"Something's wrong with the stairs." Lady Merlo also sensed the strange energy coming from the wooden stairs. She didn't see anything unusual on the surface of the stairs, but her experience told her that there might be a magic array inside or behind the stairs.
As for the function of the magic array … it couldn't be anything good.
Still, Lady Merlo wasn't too worried. She didn't understand magic arrays, but the man beside her was a master of magic arrays.
With that in mind, she looked at Angor expectantly.
She didn't forget about the poker card in the fourth level of prison. If she could see Angor crack the magic array with her own eyes, it would be a great experience for her. Even if she couldn't understand it now, she could still think about it in the future.
However, Lady Merlo didn't get what she was looking for.
Angor didn't try to crack the magic array. Instead, he used an illusion spell to create glowing footprints on the stairs.
"Walk on these footprints and you'll be safe. If you don't walk on the right path, you'll probably … die, right? You'll end up on a platter. " Angor spoke these cruel words in a casual manner. He then took a step back and looked at the talents. His meaning was clear — you go first.
Angor was thinking about cutting off the power of the mechanism and temporarily stopping the magic array. But for some reason, when he looked at the safe spots and imagined the steps of a retarded child, he decided not to crack the magic array anymore.
All the talents were surprised by Angor's sudden declaration.
"W-We go first?" Fatty pointed at his own nose.
The others looked at Angor with pleading eyes. They really hoped that they misunderstood Angor's words.
If they were normal footprints, it would be fine, but the footprints on the stairs were extremely strange. Most of them could be guessed just by looking at them. They would need to do some balancing movements to connect them. They even had to run and jump while maintaining their balance. The difficulty of this task was extremely high!
However, Angor's gentle nod shattered everyone's hope.
For a moment, everyone's expressions were very interesting. Some were frightened, some swallowed their saliva and forced themselves to remain calm, and there were also some whose pupils shrank but didn't forget their cold persona.
Angor simply watched without saying anything.
"Are we really going to let them go alone?" Lady Merlot asked.
She pretended to be worried, but her mind was the complete opposite. Angor had placed the answer on the stairs. She just needed to follow the footprints. If she could not do that, she would not be able to survive in the wizarding world. She only asked out of selfishness. Compared to training these weaklings, she was more interested in seeing how Angor solved the magic array.
The others didn't know what Lady Merlot was really thinking, and they all cast him a grateful look. Sure enough, Ms. Merlot treated them better.
Angor didn't think too much about it. "That's why you asked them to come to the castle, isn't it? Why are you stopping now? "
Ms. Merlot smiled awkwardly. She was always too embarrassed to say her true thoughts, so she could only vaguely say, "I'm not worried about them. I just want to say that since they've already given the answer, letting them go won't actually train them much."
"Really?" Angor was puzzled.
Ms. Merlot said with certainty, "Yes."
"But …" Angor pointed at the talents in front of him. "Are you sure they'll go after you give them the answer?"
Lady Merlot followed Angor's gaze and saw Cybil, who was still trying to maintain her cool image. The others all looked scared.
Even Cybil, as Lady Merlot knew, was scared. She just couldn't afford to lose her image.
"Since you don't think giving them the answer won't do us any good, Ms. Merlot," Angor said. "How about this? I'll give you a few minutes to remember where you should go. Then I'll erase all the hints, which will increase the difficulty of your training."
When the crowd heard this, they were truly stunned.
They thought Lady Merlot was an angel who came to save them. They didn't expect her to turn them into walking blindly.
Lady Merlot opened her mouth. She wanted to say something, but when she saw Angor's cold expression, she did not say anything.
This group of geniuses was indeed a little too weak. As the one who recruited them, Lady Merlot admitted it herself.
Would any wizards really post posters to Brute Cavern if he brought these useless talents back to Brute Cavern?
With that in mind, Lady Merlo decided to side with Angor without hesitation.
"There are only 18 stairs. You have five minutes — no, five minutes is too long. Three minutes is better. You have three minutes to memorize. The countdown starts now. "
He snapped his fingers and summoned an illusion of an hourglass in the air to keep track of time.
The talents wanted to say "three minutes is still too short", but when they saw the hourglass above their heads, they knew they couldn't escape. They quickly moved to the stairs and tried to memorize the steps.
Meanwhile, Angor turned around and looked at the specimen corridor.
He didn't really think he had enough time. He already used the magic array inside the castle to keep an eye on the first floor.
The princess' meal was coming to an end. If she didn't go somewhere else, it wouldn't take long for her to come back.
Even so, Angor didn't plan to give up on the "training" of these talents.
As for his confidence, he had to rely on illusions.
Angor pointed a finger at the specimen corridor and released a large number of illusion nodes. These nodes worked together with the skulls to turn the corridor into an endless corridor.
Even if Gray Crow followed the princess, Angor was confident that he could keep them trapped for a while.
With that done, he turned around and looked at the other talents.
Angor noticed that these talents had their own merits. As long as he pushed them deeper, his potential would always be revealed.
For example, Angor noticed that these talents were using different strategies.
Most of them didn't use rote memorization. Some took out pens and drew on their hands, while others moved their fingers so fast that they looked like they were playing a piano. They used the rhythm of their fingers to memorize their positions.
The most interesting one was Amersa.
Amesa immediately simulated jumping on the spot. She jumped left and right, then ran and balanced herself. She used her muscles to memorize the movements.
Three minutes were up. The hourglass disappeared, and so did the glowing footprints on the stairs.
Angor looked at the others. "Who's first?"
Everyone wanted to go first. After all, it was better to use their temporary memory as soon as possible.
In the end, Amersa went first. This was their way of taking care of her. After all, Amersa was the only one among them who was punished.
Amesa did not decline. She took a deep breath and walked to the stairs.
Instead of moving, she started humming a cheerful children's song. Using the rhythmic beat of the song, Amersa stepped onto the stairs as if she was dancing.
Perhaps it was because of the song, but Amersa's performance wasn't bad at all. It only took her a few seconds to reach the third floor without triggering any traps.
Seeing Amersa's success gave the others some confidence.
They began to line up.
As for the talents, they were only concerned about how to get up the stairs safely, so they didn't notice how beautiful their posture was when they went up the stairs.
Lady Merlot looked at the talented people walking and jumping around like retarded children. Suddenly, an idea popped up in her mind.
Could it be … She looked at Angor.
Angor glanced at her, and Lady Merlo quickly turned away and watched the comical scene on the stairs with a serious look.
Everyone used different methods to get through the stairs. But to Lady Merlo's relief, they all reached the stairs without triggering any traps.
As expected, one's potential had to be forced out.
Although the training this time was not considered difficult, it was a good start for these people who came out of the ivory tower to be able to reach this step.
Angor, on the other hand, didn't feel anything at all. If he couldn't pass this, he would be an idiot.
But when the talents reached the second floor, it would be their turn.
The other talents were also on the third floor. They craned their necks and looked down. They wanted to see how Angor and Lady Merlo would go upstairs. They still remembered how embarrassing they looked when they went upstairs. Would they …? No one dared to think too much. They were all supernaturals, after all.
To everyone's surprise, Angor didn't use the stairs at all.
He gently extended his hand, and ripples appeared in front of him. A door that was hard to see with the naked eye appeared before him.
Angor reached out his hand to Lady Merlo. "Ladies first."
Lady Merlo walked through the door quietly, and Angor followed behind her. After passing through the door, they immediately appeared beside the group of talents.
Everyone remained silent when they saw Angor and Lady Merlo coming through the portal.
Why did Angor force them to do such a stupid thing when there was such a grand portal?!
Lady Merlo also remained silent. She thought she would have to use a strange method to go upstairs. She didn't expect Angor to use a teleportation spell to teleport them here.
Moreover, they only opened the portal after all the talents had reached the third floor.
This further convinced Lady Merlo of one of her guesses.
Maybe Sailum was right. Angor was really a quiet and stubborn person. Angor might look gentle on the surface, but he could also be naughty on the inside. The staircase incident was probably the result of Angor's naughty side showing up.
Of course, Angor wouldn't admit that he only wanted to see how the retarded children would go upstairs.
He was really training these talents. See, he was forcing them to show their potential.
Angor didn't think he did anything wrong. He glanced at the crowd and said, "The third floor is different from the other two floors. There's only one room here, but there might be some surprises inside."
Angor went straight to the point, which made the other talents stop thinking about the stairs and look behind them.
They already noticed this when they came up.
There were no corridors on the third floor. Instead, there was a small corridor on both sides, but it was actually a wall at the end.
The stairs led to a pair of fairytale-style double doors.
The main color scheme of the door was pink and red, which made it look more like a fairytale. There were also some engravings on the door. However, if one looked closer, they would find that the fairytale inside had been modified. For example, the princess and the prince were happily together in a different way. The prince was eaten by the princess, and this kind of "together" could be considered as "together".
There was no mechanism on the door, but the handle was a little low, which meant it was designed according to the princess' height.
Angor pushed the door open.
Everyone looked at the other side of the door curiously, but they couldn't see anything because the place was filled with rainbow-colored mist.
"Let's go in. There's no danger, but there might be some surprises." Angor considered. "Or maybe, some surprises."
With that, Angor stepped into the mist.
Lady Merlo quickly followed him.
The other geniuses had no other choice but to follow.
…
Lady Merlo sensed something wrong as soon as she entered the mist. It was as if there was a familiar energy floating around.
Before she could figure out the source of the energy, she saw a door in front of her.
As soon as the door appeared, the mist around her seemed to recede a little. She could also see a stone path beside the door, as well as a fence around it. And this door … seemed to be the door of a wooden house?
Why is there a wooden house on the third floor? Is this an illusion?
Lady Merlo hesitated. She wanted to check it out before she could find any other clues. Besides, Angor mentioned that there was no danger here.
With that in mind, Lady Merlo stepped onto the stone path and reached the door.
There was no lock on the door, so she pushed it open easily.
A gentle old woman's voice came from inside. "Merlo, you're back. I just heated up your favorite sweet snail soup. Come, have a taste."
The familiar voice surprised Lady Merlo. She looked up and saw an old woman with white hair standing in the middle of the room, smiling at her in front of a stove.
This old woman was no stranger to Madam Merlot. She was her … grandmother.
Her grandmother's voice, her face … everything was the same as she remembered. But Lady Merlo knew that this woman was not her grandmother.
At least, her grandmother would use a long spoon to stir the soup instead of putting her hand into the boiling pot.
"Is this the surprise you mentioned, sir? Or should I say, the shock?" Lady Merlo whispered.
Although she knew that the grandmother in front of her was not real, Merlot still walked over. Her dusty memories were opened in a different way. Regardless of whether it was real or not, she wanted to take a closer look at her grandmother's face and listen to her familiar voice, even if she was saying terrifying things and doing strange things.
However, before Merlot could reach her grandmother, the scene before her eyes suddenly changed.
Her grandmother was gone, the wooden house was gone, and the pot of soup was gone. She was no longer in the wooden house. Instead, she found herself in a glass room.
She was not alone in the glass room. Angor was sitting in the middle of the room.
Merlot hesitated. "Did you pull me in, sir?" "Yes." Merlot's eyes widened in surprise.
Angor nodded.
"I don't know what you're looking at, but it's just an illusion. You should know that it's not real, so don't get too caught up in it," Angor said to Lady Merlo who was still in a daze.
Ms. Merlot was silent for a long time before she nodded. "I understand."
As if she did not want to talk too much about the illusion she saw, Madam Merlot took a deep breath and quickly changed the topic. "My lord, where is this place?"
"The only place in Rainbow Room that isn't affected by illusions. It's also a way to get to the next room."
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