100% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full? - Chapter 237

Chapter 237: Chapter 237 – Library of Bound Pages
The air outside the obelisk tightened further, coiling around the dunes like the hushed breath of a sleeping deity. The remaining groups approached the altar one by one.

And among them… was the black-robed faction.

They had not bought plushies.

They had not traded.

They had not even asked.

Yet their leader stood calm as if he already held the key.

His hood dipped slightly as he murmured to himself…

“A slime toy…? Could he be…?!”

A faint glint crossed the man’s hidden eyes… something between suspicion and recognition… before he looked toward the direction where Lucien had vanished.

The black-robed women behind him remained silent. Their presence was eerie yet composed.

“Prepare,” the leader said quietly. “We enter the moment our turn arrives.”

They waited… and watched.

•••

A world unfolded around the Verdant Veil group… A world that made even seasoned practitioners fall still.

Marie’s breath caught.

“This… this isn’t a ruin at all. It’s more like a kingdom.”

She wasn’t exaggerating.

A subterranean city spread before them…

It looks like an underground city of silence, an entire world carved from serenity itself. Pale auroras drifted across the vaulted ceiling like rivers of frozen dawn. Towering pillars of crystallized sand stretched upward like ancient white trees. Moonlit pathways spiraled over luminous waterways. Floating platforms drifted gently, guided by invisible currents.

The silence wasn’t empty.

It was alive—a presence, a pressure, a watchful awareness.

Marie murmured:

“…My Law of Earth responds to this place. We’re deep under the ground… far deeper than anything I’ve sensed before. But Stillness… it blocks any probing. I can’t see past the walls.”

Her words echoed softly, swallowed quickly by the space.

The others tried to probe the walls with their spiritual senses… but their perception struck an unseen barrier and rebounded instantly.

The Law of Stillness woven through the stone rejected all disturbance, allowing no sense to linger upon it.

Lucien glanced at Eirene and noticed something strange.

She wasn’t shocked.

She wasn’t overwhelmed.

She looked… haunted.

As if faint echoes brushed against her skin.

As if the ruin whispered to her in a voice only she could hear.

But she said nothing.

Then… she began walking. Her steps were light. The others followed instinctively, drawn by the certainty in her pace.

Eirene cast a brief look over her shoulder.

“Mind your steps. Follow exactly where I tread and do not touch anything that may provoke disorder.”

As they moved, glowing sigils flickered alive along the walls.

Lucien recognized the structure immediately.

Ancient runes… Much older and more complex than the simplified script used in the modern era.

The same runes inscribed within his magic book.

Eirene traced one symbol with her fingers.

“These are warnings,” she said softly.

Lucien leaned closer, reading the script with ease.

[ Sound is a blade.

Silence is armor.

Make no clamor—

Lest the guardians awaken. ]

Marie gulped.

“Guardians…?”

As if answering her… a side chamber revealed colossal stone maidens, kneeling with veiled faces and spears of crystal.

They are completely still and completely dormant.

Lucien murmured…

“They’re not for show. Cause a disturbance… and they’ll move.”

Eirene’s expression grew solemn.

“Stillness doesn’t issue idle threats.”

•••

Beyond the entry hall, the ruin widened into a labyrinth the size of a city.

Bridges of moonstone spiraled over glowing chasms. Runic walkways rearranged themselves like shifting constellations. Rivers of pale light flowed without sound.

Glowing labels marked the diverging paths.

The Chamber of Lingering Echoes

The Court of Unmoving Stars

The Library of Bound Pages

The Hall of Quiet Footsteps

The Garden Where Breath Sleeps

Each doorway hummed with a different pulse. They knew… different treasures, different dangers.

Each doorway thrummed with its own rhythm. Every path promised treasure… and danger woven in equal measure.

Every gaze shifted to Eirene. They entrusted her completely, waiting for her to choose the path their fate would follow.

Eirene paused. Her eyes narrowing slightly at the faint resonance she alone seemed to feel.

“…Library,” she said.

No one argued.

They followed the path toward the Library of Bound Pages.

The corridor itself was unnervingly serene. Even the faint echoes of their footsteps were swallowed by the stone as if the ruin refused to remember noise.

Marie, normally the loudest, walked with uncharacteristic caution. Her lips were pressed tight as though even breathing too hard might offend the walls.

Soon, the tunnel widened.

Before them stood a grand doorway of pale crystal-sand carved with swirling motifs that resembled migrating dunes frozen mid-flow. Intricate runes twined along its surface like sleeping constellations.

Even untouched, the door seemed to hum with authority.

Eirene approached first.

She placed her palms upon the cool surface… and the “sand doors” rippled.

She pushed.

KRSHHH—

The doors parted like two waves of glass peeling away.

A collective gasp escaped the group as they caught their first glimpse inside.

The moment they stepped inside, the world shifted again.

Shelves of floating tomes drifted in slow orbits.

Scrolls hung suspended in mid-air, bound by threads of moonlight.

Books whispered softly with their ink shifting like living script.

Above the doorway, an ancient runic warning glowed:

[ Take not what you will not read.

For knowledge spurned

Demands its weight in return. ]

Lucien frowned.

“…This is—”

Marie poked him.

“What?”

They got their answer fast.

A practitioner from the group, greedy and excited, reached for two books at once.

“Don’t—!” Eirene warned—

But too late.

THOOOOOM—!!!

The man slammed to his knees.

His body bent as if a mountain had dropped onto his spine. His fingers trembled. His breath wheezed.

The practitioner gasped:

“I—I can’t… move—?!”

The others paled.

“If he were a mortal,” Lucien muttered, “we’d be scraping him off the tiles.”

Another practitioner reached for a scroll—

And instantly lurched, nearly collapsing.

“My—my body…! I can’t feel anything! My sense of touch is gone—!”

Marie crossed his arms in suspicion.

“…You picked it up without the intent to read it, didn’t you?”

Eirene sighed.

“Knowledge must be honored. If you take without intent to understand, the ruin burdens you.”

Marie whispered.

“Imagine picking up ten treasures…”

Lucien sighed.

“They’d carry you out like a pancake.”

A beat.

Eirene stepped forward and guided them to return the tomes and scroll to their rightful shelves.

The moment they did, the crushing weight and numbing penalty vanished.

The two practitioners staggered, shaken… but wiser.

From that point on, everyone moved with caution.

Then Eirene announced firmly:

“No one takes anything unless they plan to read it. We can’t take the books outside. Only knowledge can be taken from this room.”

With the warning acknowledged, everyone spread out.

But then—

Lucien casually picked up two books at once.

The entire group froze.

“Brother Wolf—!!”

But no weight fell on him.

No penalty struck.

He simply opened the books…

…and activated his skills.

Pages flipped at inhuman speed.

Every rune. Every diagram. Every annotation. They were saved into the vault of his mind.

The others stared at him wide-eyed. They thought that he was simply playing.

None of them knew the truth.

His photographic memory and parallel thought skills allowed him to “archive” information like a divine recorder.

He could scroll back to any memory like a saved file in a pc.

Marie smirked…

“Show off.”

…which Lucien ignored.

To him, this knowledge, the legacy of an Eternal… it was too precious to waste. But their time was painfully limited.

So Lucien worked fast.

Minutes passed… pages turned like fluttering wings… and he had already scanned and stored an entire bookshelf.

He turned to Marie, who was wandering curiously among the floating shelves.

“What are you looking for?” Lucien asked.

Marie scanned the aisles with narrowed eyes.

“I haven’t seen the baldy anywhere. It must be because he doesn’t read much.”

Lucien snorted softly.

“Don’t bother with him. Vorren and his partner are probably in another chamber entirely… facing their own fate.”

He paused, lowering his voice.

“Marie, help me record the rest. I have already given you the skills: photographic memory and parallel thoughts, right? Use them. This knowledge will matter. Not just for us, but for the future.”

Marie exhaled in defeat.

“I’m not much of a reader but… fine. I’ll help you.”

She could not read the ancient runes. But with the skills, she could still store the images perfectly for later deciphering.

Together, they worked.

And the others?

They watched the two of them like they were witnessing two demons break the laws of heaven.

Whenever they tried to mimic Lucien and Marie, the penalties hit instantly.

“These two are monsters…” one whispered in horror.

“I can’t even read the scrolls… everything looks like earthworms arguing,” another groaned.

“Sigh… I can recognize a few runes, but comprehension is another world entirely.”

•••

Meanwhile, Outside the Ruins…

One by one:

The Lunareth Sect vanished into a pale-silver vortex.

The Starforge Cartel followed with regal confidence.

The Obsidian Collegium entered after.

Then—

The black-robed group finally stepped forward.

Their leader raised his offering.

A doll… crafted out of Stillness.

Silence crept across the dunes like frost.

Practitioners whispered, terrified and confused…

“What… is that?”

“I can hardly sense anything from it…”

“No… its presence is too faint. That’s… unnerving.”

The altar trembled—

FWUUUUM—

And the ruin accepted the offering.

A white vortex unfurled like a blooming Lotus of Stillness.

The black-robed faction was swallowed.

Gasps rippled through the crowd.

“What?! The portal opened even though the others haven’t offered yet!”

“Is this some kind of cosmic joke?”

“How valuable must that thing be…?”

The leader cast one last look at those left behind as he was drawn in.

“Well… I didn’t expect this to work too. The boss is never wrong, I suppose.”

Then they disappeared into the vortex.

If Lucien and Marie had been present… they would have recognized that doll instantly.