
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
The cells of a $5 \times 5$ board are colored in a checkerboard pattern (corner cells are black). On the black cells of this board, a piece called "mini-elephant" moves, leaving a mark on each cell it visits and not returning to that cell again. The mini-elephant can either move to adjacent (diagonally) cells that are free of marks or jump (also diagonally) over one cell that has a mark, to a free cell beyond it. What is the maximum number of cells the mini-elephant can visit?

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