"This staircase seems a bit off," Lady Melo also sensed the subtle tremors coming from the wooden stairs. From the surface of the stairs, nothing appeared unusual, but based on her past experiences, she speculated that it’s highly possible the stairs’ interior or shadowed side was inscribed with a Magical Energy Array.
As for the purpose of the Magical Energy Array...it’s probably not something good.
Nevertheless, Lady Melo wasn’t overly concerned. Although she couldn’t understand the Magical Energy Array, the person beside her was a master of Magical Energy Arrays.
Thinking of this, Lady Melo looked at Angel with hopeful eyes.
She hadn’t forgotten the playing card on the fourth floor of the prison. If she could witness Angel cracking the Magical Energy Array firsthand, it would be a kind of broadening experience...even if she didn’t understand it now, with time she’d surely find some meaning in it.
However, Lady Melo’s expectations were ultimately disappointed.
Angel did not crack the Magical Energy Array but instead cast an Illusion Technique, causing glowing footprints to appear on the stairs.
"Step on these glowing footprints, and you’ll be safe. If you don’t step on the correct path, you might...die? Like being served on a platter," Angel said this cruel line lightly and then stepped back, giving a look to the Talented Ones. The meaning was clear—you go.
Angel had initially considered cutting off the mechanism’s energy to temporarily disable the Magical Energy Array. But for some reason, seeing those safe spots and imagining the awkward steps of a clumsy child, he suddenly didn’t want to crack the array anymore.
Faced with Angel’s sudden stance, the group of Talented Ones was dumbfounded.
"Do we go first?" The chubby one pointed at his own nose.
The others looked at Angel with hopeful and pleading eyes, desperately hoping they’d misunderstood his meaning.
If they were normal footprints, it would be fine, but the footprints on the stairs were extremely bizarre. Just looking at them suggested that maintaining balance while moving would be necessary for them to connect. They might even need to do some running and jumping while maintaining the pose. The difficulty was truly high!
However, Angel’s slight nod shattered their expectations.
For a moment, everyone’s expressions were quite colorful, with looks of terror, gulping to feign calmness, and others maintaining a cold persona although their pupils were dilating.
Angel merely watched silently, without saying a word.
"Are you really letting them go alone?" Lady Melo then spoke.
She appeared very concerned, but in truth, her feelings were entirely opposite. Angel had placed the answers on the stairs—just follow the footprints, and everything would be fine. If they couldn’t even do that, they shouldn’t be mingling in the Wizards’ Realm. Her speaking up was purely due to her selfish desire; she preferred to see how Angel would crack the Magical Energy Array rather than train these rookies.
The others, unaware of Lady Melo’s true thoughts, cast grateful eyes at her. Indeed, Lady Melo was still the kind one among them.
Angel didn’t ponder Lady Melo’s intentions; he thought she had softened a bit and replied, "Didn’t you bring them to the castle for this very reason? Now, why are you hesitating?"
Lady Melo smiled awkwardly; it wasn’t easy for her to voice her true intentions, so she vaguely said, "I’m not worried about them. I mean, the answer has been given, and having them walk it doesn’t really exercise them much."
Angel raised an eyebrow, "Really?"
Lady Melo affirmed, "Yes."
"But..." Angel pointed toward the Talented Ones across from them, "are you sure that after giving the answer, they’d dare to walk it?"
Lady Melo followed Angel’s gaze. Except for Siber, who maintained her cold facade, the others clearly showed signs of fear.
Even Siber, with Lady Melo’s understanding of her, was likely internally anxious, though she couldn’t abandon her persona.
"Since Lady Melo thinks giving the answer doesn’t exercise them much," Angel mused, "let’s do this. I’ll give you a few minutes to memorize; remember where to go, then I’ll erase the hints. This way, it also increases the challenge a bit."
The crowd was genuinely stunned when they heard this.
They thought Lady Melo was their saving angel, never expecting that after a brief exchange of words, what was a straightforward path turned into a blind journey.
Lady Melo opened her mouth to say something but, seeing Angel’s indifferent expression, ultimately remained silent.
This group of Talented Ones was indeed a bit too much of a handful. Even Lady Melo, their Guide, admitted as much.
Bringing such a lackluster group of Talented Ones back to the Barbarian Cave, would any wizard even bother sending them an invitation?
With this thought, Lady Melo didn’t hesitate any longer and decisively stood on the same side as Angel.
"There are only eighteen steps in total; I’ll give you five minutes...no, that’s too long. Three minutes should be enough. Three minutes to memorize, starting now."
Angel snapped his fingers, and an illusion of an hourglass appeared in mid-air to keep time.
The group wished to protest that three minutes was too short, but seeing the hourglass above, they knew there was no escape, and they crowded around the stairs to start memorizing.
While they memorized, Angel turned his head, looking toward the Specimen Corridor.
He didn’t actually think there was much time to spare; he was constantly monitoring the first floor’s situation through the castle’s Magical Energy Array.
Now, the Princess had nearly finished her meal. If she didn’t head elsewhere, she might come up soon.
But even so, Angel had no intention of giving up the "training" for this group of Talented Ones.
The confidence came from...Illusion Technique.
Angel extended his finger, releasing a large number of Illusion Nodes toward the Specimen Corridor. Combined with the numerous specimen heads, they could transform this corridor into an Endless Corridor.
Even if the Gray Crow followed the Princess, Angel was confident in briefly stalling them.
Having done all this, Angel turned back to the group of Talented Ones.
Angel discovered that these Talented Ones actually possessed some redeeming features; if you pushed them hard enough, their potential would eventually surface.
For instance, at that moment, Angel noticed different strategies from the Talented Ones.
Almost none relied on rote memorization; some took out pens to jot things down on their hands, while others rapidly moved their fingers as if playing a piano, using finger rhythms to encode positions in memory.
The most intriguing, however, was Amisha.
Amisha started jumping on the spot, left and right, striking balanced poses, using her muscles directly for memory.
Three minutes ended, the hourglass disappeared, and the glowing footprints on the stairs gradually faded away.