**Chapter 204: 140. The Treasure Vault**
Fisher tightly held Jasmine’s hand. The moment the portal opened, he felt his body suddenly lighten and start to float into the air.
But looking around, he realized he was no longer in the Royal Library; instead, his vision was covered by a layer of dark color, laced with faint flowing light.
“Hold on tight!”
The immense pulling force made Jasmine a bit anxious, causing her small palms to sweat. Fisher worried he might not be able to hold on to her, so he quickly extended his other hand for her to grasp.
But just as Jasmine struggled to reach out with her other hand, the pulling force around them suddenly transformed into a suction, and in the next moment, they appeared in another place as if they had flashed away, with gravity restored to normal.
“Cough, cough.”
Fisher covered his mouth. The floor beneath him was somewhat cold, and when he raised his head again, he realized he was in a very unfamiliar room.
The entire room was pitch-black, but when Jasmine got up, clear fluorescent trails started to spread across the surrounding walls.
The fluorescent light was very similar to what Fisher had seen under Nali Lake; it was likely the style favored by the Whale Folk. This soft, not overly bright glow in the dark trench seemed very friendly to them.
“It hurts. Did Blake and the others feel this uncomfortable every time they entered their treasure vault?”
Jasmine held her head, climbing up from a pile of gold. Inside were large Nali gold coins and vessels made of gold. She accidentally bumped her head against those hard objects when she fell, giving her words a somewhat pitiful tone.
“No, it was because the nested magic I used on top of the original magic spoiled its effect, so the teleportation position was slightly off. We need to hurry to find Anna and the others. If Blake finds them first, it may cause problems.”
“Hmm!”
Jasmine gently brushed off the gold coins on her body. She sat up a bit but suddenly felt something and turned her head back. Fisher followed her gaze.
On the wall of this golden room, wrapped in the fluorescent trails, there hung a large oil painting. The image was illuminated clearly by the glow, making the surrounding gold seem somewhat less striking in comparison.
The painting was executed in vibrant oil colors with delicate brush strokes, and after the pen tip outlined it, a lifelike scene appeared before Fisher and Jasmine.
In the painting, on the deck of a ship, two people were nestled together, smiling at the painter’s perspective.
The two were a man and a woman. The man had an exceptionally handsome face, with neatly kept golden hair hidden beneath a pure black captain’s hat. He was quite tall, towering at least two heads above the woman beside him, with a robust physique, though his skin seemed a bit darkened from sun exposure.
He tightly embraced the lady beside him, who wore a white short-sleeve outfit, and bore a gentle smile. The lady mirrored his expression, making a peace sign toward the painter with one hand while resting her other hand on the man’s waist.
Below the painting were a few lines of writing:
“Godlin the Ninth, Year Nine, Blake Vasily and Muxi, in the Northern Sea.”
“To commemorate this precious time.”
In the painting, Muxi still appeared human, indicating she was still under Ramastia’s blessing, uninjured, and thus had not revealed her true Whale Folk form.
“Let’s go, Jasmine.”
“Ah, okay.”
Jasmine slowly withdrew her gaze and followed Fisher out of the treasure room. Once outside, Fisher realized this vault’s space was incredibly vast and its structure extremely complex.
The vault’s hallway was entirely suspended, with wide, dark, remote spaces below, where sounds of flowing water subtly echoed. It appeared to be a complete underground cave, situated quite deep. He wondered how Blake had found this place.
As they walked further down the corridor, the sides closed off, and small compartments were carved into the walls to hold items. Fisher examined them one by one and found that the items in these compartments were not of immense value.
There was a Cardu prayer windmill, whose paper had yellowed with age, leaning crookedly against the stone wall; there was a Shivali dragon roar whistle, a toy whistle made by Shivali for children, producing sounds akin to a dragon’s roar when blown.
More absurdly, one compartment held a stack of romantic novels from the North, glorifying “female supremacy and male subservience.” The cover of the top book was clumsily inscribed in Nali: “Blake likes this the most.”
Beside that line, a totally different red ink smudge marked a small “X,” with the words:
“Not!”
Jasmine pursed her lips, walking past these small compartments. These items were not treasures of great worth but rather remnants of a couple’s past lives.
Records of their exploration ship changes; the first villa bought in Nali; photographs taken when Muxi, disguised as a wealthy young lady, was secretly taken by Blake to a Godlin banquet.
At the end of the corridor hung a massive frame containing not an oil painting but a clearly shot black-and-white photo, preserved and reinforced by magic, which Fisher noticed immediately.
The image depicted a sacred church, without a priest, only Blake and Muxi under the compassionate Mother God statue.
Blake wore a pure black ceremonial suit, gently holding Muxi’s hand, while Muxi fully revealed her Whale Folk form, long ears similar to Jasmine’s and a fish tail extending down her flowing white dress.
The man stood tall and handsome; the woman was beautiful with a gentle demeanor.
The hands of these two individuals from different races were tightly clasped together, exchanging a golden ring that sparkled faintly on their ring fingers.
Indeed, the one named Muxi was wearing a Nali wedding dress at that moment; she and Blake had held their wedding in a church somewhere in Saint Nali.
However, within that church, there were no priests, no guests, no flower girls or bridesmaids, only the two of them sharing smiles, leaving behind this unique photograph.
Similarly, beneath this photo was another line of elegant Nali text:
“Happy Wedding!”
Blake had indeed chosen to marry a subhuman; this act, considered taboo, was performed by that esteemed “initial pioneer,” a marriage that could not be recognized by the secular world, not acknowledged by everyone, quietly taking place in a church somewhere in Saint Nali without witnesses.
He had once been wealthy and granted the princess by Godlin the Ninth but decisively refused and had not approached any woman again since, because he had a secret Whale Folk wife.
Fisher certainly felt dwarfed beside him, even he had to admit that Blake’s courage in doing this was extraordinary.
But perhaps it was precisely this courage to defy societal constraints and dare to forge a new path that allowed Blake Vasily to eventually become a historically renowned pioneer.
“Blake… and aunt.”
“They once loved deeply.”
Looking at that black-and-white photograph of the past, Fisher said this at last.
And behind that photo wall was Blake’s true treasure vault; the path Jasmine and Fisher had just walked was merely the approach to the vault.
Xiatu and Anna seemed to have been teleported directly inside the vault because the earlier teleportation magic was slightly unstable.
Fisher and Jasmine could already hear faint movements inside, so they hurried to the entrance door of Blake’s vault.
The entrance was a ten-meter-tall stone door, entirely devoid of any security measures, and could be opened simply by applying strength. Above it were the Nali words:
“This is the entrance to the place where a relentless pioneer’s lifetime treasures are collected, not the entrance to Blake Vasily’s vault.”
“Before this door, you have already glimpsed the entirety of his treasures.”
After those two impactful lines, Fisher paused for a second, then gently pushed the large door open. A chilling wind rushed in, widening his view once again.
Before him lay a luxurious golden hall. Although there appeared to be nothing in the hall, the scents of gold, treasures, magical fluctuations, and relics hit him at once.
At the top of the hall, the Mother God statue carved from precious gems gazed compassionately down at the hall, and all around, countless corridors were densely packed with various categorized treasures. From them, he could vaguely hear the sounds of hooves and light footsteps.
“Fisher! Look, the floors here are inlaid with rubies!”
“Yes, he spent his life piloting over a dozen different pioneer ships, traveling back and forth across the corners of the world, collecting any valuable items found along the way and bringing them back here. Given the scale of this place, the collection is at least forty times greater than that in the royal museum above, not counting those unvalued items.”
“Clop clop!”
Just as Fisher entered this not-so-quiet hall, a sudden flurry of hooves echoed from deep within a hallway beside the first floor. Fisher’s expression changed slightly; he knew it was not the time to leisurely explain things to Jasmine—they were still in danger.
“Let’s find Anna and Xiatu first, this way.”
The two quickly moved their feet toward the dark depths of the corridor.
Above the hall, the crystal-carved Mother God statue seemed to gaze compassionately down at the once-empty hall. Behind the stained glass at the far end of the hall lay an even broader space. From this vantage point, he could just see a tall figure clad in a cloak, supporting itself against the wall, slowly emerging, breathlessly looking this way.
“Hah.”
“Ugh.”
Terrifying low growls continuously came from several rooms, and as Fisher and Jasmine ran toward that hallway, they too moved quickly in that direction.
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*(End of this chapter)*
