The next second, Karl stepped forward, his figure passing through the portal, which quickly shrank into golden specks of light, dissipating in the air.
Triss and Keira immediately mobilized their magical power, their hands moving as they silently recited short incantations.
With the fluctuations of their magical power, their forms gradually became transparent, and their colors quickly blended with the environment, creating visual invisibility.
But if someone approached very closely and looked carefully, they could still see an extremely blurry, rippling humanoid silhouette in the air.
Keira's gaze lingered on the spot where Karl had disappeared, her eyes unable to hide their intense shock.
She remembered the portal that clearly showed the other side, so stable it was almost unbelievably so.
Compared to ordinary teleportation spells that could only vaguely sense the coordinates of the target but could not be directly seen, the shock in her heart was indescribable.
She glanced at the knights and children nearby, who were unaware of all this and were still training.
The invisibility spells they were currently casting could not mask the sounds of Karl's miraculous abilities.
She couldn't help but lower her voice, leaning towards Triss and asking with disbelief: "Triss! What the hell is going on with his portal?!"
"Why is it completely different from the ones we use? I've never seen or even heard of a portal in ancient texts that can open a real window, directly showing the specific features of the destination to be teleported to!"
Triss helplessly shrugged, crossed her arms, and replied quietly: "Keira, honestly, I don't know either."
"Karl's secrets are far greater than we see or imagine."
"But I won't, and I don't think I should, ask these overly intrusive questions."
"If he wants to show—we'll see; if he doesn't want to say, it's better to remain silent."
While they were whispering, Karl had been gone for less than ten seconds.
Hiss... A faint but clear sound, like space tearing apart, came from nearby.
A swirling portal in an orange-black spiral form suddenly opened near them.
Magical energy instantly spread, unlike the calm and sacred energy of Karl's, it was filled with the characteristics of a sorcerer's spell.
Immediately after, a figure emerged from the portal—it was Hen.
As soon as Hen appeared, he immediately noticed the obvious magical fluctuations near him.
And the two blurred humanoid silhouettes in the air, though blurry, were almost impossible to hide from his eyes.
His vast psychic energy spread out in waves, instantly picking up the familiar mental fluctuations of Triss and Keira.
His gaze first swept over the trainees on the nearby open field, who still hadn't noticed anything.
Then he remembered the plan Karl had discussed with him earlier—to use illusions for testing.
In an instant, he understood why Triss and Keira were hiding here.
A faint flicker of light appeared on Hen's body, and the next moment, his figure completely disappeared from where he stood.
His invisibility spell was clearly far more sophisticated than that of the two young sorceresses.
He was not only visually invisible, but even the blurry outline vanished, as if his entire person had merged with the air.
Only when he moved could one vaguely tell that there was "something" in that spot—by the slightly bent blades of grass at his feet and the faint dust rising from the ground.
The knights and children present only faintly heard the sound of portals opening and closing.
Out of curiosity, they turned their heads to look, but saw only an empty grassy field and nothing else, so they continued their activities.
Hidden with Hen, he approached Triss and Keira.
His gaze lingered for a moment on the blurry air outlining Keira's body.
That seemingly ordinary look instantly sent a chill from her feet to the top of her head, making her entire body tremble uncontrollably.
She feared one of the founders of the Brotherhood of Sorcerers, the absolute authority of the Upper Chapter, as if facing Karl.
Earlier, the sorcerer had punished her so swiftly and harshly; anyone could guess that this presence must be controlling and manipulating her from behind the scenes.
At this moment, under his gaze, Keira felt as if she had been stripped naked and placed on an operating table.
Hen ignored Keira's fear and directly asked Triss, his voice sounding in their heads to prevent it from escaping.
"Karl has gone? Through the magical item on him, I sensed that he had just briefly appeared here."
Triss quickly replied mentally, also using telepathy: "Yes, Hen. Karl has gone to catch some monsters."
"He decided to use real monsters in conjunction with illusions to conduct this test."
"Using real monsters?" Hen's voice echoed in their thoughts, and instead of surprise, his words carried an understanding and slightly approving smile.
"His decision is correct. Given that your illusion skills are not deep enough, and your magic is not strong enough to maintain large-scale illusions,"
"introducing real threats, half true and half false, is indeed the optimal solution under the current circumstances."
"It not only maximizes the potential and genuine reactions of the subjects but also compensates for the shortcomings of your illusion techniques."
Listening to Hen's calm yet insightful comment, pointing out the lack of illusion skills and insufficient magical power,
Triss and Keira fell silent simultaneously. Especially Keira, although she felt some resentment, she couldn't refute it.
Given Hen's qualifications, his statement that they lacked achievements is an indisputable fact.
At that moment: Hiss—zoom! The familiar golden energy sparks flashed again, and the portal quickly opened and stabilized near them.
Immediately after, Karl's figure stepped back through the portal.
Behind him, three large, menacing dragon lizards seemed to be grasped by invisible giant hands.
They were forcibly "thrown" from the other end of the portal and crashed onto the grass with a dull thud.
The three dragon lizards were attacked; their heads were covered in hard scales, hanging low, emitting unconscious hissing sounds.
Their leathery gliding wings were bent at unnatural angles and severely broken by someone.
But judging by their still low and strong breathing, they were not dead, only unconscious.
Karl had just collected himself and surveyed the entire arena, immediately noticing the extremely faint but as conspicuous as a lamp in the night energy presence on the site.
His clairvoyance activated, instantly piercing through Hen's invisibility spell and seeing Hen's smiling face.