100% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full? - Chapter 217
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- Chapter 217 - Chapter 217: Chapter 217 - Echoed Intent
Chapter 217: Chapter 217 – Echoed Intent
Light cracked across the Fate Platform… and in the next breath, Lucien reappeared outside the barrier.
He landed beside the Verdant Veil group as motes of fading starlight peeled off his body.
The arena was roaring.
Not cheering… but complaining.
Lucien just stood there a moment, jaw tight.
A bitter taste filled his mouth.
The same taste as watching a movie reach its climax… and then the power dies.
Marie clutched her head like she was about to explode.
“THAT— THAT WAS ROBBERY! I swear, if I find that shaved-head rat, I’m grinding him into a memory card. A corrupted one.”
Eirene exhaled slowly, massaging her temples.
“Cliffhangers should be used sparingly… this was barbaric.”
Lucien didn’t answer.
His eyes drifted back to the Fate Platform.
The black-robed woman had reappeared as well.
Her leader, the masked man who’d nodded at Lucien before, placed a gentle hand on her head… like one pats a loyal hound.
Her head tilted again, obedient and mechanical.
Lucien’s brows narrowed.
Meanwhile—
The arena was still raging.
The shaved-head traitor stood near center stage, trying to look proud.
But it didn’t work.
Dozens of spectators were screaming at him.
“You snake!”
“Backstabber!”
“You robbed us of a finale!”
He pretended he couldn’t hear.
He failed miserably.
Even the Solar Concordium’s announcers looked like they wanted to sigh.
But rules were rules.
The moment twenty remained, the system locked the results.
No redos.
No extensions.
No exceptions.
Then—
Lucien felt it.
Eyes.
Many of them.
He turned slightly.
The Nephralis sect and The Varkhaal sect.
Several elites beside them were glaring daggers.
Because Ignathar and Varun… their prideful representatives… had been punted across the battlefield like baseballs.
Lucien blinked.
Then shrugged.
‘Not my fault they were too easy to kick.’
Marie practically tackled him.
“LUC! YOU WERE AMAZING! I screamed so loud I think I swallowed my own soul!”
Lucien smiled faintly.
“You’re still screaming now.”
Eirene approached next. She was still calm and dignified but her eyes glowed with pride.
“You performed exceedingly well. Truly. You made a farce of everyone who mocked you.”
Then the entire Verdant Veil group mobbed him—
Pats on the back.
Wide-eyed admiration.
Muttered disbelief.
“You fought the black-robed monster head-on…”
“You’re insane, boss!”
“Were you always this strong?!”
“Teach me to dodge like that, Master Wolf!”
Lucien only sighed.
That bitter taste lingered.
“That ending was truly… unwanted.”
Everyone agreed instantly.
Even other factions eyed him with grudging respect.
•••
But the Solar Concordium wasn’t done.
Golden lines spiraled into the sky.
A new announcement reverberated across the arena.
[ The First Trial is concluded. Twenty contenders remain.
Prepare yourselves.
For the Second Trial begins immediately. ]
Breaths stilled.
Lucien straightened.
Marie tensed.
Even the arena fell silent.
[ The next test will eliminate ten contenders.
Only ten shall advance to the Final Trial. ]
“What kind of test now?”
“Another brawl?”
“PLEASE no more cliffhangers!”
The air shimmered…
And the tone of the announcement changed.
[ The Second Trial shall be…
The Trial of Echoed Intent. ]
Confusion rippled.
“Echoed… what?”
[ A test not of strength, nor treasures, nor formations.
But of… decision. Will. Instinct. And truth. ]
The twenty remaining contenders were lifted and placed upon twenty floating discs forming a ring in the sky.
Lucien narrowed his eyes.
Marie squinted upward.
“What ARE they making them do now?!”
Eirene inhaled sharply.
“The Trial of Echoed Intent… I’ve only heard rumors.”
The arena hushed.
•••
As the contenders steadied themselves on their discs, twenty Echoes rose before them. They are translucent silhouettes woven from runes and raw intention.
They weren’t clones.
They weren’t illusions.
They felt… personal.
Unsettlingly personal.
As if the deepest piece of each contender had stepped out to stare back at them.
The Concordium’s voice rolled through the air:
[ The Echoes before you are manifestations of your inner self.
Each Echo holds one skill born from that intention. You will soon guide them in this trial.
This is a contest of clarity, precision, and will. ]
A pause.
[ You shall have five minutes.
Familiarize yourselves with your Echo.
Establish control. Sharpen your mind.
A wavering intention… leads only to shattering. ]
The arena buzzed.
“Inner self?!”
“Five minutes is NOT enough!”
“My Echo keeps twitching like it wants to bite me!”
“What kind of test IS this?!”
•••
Lucien’s eyes locked onto his own Echo.
It didn’t simply twitch.
It flickered.
Rapidly. Violently.
Like a light fighting to stay on.
Its form changed too fast to follow.
The crowd erupted.
“WHAT is wrong with that kid’s Echo?!”
“Is he cursed?!”
“No—LOOK! It’s changing shapes!”
“That’s not normal!!”
Even other contenders paused in shock.
Lucien stared, frozen for a breath.
‘Those forms… I know them.’
Then realization struck him.
‘The mural world. A hundred lives. A hundred versions of me.’
Every Echo form was one of his past selves. Layered, overlapping, all demanding recognition.
‘Is it… asking me to choose?’
Then he saw one that felt… different.
A crowned silhouette.
A form he couldn’t remember living. A path he didn’t fully recall.
Yet it resonated.
Lucien shut his eyes.
Opened them with resolve.
“The crown it is.”
He willed it.
The Echo stilled instantly.
The flickering stopped.
A single silhouette stood tall.. draped in faint sovereign light.
And every time someone tried to focus on its form, their senses slipped as if the Echo itself denied unworthy eyes.
Lucien exhaled.
“…It even has my Aura. Good. Let’s go with this.”
The crowd shivered.
“What… IS that?”
“I can’t see it clearly…”
“It’s like looking at a king through fog.”
“Mortals shouldn’t have that kind of presence!!”
Eirene’s eyes widened.
She whispered—
“Could it be…?”
•••
Every contender felt their Echo bleed into their mind:
Its instincts, urges, hesitations, aggression.
It wasn’t control.
It was alignment.
Move too shallowly… and the Echo dragged. Feel too strongly… and it lunged.
One man broke immediately.
His Echo jittered between running and charging.
“Wait—no, back—no, DEFEND—NO, ADVAN—!”
The silhouette spasmed…
Then—
CRACK.
It shattered before moving a full step.
The man screamed.
“MY INTENTIONS WERE UNCLEAR!! NOOO—”
His disc dimmed.
He was… eliminated before the trial even started.
It was a chilling warning.
Control yourself… or lose yourself.
…
The five minutes passed in a breath.
Lucien flexed his will, testing the link.
‘Step.’
The crowned Echo stepped.
‘Turn. Raise hand.’
It obeyed. It was stiff, but obedient.
“…Alright,” he murmured. “I can work with this.”
The Concordium’s voice resounded.
[ Synchronization phase is complete.
Nineteen contenders remain. ]
[ The Second Trial now begins—
The Trial of Echoed Intent. ]
•••
The discs vibrated.
The space between them warped and a vast construct of light unfurled in the air.
And a floating labyrinth unfolded. Corridors of glowing stone. Stairways twisting like serpents. Doorways opening into swirling shadow.
It’s a phantom ruin suspended over the arena.
Gasps burst across the stands.
“A ruin?!”
“A simulation?!”
“Is that like the real one?!”
Lucien’s eyes narrowed.
“…A dungeon?” he muttered.
Others felt it too. The familiar aura of traps, hidden rooms, branching choices.
The Concordium declared…
[ Before you lies a Mirage Ruin, an echo of an ancient site. Your bodies will remain upon these discs. Your Echoes, however… will walk the paths ahead. ]
[ You will guide them only with your will. No spoken commands. No hand signs. Thought alone. ]
[ Each choice your Echo makes reveals your instinct— When to advance. When to retreat. When to grasp. When to let go. ]
[ Reach the heart of the labyrinth to advance.
If your Echo falters or is destroyed, you fall.
When ten Echoes remain or ten reach the end… the Trial ends. ]
The crowd erupted again.
“A ruin race?!”
“This is brilliant!”
“We finally see who should go in first!”
Marie grinned savagely.
“This is nerve-wracking and I LOVE IT.”
Eirene’s eyes narrowed in respect.
“…Exactly something the Concordium would design.”
Then the final announcement.
[ Your Echo is the shape of your intent.
It will be drawn to things you desire.
Treasure, safety, battle, escape.
Command that instinct… or be consumed by it. ]
[ This is a Trial of mind and will. ]
The Mirage Ruin opened.
•••
Light flashed.
Lucien felt his awareness split.
His physical body remained on the disc… but another perspective stepped into the labyrinth.
The crowned silhouette stood at a corridor woven from “shifting stone”.
Light and shadow slid like liquid across the walls.
A whisper brushed his mind.
Left: Treasure Chamber.
Right: Empty Corridor.
Lucien scoffed.
“Already trying to bait us?”
He sent one command.
‘Hold. Wait for the corridor to reveal itself.’
The Echo obeyed.
Outside, projections bloomed in the air.
Nineteen translucent windows. Each showed an Echo’s point of view in different corners of the maze.
“Look! They’re all in different places!”
“That rat’s Echo is sprinting already!”
“Why is that crowned one just… standing there?!”
Someone hissed,
“Is he scared?!”
Lucien ignored all of them.
He watched the labyrinth test the others.
The spear prodigy’s Echo charged left at the first sight of gold.
A cautious scion veered right immediately.
The shaved-head independent lunged straight for the brightest treasure.
The monk walked right, steady and deliberate.
Lythrae drifted forward gracefully
The Obsidian scholar advanced three steps, then made a pebble roll to read fault lines like a puzzle.
Lucien chuckled.
“…Of course the scholar’s playing chess with a hallway.”
Then—
His corridor shifted.
The walls pressed inward.
Slow. Steady.
The kind of danger that made impatience itch fiercely.
“Ah. That’s your game.”
Lucien sharpened his intent.
‘Step back. Again. And again. Wait. When the squeeze stops, take the dimmest path.’
The crowned Echo retreated calmly. Its posture was regal even as the walls nearly touched its shoulders.
The pressure stopped.
A hair-thin seam of shadow appeared.
The Echo slipped through it as though it were always meant to go there.
Lucien hadn’t chosen treasure or safety.
He chose a third option the maze didn’t offer.
From the audience…
“Who retreats in a trial?!”
“Apparently that wolf kid does—AND IT WORKED?!”
“He gave up distance for a hidden path. Disgusting level of intelligence!”
Marie cackled.
“That’s Luc for you. If there’s a loophole, he’ll crawl through it.”