Results Announced

Despite having made thorough preparations with Larkspur 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 Offsetter?" 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 knew your true background, perhaps I could provide a more detailed report on your Magic Armament. But if you don't, it would be 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 anything else.

Perhaps it was because Bai Jingxuan was still young, appearing much more naive even among the candidates who were mostly underage girls, that no one immediately suspected her.

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

"Knowing your detailed deviation will help us analyze the relatively unique performance of your Magic Armament. If our team determines that your deviation has a positive impact on your Magic Armament, 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 Offsetter, but cannot ascertain her true nature, then there is still room for explanation.

"... I know I'm Offsetter, but no one has ever checked the specifics for me."

So, as she had prepared beforehand, Bai Jingxuan gave a half-truth, half-lie. "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 Realm."

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 Offsetter".

Even in the Magic Kingdom, only Research Institute conduct in-depth research in this field, and there are still no widespread applications. 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 at present does not recognize Cornflower.

As long as they don't recognize Cornflower, nor do they 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 then."

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 navigated this hurdle.

The subsequent testing went very smoothly. Once Bai Jingxuan's identity as Offsetter was confirmed, the two examiners were no longer so surprised by the unusual qualities she displayed. Clearly, in their eyes, it was only natural that Offsetter were more capable than ordinary people.

And so, a few minutes later, all the test data for Bai Jingxuan's Magic Armament 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 offset not being checked)]

[Stability: Low]

[Overall Rating: Briza-]

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

Next comes its application. While the ability to Magic Activation and biological limbs isn't particularly rare, its value increases significantly because it can be applied to others without diminishing in effectiveness with increasing numbers. Most importantly, it possesses a weak healing ability on the True Form. Although the effect is very weak and insufficient to revive comrades near death due to the shattering of their True 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 Armament has not been developed enough. However, considering that Bai Jingxuan is Offsetter, the background color deviation will also affect this value, so she was only given a medium rating in the end.

As for its stability, it depends on the magic power consumption of the Magic Armament ability, the Magic Armament ability's resistance to interference, and the degree of dependence on the user's state.

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

It's not just because Heavenly Tone requires continuous energy expenditure, and the energy expenditure increases with the number of targets it affects. Its ability is also strongly related to music; if the music is disturbed or covered up by other sounds, it will lose its effect.

From this perspective, once the enemy finds a way to counter it, Heavenly Tone's ability can be easily broken, which means its stability is very poor.

In conclusion, although Bai Jingxuan's Magic Armament demonstrated capabilities and versatility far exceeding those of ordinary "single-piece" equipment, 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 feel anything about this evaluation. After all, it was already a stroke of luck that she managed to pass the test without having her Aberrant Beast magic detected.

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

In her opinion, the fact that her Magic Armament could alleviate some of her mother's True Form 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.

Anthurium was surprised to learn that Bai Jingxuan had received a B- rating with her "single-piece" Magic Armament, but she quickly regained her composure and remarked, "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 appear innocent.

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

"We both only have one piece of Magic Armament, and I was worried we'd 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 Anthurium 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 Magic Armament is probably a little 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, with what she considered a rather optimistic attitude.

After she finished speaking, Mint and Anthurium 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."

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