'exam.' A question that can't rely on logical reasoning and requires exhaustive search to find an answer would seem rather lacking in aesthetic appeal to the question setter."

Unbeknownst to her Larkspur had placed her hand on another wall. Using the maze's Spell Formula to sense the surrounding area, she released her hand and said, "I think what you said makes a lot of sense, so I explored the actual map of the maze again. After comparing it with the map on the wall, I discovered a very interesting place."

"What?" Foxtail Grass couldn't help but ask. Tudingui to the side, also wore an expression of waiting for analysis.

"Here, here, and here."

The Larkspur used its magic to draw a map in mid-air and placed it next to the wall so that the two maps could be compared side by side. "Although it's only a part of it, there is a common exit in both maps."

She didn't hide her discovery, since the other two had already provided considerable analysis, and she was simply pushing that foundation further. So, as Larkspur spoke, she stacked her map on the wall, making the two maps completely overlap. "See, if we want to get through this section, although most of it is a dead end, it's not entirely impossible."

"In other words, it's not that the map on the wall conflicts with the actual maze map..." Foxtail Grass muttered to herself.

"... but rather, the real treasure map is the one that overlaps the two maps?" Tudingui had already understood what Larkspur meant.

"Yes, we can even draw other conclusions based on this. However, we'll have to wait until we actually find the location on the map."

Larkspur withdrew her magic and looked at the other two. "Let's set off anyway. If this really is a treasure map, another team might arrive here at any time, and it wouldn't be good if someone beat us to it."