Chapter 81: Hidden Legacy

Aiden’s breathing unconsciously became heavier as he continued reading.

As time passed by the final pages contained increasingly frantic records. The handwriting, once elegant and orderly, had become hurried and erratic, as though the person writing them had been consumed by excitement.

Then, on the final page—

"...Success! I have stripped and stabilized the ’Life Essence’! Although it is only a tiny spark, this proves that the direction is correct! The mystery of the soul is right before my eyes!"

Aiden’s eyes narrowed as he continued.

"There is more. I can do more... I discovered that I can separate the will from the soul. By combining the separated soul fragments with the constructs I have created, I forged the perfect weapon. It can devour the souls of graded weapons eating their will and gaining their traits in the procces..."

Aiden paused. His brows furrowed. ’Graded weapons have souls?’

That was something he had never heard of. As far as he knew, weapons were simply equipment with attributes, effects, and occasionally special abilities. He had never considered that they might possess souls of their own.

But if Alderton’s research was correct...

Aiden’s expression became solemn.

He continued reading, his heart growing heavier with every line. He didn’t know how to feel about this. He had always thought he knew a great deal about the world, but when it came to the soul, there was still so much he didn’t understand.

Regardless, the record continued...

"It can devour the soul, will, and perhaps... the weapons themselves."

Aiden’s pupils shrank as he read those final words.

He stared at the sentence for several seconds before slowly turning the page.

There was more.

"I can do more. I can feel it. I am so close to a breakthrough... But they have come. Those idiots who style themselves as guardians of the rules!"

"They don’t understand! This is evolution! This is transcendence! If one can completely grasp the concept of souls, then invincibility will be within reach!"

The next few lines were written with increasingly frantic strokes.

"...The laboratory must be sealed... I will fall into a deep slumber and wait for the next fated person... someone who can inherit my knowledge... and carry on my will."

Then, beneath several hurried lines, there was one final warning.

"...Beware of the ’Observers’... They are everywhere..."

The handwriting stopped abruptly. There were no further entries.

Aiden remained silent, staring at the final page. The laboratory around him was completely still.

Yet for some reason, after reading those final words, the silence no longer felt peaceful.

It felt as though something had been awakened simply because someone had finally opened the log again.

Taking a deep breath, Aiden slowly closed the log, his heart surging with excitement.

He was almost certain now. The deceased Alderton before him was the ancient alchemy master whose name had appeared in the rumors and forgotten records of his previous life.

And this laboratory... It had been Alderton’s secret base for conducting his forbidden research.

Aiden’s gaze swept across the dust-sealed laboratory.

The precision instruments. The strange glassware. The countless storage compartments filled with rare materials. The remnants of research that had survived for who knew how many years.

There were no monsters. No enemies. No dangerous battles. Only the legacy Alderton had left behind.

A complete alchemy inheritance and a massive collection of rare materials that would be enough to drive any production-class player—and perhaps even major factions—into a frenzy.

Exclusive possession!

Everything here belonged solely to their team. This was a hidden map that no one had discovered. An exclusive storyline that had yet to be triggered.

And, most importantly, they had found it before anyone else.

"Sir Aiden, these bottles and jars... they look very valuable, don’t they?"

Silas stared at the crystal jars scattered throughout the laboratory, his expression filled with innocent curiosity.

Luna was also looking around. Her purple eyes sparkled with curiosity as she examined the mysterious instruments and unfamiliar materials surrounding them.

Aiden suppressed the excitement surging through his heart and nodded.

"Valuable?" A faint smile appeared on his face. "No. They’re priceless."

His gaze swept across the laboratory, and his voice carried a hint of irrepressible excitement.

"This is the laboratory of an ancient alchemy master. What we’ve discovered isn’t merely a treasure. It’s an entire inheritance."

He immediately began carefully cataloging the laboratory’s spoils.

The most valuable discovery was naturally Alderton’s Alchemy Log.

Not only did it contain Alderton’s research into Life Essence and Soul Constructs, but it was also a learnable inheritance that could grant a massive amount of Alchemy proficiency along with several exclusive recipes.

But that wasn’t all. While searching beneath the workbench, Aiden discovered a hidden compartment.

Inside were three blueprints shimmering with a mysterious purple light.

[Basic Life Potion (Enhanced)]

[Basic Mana Potion (Enhanced)]

[Simple Soul Fragment Collector]

Aiden’s eyes immediately lit up. Especially when his gaze fell upon the third blueprint.

[A Soul Fragment Collector.]

For someone possessing the Sovereign of Souls, an item related directly to soul fragments was undoubtedly worth paying close attention to.

He carefully stored all three blueprints. Then came the materials. The storage compartments were filled with a dazzling variety of resources. Many were rare materials that had either completely disappeared from the outside world or were extraordinarily difficult to obtain.

There were enough of them to support Aiden’s alchemy experiments and Engineering manufacturing for a considerable period of time.

The more he examined the laboratory, the brighter his eyes became.

This exploration had been completely different from their previous dungeon runs.

There had been no combat. No desperate battles. No injuries.

No risk of death. Instead, there was only the incredible joy of uncovering a forgotten treasure and the overwhelming satisfaction of knowing that everything they had found belonged exclusively to them.

For Aiden, this was even more valuable than a dungeon filled with powerful monsters.

Because behind this hidden door lay something far more precious than simple loot.

It was a path to becoming stronger. A path built upon knowledge, resources, inheritance, and countless possibilities that had yet to be explored.