100% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full? - Chapter 176

Chapter 176: Chapter 176 – Echo of Creation
Lucien took a deep breath.

He hesitated.

‘Should I enter or not?’

Silence answered him.

‘The Primordial Slime should’ve been dead.’

[Indeed. I am dead. But also not.]

The sudden voice struck directly through his mind like thunder. Lucien froze mid-thought. Every hair on his body stood on end.

‘It can’t be… It can hear my fucking thoughts?’

[Absolutely. I can hear your fucking thoughts.]

Lucien’s disbelief twisted into unease. He steadied his breathing, forcing his thoughts into order.

‘No. The one beyond this door must just be an echo… or an essence.’

[Nice guess.]

‘Damn it! Stop invading my head!’

[Please enter. Don’t you want to know something?]

The words slithered through his mind. It’s a whisper that felt both divine and devilish. And Lucien was tempted.

The creator of these small worlds… If he wanted answers, this was where he would find them.

‘But can I trust it?’

[Up to you. But I can tell you about anything. Especially about the System.]

Lucien jolted. His throat went dry.

The System… Could he finally learn its origin? No. He already knew its origin.

The Primordial Slime. The being that embodied creation itself. The source of existence. And his “cheats”… there had to be a connection.

Lucien exhaled and banished his hesitation. If the slime truly wished him dead, he would have been erased long ago.

So he stepped forward… and entered.

Inside, a single, unassuming slime rested in the center of the chamber. It bounced once as Lucien approached.

[This might be our first true meeting, face to face.]

Lucien frowned, realizing what it meant. It had known him within the Mural World.

‘So it was aware all along.’

[Right.]

Lucien’s mind sparked with realization.

“Wait… seeing you here… does that mean you’re the Will of the World?”

The slime quivered slightly.

[Yes… and no.]

[This form is merely an echo. My power of creation allowed me to persist even after death. To answer your question… you have already seen it. When I forged the smaller worlds to safeguard the remnants of humanity, I infused each with fragments of my essence.

Those fragments grew and became the Wills of the Worlds… They developed minds of their own, shaped by the lands they governed. Whether they aid humanity or abandon it… that is their choice.]

The slime’s glow dimmed momentarily before it continued.

[But there lies a problem. Those fragments… remember being part of a whole. And now, they yearn for reunion.]

Lucien’s eyes widened. “So that means…”

The slime bounced gently.

[Yes. The Will of this world lies dormant within you. It entered you, for it knew you were the one who could guide it toward the others. It was now waiting for the time of reunion. The day when all fragments of my essence might become one again. Seeing that you’ve already inherited the power hidden within it… this world’s Will has fulfilled its purpose.]

Lucien staggered under the weight of revelation. His mind reeled.

“Then why can’t I feel it inside me? Can you… possibly take it out? Does it… influence me?”

[Why can’t you feel it? You already know the answer. You’re too weak… and it slumbers. They cannot influence you. They awaken only when they sense another fragment of my essence nearby. And… I no longer command them. I am merely an echo, bound to this dungeon.]

Lucien exhaled a shaky sigh of relief. For a moment, he’d feared he was no longer himself.

Then another question surfaced.

“So… what exactly are dungeons and dungeon cores?”

The slime pulsed, almost amused.

[They are the world’s defense mechanism. Dungeons are merely crystallized scars. The points where the world’s fabric tore and sealed itself. When creatures from beyond reality began to invade, the world instinctively reacted. It condensed energy at the breach, forming a core to contain the corruption. Dungeons are not built… They grow like scar tissue to prevent a greater infection.]

Lucien’s mind clicked into place. That explained why people claimed dungeons connected to another dimension. Well, there’s some truth in it. But they weren’t gateways… They were seals.

In essence, the dungeons were the world’s immune system, locking the invaders inside.

“Then… why do monsters dissolve when killed inside the dungeons?”

[Because their essence is absorbed by the core. The dungeon recycles their essence. Noticed that when too much time passes without monsters being slain, the balance falters. And… a dungeon break occurs. The cores need the essence of fallen monsters to stabilize themselves. Without it, their stored corruption overwhelms them and they burst… unleashing the imprisoned creatures into the world.]

Lucien blinked. “That… sounds kind of stupid.”

[Well… only weaker creatures, those below the Metamorphosis Realm, can invade this world directly anyway. They can exist beyond the influence of the Black Mass because their bodies are not yet wholly corrupted. After all, they haven’t shed their Mortal Husk yet.]

The slime wasn’t finished.

[Yet the monsters persist. They learned to corrupt the cores themselves. That is how the Black Mass’s influence seeped into this world. The time when even the stronger monsters found a way to cross over.]

Silence settled…

Finally, Lucien asked the question that had been gnawing at him.

“You… are you the one who gave me the System?”

[Indeed. I am an entity of creation. If not I, then who else? Throughout heaven and earth, I alone am the honored one.]

Lucien’s brow furrowed. “But you’re dead.”

The slime was silent for a moment before it spoke in his mind again.

[You are fortunate. This world holds the greatest number of my inheritances. Not only mine but also those of my dearest friend.]

Lucien understood immediately who it was talking about.

The Human Ancestor.

“No wonder I have so many cheats,” he muttered.

He sighed.

The system and his drop rates alone made him dangerous. Yet, he also held the three formidable Books

“You left this world a lot of blessings… but one of the guardian beasts you created betrayed humanity.”

The slime’s form drooped slightly.

[The Phoenix… was destined to be different.]

Lucien frowned. “Eh? Why?”

[I have no excuse. Their destiny changed the moment I realized my own flaw.]

The slime quivered. Its voice sounds distant.

[Azure Dragon. White Tiger. Black Tortoise. And… the Phoenix. That was my mistake. I didn’t question the notes left by my friend. Since you came from that world, you must’ve realized…

You see, the bird guardian was never meant to be a Phoenix. It should have been… the Vermilion Bird. I found out later that the two were different entities entirely. But by the time I noticed, the Phoenix already existed. My hesitation twisted its essence, altering fate itself.]

Lucien blinked. He didn’t fully grasp it but the mismatch in names alone spoke volumes.

[As the embodiment of creation, faltering in my own design was my gravest sin. Creation demands conviction. Waver… and even laws will bend.]

Lucien slowly nodded. Understanding dawned on him.

“Wait,” he said, narrowing his eyes. “You mentioned ‘that world’. You knew after all that I was reincarnated! Are you also the one who brought me here?”

[To answer that… I must first tell you another story.]

The chamber dimmed. The slime’s voice deepened.

[The Origin Core. Do you know why the Primordials fought over it? They possessed power beyond imagination. Was it truly for strength… or amusement? No. The truth is simpler. We were not perfect. Even we could die. Immortality is a lie… and in the vast void, they found something greater.]

A pause.

[And the Origin Core… it was a key.]

Lucien frowned. “A key for what?”

[It is too early for you to know. The moment you learn too much, they will notice you.]

Its tone dropped.

[What matters for now is its other function. The Origin Core allows one to glimpse beyond the vast void… to see the scattered worlds woven across the tapestry of space and time.]

Lucien swallowed hard. “So does that mean… with its power, I can return to my old world? And how did you even bring me here?”

[When my friend used the Origin Core, he glimpsed upon a certain world. Small yet beautiful. He admired its people. Humans, like him. They were creative. They were flawed, yet beautiful. And that world…]

The Primordial Slime paused. [I’ll stop there…]

It then continued…

[For ages he watched that world’s cycles of life and death. And within its people… he saw potential beyond fate. Something the Big World had long lost.]

The slime shimmered faintly.

[You were among those he watched… and one of those he chose. When you died, your soul was pulled from that world with the Origin Core’s power.]

Lucien’s jaw dropped.

“You’re freaking telling me you’re outsourcing souls?! That’s illegal!”

[Illegal or not, it was necessary.]

“That doesn’t answer my question. Can I return?”

[Perhaps. Perhaps not. It depends on what you do from this moment onward.]

Lucien sighed. “Figured you’d say that.”

The slime pulsed again.

[It took me time to locate your world’s coordinates using the Origin Core. As I said before—the Phoenix. I modeled the guardian beasts after my friend’s notes. I made them for him. But when I finally gazed upon Earth, I realized he was mistaken about the bird being a Phoenix. And for the first time… I, too, wavered in my creation. ]

Lucien’s thoughts tangled. He didn’t know what to say.

“Fuck. There’s no point in returning to Earth anymore. If the Human Ancestor had pulled our souls earlier, then… a lot of time must’ve passed. Maybe more than ten thousand years… Earth might not even exist anymore. How did my soul even last that long?”

[The same reason your parents’ souls endured. I kept all of you within my inner world. And when I finally created the small worlds, I placed your souls into a reincarnation disk… only to awaken when the right time arrived. And these end of times… was that right time.]

Lucien’s mind swirled with everything he had just learned. These fragments of truth reshaped his understanding of existence itself.

Seeing Lucien so overwhelmed, the slime’s voice echoed in his mind again, faintly amused.

[Wait. Does this count as a lore dump?]