In the small box, Alex found a potion bottle taining a golden liquid. This, without a doubt, was Felix Felicis. Known for its rare ingredients and half-year brewing time, this was the first time Alex had seen it in person.

  Alex nodded, his face calm but his aeticulous. He carefully examined each item, cheg not just their quality a but also usiion spells to ehere were no hidden curses or poisons. He couldn’t afford to let his guard down.

  Watg him, Yulia couldn’t help but curl her lip in irritation. She had eained certain... darker thoughts earlier, but the risks outweighed the rewards. Failing would have brought disaster to her family instead.

  Nearly an hour passed as Alex worked through the items. Only after firming everything was genuine and safe did he begin anizing them into his spatial ste. Each item was sorted into categories: materials, potions, and Galleons. “Everything checks out,” Alex finally said with a satisfied nod. “Now for the books. Let’s move to the library.”

  “Hmph, o act polite,” Yulia said, her tone sharp as ever. “Follow me. The library is upstairs.”

  Unbothered by her attitude, Alex followed her with a faint smile. When Yulia pushed open the ornately decorated double doors, the Travers family library was revealed.

  The space wasn’t massive, but it exuded an air of wealth and sophistication. A long corridor stretched before them, with several solid wood tables ly arranged in the ter. To the right, a row of long sofas lihe wall, creating a cozy reading area.

  To the left stood rows of t bookshelves, each over two meters high and filled with books. The shelves stretched into the dista least a dozen rows deep, and Alex estimated there were dozens of shelves in total. “So, this is the eravers colle?” Alex asked casually, gng at Yulia. “We agreed—no private stashes or st-miransfers.”

  “Don’t worry,” Yulia snapped, crossing her arms. “We took an oath. We know the sequences of lying. All the books from the study and other parts of the house are here. See those stacks oables? That’s everything we had to move.”

  Alex’s eyes nded on the piles of books stacked on the desks. It was clear they had been brought from other parts of the estate. “And Sazar’s grimoire?” Alex tilted his head.

  “It’s in the wooden box on the first table,” Yulia replied, gesturing toward it. “As per reement, those manuscripts t as five books.”

  “Fair enough. As long as you swear this is everything and there are no hidden manuscripts, I’ll honor my side of the deal,” Alex said with a nod.

  “Don’t fet the terms,” Yulia reminded him, her toern. “You copy up to 300 books, but the inals must remain intact. You’ve got 24 hours. Ohe time is up, I’ll throw you out, whether you’re done or not.”

  Alex smirked. “You’re awfully nervous for someoh nothing to hide.” Yulia’s expression darkened, but she said nothing. Truthfully, she had disguised the most valuable texts and hid the Travers family’s greatest secrets among decoys. She was fident that even with Alex’s expertise, he wouldn’t uhem in such a limited time.

  Ign her sour mood, Alex stepped toward the wooden box taining the Sazar’s Grimoire. Opening it, he found an a book lying is pages yellowed with age. Some had even begun to fall apart from years of . Scattered beside it were several pieces of part and two bundled volumes, adding to the sense of historical significe.Alex’s gaze lingered on the manuscript. “Let’s get started.”

  Yulia, seated gracefully on the sofa nearby, avoided looking at Alex, who was quietly s through the materials. Her demeangested disi, though perhaps her mind wao the hidden treasures in the library. If she grew too absorbed in her reading, she might just ighe world around her.

  Alex, unaware of Yulia’s thoughts, was in an unusually good mood. “This is... Sazar’s researotes?” His brow furrowed as he sed the pages. “It’s full of bck magid blood magicredible.”

  He couldn’t suppress the surge of joy aement within him, but he held himself back from delving too deeply right away. Instead, he reached into his space bag, pulled out part, and began copying the tents of the notes as quickly as possible. "Now’s not the time to study this," he reminded himself, suppressing the urge to pore over every detail.

  After steadying his emotions, Alex moved on to two volumes of manuscripts lying nearby. He picked up the first one, skimming its tents. “This one tains the rune formu for the ‘Slytherin Prote Charm,’ but... it’s inplete. Some runes are missing, and there are errors in the lines.”

  A thought crossed his mind: ‘Did Yulia iionally destroy parts of this manuscript so I wouldn’t get the full picture? No... if that were true, why leave Slytherin’s notes untouched? The inal manuscript must’ve already been inplete.’ His thoughts shifted. ‘But then, where did the prote spell iorquil’s mind e from? Could the aors of the Travers family have restored it and recorded it elsewhere?’

  Recalling Torquil’s cim that Yulia had used a magic book to cast the spell on him, Alex pieced together his theory. “The magiust be the key.”

  Even inplete, the information was valuable. Alex meticulously copied the runes and put the manuscript away. Then he picked up the seanuscript, a rolled-up one, and unrolled it to read the title. “Fear?” Alex muttered, startled. The manuscript seemed intact, firming part of his earlier guess. But the tent itself caught him off guard. ‘A spell that releases mental waves, triggering fear in anyone nearby?’ His disbelief turned into curiosity as he read further.

  “Like the Prote Charm, this is another mind-based spell. sidering Slytherin’s expertise in Occlumend Legilimency, it seems he delved deeply into magic that maniputes thoughts.”

  Without hesitation, Alex began copying the manuscript. As someone who valued bat tactics, he reized the potential of this spell. It was far more practical than the prote spell, though the two plemented each other perfectly: one for defehe other for offense.

  Having copied both, Alex felt the trip was already worth it. But he wasn’t doaking a deep breath, he pushed aside thoughts of Sazar’s magid turo the other books oable. From his years at Hogwarts, Alex had bee familiar with the tents of both the library and its restricted se. Before the summer break, he’d already listed the titles of every notable book he hadn’t read. His pn now was simple: filter out any books he already knew or that overpped with existing colles.