Vault

"Shouldn't there be a Fire Dragon guarding it?"

Professor McGonagall looked into the darkness ahead of them and asked curiously.

As far as she knew, the truly valuable Vaults at Gringotts were guarded by Fire Dragons. And the Gaunt Family's inheritance was obviously no ordinary Vault. More importantly... this place was far too close to the entrance. Everyone knew how dreadful the Gringotts Cart ride was.

Yet whenever they came to withdraw money, they still had no choice but to endure it. This time, however, they had not even ridden for half a minute. Taking the Cart had seemed completely unnecessary, as though it was meant to make people overlook this place. And that was indeed the case. If she had not happened upon it today, Professor McGonagall never would have imagined that there was a Vault here.

The Goblin turned to glance at Professor McGonagall. His gaze was not vicious, but neither was it friendly.

"There is no need. These Vaults do not require our protection. If the person entering a Vault is not a member of that family, they cannot leave it alive."

The Goblin answered casually. After all, there was not much he was allowed to say.

Professor McGonagall naturally sensed that something was amiss. Gringotts allowed those depositing their treasures to tamper with their Vaults as they pleased; there had to be some unknown deal behind it.

Luke was not particularly concerned. There was absolutely no problem with his bloodline, but as for how much money was in here, honestly, even he had no idea.

Who knew how much the previous generations had withdrawn, or how much they had left for him?

Thinking of the exquisite furniture and elegant artworks in his cabin, Luke felt somewhat pessimistic. Hopefully, there would still be enough money left for him to buy some basic necessities. As for ways to make money, he certainly did not lack them.

Each of the three harbored their own thoughts as they proceeded deeper into the cave, one step at a time.

After a while, having turned through who knew how many bends, light suddenly appeared ahead. Their eyes, accustomed to the darkness, stung sharply for an instant. They could only vaguely make out a Great Door, but once their eyes adjusted, they finally saw the Vault door in its entirety.

It was six or seven meters tall, covered in ornate and noble carvings. Engraved upon it were the portraits of many famous Gaunt Family ancestors, including Slytherin, yet for some reason, every one of those portraits had its eyes tightly shut. In the center of the Great Door was a conspicuous keyhole, encircled by an Ouroboros carved from emerald.

To be honest, both Luke and Professor McGonagall were startled when they saw the Great Door. Never mind what was inside the Vault—even the door itself had to be worth a fortune based on its materials alone. Luke immediately gained considerable confidence in the Vault's contents.

The Goblin stopped and said to Luke, "Please use the key in your hand to open the door."

After saying that, he turned and left without the slightest hesitation. First, this was part of their agreement from back then. Until the Vault belonged to them, they would not approach it when it was opened. Second, as far as he remembered, the Gaunt Family Vault had not been opened for several centuries. Their family was simply too wealthy; even without the vast fortune in this Vault, they still had a great, great, great deal of money.

Unlike the outside world, the Goblins had known from the beginning about the Gaunt Family branch splitting off. As for why, they neither knew nor cared. They only knew that if the Gaunt Family heir before them had not come, this enormous fortune would have belonged to them.

He truly did not want to suffer that kind of torment.

Seeing the Goblin leave and Luke walk up to the door with the key in hand, Professor McGonagall hurriedly asked, "Luke, do you need me to step aside?"

Luke looked back at Professor McGonagall, saw the sincerity on her face, and decisively shook his head. "There's no need, Professor. I trust you."

Before she could respond, he swiftly inserted the key into the keyhole and turned it.

The Ouroboros around the keyhole, symbolizing eternal renewal, began to rotate. As it turned, the eyes of those ancestral portraits slowly opened as well, revealing enormous emeralds beneath their eyelids. The next instant, all the "eyes" fixed their gaze tightly upon Luke standing below the door and cast out cold, gloomy green light.

The moment Professor McGonagall saw the green light, she instinctively took two steps back. Her intuition told her that if she were touched by that light, the outcome would likely not be pleasant.

But the next instant, she stopped herself from retreating. She even stepped forward, drawing close to the edge of the green light, and stared intently at Luke to see whether anything unusual happened to him. Her right hand had already gripped her wand, as though she were ready to intervene and save him at any moment.

After all, this thing had not been opened in who knew how many years. Who knew whether it still worked properly?

Luke, meanwhile, felt as though he had returned home. Though the green light looked cold and sinister, when it shone on him, it gave him an intensely warm feeling, like the gentle caresses and earnest instructions of kindly elders, filled with concern.

Too bad it's green...

Luke could not help muttering to himself.

The green light did not last long and soon vanished completely. The Great Door slowly opened, revealing what lay inside.

Gasp— ×2

Luke and Professor McGonagall both sucked in a sharp breath when they saw the scene within the Vault.

Luke remembered how stunned and envious he had been when he saw Harry's little mountain of gold in the film. Back then, he had thought Harry really was a rich second-generation kid!

Of course, he later learned that the Potter Family had practically monopolized the Wizarding World's shampoo business. Who even knew how many generations of wealth they had?

But now, looking at the mountain of gold before him, more than six meters high and wide enough that more than ten people could barely wrap their arms around it, Luke finally understood what an old Noble family truly meant.

And this was only what they could see at first glance. There were even more treasures waiting to be carefully inventoried after they entered the Vault.

Luke's legs suddenly went weak. In that moment, he understood how Wang Duoyu had felt back then.

Fortunately, the poise instilled in him by the system kept him from losing composure.

Professor McGonagall was not someone who had never seen money. On the contrary, as deputy headmistress, a large part of her responsibilities involved managing Hogwarts' logistics.

The food and drink for several hundred children, the professors' salaries, and so on—these all required money.

Yet the sight before her still left her deeply shocked. At that moment, Professor McGonagall suddenly felt that she was truly so poor... More importantly, everyone knew that in a Vault, money was usually the least valuable thing. Its greatest purpose was to mislead ignorant little thieves.

A sack full of money might not even be worth as much as a small ornament casually slipped into one's pocket.

And in this Vault, the money alone had already astonished her. She hardly dared imagine the value of the treasures within.

The two stood stunned for a moment without speaking. Then Luke was the first to recover, and he said to Professor McGonagall, "Professor, would you like to come in and have a look?"

Professor McGonagall instinctively wanted to refuse. After all, this did not seem like a place where an outsider like her should enter.

But before she could finish speaking, Luke continued, "I mean it, Professor. If you hadn't brought me here today, I wouldn't even have found the door to this Vault."

He was telling the truth. The person who had brought him here today had, in a sense, truly brought him into the Wizarding World. That kindness carried great weight for Luke.

"Bringing you here is my duty, and I wasn't the only person who could have done it."

Professor McGonagall still wanted to decline. Once she had gotten over her initial shock, she regained her calm. Things like money and treasures did not mean much to her now. If she wanted money and comfort, all she had to do was leave Hogwarts and take up a position elsewhere, and money would come pouring in.

Setting aside the status and knowledge of a top Transfiguration master, her combat ability alone was enough to make everyone eager to befriend her.

"But today, it was you, wasn't it? That means we were fated to meet."

Luke smiled and extended the invitation again. "At the very least, please come in and take a look. And please watch over me as well. I'm just as clueless about this Vault, after all. It would be bad if I touched something dangerous."

With things having been said to this extent, Professor McGonagall knew she could no longer refuse. She nodded and followed Luke into the Vault.

Once inside, the treasures dazzled them again. Whether it was the expensive gemstones, precious magical materials, or rows upon rows of magical manuals, their value could not be measured in money.

Luke wandered around the Vault for a while, then found himself somewhat uninterested.

There was nothing wrong with the magical manuals; they were precious and profound. But studying them now would not do him much good. Someone who had only just learned middle-school physics insisting on tackling quantum physics could only imagine the difficulty involved. And these were magical teachings. Learning them too early might even harm him.

The magical materials were also impeccable: Fire Dragon hearts and nerves; Unicorn Hair and horns; Phoenix Tail Feathers, beaks, and claws. There were even parts from Eastern divine beasts and countless precious herbs. But with his Potions Talent of only 3, these materials would probably only serve as bribes for Snape, so that he would scold him less.

And Unicorn Hair? Hagrid had fur blankets everywhere...

As for gemstones and antiques, they were ultimately just more money. Luke estimated that he could spend that mountain of Galleons until the day he died and still not finish it. The Wizarding World's standard of living was not particularly high, after all, and there were no outrageously extravagant luxury goods.

The instant all that money became his, Luke suddenly found it utterly uninteresting.

He glanced at Professor McGonagall and found her carefully reading a magical manual. From time to time, she nodded or furrowed her brow, clearly gaining some insight.

Luke smiled faintly.

Ah! This is great!