100\% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full?-Chapter 418 - Return

In truth, it had only been a misunderstanding on Seraphine’s part.

The ring Lucien had given her was nothing more than a storage ring filled with useful drops as thanks for the book she had entrusted to him.

Inside were medicine-related drops, seeds of the rare crops from the ruins of Stillness, and even a few recipes he had bought from the system.

And yet...

Lucien could not deny that, for some reason, he had still wanted to tease her.

That part was strange.

He did not dwell on it.

•••

When Lucien opened his eyes again, the world had changed.

The transfer was complete.

Below him lay the linked Waystone Fragment, still faintly glowing where it had anchored his arrival.

The numbers ticked down to zero.

And before him—

People.

Familiar ones.

For a brief instant, it felt as if the entire world had paused.

The farewell from the Liberators had left warmth in his chest.

But this...

This was different.

This was the jolt of return.

Lucien had barely taken in the sight before a figure dashed forward like a streak of white.

"Luuuuucccc!"

Marie.

She launched herself at him without restraint and wrapped him in the fiercest bunny hug he had ever suffered.

Lucien caught her automatically, but the force of it still made him stagger half a step.

"Motherfucker," Marie choked out. Her voice wobbled between laughter and tears. "I thought I wouldn’t see you again! Give back my sadness, huhuhu!"

Lucien blinked, then awkwardly patted her back while she clung to him like a desperate koala.

"I’m back," he said quietly.

Marie only held on tighter.

Then his gaze lifted.

It found Eirene.

Their eyes met.

No words were needed at first.

A few seconds passed in silence, and in that silence, understanding moved cleanly between them.

She gave him a small nod.

Lucien returned it.

All while Marie was still attached to him like some emotionally unstable ornament.

Only then did Lucien finally look at the others.

Sahrin and Khasari were there, both openly teary-eyed. The Desert Folk siblings looked as if they wanted to rush him too, but restrained themselves at the last moment. They settled for bright eyes and genuine smiles, nodding at him with relief they were not even trying to hide.

The members of the Verdant Veil stood nearby as well. They greeted him with visible warmth.

Behind them were the Liberators Astraea had saved earlier.

And among them was Seren, the Serpentile.

They waved at him with surprise and delight mixed together.

Lucien took it all in.

Then his eyes moved toward Astraea.

She was standing there with a strange little smirk on her face.

He had no idea what that expression meant.

Lucien smiled back anyway.

•••

Everyone present knew the situation of the Intercontinental Teleportation Array.

They knew it was broken.

They knew normal travel between continents had become nearly impossible.

So Lucien appearing here directly, was enough to leave most of them stunned.

Among the Liberators, Seren’s eyes lingered on him the longest.

She already knew Lucien was a "true" Liberator.

But every time she learned something new about him, his cheat seemed to grow even more unreasonable.

Her expression made it clear enough.

Lucien, however, was still dealing with the bunny on his torso.

He looked down at Marie, who still refused to let go.

"Hey," he said, not unkindly, "are you planning to stick to me like a gecko all day?"

Marie sniffed and buried her face in his shoulder.

"Wait," she muttered. "I’m still ugly."

Lucien stared.

That answer was so absurd that it almost made him laugh again.

Finally, after wiping her face furiously and doing her best to restore some dignity, Marie let go and stepped back.

Her bright grin returned almost immediately.

"I knew you wouldn’t die so easily."

Lucien shrugged. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

"The story wouldn’t be complete without me," he said.

That earned a laugh from several people nearby.

Marie looked offended for exactly half a second.

Then the others surged in.

Lucien was immediately surrounded.

Questions flew at him one after another.

Is he okay? How did he return? Was it true he had crossed continents alone? Was he injured? Did he get stronger? Did he bring anything strange back?

Marie, who had held the front line of emotional nonsense so bravely, was pushed aside without ceremony.

She stared in disbelief.

Then, instead of getting angry, she just smiled and retreated toward Eirene and Astraea.

Lucien endured the barrage for a while.

Then he raised a hand.

"I’ll answer later," he said. "If I do it now, this whole day will disappear."

That was reasonable enough that the crowd reluctantly loosened.

Lucien took the chance and walked toward Eirene.

He picked up the waystone fragment he had used as his arrival point and placed it into her hand.

"Sister Eirene," he said, "may I speak with you first?"

Eirene smiled.

"Brother Luc," she replied, "I was about to ask the same thing."

Soon, they left the training grounds together.

Behind them, the atmosphere shifted almost immediately.

Marie’s face straightened. Astraea’s smirk disappeared. The way the others obeyed their gestures made it clear at once that both women held some authority in this place.

The gathered groups reorganized.

Postures corrected.

Orders spread quietly.

The lively reunion gave way to structure.

•••

Eirene led him across the territory.

The place was pleasant.

Verdant plains stretched out beneath a wide sky. A stable wind moved through tall grass and young groves. Water channels ran cleanly between districts, and the earth itself felt alive in a healthy, deliberate way.

Lucien found the whole area... comfortable.

There was room here.

Room for growth.

Room for cities.

Room for armies, farms, towers, and roads.

A foundation waiting to be claimed.

"Sister," Lucien asked, glancing around, "is this the Verdant Veil headquarters?"

Eirene shook her head.

"No," she said. "This is the land I promised you."

Lucien looked at her.

"You’ve been here before, actually." Eirene added.

He frowned.

He searched his memory.

Nothing matched.

Even with Photographic Memory, he could not place this landscape.

Seeing his confusion, Eirene chuckled softly.

"This was once the Karesh Desert," she said. "I made... some changes."

Lucien stopped walking.

He turned to look over the plains again.

The Karesh Desert.

That immense wasteland had once been all scorching winds, dead sands, and cracked horizons.

And now...

It was the opposite.

Lucien’s eyes sharpened.

That scale of transformation should have been impossible.

A Floran could reshape land, yes.

But to convert something that vast into a fully livable region...

Even for Eirene, that should have demanded terrifying effort.

Eirene, as if sensing his thoughts, only smiled and handed him a jade slab.

"I made this so the place can be controlled more easily," she said. "You can adjust this territory through it."

Lucien took the slab.

It was warm and responsive.

"And," Eirene added, "I already registered you as the owner long ago."

Lucien blinked.

"This land..." she said gently, "...is yours."

Lucien’s eyes brightened at once.

Now he understood something else.

No wonder the Covenant of Pathless Sovereignty had not demanded extra energy to force entry here.

Entering a sealed space should have required more.

But because the land itself already recognized him as its owner, it had not counted as hostile territory.

He did not know how Eirene had managed that while he was away.

At this point, he did not even bother asking.

He simply stored the jade slab into his inventory.

A whole land.

His own.

The next step was simple.

Get stronger.

Bring his people here.

Build.

•••

But first, he needed answers.

So he and Eirene kept walking as they talked.

The West Continent had changed too.

That much became obvious almost immediately.

The Evershade Exchange was in this continent as well.

And like everywhere else, it had poisoned things quietly and efficiently.

The Verdant Veil Consortium had fractured.

Many of its former business partners had defected to the Exchange.

Some for profit. Some for fear. Some because corruption always found the hollow places in ambitious people.

Eirene did not waste time lamenting it.

"I brought with me the ones who still trusted me," she said simply. "The rest were never truly mine to keep."

Lucien glanced at her.

"And you intend to stay here?"

Eirene nodded.

"I told you before," she chuckled. "I want to be part of the land you build. I have no intention of interfering where I’m not wanted."

Lucien smiled.

"There’s no need to worry about that. It would be fun having you here."

That drew a small, pleased curve from her lips.

Then the conversation darkened.

Eirene began telling him what had happened after his disappearance.

She had not witnessed it herself, but she had heard enough from those who survived.

Marie had been gravely injured in the battle against the Varkhaal Eternal.

If the Celestial Race had not arrived when they did, the group would likely have been wiped out.

Marie herself had fully recovered.

But one of the two Celestial-realm seniors who protected them had not.

He had stayed behind.

Protected them.

Bought time.

And the price had been severe.

The Celestial Race had intended to heal him, but the method required a rare process and medicine they had not yet fully prepared.

Then the continental situation changed.

The Celestial Race was pulled away by more urgent crises.

And the recovery never finished.

Now the senior lay within one of the buildings, growing weaker by the day.

Lucien’s gaze changed.

He remembered.

The two Celestial-realm elders who could have escaped but chose not to.

The ones who stood in front of death because they refused to abandon the younger ones.

Without another word, Lucien reached into his inventory and handed Eirene Seraphine’s book.

Eirene took it automatically.

Then opened it.

Her expression changed almost at once.

Lucien spoke calmly.

"I saw notes in there that match the symptoms you described. It should help."

Eirene’s eyes widened further as she turned a few more pages.

The book did not merely "help."

It altered the situation completely.

Hope, which had been faint and theoretical a moment ago, became tangible.

She looked up at him with glowing eyes.

Lucien said nothing else.

He did not need to.

The book already spoke for him.