100% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full? - Chapter 252

Chapter 252: Chapter 252 – Other Side
The abyss whispered beneath the ruined archway. Its darkness shifted like a living throat waiting to swallow anything foolish enough to enter.

Lucien stood beside the gathered factions, gazing into the fathomless void. Before he could risk any plan, he needed one final confirmation.

He turned.

“Marie, did you try making an earth bridge?”

Marie shook her head in a grimace.

“I did. It lasted only a second. The moment it formed, something… ate it?”

Lucien nodded, unsurprised.

“Thought so.”

He crouched down.

He plucked a pebble from the ground and then… he flicked it into the darkness.

The abyss did not echo.

The pebble vanished as if something erased it from existence.

Lucien’s eyes narrowed.

He picked another pebble. He channeled more strength into his arm and hurled it at incredible speed.

For a single heartbeat, the pebble streaked like a comet.

Then—

Gulp.

It vanished again… but not instantly.

There was a sliver of delay. A fraction of a second before whatever lurked below devoured it.

Lucien’s gaze sharpened.

‘So that’s it.’

It was not erasure, also not spatial collapse.

There might be predators moving through the abyss like unseen serpents, devouring anything they reached.

But even predators had limits.

They were not unstoppable.

They were simply fast.

The others watched, confused, until Lucien finally spoke.

“We don’t need to defeat what’s down there.”

He pointed across the void.

“We only need to outrun it.”

Eirene exhaled sharply.

“Speed… enough to outrun the abyss itself?”

Raven swallowed.

“Brother Wolf, how fast is that supposed to be?”

Lucien didn’t answer.

He simply turned to Marie.

Marie blinked.

“…Why are you looking at me like I’m some kind of engine?”

Lucien’s lips curved.

With Marie aboard, anything became faster. Her aura harmonized with machinery, amplifying efficiency and sharpening maneuverability. With her handling his vehicles…

His heartbeat quickened.

“…Fast enough,” he murmured.

Then he lifted his hand.

Space rippled—

From it emerged a sleek construct. A vessel that hummed with dimensional tension.

VOIDCRAFT.

Every faction froze.

The Scarlet Sect disciples stumbled back in shock.

The Sskavyrn warriors gripped their spears.

Eirene’s eyes widened in awe.

“That material… it’s Void Alloy. This can traverse space-time fractures.”

Marie’s eyes practically sparkled.

“Luc! Isn’t that the fast one?!”

But the others…

Their expressions screamed:

‘How did that fit in his storage ring?’

‘Why does he even have a void ship with him?’

‘What kind of person carries this casually?!’

Lucien coughed politely.

“it’s a… Family heirloom. And the fastest vehicle I own. Should be enough to cross the abyss. Probably.”

Silence.

Everyone stared.

Lucien continued calmly as though offering a ferry service.

“I’ll take you all across. But Voidcraft runs on fuel… and fuel is expensive.”

No one complained. They’d be insane to.

A space-traversing vehicle appearing on command?

Of course it needed rare materials.

Everyone accepted it instantly.

The Scarlet Sect stepped forward first.

Their Senior Sister presented a glowing red token.

“A Scarlet Sect pledge token,” she declared. “You can present this on our grounds. Our sect will repay you with whatever reward you request.”

Raven bowed deeply.

“And I owe you my life, Brother Wolf. Our sect will honor that debt. You’ll have our sect’s backing in the future.”

Lucien accepted the token with a warm smile.

‘A sect’s backing… not bad at all.’

Next, the Sskavyrn duo approached.

They opened a jade box to reveal a shimmering, coiled scale.

“This is our Ancestor’s Scale,” one explained. “it’s a sacred forging material. Worthy of a warrior of your caliber.”

Lucien’s brows lifted. “A valuable gesture. I accept.”

Then…. the black-robed faction approached.

The robed leader raised a crystalline key formed of intersecting soundwaves. The air around it quivered, humming with resonance.

Lucien’s eyes narrowed.

Eirene eyes turned sharp.

The man nodded.

“Yes. You recognize it. The Key of Resonance. We acquired it in the Chamber of Lingering Echoes.”

“You cleared that chamber already?!” Eirene asked.

The robed leader shrugged with effortless arrogance.

“Resonant traps mean little to those who understand resonance. And… the echoes could not touch us.”

He studied the key for a moment.

“I have no use for it. You, however… do.”

He offered it.

Lucien accepted… then placed it immediately into Eirene’s trembling hands.

“Yours.”

Her smile nearly burst from her face.

Lucien added casually,

“And our group rides free, of course.”

Marie leaned toward Eirene and whispered,

“He sometimes gives away expensive items casually. Don’t think too hard about it. He’s that weird.”

•••

Lucien clapped once.

“Boarding starts now.”

The Voidcraft’s hatch unfolded with a resonant hum.

It fit five comfortably, more if everyone stood tightly. After all, comfort wasn’t the goal today.

The Scarlet Sect boarded first, visibly nervous.

Marie slid into the pilot seat with predatory excitement.

Raven hesitated.

“Sister Wolf… you know how to drive this, right?”

Marie flashed him a grin sharp enough to cut metal.

“Oh, sweetie… I was born to drive things that shouldn’t legally exist.”

Lucien stood outside and signaled.

“Straight line, Marie.”

She saluted.

And—

FWSSSH—!!!

The Voidcraft vanished in a streak of void-light.

It reappeared on the opposite cliff almost instantly.

The Scarlet Sect tumbled out, stunned.

“W–We’re alive!”

“That wasn’t movement… that was speed teleportation—!”

Marie returned at the same terrifying velocity.

She leaned out the hatch.

“Send the next batch!”

•••

Trip after trip, the Voidcraft bolted across the abyss. A streak of impossible speed sliced through darkness.

Sskavyrn warriors—

Delivered safely.

Verdant Veil—

Landed without a scratch.

Black-robed faction—

Glided out with eerie grace.

Finally, only Lucien, Marie, and Eirene remained.

Lucien patted the Voidcraft.

“Good job.”

Marie beamed. “Always.”

When they landed at the platform, all factions stared at Lucien with a mix of awe and exhausted disbelief.

Lucien dusted his hands.

“Well,” he said cheerfully, “transportation service complete. Onward?”

Eirene exhaled. Her eyes were half-lidded in resignation.

“You are… truly absurd.”

Marie clung to his arm proudly.

“He’s our absurd.”

From behind them, the robed leader muttered something only he could hear…

“…Show-off.”

Lucien only smiled.

The abyss was conquered.

And their next destination awaited.

•••

The factions started moving out.

After a while, they were standing again at the entrance of the Garden Where Breath Sleeps where the mimic garden filled with constructs shaped from Stillness and Breath was.

Marble paths. Silent statues. Illusory trees that never rustled.

Exactly the place they had first entered.

But now…

It was crowded.

Far too crowded.

Dozens… no, hundreds… of practitioners crammed the entrance platform. Different sect robes, clan markings, unaffiliated wanderers. Even squads that should have been scattered throughout the ruin were suddenly converged here.

Marie’s jaw dropped.

“Uh… Luc? Isn’t there a ten minute mark before entry? How are there many people here already? Not much time had passed.”

Lucien’s eyes narrowed.

Among the crowd were people he didn’t sell his Slime Plushie to.

It’s a bad sign.

Eirene’s frown deepened.

“There shouldn’t be more than twenty factions at this time. Something’s wrong.”

And everyone else clearly felt the same.

Just then…

The moment Lucien’s group appeared, conversations stopped. Heads whipped around and whispers rippled like startled birds.

Someone shouted:

“—They came from the other side!?”

“How—how did they cross the abyss!?”

Another voice trembled.

“Everyone who tried earlier… died!”

Lucien raised a brow.

That explained the tense crowd.

He stepped forward and a cluster of nervous practitioners hurried up to him.

One man pointed shakily back at the archway:

“How did you appear from the other side? We saw only an abyss! A few people tried to jump it… and… and the darkness ate them.”

He swallowed hard.

Marie shivered.

“There is nothing on the other side,” Lucien said firmly. “We barely survived.”

His tone wasn’t exaggerated. There was nothing left on the far side anymore.

The crowd stirred uneasily.

Some frowned as if doubting him. Others paled, remembering the way the abyss had eaten everyone who crossed it earlier.

Yet none of them dared approach the darkness again.

Lucien folded his arms.

“Please explain something to me. Why are there already so many people here? This number shouldn’t be possible with the ten-minute entry interval.”

That question froze the nearest practitioner.

He swallowed, then told Lucien what had occurred earlier.

About the Nephralis Sect forcing their way into the Ruin, enraging the desert itself.

Then Varkhaal entered immediately after, breaking the ten-minute interval rule.

And once those two shattered the order of entry, others panicked and rushed in as well, desperate to gamble on the unstable gateway.

“The ruin— it… it changed. We were all sucked inside at once.”

He gestured helplessly at the crowd.

“Everyone was pulled in.”

Lucien’s brows lowered slightly.

“So the ruin turned hostile.”

“Hostile?” the practitioner laughed weakly. “No—violent. Chaotic. Nothing like the Stillness Ruin we thought of. Some people even died before they even understood what was happening.”

Beside him, another practitioner added in a hollow voice.

“We ran here because we thought this zone would be safe. But there is nothing valuable in this garden… just constructs and empty scenery.”

Lucien exchanged looks with Eirene, Marie, and the others.

“So that’s why the protective mechanism triggered earlier…” Eirene murmured. “The ruin reacted.”

Marie crossed her arms with a scowl.

“I knew they were up to no good. Evil sects always ruin everything.”

Her mutter earned a few bitter nods from nearby survivors.

What once was a realm of Stillness had inverted.

Stillness had become instability.

Breath had become hostility.

And ancient ruins, when threatened, did what ancient ruins always did:

They tried to kill every living thing inside them.

Lucien let out a slow breath.

“Good,” he said quietly. “Then at least we know what we’re dealing with.”

Their ordeal wasn’t over.

Somehow…

It was just the beginning.