100% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full? - Chapter 300

Chapter 300: Chapter 300 – Experiment
Lucien descended deeper.

The mine did not narrow.

It opened.

What spread beneath the mountain was not a tunnel network but an underground world carved with intention. The ceiling arched overhead like a buried sky, supported by natural pillars.

There was no darkness here.

The walls emitted light in layered hues like flowing auroras frozen in stone. The air was clean. The temperature was stable. Even sound seemed softened, absorbed by the mineral-rich surfaces.

It reminded Lucien of dungeons.

This was no mere mine.

It was a sanctuary for refinement.

And that made it worse.

At the upper tier of the cavern, Lucien saw them.

Dozens of chambers were carved into the surrounding walls. Some were sealed. Others were open, revealing Alloykins seated within. Their bodies were half-submerged in glowing mineral matrices as they refined and absorbed Astrafer directly into their forms.

This was where they trained. Where they perfected synchronization in isolation, far from interference and competition. They practiced here in silence.

Lucien understood immediately.

They were hiding their growth. Just as he had done with his tamed monsters.

They were patient and methodical.

There was no way back to the Big World until the Celestial and Eternal practitioners returned. That meant years. Possibly decades. With nothing to do but refine, synchronize, and advance.

When they returned, they would not return as they left.

Lucien had already tested Astrafer bodies firsthand.

Even an Ascendant Alloykin could withstand blows that would cripple ordinary Celestial Realm practitioners. Their synchronization erased the usual weaknesses.

‘If thousands of such beings returned at once…’

He exhaled and forced the future out of his mind.

Lucien’s jaw tightened.

Then he looked down.

A wide staircase spiraled deeper into the earth. Each level descended into broader platforms, each one more heavily guarded than the last.

Below the training chambers were more rooms.

These were not refinement halls.

They were occupied.

Lucien’s senses expanded.

He saw Lithrens.

Dozens of them were being herded into enclosed facilities by Alloykin overseers. The chambers were clean, well-lit, and meticulously controlled. Too controlled.

Lucien recognized the design from the elders’ records immediately.

Breeding facilities.

The Alloykins had optimized everything.

Pure Lithren bloodlines were more stable during Astrafer extraction. Fewer collapses, higher yield, and better resonance. So they did not dilute it.

They forced Lithrens to reproduce only among themselves, tracking lineage, compatibility, and output like variables in a formula.

Lucien heard voices.

“…this line produces better resonance,” one Alloykin said casually. “The offspring stabilize faster.”

“Keep them separated,” another replied. “No unnecessary bonding. It lowers compliance.”

A third laughed.

“They live longer than most mortals anyway. We are doing them a favor. Purpose is better than freedom.”

Lucien stopped walking.

His hands clenched.

He watched as a group of Lithrens were pushed into a chamber. The door sealed behind them with a soft, final sound. There was no violence in the moment. No screaming.

That made it worse.

This was routine.

This was policy.

Lucien felt something cold and sharp settle behind his eyes.

His aura stirred.

The light along the walls flickered subtly as pressure bled into the space. The pleasant glow dimmed by a fraction, as if the mine itself sensed the shift.

Lucien exhaled slowly.

‘So this was the truth beneath the beauty.’

A paradise of refinement built on controlled birth, stolen labor, and generational captivity.

His eyes gleamed dangerously.

“They will not leave this place,” he said quietly.

The words were not a threat.

They were a conclusion.

Lucien stepped forward.

He began at the upper tier.

When he stepped into one of the refinement chambers, the reaction was immediate.

Several Alloykins looked up from their matrices. Their Astrafer bodies shimmered softly as synchronization cycles paused. Seeing Lucien in Alloykin form, they relaxed.

“Senior,” one greeted.

Others followed. Some inclined their heads, others offered casual acknowledgment. None sensed danger yet.

Lucien did not return the greeting.

He looked at them.

There were hundreds in this single chamber alone. Practitioners ranging from Metamorphosis Realm to the lower stages of the Ascendant Realm.

Some were refining. Some were sparring. Others were resting, confident in the safety of this hidden world.

That confidence lasted less than a heartbeat.

Lucien lifted his hands.

He activated Dominion Circle.

At his fingertips, magic circles bloomed instantly. Each circle carried a different pattern and a different axis of authority. Some revolved. Others inverted. A few pulsed with restrained stillness.

The magic circles shot forward, rearranging themselves mid-air with perfect precision. They interlocked seamlessly as they snapped into alignment like pieces of a completed theorem.

A formation array was born.

Instantly.

The chamber dimmed.

Light froze in place. The air stilled. Space hardened.

A translucent boundary spread outward, sealing the chamber completely.

This was the Stillness Tribunal Array, a formation derived from the records of the Eternal of Stillness.

Within its bounds, sound could not escape, vibration could not propagate, and spatial deviation was judged instantly. Any attempt to force movement outside permitted parameters triggered absolute restraint.

Inside this formation, motion was no longer a right.

It was a privilege.

The Alloykins felt it at once.

Those who tried to stand froze mid-motion. Those who attempted to release aura found it compressed back into their bodies. Even blinking felt sluggish as if the world itself was watching.

Fear spread.

The “senior” they had greeted was wrong. His killing intent saturated the chamber.

One Alloykin attempted to shout for help.

But—

No sound came.

Another tried to force his domain open.

Nothing happened.

Space did not answer him.

Lucien stepped forward.

“It is time to experiment,” he said calmly. His voice carried perfectly within the formation. “I intend to understand the weaknesses of Astrafer bodies before facing Celestial and Eternal practitioners who possess them.”

The Alloykins’ eyes widened.

Some struggled harder. Others froze completely as dread hollowed their expressions.

They tried to scream…

They could not.

Lucien walked.

Each step echoed unnaturally loud in the still chamber. His expression was composed, detached, and focused. There was no hatred in his eyes. Only intent.

He stopped before the nearest Alloykin.

A Metamorphosis Realm practitioner.

The Alloykin trembled. His eyes darted wildly as Lucien raised one hand.

Lucien began.

He burned a section of Astrafer flesh with controlled flame enforced with the Law of Fire.

Not enough to kill. Just enough to observe.

The metal glowed, then dimmed.

The damage spread evenly through the body, redistributed perfectly.

But still—

The Alloykin convulsed violently. Lucien had not finished the experiment when death claimed him.

Lucien raised an eyebrow.

“So fragile,” he said calmly. “I will need someone with a stronger body.”

The words struck the Ascendant Realm Alloykins like a physical blow.

Several of them stiffened. Others recoiled instinctively as dread flashed through their eyes.

Lucien’s gaze shifted.

It settled on the nearest Ascendant.

He inclined his head once.

“Very well,” he said. “Let us continue.”

Then he stepped forward.

And began the next experiment.

He severed a joint with a precise cut.

The Astrafer Body responded instantly, shifting load and reinforcing adjacent structures. Mobility decreased uniformly instead of failing catastrophically.

“Damage diffusion,” Lucien murmured. “No stress concentration.”

He rotated the limb and struck again, changing angles, pressure, and timing.

The result was the same.

The Alloykin’s face twisted in agony. His body shook but he could not scream. His eyes begged.

Lucien was unmoved.

He altered tactics.

He introduced vibration. Then cold. Then layered elemental opposition. He pierced internal structures. He applied rotational force meant to shear synchronized systems apart.

Nothing localized.

Everything spread.

The Alloykin died not because a weakness was found, but because his body reached its tolerance limit under Lucien’s overwhelming force.

Lucien released him.

The corpse collapsed soundlessly.

The remaining Alloykins watched in absolute terror.

Some were furious, their eyes burning with indignation. Others were pale, realization finally sinking in.

They were not being fought.

They were being studied.

Lucien moved to the next.

And the next.

Each test was different.

He compressed space around one body. He inverted gravity for another. He disrupted mana flow. He attempted resonance interference. He tested synchronization lag under rapid transformation.

The result never changed.

Astrafer bodies were frighteningly complete.

Their only true weakness was force that exceeded their ability to distribute it.

Lucien straightened.

“So,” he said quietly, “perfection through uniformity.”

He glanced across the chamber.

The Alloykins were shaking now. Some struggled uselessly against stillness. Others closed their eyes, refusing to watch as their kin were dismantled piece by piece.

None could escape.

None could intervene.

Every second was unbearable… because any one of them could be next.

Lucien did not hurry.

Judgment did not rush.

By the time he stopped, the floor was littered with cube drops and still bodies.

Lucien exhaled.

“So far,” he concluded, “Astrafer has no exploitable internal flaw. Only external superiority breaks it.”

He lifted his gaze.

“No,” he continued quietly. “I refuse to believe that anything can be this perfect. Every system has a limit and every structure has a weakness.”

He paused…

“I simply have not found it yet.”

The Stillness Tribunal Array pulsed once.

Then tightened.

The chamber’s fate was sealed.

…

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