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Pa(tre)on.com*(/)arcanedruid
23 July 1943
I would be lying if I said that there were literally mountains of treasure in front of me. Nevertheless, it is possible to see a few piles of money here and there. I hesitantly walked inside, obviously still expecting a surprise.
I walked around the large room for a while and while I was doing this, I took a look inside. The first thing that caught my eye was the piles of money. Probably not even close to the safes of those old pureblood families, but there was enough money to help me in the short term. I wouldn't need Veronica's money for a long time. What really caught my attention were the shelves lining the walls of the room and the contents inside. I could feel the life force in some of them, probably the seeds and eggs of magical creatures, and I couldn't help smiling. After a while I reached the end of the room. What was waiting for me was an egg the size of a human head and a portrait on a pedestal. Guess who was in the portrait.
Radagian said, "Someone finally came here. I'm bored out of my mind."
I raised only one eyebrow at his reaction and started to speak in boredom. "Do you have to give the same reaction every time? You could have at least told me you had a portrait here."
Radagian looked surprised for a moment, then a smile appeared on his face, indicating that he understood.
Radagian said, "It seems that the portrait you encountered before had a similar reaction. Let me say from the beginning that I have no connection with the other portraits. So I don't know you and this is our first encounter."
Now it was my turn to be surprised. The portraits of the magicians were connected and the magician in the portrait could travel to any portrait without any problem. The portrait in front of me was not connected to the other portraits.
Rubeus " I thought all portraits of a magician were linked."
Radagian "Normally they are, but the portraitist can choose to disconnect them if he wishes. I have no connection with the other portrait due to the special status of the legacy here. Of course, that will change if you take me to him and cast a simple spell. My knowledge is more about the treasures you will find here."
"I understand, don't take this the wrong way, but the other Radagian told me that he used up almost all of his possessions to prepare the other part of the legacy. This place doesn't look like it."
Radagian "He's not wrong. Most of the treasures here come from an enemy that the original Radagian defeated after the other part of the legacy was prepared. The enemy was extremely powerful and even Radagian was not sure he could defeat him. So he first completed the other part of the legacy. Then he faced his enemy."
I interrupted him excitedly.
Rubeus said, "What kind of enemy could threaten Radagian, I thought he was a grand druid."
The Radagian in the portrait had a proud smile on his face. It didn't take a genius to realise that his original self was proud of his achievements.
Radagian " An alchemist of Archmage level. Unfortunately, Radagian had to work with multiple partners to defeat him. Therefore, he was unable to take the entire treasure for himself. The man specialised in chimeric alchemy, a particularly rare branch of alchemy. Do you know what chimeric alchemy is?"
Rubeus "Isn't it a branch that specialises in creating new plants and animals using alchemy?"
Radagian "The man in question used chimeric alchemy to create unspeakable abominations that nature would never accept. Because of this, he and Radagian had had conflicts before. Eventually Radagian, along with a few friends, raided the alchemist's lair. As you can imagine, the home of a powerful alchemist is extremely well guarded. In the end, though it was dangerous, they killed the alchemist and shared his treasures."
I couldn't help frowning at what I heard from the Radagian. Nature usually accepted newly created species. There were a few limitations, though. Firstly, they had to not be an invasive species. The basilisk, for example, may at first appear to be an invasive species, but in fact it is not. There are several reasons for this. Firstly, it is almost impossible for them to reproduce on their own in the wild, even if two basilisks meet, the probability of reproduction is very low. Secondly, they have a distinct weakness. The rooster crow. The rooster crow kills the baby basilisks instantly, while the adults feel no pain. Of course, like at Hogwarts, it does nothing but piss off a thousand-year-old one. My point is that it is an absurd weakness for a creature like a basilisk to be harmed by an ordinary creature like a rooster. The strengths of the basilisk are balanced by these weaknesses and nature accepts the basilisk. One thing that is necessary for nature to accept a newly created species is that it must be modified in the egg state or in the womb of its mother. According to Radagian, before a creature is born or hatched, its soul is still mutable and can adapt to the changes made to it. In the case of plants, the restrictions are lighter, but there are still some limitations. Nature generally rejects two types of creatures. Firstly, dementor-type abominations, and secondly, chimera. I don't think I need to explain why Dementors and the like are rejected, but as for chimera, this is because these creatures are usually formed by the forced fusion of more than one creature after they become adults. The souls and consciousness of these creatures always feel pain, which drives them mad and makes them aggressive. According to Radagian, nature rejoices in the killing of these creatures and their creators, and even killing them causes the voxnaturae to grow stronger. So it is not difficult to understand why Radagian is enemies with this alchemist.
Radagian "Hey, you got lost in thought."
I was distracted from my thoughts by the voice coming from the portrait.
Rubeus "It's nothing. I was just thinking about something."
Radagian "Well, now that I've got your attention again, we can get down to business. My job is to inform you about the treasures found here. Especially when it comes to the egg you see in front of me."
With the words of the portrait, my attention was drawn back to the egg on the pedestal. I knew it was valuable because it stood apart from the other treasures and was especially highlighted, but I didn't know what egg it was. I had never read about such an egg before. The egg looked like a grey stone with lightning-like blue patterns on it, and it also had some protrusions, as if it were some kind of plant. It looked a bit like a Hebridean black dragon egg, but not exactly the same.
Rubeus "I noticed the egg too, but I couldn't identify the species."
Radagian "I'd be surprised if you could. This egg does not belong to a natural species. It was artificially created by the Alchemist. The original Radagian believed that this egg was the culmination of the alchemist's work and was created to obtain a magic beast partner for him. Unfortunately, the alchemist managed to destroy all records of his experiments before he died. Therefore, we do not know exactly which creatures were used to create it. My original self was able to determine the existence of three powerful creatures. Lamassu, thunderbird and a hedridean black dragon. If you succeed in hatching it and bonding with it, it will help you in combat even if you later reach the level of a grand druid."
Merlin, I didn't know which one I should be more surprised by, all three species were rare and powerful. Especially Lamassu and Thunderbird are incredibly powerful and rare creatures. The Lamassu were a group of creatures that could be of various shapes of grade xxxx, their constant features were their bull horns and wings. Their greatest strengths were their strong physical bodies, comparable to dragons, and their magical resistance. Their most desirable trait for magicians is their ability to bond with a magician. To be honest, no one knows how they choose the magician they bond with, but they are known for their ability to sense when the person they bond with is in danger and their overprotective nature.
Thunderbirds are extremely powerful beings that can control lightning and thunderstorms that can destroy cities if they wish.
As for the Hedridean black dragons, in addition to having all the characteristics of a dragon, they were known to be highly intelligent and were one of the more powerful species even among dragons. An extremely strong physical body, scales as strong as steel, almost impenetrable magic resistance and the ability to breathe fire continuously for long periods of time, along with vast reserves of magical energy.
A creature with a mixture of these three types would be an unstoppable wrath of nature.
Portrait then talked about the egg for a while longer, apparently the original Radagian had created several methods to successfully incubate the egg and hatch the hatchling. Unfortunately, he never had the opportunity to use any of them. So it was up to me to solve this mystery. Then I started to fill all the treasures in a chest that Radagian had left behind. The process took several hours because the shelves were enchanted against magical interventions and I had to place them by hand. Finally, after all the treasure and Radagian's portrait were placed in the chest, I left the treasure room the way I came. Of course, I did not forget to collect the ingredients and other things I used in the potion test on the way. Beggars can't be choosers.
Finally, after picking up silverscale and the snake tribe, I headed towards the exit of the heritage site. Merlin, watching hundreds of snakes crawl towards you and then enter a chest was eerie to say the least.
It was already evening when I came out of the cave I had entered. Veronica and I decided to spend one more night here and then set off on the return journey.
for those who don't know
invasive species A species that threatens the whole ecosystem by multiplying excessively because it has no natural predator in an ecosystem that it has been introduced to.