100% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full? - Chapter 268

Chapter 268: Chapter 268 – Altar
Lucien’s breath caught.

The portrait—

It was familiar.

The face itself was indistinct as though the details refused to settle in the eye. And yet Lucien knew it with absolute certainty.

He had seen that presence before mutiple times in the Mural World.

The man without a face.

“…The Human Ancestor,” Lucien whispered.

His throat tightened.

And it does not look like an altar of reverence.

It was mourning.

The realization made his heart race.

The Eternal of Stillness.

The Human Ancestor.

‘What kind of bond could exist between them?’

Beside him, Eirene inhaled sharply then coughed, as if the air itself had turned heavy.

She turned her face away.

“…Sigh.”

Lucien’s gaze lowered to the altar itself.

And then he saw it.

Resting beside the framed image was…

A fossil.

It was placed carefully as though it were an offering.

Lucien activated INSPECT.

And his heart nearly stopped.

[ Dragon Progenitor Fossil ]

Lucien swallowed hard.

The energy radiating from it…

The resonance. The pressure. The calling.

It was identical.

The same presence as the ancient slime fossil that had granted him Slime Beast Mode.

His hand trembled.

“This…” he murmured, voice barely steady.

Lucien exhaled slowly, forcing himself to remain still.

At last—

He had found something here that eclipsed everything else.

Something he wanted to get at any cost.

On the opposite side of the fossil, a lantern burned.

Its flame did not flicker. It did not smoke. It did not consume fuel.

It simply existed.

A soft, pale-gold light spilled outward.

Eirene turned instantly.

Her eyes widened.

“…That lantern,” she said, breath catching.

She swallowed.

“The Vigil of Unending Dusk,” she whispered.

Lucien listened carefully as she spoke, sensing the weight in her voice.

“It illuminates truth without exposing it,” Eirene continued softly. “It protects the soul during passage. It guides… but never commands.”

Lucien looked between the fossil, the lantern, and the altar.

Eirene straightened abruptly.

“Let’s stay here for a while,” she said quietly.

The Verdant Veil members nodded at once. No one questioned her.

Lucien nodded as well.

Moments later, Marie arrived, practically glowing.

“You are not going to believe how much I—oh.”

She stopped short when she saw their expressions.

“…Found something better, didn’t you?”

Lucien didn’t answer.

Time passed.

Slowly.

The outer layers of the treasury emptied as factions prepared to depart.

At last, the Celestial Race proxies spoke.

“The exit will collapse soon,” one announced calmly. “Those who remain past that moment can not leave this place.”

A pause.

“The northern path remains inaccessible. All traversal attempts loop back. Light cannot persist there.”

They exchanged glances.

“The only exit,” the second proxy concluded, “is the portal created by the Red Dragon.”

Murmurs rippled through the chamber.

Reluctant acceptance followed. Those nearest began to move.

One by one, they departed.

Through the prison path. Through the rift.

But—

The Verdant Veil remained.

The Celestial Race proxies approached them.

“You should leave with us,” one said evenly.

Eirene shook her head.

“We will go last.”

Lucien met their gaze.

They studied him for a moment.

“Take care of them, brother,” the proxy said, mistaking Lucien for one of their own.

With that, they turned and departed.

The factions vanished and the voices faded.

And soon—

Only the Verdant Veil remained.

For a long moment, no one spoke.

The Verdant Veil stood amid the quiet aftermath, surrounded by relics older than nations, beneath magic circles that had outlived entire eras.

The air felt… attentive as if the chamber itself were aware that only a handful remained.

It was Eirene who moved first.

She stepped forward slowly. Her gaze never left the altar and the layered magic circles surrounding it.

“Please stay here,” she said calmly. “Do not follow yet.”

The others exchanged glances.

“The magic circles here are not passive,” Eirene continued. “They will react to the wrong presence. I will go first.”

No one argued.

Even Lucien felt it. The pressure pressed against his senses whenever his eyes traced the denser inner layers of the array. This was not hostility but judgment. A system that did not forgive ignorance.

“We’ll wait,” Lucien said quietly.

Marie nodded. The others followed suit, instinctively stepping back as Eirene advanced alone.

She took only a few steps—

And then Lucien understood why she was calm.

The five keys they had obtained earlier lifted from Eirene’s robe on their own.

They hovered around her.

Light blossomed.

The keys rotated slowly, tracing a complex pattern in the air, and a translucent barrier formed around Eirene’s body. It shimmered like layered glass and moonlight. Each facet hummed in resonance with the ancient array beneath their feet.

The magic circles reacted.

But not with rejection.

They… acknowledged her.

Runes dimmed as she passed. Pressure receded. Lethal geometries folded inward, making way as if recognizing authority long dormant.

She soon reached the altar without resistance.

Her hands trembled. Not with fear, but with care.

She lifted the framed portrait first.

The image of the Human Ancestor.

Eirene handled it as though it were fragile beyond reason. From her storage ring, she drew out a preservation sheet and wrapped the frame completely before storing it away.

Only then did she turn to the offerings.

The fossil.

The lantern.

She lifted the Dragon Progenitor Fossil with both hands.

For an instant, the air trembled.

Then she took the lantern, the Vigil of Unending Dusk.

When she returned, the barrier dissolved and the keys drifted back into her robe.

The first thing Eirene did was hold out the fossil.

“To you,” she said simply.

Lucien froze.

“…Are you sure?” he asked though his eyes already betrayed him.

Eirene nodded with a faint smile touching her lips.

“This one chose you the moment you looked at it.”

Lucien accepted it.

The moment his fingers closed around the fossil, something deep within him stirred. His grin was unrestrained.

“Thank you,” he said quietly.

Their eyes met. Understanding passed between them.

Then Eirene turned.

“Follow me,” she said. “We leave now.”

She led them out of the chamber until once more they stood at the crossroads.

The familiar split lay before them.

Right — the prison path.

Left — the treasury they had emptied.

And then…

North — the path of pure darkness.

A corridor of absolute black where light could not survive. Even Lucien’s perception thinned there as though reality itself had chosen to withhold information.

Eirene raised the Vigil of Unending Dusk.

The lantern’s light spread. Not outward… but forward.

The darkness did not retreat. It parted.

A narrow path revealed itself, just wide enough for passage.

“Stay close,” Eirene said. “This light does not reveal everything. Only what we are meant to see.”

They stepped forward.

Behind them, the crossroads vanished.

Ahead, the darkness breathed.

There are no walls, no ceiling, and no floor that could be fully seen… only the lantern’s guidance, carving certainty from void.

Shadows shifted at the edge of vision.

The Vigil burned steadily as they moved deeper, walking toward whatever ending the darkness had been guarding all along.

And somewhere behind them—

The portal leading outside began to close.

•••

The Verdant Veil understood it instinctively.

This darkness was not empty. It was selective.

There was no wind, no echo, and no sense of depth. Only the steady glow of the Vigil of Unending Dusk cut a narrow certainty through nothingness.

They all felt it.

If someone stepped beyond the lantern’s reach, there would be no ground to catch them. No space to scream into. No direction to return from.

They wouldn’t die quickly. They would drift.

Lost in a place without distance, without time, until mind unraveled before body ever could.

Decay without death.

That was the punishment for misstep.

So they stayed close.

Every Verdant Veil member matched Eirene’s pace precisely. No one rushed. No one lagged..

Behind them, unease stirred.

Someone finally voiced it.

“The portal,” one of the Veil murmured. “It’s gone, isn’t it?”

Still, no one looked back.

Eirene didn’t stop walking.

Her voice was calm.

“An Eternal would never create a path with no conclusion,” she said. “That would be cruelty.”

She lifted the lantern slightly.

“This place is not a trap,” she continued. “As long as we move forward, the path will open itself.”

They continued.

Time lost meaning here.

Minutes might have passed.

Or hours.

At some point, the darkness changed.

It thickened.

Then—

The lantern’s light stretched farther than before.

The void ahead… opened.

They stepped out of the nothing.

And stopped.

Before them stood a gate. Not a door but a threshold.

It was colossal. Its presence was undeniable and pressure rolled from it in waves.

Set into the surface of the gate were recesses.

Holes.

Their shapes were unmistakably familiar, etched with intent as though the gate itself was waiting to be completed.

Lucien’s gaze dropped to Eirene.

The realization struck at once.

Those recesses… matched perfectly.

Each cavity mirrored the form of the five keys they had obtained. They have the same curvature and the same proportions.

The five keys Eirene now held were not just access.

They were the final piece of the image.