Chapter 118: Inheritance From Beyond

Joe continued experimenting with the damaged spiritual herbs over the next six days. His earlier success had given him a workable method, and he improved it by adjusting the temperature, pressure, and sequence of treatment. However, the amount of spiritual energy preserved remained small, and further experiments produced diminishing improvements.

His Alchemy skill advanced steadily at first, reaching six percent before slowing considerably. The difficulty was no longer performing the procedures but determining which experiments would produce useful results. Joe understood ordinary pharmaceutical processing, but his knowledge of spiritual materials remained limited. Without qi, he had to manipulate their physical conditions rather than control the spiritual component directly.

He eventually suspended the experiments until he could obtain better references. His progress was satisfactory for someone working without conventional alchemical methods, but continuing without sufficient knowledge would only waste materials.

The six spirit stones remained untouched. Joe had already established that they were not low-grade, and their characteristics suggested mid-grade. An obscure reference also claimed that high-grade stones could release an influence harmful to ordinary people. Since Joe had handled and stored his stones for months without noticing such an effect, he considered high-grade unlikely, although the account was hardly conclusive.

Their potential value made the question of ownership more pressing. Before attempting to use such resources, Joe wanted to learn how the deceased Montclair descendant had obtained them.

He retrieved the credential recovered from Greyspine and visited an archival office in Ashbourne.

The Montclair family's principal records were restricted, but the office maintained older genealogical registers covering collateral branches. These were available to researchers for a fee, and Joe located the relevant family records using the name and branch information on the credential.

The descendant's entry confirmed his birth date, Five-Attribute Spiritual Root, and family affiliation. It also contained a notation concerning his childhood that Joe had not encountered in the surviving documents from Greyspine.

Returned to ancestral world.

Joe examined the associated registration details. Ordinary transfers between family estates used different terminology, and the entry referred him to records concerning his parents. Their names appeared in an earlier generation of the same branch register, although the mother's records required Joe to trace her family name before marriage.

Both parents had entries recording their departure from the ancestral world.

Joe followed the references to an older selection register associated with the Decennial. The document had been copied several times, and some supporting records were missing, but its purpose remained clear.

Ten names appeared under the principal selection, followed by additional candidates chosen for exceptional cultivation potential. Several possessed unusually strong Spiritual Roots, while others had rare constitutions. The selections were connected to opportunities beyond the ancestral world and to an arrangement established during the Martial Ancestor's era.

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Joe studied the register more carefully. Prince Corvin had explained the resources available through the present Decennial, but the historical records revealed another purpose. The competition had also served to identify practitioners who might receive opportunities to pursue immortal cultivation beyond the planet.

Among the selected candidates were the deceased descendant's parents.

Joe continued following their records and discovered that both had entered immortal cultivation after leaving the ancestral world. Neither returned permanently. Later historical notices recorded their deaths, followed by an administrative entry concerning the return of their young son to the Montclair family.

The boy had arrived with protected personal property inherited from his parents.

Joe examined the entry again.

The public records did not contain an inventory, but the inheritance offered a plausible explanation for the valuable cultivation materials recovered from Greyspine. The six spirit stones might have originated from his parents' estate rather than from ordinary Montclair allowances or mission rewards.

The discovery also explained the difference between the man's personal wealth and his standing within the family.

His parents had become immortal cultivators, but their achievements had not improved his own Five-Attribute Spiritual Root. Montclair could preserve his inherited property and provide the benefits associated with his bloodline while directing its best cultivation resources toward descendants with greater potential.

Joe considered what that meant for the man's later decisions.

At twenty-six, the descendant had completed three Internal Organ temperings and possessed the foundation required to attempt Acquired. His records also mentioned a rare herb associated with that breakthrough, while the inheritance contained a Root Kindling method.

Successful Kindling might have improved his Five-Attribute Root to Four, but advancing farther along the martial path before attempting it could have produced a better result. With the age limit approaching, the man had little time to pursue both goals.

Joe could understand why he might have taken risks to advance more quickly. Nevertheless, nothing in the surviving records established whether he had used the herb, attempted Kindling, or died for an entirely different reason.

By the time Joe finished examining the available references, the archival office was preparing to close. He paid the remaining copying fees and returned to Edwin's house with the information he had collected.

The investigation had provided a credible explanation for the deceased descendant's wealth, but Joe still lacked proof that the six stones formed part of his inheritance. The administrative record confirmed that the boy had received property from his parents, not which possessions belonged to that estate.

If the stones had been included, their disappearance might also have been recorded in documents Joe could not access. He had no reason to assume that recovering them from an abandoned chamber gave him an undisputed claim to resources of such value.

Joe retrieved his cultivation notes and reviewed his recent progress.

Joe Vale — Age 19

Acquired Energy — Lv.1 / 32%

Disguise — Lv.2 / 24%

Breath Control — Lv.5 / Perfection

Alchemy — Lv.1 / 6%

His Alchemy remained too elementary to justify experimenting with the stones. He could not use their spiritual energy directly through martial cultivation, and attempting to degrade such valuable resources with his current methods would be wasteful.

Even if he later entered qi cultivation, their usefulness would depend on knowledge he had yet to acquire. For now, the damaged spiritual herbs provided enough material for his experiments.

Joe returned the credential to the locked case and checked the six wrapped stones before closing it. He had recovered the inheritance months earlier, but only now understood why its former owner might have possessed resources far beyond his apparent position. The possibility that those resources remained connected to a documented estate made their value less reassuring than it had first appeared.

Until he understood their ownership and had the cultivation necessary to use them properly, Joe decided to leave the stones untouched.