"After evolving into a Holy Artifact, Eclipse seems to have undergone other changes. Now, besides absorbing the enemy's magic, it doesn't even spare their vitality, and it can even feed the excess energy back to me?" Alan gently traced the sword's spine with his finger and couldn't help but sigh. "Eclipse, oh Eclipse, aren't you forcing me to kill more people? You could probably be called a Demonic Artifact now..."
*Buzz!*
Upon hearing Alan's murmur, Eclipse let out a dissatisfied hum, as if complaining that the runes on it weren't inscribed by itself, so he should be blamed!
"Heh, quite a temper now." Alan shook his head self-deprecatingly, then flicked the blade, transforming it into a staff. He then looked at the others. "Alright, although the process of hunting the Rune Serpent was a bit convoluted, the objective was successfully completed. Now it's time to tally the gains."
But then Alan suddenly sniffed, then glanced suspiciously at Thor and Irene. "Huh, why is there a smell of urine? Did one of you pee on the ground again?"
Upon hearing Alan's words, Thor and Irene immediately shook their heads innocently. Only Shalltear beside them suddenly blushed. She had been in such a hurry earlier that she forgot to change her pants... Fortunately, Alan didn't pay attention to these details, only shifting his gaze back to the Rune Serpent's corpse.
After a simple search, Alan discovered that the space pouch the Rune Serpent kept close to her body hadn't been completely destroyed. After reluctantly opening it, he immediately poured out its contents. At the same time, he carefully preserved the Rune Serpent's corpse. As an old monster who had lived for several hundred years, this body was valuable research material.
After a simple inventory, there wasn't much in the Rune Serpent's space pouch. Besides a few bottles of the Elixir of Life, there were only some daily-use potions, and not a single Galleon. Alan wasn't too surprised by this. Since this person lived at home, she probably wouldn't carry a large amount of supplies with her.
The main good stuff should still be on the second underground floor of the Rune Serpent's mansion. Although the Rune Serpent had raised the manor before, she hadn't damaged the second underground floor at all. It seemed there should be many treasures inside.
"Let's go, we'll explore the Rune Serpent's treasury." With that, Alan led one person and two birds toward the center of the valley. However, halfway there, he seemed to suddenly remember something and turned his head. "Oh, right, remember one phrase: Snake Dwelling; otherwise, you won't be able to see that area."
And after Alan uttered the words "Snake Dwelling," in Shalltear and the others' eyes, a sunken foundation suddenly appeared in the center of the valley. This area had previously been protected by the Fidelius Charm, and without a Secret Keeper revealing it, the interior could not be seen. The fact that Alan could calmly say this phrase also meant that the Rune Serpent was truly dead, because only after the original Secret Keeper died would others who knew the location automatically be promoted to Secret Keepers.
After Shalltear and the others learned this location information, they were finally able to glimpse the full scope of the entire valley. They hadn't expected such a large manor to exist here. It turned out that the previous battle between the two had been so fierce that the entire house was almost leveled to the ground.
The group followed Alan down into the space that was originally the basement. All the materials here had been sucked into the sky by the gravity spell, so it was empty now. In the very center of the basement, they also found the entrance to the second underground floor. It wasn't that the few of them were particularly sharp-eyed; it was mainly because it was too conspicuous, with a large metal door covering it right on the ground. The Rune Serpent probably never expected anyone else to enter the basement, but she was cautious enough to set up many protective magic spells at the entrance.
"I need some time to break the protective charms on this door. You search the surroundings and see if there's anything good left behind. I remember the Rune Serpent's home had many Muggle artworks and kept some magical creatures." Alan tilted his head and instructed them.
*Hmm, this is our frugal... oh no, our thrifty master!* Shalltear immediately nodded upon hearing this, then picked up her suitcase and ran into the distance. She needed to take this opportunity to change her pants first.
It didn't take long for Alan to easily unlock the magical lock at the entrance. Most of these magical protections were for defense, with very few traps or counter-attack runes, so it didn't take much time to break them. After opening the large door, Alan didn't wait for the others and walked straight in.
Upon entering the second underground treasure vault, the first thing they saw was a brightly lit hall, which looked no different from a normal reception room. However, the furniture and surrounding decorations were all very luxurious and exquisite. The only slight difference was that the walls were covered with portraits.
"Who are you? Are you Goodwin's new clone?" In a large oil painting at the front of the hall, a man in a wizard's robe looked at Alan with a puzzled expression.
*Goodwin?* Alan guessed this might be the Rune Serpent's true name. He then decisively shook his head. "No, if the Goodwin you're talking about is the Rune Serpent, she's already been killed by me."
"Tsk..." The male wizard in the oil painting sneered, looking unconvinced. "Just you? Don't play games with me, Goodwin. This isn't the first time you've tried to trick us, you pitiful wretch heading toward depravity."
"Believe it or not." Alan ignored him and continued to observe his surroundings. He found that the layout here was similar to the Silver Spears headquarters, with a large hall in the middle and a large door in the left, middle, and right directions. Alan scanned the room and then returned his gaze to the oil painting in front of him. "Hey, you must have been here for a long time, right? What's behind these doors? Can you give me a brief introduction?"
"My name isn't 'Hey,' Goodwin. Is your memory problem getting worse and worse?" The male wizard in the oil painting gave Alan a dissatisfied glare. "My name is Beaumont Marchbanks, the one who suffered your shameless betrayal in the Silver Spears. Have you, you idiot, forgotten even that?"
"Beaumont Marchbanks? The Herbologist? You were once a member of the Silver Spears too?" Alan glanced at the other party with some surprise. He had seen the name on Chocolate Frog Cards when he used to eat them, and he hadn't expected to see Beaumont's portrait here.
"Hmph, act... keep acting for me. Just pretend you don't know me. Anyway, you're a shameless scoundrel with a human face and a beast's heart." Beaumont seemed to dislike the Rune Serpent very much, not saying a single good word.
"So, are you willing to introduce me to these rooms, or should I just explore myself?" Alan didn't act particularly polite just because Beaumont was a celebrity; after all, this was just a portrait, not the person himself.
"Alright, if you want to play, I'll play along. I'm bored anyway." Beaumont snorted and then glanced at the door to Alan's left. "That's your potion-making room, where you brew those forbidden potions." Then he looked at the door to Alan's right. "That's your storage room, but there shouldn't be anything left in there now, right? Didn't you transfer most of your materials to that broken organization? You even have the audacity to shamelessly appropriate the name of the Silver Spears—it's simply a defilement of the club!"
"As for the door next to me..." Beaumont said, looking straight at Alan, "isn't that your private library? It's also the place you spend the most time, besides this hall where you enjoy our insults."
"You mean the Rune Serpent often listened to you curse her in this hall?" Alan raised an eyebrow in surprise. "Was that person a masochist?"
"You are a masochist!" Beaumont glared fiercely at Alan. "I know what you're thinking. At first, you simply hoped to gain our forgiveness. Later, when you realized we could never forgive you, you pathologically transformed into enjoyment, enjoying the curses of the dead to constantly confirm that you're still alive! You're incurable, Goodwin!"
"Oh? So, the portraits in this hall are all former members of the Silver Spears?" Alan stroked his chin, finding it quite interesting. Then he realized these oil paintings seemed useless to him. The reason the Rune Serpent kept them might truly be as Beaumont said: in short, living alone for too long is boring, so having someone to talk to, whether they curse her or praise her, at least proves she's still alive.
Shaking his head helplessly, Alan didn't want to delve into the inner world of a psychopath. So he turned directly and walked toward the door on the left. He then found that there seemed to be no extra protective magic spells set up inside the second underground floor. He simply twisted the handle and opened the door.
The interior of the room, however, was somewhat eerie. In the very center of the room was a raised platform, similar to an altar, at least dozens of meters in circumference. Some residual bloodstains could still be seen on the surface of the platform, and a strong smell of blood could also be detected.
"Is this where the Rune Serpent made the Elixir of Life?" Alan tilted his head and scanned the area around the platform, finding that the furnishings of this room were surprisingly simple. Besides the platform, there were only two potion-making stations and a few cabinets for storing potion ingredients. Nothing else.
Alan strolled leisurely to the vicinity of the potion-making station, carefully observing, and then saw an open notebook on the station. After picking it up and looking at it, Alan couldn't help but exclaim in exasperation, "This is the recipe for the Elixir of Life? Does it have to be so casually thrown around everywhere?!"
That's right; the notebook in Alan's hand contained the complete manufacturing recipe for something called 'Snake Skin Potion'. What those club leaders and leaders worked so hard to obtain was, to the Rune Serpent, like a cookbook casually tossed in the kitchen.
Beaumont Marchbanks was a pioneer in Herbology who collected and classified various magical plants. He was also featured on Chocolate Frog Cards because of this. Beaumont is credited with discovering the properties of Gillyweed, but in fact, Eladora Ketteridge had discovered them about a hundred years earlier.