Looking at the altar-like structure, Alex realized, "So this is the Formation Array? No wonder there's such a strong, bloody smell around it."
After doing some research, Alex finally understood the truth about the so-called elixir.
It was still just an alchemical product.
He had always avoided these kinds of potions because of their obvious side effects and harm to nature.
Now, seeing just how many hidden side effects it contained only confirmed his suspicion.
Still, the knowledge embedded in the elixir tempted him, especially the idea of the alchemical formation.
Whether it was to expand his knowledge or to draw new conclusions, it seemed incredibly useful.
At the same time, Alex worried about something else.
Since his weapon had evolved into a holy weapon, it appeared to have the ability to feed back the magic power and life force it drained from enemies back to him.
Though the amount returned wasn't huge - only about 200 points added to his magic power limit even for someone as strong as Horned Basilisk - it was still directly extracting life force from living beings.
And that made him wonder: did the energy it fed back also carry the so-called "thinking poison"?
If the records were true, wouldn't this pose a hidden danger in his progression from Annihilation?
Alex didn't want to end up like Horned Basilisk, a person with an abnormal mind and body.
But when he previously received the magic power and life force from the Voltbrand, he hadn't felt any negative effects; the energy seemed pure and clean to him.
So, although Alex had no intention of creating the elixir of death, he felt he needed to study the life formation array more deeply, at least to compare the "unstable life arcana" in the elixir with the energy he received from the Voltbrand.
He sensed that the life energy transformed by extinction was likely far more advanced than what was produced through the life refining ceremony.
Maybe, in turn, he could upgrade the life refining array to a higher level.
However, these studies would have to wait.
For now, his priority was to take stock of what he had gained.
Alex didn't linger in the room any longer since he already had the blueprint of the formation array.
He just needed to figure out how to transport the completed formation array later.
Leaving the room on the left, he headed straight to the room on the right side of the entrance.
According to Beaumont's portrait, this should be horned basilisk's warehouse.
After pushing open the door and stepping inside, the first thing that caught the eye was the sight of hundreds of beautifully carved wooden shelves.
However, most of these shelves stood empty.
It seemed that, as Beaumont mentioned, many of the materials had already been moved to the club's warehouse.
Alex carefully inspected the shelves and noticed more than a dozen bottles of finished elixirs, enough to last several years.
It appeared horned basilisk made sure to keep some supplies for itself.
On other shelves, there were large quantities of magical animal by-products, including fur, bones, and teeth, measured in tons.
These must have been collected after completing life-refining processes.
At first glance, many of the furs looked dull and lifeless, but after closer examination, Alex realized that although these raw materials weren't as high quality as those freshly taken, they were still usable, good enough for making alchemy items.
Additionally, there were many magical animal resources like Zizimi stocked on the shelves.
Despite all this, the overall inventory was disappointing.
Gold Galleons? None.
Alchemy materials? None.
"There's much less here than I expected," Alex said, shaking his head. "Looks like the big boss still has most of the stock back at headquarters. After tidying this place up, we should head to the silver wand headquarters."
With that, he turned and walked out of the room.
At that moment, Shalltear and the others arrived in the basement, waiting quietly in the hall.
"Master, the place upstairs was completely destroyed. I didn't find any Muggle artworks, but there were quite a few magical animals still alive, stunned near the edge of the valley. They probably didn't have time to escape," Shalltear reported with a smile.
"I've gathered them all into the suitcase."
"Good," Alex replied.
"There's a large number of magical animals in the room behind me. You can move them all to the Number 3 warehouse in the experimental building; there should be enough space there."
He pointed toward the room behind him, where a warning sign hung on the door.
As Shalltear nodded to prepare for the transfer, a sudden voice interrupted from the side.
"Vampires and magical animals together? Are you really not Goodwin?" Beaumont's portrait stared at Alex and his group with an expression of disbelief.
"That's none of your business. Your broken painting will just stay here in this empty place, left by horned basilisk, it can't be anything good."
After saying that, Shalltear turned to Alex and asked.
"Master, why don't you send a note to Alex? Should we just burn them?"
Alex shook his head at the suggestion.
"Let the portraits decide for themselves. Even though they're just paintings, these are all famous figures from hundreds of years ago. They deserve some respect, at least one last time."
Suddenly, Beaumont shouted excitedly.
"Goodwin is dead! Goodwin is dead!"
His outburst caught everyone's attention and woke up the other portraits in the hall.
The magical paintings seemed to come alive, sharing the news and their joy with each other.
Shalltear muttered under her breath as she glanced at the busy, chatting portraits.
"Master, I think they're ignoring us..."
Alex just chuckled.
"Then let's ignore them back. Focus on your work first, and come find me here in the middle room when you're done."
Not wanting to be distracted by the noisy portraits, he headed into the room facing the entrance with a clear purpose.
This private library belonging to horned basilisk was much bigger than the other two rooms.
It looked like it had been magically expanded with the No Trace Stretching Curse, with bookshelves stretching beyond what the room's size should allow.
But a quick look showed that the collection was a bit of a mixed bag.
Many of the materials were newspapers and magazines from the past hundred years.
There were also plenty of entertainment books from the Muggle world, including world classics and even gossip magazines from various countries.
The wizarding section was just as varied, with autobiographies, travel journals, and even recipe books.
It seemed horned basilisk, having lived for centuries, must have found these books helpful to pass the time.
Alex spent several hours in the library, joined later by Shalltear, and together they roughly sorted the books into categories: "useless" Muggle entertainment, "maybe useful" wizarding newspapers, "not very useful" old academic journals, and "useful" magical materials.
After sorting through everything, Alex realized the materials were incredibly abundant, so much so that the useful information alone could fill dozens of bookshelves.