
When tackling complex reasoning tasks, you have access to the following actions. Use them as needed to progress through your thought process.

[ASSESS]

[ADVANCE]

[VERIFY]

[SIMPLIFY]

[SYNTHESIZE]

[PIVOT]

[OUTPUT]

You should strictly follow the format below:

[ACTION NAME]

# Your action step 1

# Your action step 2

# Your action step 3

...

Next action: [NEXT ACTION NAME]


system
An artist builds a sculpture from twenty-six cubes, with the edge of each cube measuring 0.5 meters. The sculpture has a pyramidal layout with a bottom layer of sixteen cubes, a middle layer of nine cubes, and a top layer of one cube. The base of the sculpture is partially submerged in water up to half the height of the cubes in the bottom layer. Calculate the total exposed surface area that the artist can paint.
A) 10.5 square meters
B) 12 square meters
C) 12.75 square meters
D) 15 square meters

Present the answer in LaTex format: \boxed{Your answer}
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