100% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full? - Chapter 231

Chapter 231: Chapter 231 – Onwards
The week of preparation passed in a blur of noise.

Then came the day the expedition began.

At dawn, the Meridian Gate vibrated with a strange hush. Not silence… but anticipation so thick that even breathing felt like it might disturb the balance of the world.

The Celestial Race proxies stood on a high platform outside the gates, looking down on the gathered powers. Their presence straightened spines and quieted hearts.

Solar Concordium descended from the sky like a war god stepping out of the sun. His robes blazed gold and his true form was concealed in radiance.

Even Ascendants behaved like schoolchildren in his presence.

His voice rolled across the arena with gentle authority.

“All chosen parties, step forward. The expedition begins now.”

Lucien and Marie, now in Verdant Veil attire, moved with their group into formation. Around them stood the Top Ten. Those who had become familiar faces over the past week lifted hands or nodded toward Lucien in greeting.

The mysterious black-robed faction remained silent. People unconsciously left a gap around them.

Lucien couldn’t help glancing their way.

Marie whispered, “They’ve been very quiet for the past week. You think they’re up to something?”

Lucien didn’t answer. Enemy? Ally? Something in-between? No one could tell. So he turned his gaze forward.

Solar Concordium raised a hand.

Above the crowd, a vast map of the Karesh Desert unfolded in golden light. It looks like a sea of dunes, ridges, and shifting sigils.

“I must remind you once again,” Solar Concordium said, “this ruin is believed to be one of the abodes of the Eternal of Stillness. And a ruin once owned by an Eternal is not a door you simply push open.”

His tone was calm but each word carried weight.

“You must obey the rules Stillness left behind. Even I have to tread carefully around another Eternal’s domain.”

He gestured, and a section of the map pulsed faintly.

“I have confirmed the region where the Law of Stillness stirs most strongly. The landscape itself is slowly reshaped by its influence. I know that some among you have already encountered fragments… shards of material infused with her Law near this area. That alone tells us the ruin is not far from this point.”

At that, Eirene’s eyes met Lucien’s.

He remembered the fragment he had given her… taken from the storage rings of the Nephralis and Varkhaal enemies he and Marie had slain.

They exchanged the smallest nod.

Solar Concordium’s voice spread again.

“The Karesh Desert is one of the four wonders of the Western Continent. It has always been strange… full of unspoken phenomena and old scars. The Eternal of Stillness chose it for a reason… and laid down boundary-laws around her ruin.”

His finger slid across the glowing map and stopped on a deep interior region of Karesh.

“A restriction was born here. From this line onward, the sky itself is refused. You will not be able to fly. From this boundary,” a circular region was highlighted, “you will travel on foot toward the ruin’s general location.”

Even veteran powerhouses blinked.

A Celestial proxy answered the unspoken question:

“Stillness rejects what disturbs the air. If your presence tears at the sky… That is how we know we are drawing near.”

Murmurs died immediately.

Solar Concordium continued…

“You must travel by foot or ground beasts. Anything that forces the world to move too fast will be silenced. Anything that tears sound from the land will be swallowed. Even the sandstorms in that region bend to the Eternal of Stillness.”

Lucien’s brows rose.

Marie grinned under her breath. “Maybe I can use my earth giant.”

Lucien muttered, “That might be a good option.”

The proxies stepped forward in unison.

“All groups will depart from the same starting line,” one announced.

Someone from the crowd called out, “If the location is only ‘general,’ why don’t we just teleport closer and search from there?”

Solar Concordium’s reply was crisp.

“If the ruin senses a foreign Eternal’s power descending directly into its heart, it may trigger a self-destruction protocol. I have seen this happen before.” He paused. “Eternals are… wary of one another. That is also why no Eternal, myself included, will enter this ruin.”

A ripple of unease passed through the gathered practitioners.

Solar Concordium’s tone gentled slightly.

“Consider it this way… Stillness wants to be approached, not invaded. You will walk to her doorstep like guests… not crash through the roof like thieves.”

Then he clapped his hands.

Above the platform, massive sky-vehicles formed out of condensed light and metal.

“They are called Solaris Arks,” he said. “They will carry you to the boundary of Stillness’ domain. From there, every step will be your own.”

Arrays flared to mark boarding assignments.

“The Top Twenty will board the first Solaris Ark,” Solar Concordium declared. “Those eliminated during the battle royale will take the second. All remaining parties will board the others according to rank and region. No faction shall claim an unfair head start.”

The Solaris Arks hovered like carved suns. Each was broad enough to hold thousands.

“Board,” he commanded.

Within minutes, the sky above the Meridian Gate was full of hulls and swirling cloaks.

And just like that, the journey to the ruin began.

•••

The flight across Karesh Desert should have felt long.

Instead, it felt unreal.

From the deck of the first Solaris Ark, dunes rolled beneath them like golden oceans. Jagged sandstone ridges cut the desert into veins. Here and there, in deep valleys, rare desert blooms flickered like torches against endless sand.

Marie had somehow ended up at the controls.

No one was quite sure how. One moment, a Celestial proxy was guiding the Ark. The next, Marie was in front with her hands steady and eyes bright.

The Solaris Ark purred.

And then it moved.

Wind howled past. The ship surged ahead like a comet skipping across the horizon.

The Top 20 group staggered, then whooped.

“IS THIS REALLY THE STANDARD SPEED?!”

“NO, IT’S HER—IT’S DEFINITELY HER!!”

“WHY IS IT THIS SMOOTH AND THIS FAST?!”

The Celestial proxy assigned to their Ark glanced at the formation compass, then at Marie.

He looked… impressed.

“I will allow it,” he said with a strange smile. “You are the first group to enter the ruin anyway. Consider this… a rehearsal of your coordination.”

Solar Concordium’s intention had been for all Arks to arrive roughly together.

Marie’s “coordination” threatened to ruin that plan.

The other Arks tried to match their pace. Veteran pilots drew on their best navigational arts, but the first Solaris Ark still carved a lead, gliding over turbulence like it wasn’t there.

On the deck, Marie leaned over.

“LUC, LOOK! GIANT SANDWORMS!”

Lucien glanced.

“Wait, what? That’s not— oh.”

The creatures writhing beneath the dunes were enormous. They were vast segmented bodies carving tunnels through sand.

To Lucien, they were familiar.

“Soilwyrms?!” he muttered in surprise. “But grown monstrous.”

He fell silent.

‘Did these giant Soilwyrms help gnaw this region into a desert…?’

A second thought followed…

‘If Soilwyrms turned this land into desert… can I turn it back?’

The idea lodged in his mind like a seed.

•••

At the Ark’s usual speed, the journey should have taken two days.

With Marie at the helm, it took one.

They passed over nations that had learned to live with the desert. Oases were clustered around thin rivers and caravan roads thread between cities of sandstone and glass.

Most were mortal nations. Their lights were small but stubborn against the vastness.

They did not stop.

Mortals lived their mortal years. This was not a march for them.

Finally, the Celestial proxy at Marie’s side spoke.

“We are approaching the region where the Law of Stillness stirs,” he said. “Slow your advance.”

Marie eased the Solaris Ark down.

When the ship finally settled, the sand puffed softly beneath its shadow.

They disembarked.

From there, they walked.

No one had expected that, after all their power and flight, they would once again feel every grain of sand under their boots.

Step after step. Slow and steady.

It didn’t take long to feel the change.

Ahead, the heat shimmered over the dunes like a sheet of glass… and then even that shimmer felt restrained.

No birds. No beasts. No wind.

Just a desert holding its breath.

Marie whispered, “Why does it feel like the world forgot to move?”

Lucien swallowed.

“…Stillness.”

The Celestial proxy stepped forward.

“From this point,” he said, “all flight is forbidden. If you leave the ground, Stillness will decide you are disrupting its domain. And it will respond.”

No one tried.

As they walked, conversations formed between the Top 20 groups.

The Obsidian Scholars and Lilith’s Starforge Cartel occasionally drifted closer to Lucien’s group, exchanging observations and small talk that only partially hid their mutual measuring.

Lythrae and the Lunareth Sect preferred speaking with Eirene. Their tones were gentle but their eyes were sharp.

When the Lunareth disciples learned the Slime Plushies they adored had originated from Lucien, they lit up.

“So you’re the crafter?”

“That item helped me in my enlightenment.”

“Anyone who can invent something that comforting… can’t be bad.”

Lucien coughed and replied politely while Marie made fun of him being surrounded by women.

The shaved-head traitor walked a little ahead with his partner, drawing his own cluster of curious glances.

Eventually, he slowed until he walked beside Lucien.

He finally introduced himself.

“My instinct is telling me that I had to introduce myself. I am called Vorren,” he said, offering a small nod. “Of the Veilstrider race.”

Vorren was already in the Ascendant Realm. He’d climbed there alone, without sect or clan backing… relying on his skill to sense opportunities and wedge himself into them.

Talking with him, Lucien didn’t sense malice.

Divine Sense showed his color to be chaotic, but not rotten.

He wasn’t “good” in a saintly way, but he wasn’t a villain either. Just someone who understood he wouldn’t die during the trial… and who had gambled hard because of it.

“I acted that way because I’m desperate,” Vorren admitted with a half-smirk. “My opportunity sense has been screaming about this ruin since it was announced. If I miss this, I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.”

He glanced toward the horizon.

“If I find the right thing inside, it’ll push me into the Late Stage of Ascendant Realm. Maybe beyond.”

No sect to shelter him. No Eternal to guard his back. So he fought harder than anyone to force the world to notice him.

The Dawnblade and Scarlet sect members walked near as well, occasionally joining the conversation.

They came from the region north of Sareth Region. They are also one of the major sects backed by Eternal Realm masters.

Lucien learned a few things from them.

What they called major sects or nations were those that possessed at least one Eternal-realm expert.

“One Eternal, you’re a regional pillar,” said the Dawnblade junior, Aelith, wryly.

“Two Eternals, you’re a dominant power,” he continued. “Three, and people start calling your land an empire. Well… not quite an empire but more like a place strong enough to create one.”

“Still, I respect independent people who can grow without any backing,” the Scarlet Sect junior, Raven, said.

Raven clapped Vorren(the shaved head traitor) on the shoulder with a grin.

“Vorren, you’re not bad at all. Maybe next time, we can cross swords.”

Vorren lifted both hands in surrender.

“I’ll abstain. My instincts tell me I won’t gain anything fighting a hot headed maniac.”

That earned him laughter from both sects.

Just then… the desert changed again.

Ahead, jutting from the dunes like broken bones, were the ruins of nations.

Collapsed palaces with gilding half-buried in sand. Fallen watchtowers snapped at their bases. Shattered obelisks with their inscriptions eroded to scars.

And among them—

People. Desert folks.

Mortals. Thousands of them.

Some knelt with hollow eyes facing nothing.

Some wandered like ghosts between toppled columns.

Some huddled in clusters, protecting the weakest with bodies that barely had strength to stand.

The expedition slowed to a halt.