Dimensional Descent

Leonel flipped a palm and took out a perfectly round wooden ball. It was about six inches in diameters and it radiated a very slight dark gold fog.

"This is your inheritance?" Leonel asked. "What did it look like when you found it?"

Cherie smiled bitterly. During their evacuation, this had, of course, been the first thing they went after. But when they got there, they found that it had long since been looted. It looked like that woman had gotten to it without their knowledge.

"According to our records, there was a large bronze chalice filled with raging red flames. But somehow, the chalice wasn't hot and the wooden ball that was inside of it wasn't burning. The Midas and Radix family ended up with the chalice and flames, we ended up with the wooden ball.

"Originally, we thought that we were on the losing end. It wasn't until after a few years that it became obvious that the wooden ball was more powerful than the other two objects combined."

Leonel frowned again, that also didn't sound right. From all of his interactions with these three families, they had always said that the Florer family got half and the other two ended up with a quarter each. In addition, the Midas and Radix were ultimately forced to team up in the end of it all in order to keep the Florer family at bay.

But from what it sounded like here, each one of these families actually got a third of the inheritance each. Leonel hadn't been there, but if Cherie's words were correct and the Florer family thought they were on the losing end at first, then it was clear and obvious that even their ancestors had assumed that each piece was a third.

It was likely the case that these families had retroactively rewritten history to make sense of why there was such a power disparity among them. In all likelihood, the Florer family was just more compatible with their Lineage Factor than the other two had been with their portions.

"What were the abilities of the Radix and Midas family's like before they gained this inheritance?"

"We know a little bit less about that, but if I recall correctly, according to the records the Radix family was a family of Crafters and they were also known for their hidden weapons. They were fairly widely disliked due to the latter, but because of their skill in the former they were able to maintain their hold on the region. Among the three families, they were by far the most powerful back then. In fact, their power then is about equivalent to what they have now even without our suppression. They would be much more powerful if not for this.

"As for the Midas family, they actually weren't human originally. They were a race of sharp toothed humanoids called the Shark Race. This was what they were colloquially known as since they never bothered to name themselves.

"After generations of inter-marrying with the Radix family, they are practically indistinguishable from humans now outside of the fact that they've maintained their sharp teeth and sturdy bodies.

"They were more ostracized back then and lived marginally. The Zone originally opened up in their territory and they were essentially forced to share in the end, which is what led to the current result as we see it now."

Leonel listened in silence, flicking his wrist and letting the wooden ball spin on his palm, over his hand, before balancing its spinning form on his knuckle and then his finger. The movements were smooth and he didn't seem to be thinking very hard about them at all.

Once again, Leonel gained something very different from these explanations. Simply put, the Radix family might have started as Crafters, but they didn't have any sort of Variant Earth or Life Force affinity that would be related to the Radix Cube previously. In fact, even without asking, Leonel knew with over 90% certainty that the Radix Cube had existed long before the Radix got their hands on the inheritance.

By the same token, the Shark Race Cheri spoke of had, presumably, sharp teeth and astounding bodily strength, but they didn't have any of the Fire Force affinity that was reminiscent of their "quarter" of the inheritance.

Of these three families, the only one that ended up with a portion of the inheritance that was compatible with them was the Florer family, and as such, they became the most powerful of the three in short order.

But at the same time, this also cursed the Florer family. They found it exceptionally difficult to comprehend the intricacies of their new Lineage Factor because it was muddled with the characteristics of their old one. And from what it seemed, it manifested differently and along different paths depending on which of them was putting it into action.

On the other hand, the Radix and Midas families who hadn't shared such affinities to begin with could pick out the differences with much greater ease. However, the tradeoff was that the Lineage Factors were much weaker in their hands.

If Leonel was correct, the Midas family had been able to use their powerful bodies to force the issue, withstanding the Fire Force until they birthed a natural immunity to it and could eventually swallow flames to strengthen themselves. If not for this, they would have died long before reaching that step.

On the other hand, the Radix family was the most clever of the three. Likely knowing they didn't have affinity themselves, they used their Radix Cubes as a proxy and fused it with themselves. After succeeding, they too were barely able to use their newfound Lineage Factor.

This all fit together nicely, but Leonel had another question, this one maybe even more important than the others.

How did this wooden ball, that chalice and those flames give a group of people a Lineage Factor? Were they related to the tablets? Or was this a different method he had never heard of?

Leonel chose to not mind it anymore. Sending his Internal Sight forward, he swallowed up the wooden ball, looking for its secrets. As he did so, the three head elders didn't dare to breathe too hard for fear of disturbing him.