"Let's go, Karl. Don't keep this man waiting too long."
...
BOOM! A portal appeared in the void, and Triss and the others emerged.
When they saw the scene before them, they found a man standing there for a long time, and it seemed the other party already knew the portal would open here.
The other party appeared as a middle-aged man: with a long beard, a red hood, and some hair that was already more gray than black.
He wore a bearskin jacket with a bright red lining inside, a velvet undershirt, black trousers below, and brown leather boots.
At this moment, Hen was looking at them indifferently, quietly observing the two of them.
His gaze lingered on Triss, and in less than a second, it shifted to Karl, whose outstanding appearance made him raise an eyebrow.
Immediately after, a look of surprise appeared on Hen's face.
He took a step closer to Karl and looked carefully, as if he sensed something.
"No, you are not a demon source. Even if a demon source hasn't awakened, the fluctuations of magical power around the body cannot be hidden."
"But I do sense a powerful energy within you, though it has nothing to do with magic."
The reason Hen was so sure Karl wasn't a demon source was that he himself was a demon source.
Therefore, his understanding of Demon Sources couldn't be clearer, and Karl's characteristics were incomparable to a Demon Source.
"I need to probe deeper. Relax, young man," Hen said quietly.
Hearing this, Karl glanced at Triss, as if asking: Are you sure this is okay?
Triss nodded in agreement.
Then Hen raised his hands and placed them on either side of Karl's temples, closed his eyes, and used his will and magic to penetrate Karl's mind.
Shortly after, Triss, who was beside the two, once again felt the incredibly hot and wildly pulsating sensation she had experienced when first probing Karl's talent.
For safety, she raised her hand and waved it, and azure magic formed a round shield, enveloping her inside.
At this time, from Karl's perspective, Triss and the unknown middle-aged sorcerer had disappeared, leaving him alone in the entire suburb.
He looked around, vaguely feeling like he had forgotten something, but couldn't remember.
Pausing for a few seconds, he lifted his foot to step forward, intending to leave.
But the next moment, the ground shook violently, and the surrounding trees collapsed.
In an instant, the ground crumbled and disintegrated, and the ground he was standing on also sank.
Because the incident happened suddenly without warning, he was completely unprepared; the soles of his feet found no purchase, and he instantly fell from the ground into a deep pit.
Countless gravel and soil were swept away by the strong wind around him.
Falling alongside him, gravel the size of his head smashed against his body, and the pain was extremely real.
The pain and loss of balance terrified Karl, and he flailed his limbs helplessly in the air.
Under the intense sensory stimulation, his survival instincts quickly kicked in, and his mental emotions began to fluctuate sharply.
At the same time, visions were also occurring in the outside world.
Karl's eyes were closed, his face twitching, and his brows were furrowed.
Sweat trickled from his forehead, and his hands were clenched into fists.
Triss anxiously clasped her hands together, her heart full of worry, biting her lip and staring intently at Karl.
She knew that Hen was using his spiritual will and magic to stimulate Karl, attempting to awaken his source of power.
But this was usually risky, as it tested the sorcerer's mastery of all aspects of magic.
If not careful, both parties could be harmed simultaneously, or the caster could be severely bitten back, becoming an idiot or dying on the spot.
She had never seen the founder of the famous Brotherhood cast spells and didn't know how skilled he was.
Judging by the spiritual abilities the other party had previously displayed, Hen's mental level was undoubtedly extremely powerful.
So powerful that he could accurately locate them from such a great distance and communicate with their minds.
While Hen was probing, it was entirely possible for him to turn them into idiots or directly kill their brains without the group noticing.
As for psychic energy, that was an ability that depended on the caster's innate talent.
If the talent itself wasn't good, even if taught to use it later, it wouldn't be strong; at most, it could reach out a few or ten meters.
Just at that moment, she was extremely worried and was about to step forward with her shield and check the situation.
An unexpected incident, one she hadn't anticipated, happened suddenly.
Energy, appearing to be a cross between yellow and gold, burst forth from Karl and spread out, and the shockwave struck her shield almost in an instant.
Crack... Crack. In an instant, the shield was overwhelmed.
Triss looked at the shield in astonishment, and it was densely cracked.
"Huh?! Ah!" She cried out.
Then she was blown away by the shockwave, flying more than twenty meters with her shield.
Rumble... Crack! Starting from the center where Karl and Hen stood, everything within a radius of dozens of meters, including the trees, was instantly shattered.
The entire ground seemed to have been excavated three feet deep, and a large patch of turf was swept away.
Additionally, objects like the ground appeared charred black, and flames ignited from the debris.
In direct contact with Karl, Hen, who was still standing on the spot, remained unharmed.
Looking closely, Hen's body surface was, at some point, covered by a light blue water curtain, forming a protective film enveloping his entire body.
The shockwave that burst forth from Karl struck Hen's body.
It only caused brief ripples, like water waves, but did not affect him.
Three seconds later, Hen slowly opened his eyes, his eyes flickering, and his hands hung from either side of Karl's temples.
"Wake up, young one. It's all over."
Hen had always been silent, but now a gentle smile appeared on his face.
As soon as he finished speaking, Karl suddenly opened his eyes, his body losing balance for a moment, but he immediately straightened up.
He looked around in a panic, then lowered his gaze to the ground beneath his feet and stomped on it.
Finally, he confirmed that the ground hadn't actually collapsed, and with a lingering expression, he raised his head to meet Hen's gaze.
God knows what he had just gone through...
The ground had collapsed, and he had fallen again, falling for half a minute.
If not for the collapse of the illusion, he would probably have fallen all the way to the center of the Earth.
Everything he had experienced earlier was extremely real: the sensation of falling weightlessly, the impact of stones, the smell of the earth, and so on.
Later, when he was pierced by a rock, his internal organs were damaged, and he vomited blood from the pain, realizing it was an illusion.
However, he couldn't break free from the illusion and could only watch himself fall continuously.
The reason he realized it was an illusion was that he had checked his physical strength.
Normally, a stone the size of a head falling from a height of several meters could indeed cause him very slight pain.
However, due to the size of the stones and the frequency of impacts in the previous illusion, it wasn't enough to damage his internal organs or even make him vomit blood and be seriously injured.