
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
What is the area of the newly designed shaded shapes shown in the \(7 \times 7\) grid?
[asy] filldraw((3.5,3.5)--(0,2)--(2,2)--(2,0)--(3.5,3.5)--(5,0)--(5,2)--(7,2)--(3.5,3.5)--(7,5)--(5,5)--(5,7)--(3.5,3.5)--(2,7)--(2,5)--(0,5)--cycle, gray, black); int i; for(i=0; i<8; i=i+1) { draw((i,0)--(i,7)); draw((0,i)--(7,i)); } [/asy]
A) 2
B) 3
C) 4
D) 5
E) 6

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