Geralt responded with the same flat and polite tone: "The information is very useful, thank you for your work, Ms. Merigold."
His posture became much more restrained, those habitually confident and relaxed slow-motion gestures.
They naturally hid when facing a powerful sorceress he didn't know.
He even shifted his feet to avoid completely turning his back to Triss.
Triss nodded, then eagerly turned to Karl.
Her eyes gleamed: "Karl, Alzur's Shield! I've succeeded over a dozen times, and its stability is very high now!"
"I think... perhaps we can conduct a practical casting test on you."
Hearing Triss's account, Karl's eyes lit up: "Excellent! Perfect, Lambert is here too."
He looked at Geralt and proposed an idea: "How about... we go to a quiet place on the outskirts of the city?"
"On one hand, we can test the spell, and on the other, I also want to spar with Lambert and get some early practice in coordination, after all, we're not facing ordinary enemies."
Karl's suggestion was exactly what Geralt wanted.
Geralt had long wanted to personally gauge how much this young man, praised to the heavens by the king, was truly worth.
Written materials and rumors were far less intuitive than an actual confrontation.
"Alright." Geralt nodded succinctly... The three arrived at a secluded grove on the outskirts of Vizima.
Triss once again concentrated and chanted, and this time, she successfully cast Alzur's Shield on Karl.
A barely perceptible energy fluctuation quickly covered Karl's entire body.
"Alright, how does it feel?" Triss asked nervously.
Karl moved his limbs: "No special feeling, but I can vaguely sense a layer of protection."
Geralt's cat-like eyes narrowed slightly, and his medallion vibrated; he could see the magical shield imbued with magic fluctuations.
"Then, shall we try?" Karl drew the steel sword from his waist.
Geralt also slowly drew the steel sword from his back, adopting his classic starting stance.
His movements still carried that unique, seemingly relaxed, yet capable of erupting with astonishing speed, rhythmic quality.
He faced Karl directly, showing a serious attitude towards this spar.
"Be careful." Karl let out a low growl and launched the first attack.
He stepped forward, delivering a powerful mid-section slash, a standard military sword technique, but with speed and strength far exceeding ordinary people.
Geralt did not meet it head-on; he habitually sidestepped with a light touch of his sword tip, attempting to deflect Karl's blade while cutting to the inside.
However, the moment their swords clashed, Geralt's expression changed slightly.
"Clang!" A terrifying force, far exceeding his expectations, came from the sword, numbing his wrist.
He was involuntarily pushed back two steps before he could dissipate the force.
It didn't feel like blocking a sword, but more like blocking a heavy warhammer!
"This strength... the king wasn't exaggerating..." An alarm instantly blared in Geralt's mind.
A flicker of genuine surprise crossed his amber pupils; this was not the level of strength an ordinary human should possess.
Immediately, Geralt changed his strategy, abandoning all resistance in terms of strength.
His footwork became more elusive, his sword moves like a viper's tongue; he no longer blocked.
Instead, he used extreme speed to point, thrust, and slash, focusing on the weaknesses in Karl's moves and the joints like wrists and elbows, attempting to suppress strength with skill and speed.
And Karl immediately realized that he had unconsciously used a little too much force just now.
So he reined in his strength, suppressing it to a level roughly comparable to Geralt's.
However, in terms of pure swordsmanship, he immediately felt immense pressure.
Geralt's sword was too fast, and too tricky.
Geralt's sword style incorporated multiple schools, being concise, efficient, and without any superfluous flashiness.
Every attack went straight for the vital points that could incapacitate an opponent.
Karl's chest, shoulders, and arms were struck by Geralt's steel sword no less than a dozen times.
But each time the sword tip was about to touch Karl's body, the invisible Alzur's Shield was triggered, appearing and glowing a light purple.
The shield deftly slid or bounced Geralt's sword away, making soft "thudding" sounds.
Geralt felt the recoil from the sword, but with his Witcher's excellent body control and swordsmanship foundation.
He could always instantly adjust his posture to neutralize the recoil and, with the momentum, parry Karl's subsequent counterattack with his sword.
Seeing that the magical protection was so reliable and there was no need to worry about accidentally injuring Karl, he completely let loose.
His attacks became even more ferocious, each sword thrust aimed at Karl's throat, heart, wrists, and other fatal or disabling areas.
This was not malice, but the most efficient combat instinct forged by a Witcher through countless trials.
After Geralt completely let loose, Karl's pressure immediately doubled.
He had to concentrate fully, elevating his perception to the limit, just to keep up with Geralt's ghostly speed and pervasive sword moves.
His swordsmanship was clearly insufficient to deal with such highly technical attacks, and for a time, he seemed to be struggling... But soon, an astonishing scene occurred: after enduring the initial dozen or so rounds of being completely outmatched.
Karl gradually began to adapt to Geralt's rhythm and style, showcasing his learning ability and combat instincts at this moment.
He was no longer just passively blocking and parrying, but began to imitate Geralt's footwork and power generation methods, even attempting to anticipate Geralt's attack routes.
To Geralt's surprise, Karl was actually observing and learning his sword moves.
Several of his commonly used slide-step techniques for quick advances and changes in direction.
And swift thrusts initiated by wrist flicking were actually imitated by Karl.
Although Karl's movements were still a bit clumsy, far from as fluid and natural as his own.
However, the core power generation techniques and timing were imitated with uncanny accuracy.
Geralt noticed that Karl even tried to incorporate some of his evasion movements into his own defense, which increased his astonishment.
He didn't mind Karl learning by observation, because Witcher swordsmanship was inherently developed through life-and-death struggles, with no sectarian prejudice.
He was just incredibly curious: how strong were this young man's learning ability and physical coordination?
How much could Karl learn in such a short sparring session? And what was his limit?
This spar, originally intended for testing and getting acquainted, gradually transformed into a deep assessment of Karl's strength by Geralt.
It also became an extremely valuable opportunity for Karl to learn from Geralt, the sword master.
The clear clang of rapidly clashing swords echoed through the forest.
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