Inheritance Crystal — Massive Gains

The three of them climbed over a thousand meters up the staircase before reaching the first room's door.

Amy summoned Tianrao Purple Vine to form a vine-woven armor shell around Lu Yuan, and he stepped forward to open the door.

The moment it swung open, waves of dazzling violet light flooded his vision.

Lu Yuan's eyes widened slightly. His breath caught.

The room was barely a hundred square meters, yet its center held no fewer than six glowing purple orbs.

"What's inside?"

Amy was short and Lu Yuan was blocking the doorway entirely. She hopped and craned her neck, unable to see a thing.

She couldn't help asking.

Yeye was considerably taller than Amy, but even she couldn't see past him into the room — and equally curious.

Lu Yuan turned back with an excited grin.

"All Lord Grade items! Let me go in first."

He stepped inside, and Amy and Yeye finally got their look.

At the sight of a full six purple orbs, both of them widened their eyes and followed him in without another word.

Lu Yuan crouched and picked up one of the orbs, turning it over in his hands.

A slow smile spread across his face.

"Every single one of these is a Gene Armament at Second-rank Perfect tempering. And they're all weapons — there's even a greatsword!"

The six Gene Armaments were: a greatsword, a staff, a longsword, a dagger, a longbow, and a battle axe.

Amy snatched up the staff orb, beaming ear to ear.

"With this one in hand, I won't need to swap weapons for quite a while."

Yeye quietly reached for the longsword orb.

Lu Yuan claimed the greatsword.

*Type SS8 Slayer Greatsword (Second-rank 100%): Lord Grade Gene Armament.*

He smiled. "The last three orbs — one each?"

Yeye and Amy nodded.

They each claimed one. Lu Yuan's fell to the longbow.

He tucked both his orbs away.

He was already wielding three Lord Grade Gene Armaments. Swapping out his current greatsword would have to wait until his cultivation climbed a bit higher — his body needed to handle the load. Given the enhanced Spirit Power Gene Fluid he now had access to, that gap wouldn't stay open for long.

The first room had already been a windfall. The three set off at a jog toward the second.

They reached it quickly.

Opening the door, the second room also held something.

In the center of the roughly hundred-square-meter space sat a black cube, completely still.

It was no larger than a fist, its surface laced with deep blue patterns that flickered in and out like dim starlight.

Lu Yuan couldn't tell what it was. He walked in and picked it up.

Amy and Yeye followed him inside.

Amy studied the cube with undisguised curiosity.

"What is it?"

Lu Yuan had already received his answer.

Information cascaded through his mind.

*Mechanical Disruptor (Second-rank): Upon activation, generates a disruption field with a ten-kilometer radius. All individuals within the field are unable to use Departure Crystals.*

"Hm?"

He went still, eyes sharpening.

Yeye caught the look on his face.

"Lu Yuan — what is it?"

He handed it to her. "See for yourself."

Amy puffed her cheeks beside him.

"I want to see too."

Yeye took the cube, received the information, and said nothing for a moment. Her eyes widened — just barely, just long enough to betray real surprise.

"This thing..."

Amy was ready to tear her hair out.

The other two had both seen it. Only she hadn't.

"What is it already?"

Yeye passed it to Amy.

Amy took it with a grin — then her eyes went wide.

"This thing... this is *fascinating.*"

Her gaze gleamed. A slow smile crept onto her face. "I just had an extremely daring idea."

Lu Yuan glanced at her. Yeye, from beside him, spoke first.

"We're probably thinking the same thing. What about you, Lu Yuan?"

Lu Yuan nodded. "Earlier, when Amy suggested we just kill those two, I thought it was a bit much. Now?" He paused. "It might actually be doable."

The light in Yeye's dark eyes shifted — something between calculation and anticipation.

"We'll need the strength to see it through first."

Lu Yuan's expression settled. He nodded once.

"Let's put the Disruptor away and check the rest of the rooms."

He took it back from Amy and stowed it.

They climbed another thousand-odd meters and arrived at the third room.

The door swung open to reveal a mountain of enhanced Spirit Power Gene Fluid — bottle after bottle stacked floor to ceiling. Lu Yuan's eyes went wide. Delight surged across his face.

"So much Spirit Power Gene Fluid!"

*This* was what he actually needed.

He walked in. Amy and Yeye followed behind.

The sight drew precisely no reaction from either of them.

Both came from great families where cultivation resources were never a concern. What they lacked were treasures suited to their specific needs. The gnawing anxiety of simply not having enough to practice with — that was a feeling utterly foreign to them.

Seeing Lu Yuan's excitement, Amy grinned.

"Lu Yuan, you already have so much Gene Fluid. Why do you still look like you'd rob someone for more?"

Lu Yuan rolled his eyes. What did she know about how much he needed this?

They did a count. Fifty thousand bottles.

His breath caught.

*Fifty thousand bottles of Second-rank enhanced Spirit Power Gene Fluid. That's five hundred million Second-rank Spirit Crystals.*

More than everything he'd earned across his entire previous Floating City run, combined.

*So this is what a ten-thousand-meter tower looks like.*

The sheer scale of it left him momentarily speechless.

Yeye tilted her head slightly, watching him.

"You're really this short on cultivation resources?"

"A bit," Lu Yuan admitted.

She thought for a moment. "Ten thousand is enough for me."

Amy smiled and followed without hesitation. "Same. Ten thousand."

Lu Yuan blinked.

Yeye takes ten thousand. Amy takes ten thousand. That leaves —

*Holy—*

*Thirty thousand bottles?!*

His mouth went dry. He stared at the two of them.

"You two... do you have any idea what that's worth? You're really not taking more?"

Yeye shook her head. "I don't lack resources. And if it weren't for you, I wouldn't be standing in the Central Floating City right now."

Amy clapped him on the shoulder. "If it comes to that, why not just join Tianrao City? I'll talk to my great-grandfather — with your talent, they'd never let you go without. Everything you need, prepared and waiting."

Lu Yuan looked at her.

"And then, what — join your adventure team and become your subordinate?"

Amy's eyes went wide, genuinely aghast. "How did you *know?* I was even going to start calling you Little Yuanzi."

Lu Yuan's mouth twitched. "Hard pass."

"*Hmph.*"

Amy pouted.

Since both of them had offered, Lu Yuan wasn't going to refuse.

He claimed thirty thousand bottles of Second-rank enhanced Spirit Power Gene Fluid for himself.

*This tower's resources are absurdly generous,* he thought. *Three rooms in and not a single empty one or trap.*

Could it really be that none of the rooms here were empty?

They cleared out of the third room and moved up to the fourth.

Lu Yuan opened the door. Stared at bare, empty floor. His expression froze.

Right. He'd gotten ahead of himself.

Leaving the empty room behind, the three pressed on and reached the fifth.

Inside, a transparent crystal hung suspended in midair.

Lu Yuan raised an eyebrow. He walked over and picked it up.

Information flowed into his mind.

*Inheritance Crystal: Type I Haijin Battery.* *Description: Contains the technical principles underlying the construction of a Type I Haijin Battery.*

His eyes widened — a quiet jolt of surprise.

*An Inheritance Crystal?*

He'd never heard of a Haijin Battery. But the technology locked inside the Aier Mechanical Ruins far surpassed anything Great Qi Star had produced. Whatever this battery was, it almost certainly wasn't ordinary.

Yeye and Amy stepped through the doorway.

Seeing Lu Yuan standing stock-still, Amy blinked.

"What's wrong? Did you find something?"

He came back to himself and held the crystal out to her.

"Take a look."

Amy took it — and froze.

"An Inheritance Crystal?!"

Yeye's dark eyes caught a flash of light. Her gaze fixed on the crystal.

As a princess of the empire, she had a keen appreciation for civilization Inheritance Crystals — objects that could elevate an entire nation's technological foundation.

"Let me see."

A flicker of conflict crossed Amy's face.

She was Tianrao City's princess. She understood what this crystal meant better than most. Part of her wanted to simply claim it and compensate Lu Yuan with something else afterward.

Lu Yuan had no faction of his own — a resource exchange could work for him. But Yeye was a different matter entirely. As a princess of an empire, Amy doubted there was much Yeye actually lacked.

Still, she reminded herself: Yeye was their companion.

With visible reluctance, she passed the crystal across.

Yeye's eyes contracted ever so slightly after the information transferred. She glanced between Lu Yuan and Amy.

"Give this Inheritance Crystal to me. I'll compensate you both with resources."

Amy's eyes narrowed right back at her. "Then give it to *me* — and I'll compensate *you* with resources."

The two of them locked gazes. The silence was pointed.

Lu Yuan watched the standoff with a twitch at the corner of his mouth.

*Well. That's about what you'd expect from a civilization Inheritance Crystal, isn't it? Gets them at each other's throats in about thirty seconds flat.*

Good thing he had no faction of his own.

Otherwise this sort of thing would be a constant headache.

Better step in.

He cleared his throat.

"Both of you, relax. We can talk this through like reasonable people."

Both heads swiveled toward him.

Amy's voice came out sharp.

"Lu Yuan! You decide — do I get it, or does she?!"

Yeye said nothing, but her expression made her answer equally clear.

Lu Yuan: *"???"*

He stared at them both, completely at a loss.

"This Inheritance Crystal is useless to me. Why are you asking me?"

"You have a share in this," Yeye said evenly. "That gives you the right to decide."

Amy nodded firmly. "We all three have a stake. I want it for myself, she wants it for herself — and now it's your vote that decides! So who gets it?!"

Lu Yuan: *"......"*

With two pairs of eyes drilling into him, sweat began to gather at his temples.

He thought it over and felt, with certainty, that either answer was wrong.

He managed a rueful smile.

"This ten-thousand-meter tower isn't the only building here — there might be more Inheritance Crystals somewhere else. If we find more, you two can each take one. No more argument. And besides —" he spread his hands — "the knowledge in an Inheritance Crystal doesn't have to be exclusive. You can record it and share it. Why not cooperate?"

Both women blinked. They looked at each other.

A brief silence.

Yeye extended the crystal toward Lu Yuan.

"Hold onto it, Lu Yuan. We'll divide it between Amy and me after we leave."

Amy gave a short nod.

Lu Yuan accepted the crystal. "Fair enough."

He stowed it and the three resumed their climb.

The sixth room held five floating purple orbs.

They entered and checked.

All Talismans.

*Wild Force Talisman (Second-rank): Lord Grade Talisman. Upon use, greatly enhances Strength and Agility.*

The exact boost would depend on the user's own power — but at Lord Grade, it would hardly disappoint.

The seventh room was empty.

At the eighth room, before Lu Yuan had even touched the door, the Evolution Cube inside him began to tremble.

*Aier Core Fragments.*

He was mildly surprised.

He'd assumed Aier Core Fragments were only found in the outer Floating Cities. He hadn't expected them here, in the central zone.

He opened the door. Sure enough, in the center of the room, twenty gray-white fragments rested in quiet rows.

At the sight of them, disappointment settled visibly over both Amy and Yeye.

"Seriously? Aier Core Fragments? We're in the *Central* Floating City and there's still more of this stuff?"

Amy's eyes went round. A bit dumbfounded.

It was as though an entire room's worth of real rewards had simply evaporated.

Even Yeye couldn't help nodding in sympathetic disbelief.

Lu Yuan smiled pleasantly. "Since neither of you wants them, they're mine."

He gathered all twenty Aier Core Fragments without ceremony.

Amy had long since stopped being surprised by this. Yeye glanced at him once and let it go.

They continued upward.

Along the way, Lu Yuan absorbed five of the fragments.

Then, as all twenty Aier Core Fragments settled into the Evolution Cube —

A resonance erupted through his mind.

In a strange, trance-like clarity, he glimpsed an invisible thread. One end was anchored to himself.

The other end stretched in a particular direction — and disappeared into the void.

Lu Yuan stared at the direction where the thread had vanished, a faint unease settling over him.

*What was that?*

The thread faded almost immediately — or perhaps his senses simply lost their grip on it. Either way, it was gone.

He was puzzled, but there was nothing to be done.

The three pressed on, and before long they arrived at the highest floor — the ninth room.

Lu Yuan opened the door, looked at what lay inside, and went still.

Surprise flickered through his eyes.