100% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full? - Chapter 233

Chapter 233: Chapter 233 – The Ruin’s Location
Faint red lines ignited beneath the boy’s skin. They were thin at first, then bloomed like molten veins of dawn weaving across a shattered landscape.

Practitioners all around instinctively activated their spiritual senses.

What they saw… stole their breath.

Mana pathways that had been completely severed… stunted channels that no healer dared attempt to mend… vessels that had shriveled from starvation and agony…

They reconnected. One after another.

Not crudely. Not forcefully. But with an alignment so precise and so natural, that even veteran healers felt their hearts clench.

The Celestial Race proxy inhaled sharply.

Even he couldn’t hide his shock.

“…It’s knitting everything back… without resistance.”

The Dawnblade Sect practitioners exchanged looks of pure disbelief.

“Our sect treasures can’t do this,” one murmured.

“Even the Phoenix-Blood Elixirs…” another added shakily, “could never repair complete vessel collapse.”

The Scarlet Sect’s fire cultivator who had spent half his life refining the Law of Flame felt his knees weaken.

“That essence… that’s not medicine.” He swallowed hard. “That’s dragonfire. Pure dragonfire. The kind you only find in ancient inheritance grounds.”

Eirene stared, stunned. Lilith’s eyes widened, a rare crack in her usual composure.

Even Arctyx’s third eye flickered rapidly as he analyzed the changes in the boy’s soul and body.

The boy’s breathing steadied.

His chest rose fulIy which was an impossible sight mere moments ago.

Color returned to his cheeks like life struggling back into a wilted flower.

The woman’s breath hitched.

Then the boy’s fingers twitched.

“…S-Sister?”

A small voice. Fragile but clear.

A voice she thought she would never hear again.

She broke.

Not into tears at first. No, what escaped her was something raw and strangled… a sound made by someone who had carried too much grief for too long.

Then she grabbed Lucien’s wrist and pressed her forehead to the sand.

“Thank you… thank you… thank you…”

The world seemed to stop.

Dozens of eyes fixed on Lucien.

And in the middle of their awe—

Lucien scratched his cheek awkwardly.

“I actually didn’t know it would work,” he confessed. “I just found it by luck. I only had one… and now it belongs to the boy.”

People from various sects almost vomited blood on the spot.

Only one?

Used on a mortal?

Just like that?

Several practitioners felt personally offended by his generosity.

The Scarlet Sect man trembled.

“Y-You used a once-in-a-lifetime treasure on… on…”

“On someone who needed it,” Lucien finished bluntly.

There was no arrogance in his tone. Not even a pretense.

He was simply… telling the truth.

And that truth made the earlier junior monk… look like a crawling insect.

Of course, it was a bluff. Lucien had more… but revealing that would only birth greed and trouble.

If he ever needed another, all he had to do was kill more Nephralis and collect their drops.

The woman lifted her head. Her tears streaked her dust-covered face but her gaze was steady as iron.

She bowed again.

“Benefactor… I was wrong to judge practitioners all the same. You… you gave life where everyone else gave only excuses. I vow my loyalty. For as long as I live… my strength, my breath, and my soul belong to you.”

Lucien coughed lightly.

“You don’t need to go that far.”

Her brother, now sitting up weakly, echoed her voice with a soft but determined tone.

“Benefactor… thank you. I will grow strong. I’ll repay this debt someday.”

Marie puffed up proudly beside Lucien.

“See? You are a hero,” she said smugly.

Lucien sighed.

Arctyx drifted close. His third eye glimmered with insight.

“Brother Wolf,” he whispered, “your eye for people is remarkable. That woman… she is not ordinary. If she survives, her soul is destined for greatness. And today… you assisted her in a tribulation. Congratulations.”

Lucien wasn’t sure whether to laugh or feel the weight settle on his shoulders.

He had helped them, yes… but not out of pure kindness.

He needed people of his own in the Big World. People he could trust. People whose loyalty was forged through gratitude, not hollow promises.

He watched the thin siblings cling to each other, shaking with relief.

Across the sands, murmurs spread like wildfire.

“He healed broken vessels…”

“With something stronger than our sect treasures…”

“He used his only one… on mortals…”

“He must be terrifying to provoke…”

“No, he’s… someone worth following.”

The independents among the Top Twenty inclined their heads toward Lucien, offering genuine respect.

In their eyes, a man who weighed worth by character rather than status was someone worth befriending… someone worth standing beside.

Lucien then glanced at Marie.

“Marie,” he said. “Make shelters. The survivors here need a place to rest.”

Marie cracked her knuckles with a grin.

“With pleasure.”

She placed her hands on the sand.

A gentle tremor spread.

It wasn’t violent. It wasn’t loud.

Marie shaped the land with gentleness, careful not to stir the desert’s slumber.

Then—

The sand folded inward, thickening as if taking a breath. Walls rose like roots pushing through soil.

Domed shelters blossomed across the dunes, curving into natural earthen homes that merged seamlessly with the desert itself

Even the Celestial Proxy watched with raised brows.

“Her control… doesn’t disturb the stillness. Impressive.”

Marie smirked proudly.

“Please. I’m not stupid enough to annoy an Eternal.”

Within minutes, a small village stood. It was warm and stable, perfectly suited to the survivors.

The woman and her brother stared in silent awe.

“Shelter…” the boy whispered.

“For the first time…” the woman said softly, “we might sleep without fear.”

Lucien nodded.

“For now, stay here. The desert owes you rest.”

A strange hush settled over the group.

It’s not the oppressive suffocation of Stillness, but a quiet born of gratitude and newfound hope.

For the first time since entering the Karesh boundary…

The desert did not feel hostile.

Marie nudged Lucien’s shoulder, grinning triumphantly.

Lucien nodded giving her a thumbs up.

Somewhere behind them, Arctyx chuckled.

And further off, monks bowed their heads, not in discipline or ritual…

…but in shame.

•••

The Silent Monastery moved quickly afterward… but this time, with a different air.

Their leader, the blindfolded nun, stepped forward lightly on the sand. She inclined her head toward Lucien with a calm grace that silenced every murmur.

“We shall continue tending to the wounded,” she said softly. “Our junior’s mistake earlier was ours to reflect upon as a whole. Please allow us to repay the shame he brought with earnest actions.”

The junior monk from before kept his head lowered. He didn’t even dare meet Lucien’s eyes.

Under the nun’s direction, the monks and nuns spread out with swift discipline. They stabilized weakened mortals with techniques that used no force… only breath, pressure, and serenity.

Lucien also distributed food afterward. He produced bags of dried grain, fruits, and root vegetables from his storage ring. Enough for months.

Not just that, he distributed tools too. Tools for cooking, tools for living, tools for rebuilding.

He did not want dependents.

He wanted survivors with agency.

The monks stared, stunned.

“You… carry this much?” the blindfolded nun whispered.

Lucien shrugged casually.

“Never know when someone needs it.”

He didn’t elaborate.

His ring was a smokescreen. The truth of where the food came from was not for anyone else to know.

The blindfolded nun smiled in acknowledgement.

The survivors accepted the supplies with trembling hands.

Hope returned to their eyes… the kind that is born when survival stops being a losing battle.

And because they had seen firsthand how conflict had doomed their nation under Stillness’ wrath, there was not a single spark of hostility in them.

Only gratitude. Only exhaustion. Only relief.

Lucien watched them settle into the shelters.

They could not be brought into the Ruin.

But now… they could live.

•••

The Celestial Race proxy stood silent for a long moment.

His golden eyes traced the sand.

“The place where the soldiers vanished,” he continued, “may very well overlap with the boundary of the Ruin.”

He looked toward the fallen city destroyed by the invasion.

“This war did not simply fail. It was… consumed.”

The others shivered.

He turned toward Lucien and the survivors.

“It is our fortune that we came a day ahead. Their suffering uncovered a clue we would have overlooked amidst the full expedition. Had we come any later… this desert might have greeted us with silence alone.”

The proxy clasped his hands behind his back.

“This information changes the nature of the expedition. The other groups will arrive soon… hours, perhaps half a day. But because we were first… we have time to understand what Stillness punished and what it permits.”

His gaze moved to the woman and her brother.

“They are more than survivors. They are witnesses.”

Just then…

The mortal woman… the princess of this fallen desert nation… stepped forward.

Her brother leaned against her.

“Benefactor,” she said, “I… know where the battle happened.”

Her chest rose with a fierce inhale.

“I will lead you.”

The Celestial Proxy turned to her.

“You’ve just regained safety. Are you certain you wish to go to a dangerous place?”

She looked at the distant dunes.

Her jaw tightened.

“I cannot undo the past,” she said. “But I can guide those who still have a future. If what you seek lies where my people vanished, then my knowledge must serve a purpose.”

Everyone turned.

Arctyx murmured, “Courage born from despair… becomes something unbreakable.”

Even the blindfolded nun placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, acknowledging her resolve.

The other practitioners offered murmurs of respect.

The woman straightened. Her grip tightened around her brother.

“I won’t let this knowledge die,” she whispered. “If my nation has fallen… then let my memory guide you. Let it be useful.”

Lucien gave her a short nod.

“Lead the way. We move at your pace.”

Her eyes steadied and she bowed once.

Marie came beside Lucien, whispering, “She’s strong.”

Lucien hummed. “That’s why she survived.”