In a sorcerer's cognitive system, enchantments are roughly divided into beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels based on complexity and effect.
The highest level Keira herself had mastered was only slightly below or above, close to the intermediate threshold.
And the fluctuations emanating from this breastplate before her had definitely reached an advanced enchantment, possibly even beyond.
What made it even more incredible was... "Where are the runes?" Keira widened her eyes and carefully examined the surface of the breastplate.
She didn't see any runes, so she immediately picked up the magnifying glass on the table and pressed it against the surface of the breastplate, carefully searching inch by inch.
Finally, near the collar above the breastplate, she found... something smaller than a sesame seed.
If not for the magnifying glass, she wouldn't have noticed these tiny bumps.
She couldn't even make out what rune it was – it was so small, so tiny that even with a magnifying glass, she couldn't see it clearly.
After a while, she finally found two equally tiny runes in two other places.
These three points form an almost equilateral triangular pattern.
"Three runes... and they're all so small... how precise does the magic control need to be?"
Keira gasped, her hand holding the magnifying glass trembling slightly.
"How much powerful mental strength and steady hands do you need to compress the runes to this size without collapsing?"
"And this triangular layout... how can these three different runes stably coexist without conflicts?"
This was beyond her comprehension; in the enchanting theory she had studied, runes had to reach a certain size to be reliably effective.
Multiple runes coexisting require complex isolation structures; otherwise, they can easily interfere with each other, leading to failure or even explosions.
But this breastplate before her refuted all common beliefs.
"Keira?" What's wrong? Nearby, Triss was drawn by Keira's movement.
She lowered her hand, having just finished half an enchantment, and walked over.
Today, she barely woke up at noon, her face flushed, her eyes full of joy, but her legs were noticeably weaker as she walked.
However, upon learning about Karl's work, she immediately rushed to help.
"Look at this..." An advanced enchanted breastplate," Keira handed Triss the magnifying glass and pointed to the breastplate.
Triss took the magnifying glass, looked at it, and her expression changed.
She didn't even need a magnifying glass; just looking with the naked eye, she could see the surface of the breastplate.
Occasionally, an extremely faint orange light flickered along some invisible path, rhythmic like breathing.
When she tried to touch the breastplate with her hand, the magical feedback from her fingertips made her feel even more uneasy.
This magic... It was terrifyingly vast, not wild and overflowing with mass.
Instead, it was a huge size, strongly compressed and confined within the metal itself.
"Keira, did you enchant this?" Triss turned to Keira, her eyes full of surprise.
"Since when did you become a high-level enchanter? At this level... no more than three in the Magic Society."
Keira waved her hands several times, looking embarrassed: "Impossible! A high-level enchanter?"
"That would require at least two or three hundred years of specialized enchanting skills. Me? I haven't even mastered intermediate enchanting yet."
She smiled wryly and pointed to the breastplate: "This was enchanted by Lord Karl. It has nothing to do with me. He just casually placed it here with me."
As soon as she heard it was Karl's enchanting, the surprise on Triss's face instantly vanished, replaced by an understanding expression: "I thought so."
She pursed her lips and snorted softly: "It's Karl? That's not surprising."
Triss returned the magnifying glass to Keira, patted her still-aching waist, her voice filled with helplessness and familiarity.
"He calls himself a 'demigod.' Since he uses that title, it would be strange if he didn't have some unusual abilities."
"This little enchanting skill... for him, it may be as natural as our breathing."
Hearing this, Keira's expression tightened. She remembered the contract she had signed with Karl earlier, and the various strange phenomena she had recently witnessed.
Triss was right. For someone like Karl, it was actually strange to judge and be surprised by him using common sense.
"Alright, let's keep working. Over three hundred sets of plate armor are still waiting." Triss patted Keira on the shoulder.
"Finish early, rest early. I slept poorly last night."
She said the last sentence very quietly, clearly filled with grievance, her cheeks slightly flushed.
Of course, Keira knew why Triss had "slept poorly." She cleared her throat, quickly lowered her head, and picked up the carving knife again: "Yes, yes, let's hurry."
Both returned to their workbenches and focused on their enchanting work.
However, they were in rhythm for only a few seconds.
BOOM!! Suddenly, a powerful explosion came from the area where Karl was.
From the strong tremor, the ground nearby seemed to shake.
The air instantly filled with the pungent smell of burning and molten metal, and smoke and dust filled the air.
"Ah!" Keira was so startled that her hand trembled, and the knife almost slipped from her grip.
The rune lines she had been carving were slightly interrupted, but fortunately, they stabilized over time.
Triss's heart skipped a beat, and the magic in her hand nearly lost control. She barely managed to calm the turbulence of her magic.
Both almost simultaneously turned their heads towards the explosion, both with expressions of shock and fear.
The dust quickly cleared, but not naturally; instead, it was forcibly blown away and suppressed by an invisible force.
Karl's figure appeared unharmed, standing before the disheveled workbench, with a shallow charred dent in the ground beneath his feet.
The table was littered with numerous metal fragments and beads that had been melted and solidified.
Not a speck of dust settled on his clothes; his expression was calm, even thoughtful.
Feeling their gazes, Karl turned his head and called out to Triss and Keira.
"All good! You focus on your work, I'll be careful this time and definitely won't cause any problems!"
His voice was so relaxed, it seemed like not a deadly explosion had just happened, but an accidental spill of a glass of water.
Triss knew exactly that an explosion of that magnitude wouldn't harm Karl.
She was just startled by the sudden shock, her heart beat faster, and the enchanting nearly failed.
She cast Karl a reproachful glance, her lips moving silently, and judging by the lip movements, she seemed to be saying, "Be careful."
Then she shook her head and continued to focus on her magical work.
Keira dared not utter a word, obediently lowered her head, and continued carving the rune she had almost destroyed.
But at that moment, her heart was in turmoil. The force of this explosion...
If she had been standing there and activated her shield, she would still have suffered serious damage. What dangerous thing was Lord Karl experimenting with?
Karl looked down at the charred fragments on the ground, deeply thoughtful.