Chapter 355: The Results Are In

Although she had followed the contingency plans prepared with Cornflower before the exam, Bai Jingxuan still felt her throat tighten when the secret was suddenly exposed. She stood frozen in place, her thoughts as chaotic as fallen leaves swept up by a storm.

She looked at the other person, forcing herself to appear calm, but she could not utter a single word of explanation.

"Do you know that you are a Deviant?" The examiner's question followed immediately, giving her no room to breathe.

"I... suppose..." She swallowed, trying to buy herself some time to think, but such self-deceiving behavior was clearly futile; her chaotic thoughts were like a tangled ball of yarn—the harder she pulled, the tighter the knot became.

"If you knew the true nature of your underlying color, perhaps I could provide a more detailed report on your Magic Armament, but if you don't, then it's a bit of a pity." Fortunately, this examiner did not seem to be a harsh person; even though Bai Jingxuan displayed an unnaturally nervous expression, she only attributed it to the candidate being in the exam room and did not associate it with anything else.

Perhaps it was also because Bai Jingxuan was still young, appearing much more immature even among the candidates who were generally underage girls, that no one suspected her at first glance.

"A pity... why?" Bai Jingxuan followed her instincts and repeated the other person's words.

"Knowing your detailed deviation status helps in analyzing the relatively specific performance of your Magic Armament. If our team determines that your deviation has a benign effect on the Magic Armament, it might improve your potential rating."

The examiner explained to herself: "The manifestation level of your True Form is very low. With only the equipment here, I cannot judge whether it is because your development level is insufficient or because your magic power deviation has caused a negative impact."

Hearing this, Bai Jingxuan finally relaxed a little.

The other party could determine that she was a Deviant but could not confirm her underlying color, so there was still room to explain this matter.

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

Thus, following the plan they had prepared beforehand, Bai Jingxuan offered a half-truthful lie: "I don't even know what the 'underlying color' you mentioned is. I'm sorry."

This statement could be said to perfectly fit Bai Jingxuan's background as a "magical girl from a small city in the material realm."

The concept of underlying color was, after all, a rather obscure one; most magical girls' understanding of this concept stopped at the level of "knowing that Deviants exist."

Even in the magical kingdom, only the Research Institute conducted in-depth studies in this field, and there had been no widespread application to date. Therefore, a magical girl from a small city truly had no reason to know about this.

Of course, all these inferences had to be based on the premise that the examiner in front of her did not know Cornflower.

As long as she did not know Cornflower and did not know the actual meaning of "Fang Ting City" in Bai Jingxuan's candidate profile, then Bai Jingxuan's story was naturally watertight.

Then, what if this examiner did know Cornflower, or was even one of the core members of the Research Institute, and knew that Cornflower was currently stationed in Fang Ting City?

Actually, there was even less need to worry about that.

Because the core members of the Research Institute naturally knew what their stance was; even if they heard the loopholes in Bai Jingxuan's words, they would not expose them at such a critical juncture.

"—That's true, so let's not waste time on this question."

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

"Let's proceed to the next test. Follow me to that piece of equipment over there."

Bai Jingxuan let out a long sigh of relief in her heart.

She knew that she had managed to pass this hurdle.

The subsequent testing process went very smoothly. After confirming her status as a Deviant, the two examiners were no longer so surprised by certain peculiar qualities displayed by Bai Jingxuan. Clearly, in their eyes, it was a matter of course for a Deviant's abilities to be stronger than those of an ordinary person.

Just like that, a few minutes later, all the test data regarding Bai Jingxuan's Magic Armament were presented on the light screen in front of the examiners.

[Ability Specification: Level 3]

[Range of Effect: Medium]

[Application Field: Relatively broad, especially suitable for team combat and logistical support scenarios]

[Development Potential: Medium (Result may have errors as the underlying color of the deviation was not checked)]

[Stability: Low]

[Comprehensive Rating: Briza-]

First was the range of effect of "Heavenly Sound," which could only affect the area covered by the music box's music, and as the distance increased, the music would weaken, and the effect would also be reduced.

Next was the application scenario. Although the ability to activate magic power and biological limbs was not particularly rare, the fact that it could act on others without the effect being diminished by an increase in the number of people greatly increased its value. The most critical part was the weak healing ability for the True Form; although the magnitude was very weak and completely insufficient to save those colleagues who were dying due to a shattered True Form, it could assist wounded personnel in recovering their combat capability. This was extremely rare in the entire history of the kingdom.

As for development potential, according to the examiner, a "low level of True Form manifestation" was often a reflection of the Magic Armament not being sufficiently developed. However, considering that Bai Jingxuan was a Deviant and that underlying color deviation would also affect this value, it was ultimately only given a medium rating.

As for stability, it depended on the magic power consumption of the Magic Armament's ability, the anti-interference capability of the Magic Armament's ability, and the degree of reliance on the user's state.

In this item, according to the examiners, the performance of Heavenly Sound was even worse than some candidates who were rated at the Dryas level.

This was not only because Heavenly Sound required continuous consumption of output, but the consumption would also become higher as the number of targets increased. The ability itself also had a very strong connection to music; once the music was disturbed or covered by other sounds, it would lose its effect.

From this point of view, as long as the enemy found a way to deal with it, the ability of Heavenly Sound would be easily broken; in this sense, its stability was very poor.

In summary, although Bai Jingxuan's Magic Armament showed ability specifications and application areas far exceeding ordinary "single-piece types," it was dragged down by other data, ultimately only barely breaking through the C-level rating to reach the B- level.

The so-called B- meant something very simple: Bai Jingxuan needed to win a match in the subsequent combat segment to truly upgrade her rating to B level.

Bai Jingxuan herself didn't feel much about this rating. After all, being able to muddle through this assessment without having her Remnant Beast magic power detected was already a stroke of luck.

Besides, in all her battles so far, the proportion of her strength accounted for by her Magic Armament ability had not been very high, so she had never felt that her Magic Armament was very powerful. Getting a B rating now was actually in line with her expectations.

In her mind, the fact that her Magic Armament had been able to help her mother alleviate some of the injuries to her True Form before had already embodied its greatest value.

And when she walked out of the exam room and told Lin Xiaolu and the others her rating, everyone's reactions were different.

Huazhu was very surprised to learn that Bai Jingxuan had received a B- rating with a "single-piece type" Magic Armament, but she quickly returned to calm, stating that "Cornflower's students are indeed different from ordinary people."

Mint asked with some schadenfreude whether her underlying color issue had been exposed, and after being glared at by Bai Jingxuan, she shrugged to show her innocence.

As for Lin Xiaolu, besides congratulating Bai Jingxuan on "passing successfully," she was actually much more at ease about her own prospects in the Magic Armament test.

"We both have single-piece Magic Armaments; I was worried that I would only get a C level."

She said: "Since you can get a B level, then I should also have hope of being higher than C level, right?"

As soon as these words were spoken, Mint and Huazhu, who were on the side, didn't feel 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 simply too conspicuous; even Lin Xiaolu could not ignore such an obvious reaction, so she asked back subconsciously.

"No, I think, Senior... your Magic Armament is probably not quite the same as my situation." Bai Jingxuan thought for a while before expressing her opinion in a somewhat euphemistic way.

"Well, after all, mine can transform, so it is indeed a bit more powerful than a normal single-piece one, probably?" Lin Xiaolu said, considering herself quite optimistic.

And after she finished this sentence, Mint and Huazhu next to her also began to look at her with expressions as if they had seen a ghost.

"...What is going on with you guys?" Lin Xiaolu finally felt that something was wrong.

However, before the others could explain anything, the gate in front of them opened once again—

—"Candidate number, enter."

And this time, it was Lin Xiaolu's candidate number that was called.