Alex glanced at him, his expression calm. "That's true, but don't forget, we've already broken into the core hub here and studied the protective magic circle in detail. As long as the other parks were built using the same blueprint, it should be just as feasible to break in."
Fang's eyes brightened as understanding dawned. "So you mean if we manage this one, the others will fall like dominoes?"
"Exactly," Alex said. "The key is to treat this as a test run. Once we're sure we can infiltrate undetected, the other parks become far less of a problem."
Fang let out a low whistle. "That's incredible… In that case, I want to be the one to lead the charge."
Alex chuckled softly. "Hold on, you're getting ahead of yourself. Preparations are still underway. We have hundreds of people and magical creatures to coordinate. If we act too early, we'll only alert them to our intentions."
"Right, right," Fang muttered, though he couldn't hide his excitement.
"And before anything else, I need to confirm the safety of the passage," Alex continued. He turned his gaze toward the shimmering outline of the spire on the projection screen.
"Now is the best opportunity. Claremont has just returned, and with the shielding magic active, it's difficult for anyone to identify who's moving around. Even if an alarm is tripped in their dark room or storage, as long as it's not too strong, the people inside the park won't realize."
Fang nodded firmly. "Then let's take advantage of Claremont's limited communication. He won't be able to warn anyone fast enough."
"Exactly," Alex agreed. "Keep an eye on Claremont and Golden Snidget. If anything happens, even the slightest unusual movement, I want you to contact me immediately."
"Okay, master." Fang replied.
Without another word, Alex stepped back, his expression sharpening. With a soft crack, he vanished into thin air, reappearing moments later in the shadowed corner of Claremont's black market,
Since it was still daytime, the black market hadn't started operating yet, and only a few wizards were scattered around the manor. It was hard to tell if they were patrolling or just wandering aimlessly.
In any case, discipline was lax, this place wasn't a fully enclosed area like the park, so their job mostly boiled down to maintaining basic order. Seeing this, Alex didn't hesitate. He quickly cast an Illusion Charm on himself and easily found his way to Claremont's office.
Although the office was protected by some basic warning spells, they were no match for Alex's skills. Breaking in required little effort. After casting a shielding spell around the room, he opened the door to the dark room inside.
As expected, multiple warning spells guarded the dark room. If Claremont wasn't in the park at that moment, these spells would definitely raise an alarm.
Hiding just outside the dark room, Alex carefully scanned the area using detection tools and mapped out the internal structure. Without much difficulty, he found a way to bypass the protective magic and slipped inside.
Instead of immediately examining the fireplace, Alex's attention went straight to the black mirror. This curious object combined two functions, communication and summoning, which had intrigued him from the start.
Taking advantage of the opportunity, he reached out to touch it. But to be cautious, he didn't remove the cloth covering it. Since the mirror only activated when Claremont's Golden Snidget sent a signal, Alex knew it had the power to directly transport the Snidget here.
Using a magnifying glass-like detector, Alex carefully inspected the mirror's frame and back, then gently lifted a corner of the velvet cover to examine the glass itself. He noticed the craftsmanship was top-notch, and the materials used were expensive.
He was confident that at least two ounces of refined mithril had been incorporated into the mirror's construction. Unfortunately, its transmission method was similar to the Floo network, meaning its range was limited.
'No wonder Golden Snidget only uses this for communication, not smuggling,' Alex thought. "It's more of a flashy gadget than a practical device." To him, this impressive floor-to-ceiling mirror was simply a costly but effective tool.
The effective range of this method won't even stretch beyond two hundred kilometers, it can't reach foreign countries at all. But Alex wondered, if he followed that floor-to-ceiling mirror and went in the opposite direction, could he find the Golden Snidget along the way? The creature was always surrounded by a foggy haze, making it impossible to pinpoint its exact location.
Staring thoughtfully at the mirror, Alex recalled how Golden Snidget had appeared in multiple places at once more than once. The idea that his opponent could clone himself unnerved Alex deeply, he wasn't even sure if the Minister Pete he'd been tracking was the real person or just a copy.
'Could it be a doppelganger?' Suddenly, a spark of inspiration lit up his eyes. "An avatar? Is that really some kind of magic in this world?" he muttered, half in disbelief.
But now wasn't the time to get sidetracked by such thoughts. His main goal was to confirm whether the entrance to the park was safe. The mystery of the Golden Snidget and the black mirror would have to wait.
Prioritizing his mission, Alex turned away and leaned against the fireplace nearby. After a thorough check, he found nothing unusual about it.
Following Claremont's lead, he teleported to a warehouse packed with miscellaneous items. This warehouse was also underground, but no matter how many times he searched, he couldn't find the door.
Although there were no strong warning spells here, anti-apparition charms were in place, so teleportation was the only way in from that fireplace. "Since this is underground, Subterreo should work," Alex thought, giving it a try. It worked smoothly, letting him tunnel directly through the ground.
"That means when we officially make a move later, I won't have to bother with the black market so much," he realized, nodding to himself. "I can just mark this spot and use the shuttle spell to break in directly."
Still, he made a mental note: there was that black mirror in the dark room that the Golden Snidget could pass through, so it was best not to enter that space casually.
Thinking it over, Alex found a quiet corner and set up a locator to monitor the warehouse. Once that was done, he approached the disappearing cabinet, but instead of opening it right away, he pulled out a magnifying glass, like a scientist examining a rare specimen, and began studying it closely.
This time, the inspection was far from easy. The magic behind the disappearing cabinet was far more complex than that of the floor-to-ceiling mirror he had encountered before. He spent a long time scrutinizing it but came up with no new clues.
As he suspected, the cabinet was part of a sophisticated setup. If such rare magical equipment could be easily researched, it wouldn't have become nearly lost in the wizarding world.
The investigation would take a while, and for now, he couldn't risk moving the cabinet and revealing its secrets. Feeling a bit restless, Alex stared silently at the cabinet. Finally, he decided it was best to keep a low profile. He opened the cabinet door and stepped inside.
He was determined to explore the core hub within, confident that no alarms would trigger there. In places like an alchemy room, where magic circles are carefully maintained, too many magical disturbances could interfere with the core flow of magic.