100\% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full?-Chapter 403 - Cassian

Lucien pulled the black card from his Inventory.

It glowed faintly. The same reaction it had shown when he showed it to Kaia and the others before.

Lucien rotated it between two fingers and watched the glow deepen, then soften again as if it was testing the wind.

’It is guiding us,’ he thought.

They followed the direction where the glow grew warmer.

They stopped where the barrier’s edge curved over a high ridge.

Lucien looked at Kaia.

"Do you know which Liberator is coming?"

Kaia frowned in thought.

"I have not worked at the East branch. But if the one managing the East is the one answering this call..."

She paused, then snapped her fingers.

"Cassian," she said.

Lucien’s brows rose. "Cassian."

Kaia nodded.

"They call him the East Warden sometimes. He’s a pretty chill guy."

She tilted her head, as if weighing whether to continue, then did anyway.

"He practices the Law of Interval."

Lucien’s eyebrows lifted.

"Is it fine to tell me his Law?"

Kaia elbowed him lightly.

"It is not like you are an outsider."

Lucien accepted the answer with a nod.

They waited.

A minute passed. Then another.

The glow became steadier.

Lucien’s senses stretched outward.

Miles away, a lone presence moved.

A man. Alone.

Lucien watched the line of his movement.

Then another presence approached from behind them.

Anvil-Horn arrived at the ridge, drawn by instinct and senses.

He looked outward, then at Lucien and Kaia.

"Little friends," Anvil-Horn called, "do you know who walks toward our door?"

"Not with certainty," Lucien said. "But someone who may help."

Anvil-Horn’s eyes narrowed slightly.

Lucien watched the distant figure close the gap.

The presence drew closer.

Then the man came into view.

He wore a black robe.

He descended from a ridge and walked toward them at a measured pace, stopping a short distance away.

He clasped his hands and bowed slightly.

"Good day," the man said. His voice was calm, as if he was accustomed to speaking in rooms full of knives. "Would it be acceptable to talk?"

Anvil-Horn went still. His expression shifted. His hand lifted toward the barrier. The ward-light parted.

"Come," Anvil-Horn said. "Come inside."

The man stepped through.

Kaia leaned toward Lucien and whispered, pleased. "It is him indeed."

Lucien’s gaze stayed on the newcomer.

Anvil-Horn moved closer, then angled his head toward Lucien.

He spoke low.

"Remember when I told you someone once warned me of my death," Anvil-Horn said. "It was this man. He is also one of our big clients."

Lucien’s eyes narrowed with understanding.

The man looked at Anvil-Horn for a long moment, and something softened in his eyes.

"I am glad you are alive," he said simply.

Then his gaze shifted, landing on Lucien and Kaia with quiet precision.

"And I came specifically for this brother and this sister."

Anvil-Horn exhaled once. "Hospitality is thin right now."

"It is enough," the man replied. "A forge that still breathes is already generous."

Anvil-Horn gestured toward the rebuilt hall.

"Then speak inside," he said. "Words carry better when stone remembers them."

They moved.

A few Starforge members glanced up as the Liberator passed.

In the meeting chamber, Anvil-Horn left them with a nod.

"I will stand outside," he said, eyes heavy. "So your talk is clean."

He closed the door behind him.

For a moment, the room held a strange silence.

Then the Liberator lowered his hood.

The man’s eyes were youthful, but the look behind his pupils carried weight.

His hair was dark. His skin had the faint pallor of someone who spent more time under wards than under suns.

His smile was genuine, but his gaze never lost its careful edge.

He bowed again, more personally this time.

"My name is Cassian," he said. "I oversee the Liberators’ East branch."

Lucien inclined his head. "Luc."

Kaia lifted her chin slightly. "Kaia."

Cassian’s eyes warmed.

"Thank you," he said.

Lucien blinked. "For what?"

"For moving a line the world insisted could not be moved," Cassian replied. "Our diviner has long foreseen my friend’s death. I could only warn him. I could not change the outcome."

He paused, then exhaled as if letting go of something he had carried too long.

"But you did."

The words were plain, but they landed with weight.

Cassian smiled again, softer.

"Starforge has been fair to us," he continued. "Anvil-Horn sold us Abyssal Core Shards at a price that did not turn mercy into extortion. Those shards have saved lives on our side."

Lucien’s gaze sharpened.

Cassian saw the look and nodded. "Because of you, the board has shifted."

Lucien’s mouth curved faintly. "Uncle Anvil-Horn dying would have been a loss to the world."

Cassian’s eyes flickered with agreement. "It would have been a waste."

He moved his hand and drew something from his Storage Ring.

A small sealed object, like a piece of night condensed into a palm-sized form. It did not radiate aura loudly.

Cassian held it for a moment, then activated it with a simple twist.

The object unfolded into a thin, floating film, like black glass turning into mist, then into a soft veil of pale shimmer.

It drifted toward Lucien and wrapped him gently, as if the air itself had decided to coat him.

Lucien’s posture tightened.

His spirit-mark reacted.

The extinction-grade brand that had been eroding under Nihility suddenly... accelerated.

It was getting unmade faster.

The mark’s edges trembled, then broke apart.

In seconds, the pulse that had been haunting him was gone.

Lucien inhaled sharply.

He looked down at his hands as if expecting to see the absence physically.

Kaia’s eyes widened, then she grinned like a child watching someone cheat the rules properly.

Cassian closed his fingers and the veil collapsed back into the sealed object, which he returned to his storage ring.

"That was... generous of you," Lucien said.

Cassian’s smile did not turn smug.

"It was necessary," he replied. "A brand like that is not only danger. It is a signal. I did not come all this way to let you carry a beacon on your spirit."

Lucien’s eyes narrowed.

Then he asked the question that mattered to his mind.

"How did you find me," Lucien said, "and how did you know it was me who shifted fate?"

Cassian’s expression turned thoughtful.

"I did not know at first," he admitted. "I suspected. The mark confirmed it."

He glanced briefly at Kaia, then back at Lucien.

"Our leader and our diviner narrowed down your location. They said you would be traveling with the sister flame. Her presence is... distinct. That gave us a trail."

Lucien snapped his gaze to Kaia.

Kaia smiled at him with an innocent look that was almost insulting in how innocent it was.

Lucien held her stare for a moment, then slowly exhaled.

He cannot be detected by any form of divination.

’Did she, perhaps...’

His mind tried to build a conspiracy.

Then he remembered Kaia’s personality.

’No... she is far too dumb to be that calculating.’

He let the thought go.

Kaia put a hand to her chest. "You heard that? They can sense my radiance."

Cassian’s lips twitched, but he did not indulge it for long.

He met Lucien’s gaze directly.

"Brother, you just made the extinction-grade Void-Walker step out of the Big World."

He continued.

"His absence gives the East a window," he said. "We intend to use it."

Kaia leaned forward, suddenly attentive.

"We are developing a cure," he said, "for the Evershade Exchange’s flawed drugs and items. The damage is not only addiction. It is structural. Those flaws sink into their existence over time."

Lucien nodded once. He already understood that part.

Cassian’s gaze turned sharper.

"And when we complete it," he said, "the Liberators will stop being a rumor."

A pause.

He looked at both Lucien and Kaia seriously.

"We will reveal evidence," Cassian said. "The chain of events. The hidden hands. The manufactured disasters that keep the continent desperate and obedient."

His voice grew quieter.

"It is not time yet," he said. "But it is soon. When we move, we must move cleanly. If we expose ourselves too early, we die and the truth dies with us."

Lucien’s mind moved quickly.

If the Liberators carried that burden, then Lucien did not need to shoulder the East’s political repair alone.

He could return to the West and pursue his own objectives, while a competent force worked to stabilize the continent.

It was... convenient.

Cassian said, "We do not ask you to believe in our virtue. We want the world to stop bleeding because we also live in it."

Kaia looked excited, as if the idea of the world being "fixed" sounded like a new game board.

Lucien remained more controlled, but his eyes held approval.

Cassian’s expression softened again.

"Brother," he said, and the title sounded natural coming from him, "you are welcome to visit our branch."

He paused, then allowed a faint self-deprecating smile.

"If I may be shameless, I would also ask for your thoughts. If you have any insight about cures, even ideas that seem wrong, we will listen. We are midway there, but the last steps are always cruel."

Lucien leaned back slightly, considering.

"I will come when I can," Lucien said. "I am also interested in your Law-related tomes."

Cassian’s smile returned.

"We have more than a few," he said. "Our archives are not elegant, but they are honest. You may browse as freely as you like."

Lucien’s mouth curved faintly. "Then we will speak again."

Cassian inclined his head. "I look forward to it."

They continued talking for a while.

Cassian answered questions without dodging, and when he could not answer, he admitted it plainly. He spoke like a man who understood that trust was built through precision, not charm.

Lucien found himself impressed.

It was rare to meet someone who was both intelligent and emotionally aware enough to know when to press and when to stop.

Kaia listened too, blinking occasionally like she was hearing certain information for the first time.

Lucien glanced at her.

He sighed inwardly.

’Not all Liberators were equal, I see.’

Eventually Cassian rose.

"I should not stay long," he said. "The East is still watching the wound you helped open. The world is sensitive right now."

Lucien stood as well.

Cassian’s gaze rested on Lucien for a final moment.

"Do not let the world convince you that saving people was a mistake."

Lucien’s expression did not soften.

But something behind his eyes did.

"I won’t," Lucien said.

Cassian nodded once, then pulled up his hood.

When he stepped out, the room felt emptier.

Lucien watched the door for a breath.

Then he exhaled slowly.

The extinction-grade mark was gone.

A window had opened in the East.

And the Liberators were moving.

For the first time in days, Lucien felt something close to relief.

Not because the world was safe.

But because the world finally had more than one hand trying to hold it together.