Chapter 114

Having descended a hundred metres down, while overcoming a rather winding path and several illusions, they reached a wide corridor with smooth walls, at the end of which there was a shining yellow passage. 

Of course, in addition to illusions, traps with signal spells were also placed along the entire path, which Severus  easily discovered, because it was definitely not some master who placed them, and in some formulas there were simply fundamental errors due to which the spell could even don't work.

 Snape, roughly, imagined by what method they appeared and why such a hacky job was done, because the Snake King definitely could not have such skills, but as for illusions, he saw similar ones only in the Illusion Forest, when the monsters tried to throw him off the hills and drown him in swamps using "gold" or some "rare plants" as bait. 

Although the magical creatures there did not have great physical strength, they had some good skills in illusions and if it was some simple "master" level wizard in place of Severus, he would've died without even knowing how.

For several decades ago, this territory was generally marked in red, but nevertheless, having studied the main tricks of monsters and creating countermeasures in the form of artefacts blocking the effects of illusion spells, the danger was reduced to a blue level, but even now, not many dare to visit that place. 

Once they crossed the last illusion, they found themselves in a huge, gloomy cavern lit only by a couple of crystals from the ceiling. But even that faint light could illuminate the vast wealth of the Snake King. 

They were mountains of gleaming gold, interspersed with a variety of gems, jewellery, and artefacts. 

Already what Severus  saw from the entrance was ten times more than the same Malfoys, Blacks and Lestrange combined in the vaults, and this was only a small part of the treasury. 

But still, although he was "mildly" surprised by this, Severus was not interested in gold and almost immediately he noticed a mountain of books lying on the ground on the right, where he went. 

"If you need you can take them all." Waving his tail in their(book) direction, the Snake king said cheerfully, while being glad that the man was not interested in gold,and only in books. 

Of course, the snake king did not take Severus' word for it, but still, not seeing the greed inherent in all people in Snape's eyes at the sight of such huge wealth, the snake king nevertheless relaxed a little. 

Severus  did not care much about the feelings of the beast, he was much more interested in books and quickly sorting through them, he could not help smiling, each of them was hundreds or even thousands of years old, they were also in a language unknown to him, but Severus  was not upset a bit, on the contrary, he was excited, because they could contain information about the "Magic Jungle" he was very interested to know: who created this place and was able to force the real dragon to guard the crystal, the strength of which was almost not inferior to the "Great Archmage" , as well as what was sealed here. 

One after another, under the surprised look of a half-serpent-half-dragon, the books disappeared into the hand of Severus, until after half an hour only one remained, which Severus did not let go of his hand for a long time, and only silently looked at.

And looking closer, the monster tilted its head to the side in puzzlement.

"I tried to read it for a long time, but I could not do it, maybe you understand something?"

"This book is called "The Tales of Entarakos," a legend about a boy who was able to survive in a world full of despair and after going through many trials, he was finally able to find his happiness…," Severus  swallowed dryly, opening it to the first page. ," Tell me… where did you get this book from?"

"That I do not know, when I inherited the treasury, it was already here."

"I see…" flipping through the second, then the third page, fourth, fifth… and so, Severus swept through the entire book until he closed it, and then moved it to the others in the wallet. 

The serpent did not understand why the man behaved so strangely, but he did not dwell on it, because he wanted to get the man out of his treasury as soon as possible. "That's all you…"

"No, I want to see everything," Severus said sharply, raising a frown at the surprised magical creature, and then turning around, he went along the path deep into the vault, simultaneously scanning everything with the help of magic, without losing even a speck of dust from his sight. 

And the snake, sighing sadly, followed Severus, hoping that he still would not touch his treasures, but if the wizard wants something, he will be obliged to give it to him, because the King gave his word, which he simply could not break. 

At this time, Severus  walking in front had a real chaos in his head. 'Damn… was my guess correct…? Could it be that this world is somehow connected with mine, or was there some kind of wizard in the past, just like I was able to move here after death? And I think logically, it is quite possible.'

Walking on the path, Severus saw a crystal which he became interested in.

"Take it." The Snake King seeing this calmly nodded, although he felt flows of magic emanating from the object, but it was little interested in the human artefact, it was laying at the very bottom, since it was useless for the snake king. 

Putting it in his wallet, Severus continued to move forward, discovering more and more artefacts, the runes and enchantments on which had already lost their properties a long time ago or had just begun, but they could not attract the attention of Severus and most of them simply could not be restored. 

What Severus was looking for were things like that book, perhaps some stone tablets, artefacts, or even memories. 

He took that small crystal only because of its ability to absorb incredible amounts of magic and store it in itself, like those huge ones that supported the barriers. 

Even though he didn't even compare to them, but for the house, this was quite enough, and after all, Severus  was just looking for a replacement for what supported the "House as an artifact" functionality. 

In his own world, usually such crystals were used for artefacts like staves, gloves and even swords, and for them to work and not explode right in their owner's hands, they also needed good materials that could withstand the crystals power, but Severus hasn't found anything like that yet. 

Of course, it was possible to limit the amount of incoming magic, but then there would be no meaning of the crystal and it's not like he always used a sword and he didn't even think about making a staff because it was easier for him to conjure without any crutches. He used gloves for more complicated spells in the past but he doesn't have any need for them now and he also doesn't have materials required to make them.

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For the next hour or more, they continued to wander around the treasury, but to their disappointment, Snape did not find more such books and crystals, although he took a couple more artefacts, but mostly only to study the spells and runes that were used in the creation, Well, there was nothing of value in them. 

In addition to them, Severus chose several pieces of jewellery in the form of : tiaras, necklaces, hairpins and rings. 

Bella's birthday was supposed to be soon, so he decided to prepare gifts for a couple of years in advance, and the mixture of silver and gold, like the crystals inserted into them, had good magic conductivity, so the artefacts made out from them should have turned out good. 

Of course, Severus  didn't limit himself to just that, he also took a pair of swords, spears, and shields, some of which were completely covered with rust and had such a lousy appearance that it seemed that at the slightest touch, they would simply fall apart. 

Severus was not going to restore and use them as weapons, but rather, dismantle them. 

He also intended to do the same with several sets of armor, raised from the bottom of the "mountains of gold", and the Serpent King was not averse to giving them away, as well as other things like lousy things, and in return, Severus left him several large shelves stuffed with books, so that he does not get bored. 

And finally, after two hours, they left the treasury, and the Serpent King was glowing with happiness that it was over, Severus, on the contrary, looked rather thoughtful, because he was still thinking about that book and most of all he feared the three worst possible scenarios for further events: the first , that in this world those creatures really can exist, but thanks to some force, they were sealed, but someday they will still be able to break out, it was only a matter of time; second, that this world is connected with the one from which he himself came, and in the center of the forest there is a portal connecting them and how could he not know how cruel those wizards are, only one "Archimage" with a material core is enough to destroy this world; the third was the worst, somewhere there is a portal connecting the two worlds, and in the center of the forest those same monsters are sealed. Although he still leaned more towards the first option, the other two could not be ruled out either. 

And when they returned back to the cave with the bloody pool, a sorrowful sigh escaped the wizard's lips, and a wry smile appeared on his face.