
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
Three squares $ABCD$, $EFGH$, and $IJKL$ are arranged such that $D$ is adjacent to $E$ and $H$ is adjacent to $I$, with all squares having equal side length $s = 1$. Points $M$, $N$, and $P$ are midpoints of sides $AB$, $GH$, and $KL$, respectively. A new pentagon $MNPQC$ is formed by the following vertices in order: $M$ on $AB$, $N$ on $GH$, $P$ on $KL$, and points $Q$ and $C$ are vertices of square $ABCD$. Determine the ratio of the area of pentagon $MNPQC$ to the total area of the three squares.
A) $\frac{1}{4}$
B) $\frac{1}{3}$
C) $\frac{3}{8}$
D) $\frac{7}{12}$
E) $\frac{1}{2}$

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