100% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full? - Chapter 270

Chapter 270: Chapter 270 – Outside
Eirene did not turn away.

She stood before the figure, bathed in that impossible stillness.

Then slowly, she looked back over her shoulder.

Her gaze passed over every member of the Verdant Veil.

It lingered, just a heartbeat longer, on Lucien.

“I will stay here first,” she said.

Her voice was calm.

The words did not sound like a choice made in the moment. They carried the weight of something already decided.

She raised her hand.

Then she stepped closer and met Lucien’s eyes.

“Brother Luc,” she said softly. “Please keep these for me.”

Something flew toward him.

Lucien reacted on instinct, catching them against his chest.

Storage rings. A dozen of them.

He stared down at them as confusion tightened his brow.

“Sister Eirene… what do you mean?” he asked.

She smiled faintly.

“I will return soon,” she said. “You should go first. All of you.”

Her gaze swept over the group once more.

“Thank you,” she added quietly, “for staying with me until this point.”

The words landed strangely.

Like a farewell spoken too gently.

Marie opened her mouth. “Wait—what do you mean go first? We haven’t even—”

Others spoke at once.

“There’s no exit—”

“The portal is gone—”

“We can’t just—”

Then—

Something changed.

Lucien felt weight settle into his palm.

He blinked.

In his hand was a small crystal bottle.

So was Marie’s.

So was everyone else’s.

They looked down together.

Inside each bottle, pale liquid light swirled slowly.

Divine essence.

The same refined energy as the Divine Spring.

No one remembered collecting it.

No one remembered moving.

“They… just appeared,” someone whispered.

As if the ruin itself had placed them on their hands.

Lucien looked up sharply.

Eirene had turned back toward the figure.

She reached out.

Her fingers met its hand.

There was no sound.

But the sanctuary froze.

The divine energy halted. The circulating lines along the dome stopped mid-pulse. The air itself seemed to hold its breath.

Eirene looked back one final time.

Her eyes met theirs, and she nodded once.

“You all go first,” she said.

The moment the words left her lips—

Reality obeyed.

Space folded inward like a page turned by an unseen hand.

The floor vanished. Weight inverted. The sanctuary peeled away as if it had never truly existed.

There was no tunnel, not even a sensation of travel.

One instant—

They stood within the sanctuary.

The next—

They stood beneath an open sky.

Heat crashed down on them. Wind roared.

Sand shifted beneath their boots.

Lucien staggered. Marie swore softly. The others were shocked.

Around them rose the ancient altar.

The desert.

The exterior of the ruins.

They… were back.

Someone turned in a slow circle with disbelief etched across their face.

“We’re… outside?”

Another spun around. “How did we—?”

Lucien’s heart hammered.

He looked back.

There was no sign of Eirene.

“She didn’t come out,” Marie said quietly.

Silence spread.

In Lucien’s hands were the storage rings and the bottles of divine essence.

Proof that it had all been real.

Proof that she had stayed behind.

“…The ruin expelled us,” someone murmured. “With just the leader’s words.”

Lucien exhaled slowly.

He lifted his gaze toward the sealed ruin.

Whatever awaited Eirene in that chamber—

She had chosen to face it alone.

And he knew—

Whatever she returned as…

She would not return the same.

•••

The desert greeted them differently this time.

It was no longer a graveyard of motion. The suffocating pressure had vanished, and the grinding hostility that once pressed against their chests was gone. The wind moved again, carrying sand instead of silence.

They glanced back one last time.

There was nothing.

They could no longer feel the ruins at all. It was as if the Law of Stillness that once dominated this place had receded… withdrawn back to its source.

The group resumed walking.

Their destination lay ahead, to the broken remains of the desert nation where Sahrin and her younger brother, Khasari, waited. They were the mortals Lucien had helped earlier.

No one spoke along the way.

Each of them carried the weight of what they had witnessed and words felt inadequate. The crystal bottles were sealed within their storage rings. A few spirit crystals were released along the way, sacrificed without complaint to make space.

Lucien collected them without hesitation.

The others noticed. Even after everything he had taken, he still had storage to spare.

They were stunned but they chose not to dwell on it.

Less than half an hour passed beneath the open sun.

When the ruined city finally came into view, they felt the shift immediately.

Figures stood among shattered stone and half-buried spires. Some groups rested, others stood alert but none of them were wandering.

They were positioned. Waiting.

The Obsidian Collegium.

The Starforge Cartel.

And—

The black-robed faction.

They were not scattered.

They were waiting.

Specifically… waiting for Lucien.

His gaze hardened but his pace did not slow.

As they approached, dozens of eyes tracked their movement. Recognition spread quickly, and the tension shifted into something sharper. Anticipation.

It was Arctyx who noticed first.

He stepped forward with his senior brothers close behind him.

“…Someone is missing,” he said, eyes scanning the group. “One of you isn’t here.”

Lucien answered without breaking stride.

“She stayed behind.”

They said nothing more.

Arctyx studied their face for a moment then nodded once, accepting the answer as it was.

The Collegium members closed in naturally like companions reuniting after a shared ordeal. Smiles appeared and conversations sparked between them.

The Celestial-realm seniors found themselves speaking easily with the Collegium scholars like old acquaintances rather than strangers now.

Arctyx fell into step beside Lucien and lowered his voice.

“I knew the Floran lady wasn’t simple,” he murmured. “My third eye can pierce souls, laws, and distortions…”

He paused, brow tightening.

“But I couldn’t see through her. Something blocked me completely.”

Lucien glanced at him but said nothing.

Before the conversation could continue, movement stirred to their right.

The black-robed faction approached.

They did not fan out. They did not threaten. Yet space opened for them instinctively, as though everyone present unconsciously agreed not to stand in their way.

Their leader stopped before Lucien.

Up close, the robes were even stranger layers of fabric that seemed to absorb attention rather than reflect it.

The man extended his hand.

In his palm lay a thin black card, smooth as obsidian, etched with a symbol that rearranged itself the longer one looked at it.

Lucien stared.

Then, unexpectedly, he almost laughed.

It looked… like a business card.

He accepted it, faintly amused.

“I would like to speak with you about something important,” the leader said calmly. “But this is not the right place.”

Lucien met his gaze. “When?”

The man’s lips curved into a subtle smile.

“Soon.”

Without another word, the black-robed faction turned and withdrew, melting into the desert like shadows returning to their proper depth.

Arctyx exhaled slowly.

“I still can’t pierce their robes,” he muttered. “But they aren’t anomalies. Their energy has structure. Their laws are… unusual.”

Lucien slipped the card away.

“They’re just a weird bunch.”

Heavy footsteps approached from the opposite side.

The Starforge Cartel advanced in tight formation.

At their head walked Lilith.

Lilith stopped a few steps from them.

Her gaze swept the group once.

Then she frowned.

“…Where’s the flower girl?” she asked.

Lucien met her eyes. “She stayed behind.”

For a brief moment, the Starforge Cartel behind Lilith tensed.

Lilith, however, did not press.

She stared at Lucien for a second longer… then snorted softly and waved a hand.

“Forget it,” she said. “Knowing her, she’ll be fine.”

It was an odd kind of confidence. As if Lilith had already placed Eirene in a category of people who did not simply die when things became complicated.

Lucien felt it then.

That trust was respect.

Lilith’s expression softened. She snapped her fingers once.

A Starforge Cartel member stepped forward and handed her a storage ring. Without ceremony, Lilith passed it to Lucien.

“These are from the Court of Unmoving Stars,” she said plainly. “As promised.”

Lucien caught the ring and smiled.

“Straight to the point, as always.”

He didn’t even bother inspecting it. Someone like Lilith didn’t play games with deals.

They spoke briefly after that. And as the Cartel began to withdraw, Lilith paused, glancing back at him.

“If you ever get tired of working with the flower bitch,” she added casually, “Starforge always has room for you.”

Lucien chuckled, offering a noncommittal nod.