100\% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full?-Chapter 438 - Lending a Hand

A day later, Shadow received the answer.

And for the first time since arriving in Lootwell, the black-robed leader truly lost composure.

"The ingredients are ready," Lucien said.

Shadow stared at him.

For several breaths, he said nothing at all.

Then, very carefully, he asked, "Ready... as in prepared to begin cultivation?"

Lucien shook his head once.

"Ready as in already produced."

Shadow’s expression did not change.

That somehow made the silence even louder.

Lucien reached into his storage and placed a storage ring on the table between them.

"See for yourself."

Shadow took it, sent his senses inside, and froze.

The ring was full.

It was packed with matured hybrid ingredients prepared to become medicine.

His fingers tightened around the ring.

"This is impossible," he said at last.

Lucien only looked at him.

"No," he said. "It is just fast."

Then he added, almost as an afterthought, "And that is only the first batch."

Shadow slowly lifted his head.

Lucien continued, "My friends are still working. Every minute, more ingredients are ripening."

Shadow did not try to preserve his mystique anymore.

He looked offended on behalf of normal agriculture.

•••

Lucien had already decided he would see the matter through to the end.

Supplying raw ingredients alone was not enough for him.

If he was going to help, then he would help properly.

He had already spoken to Eirene the previous night.

The Verdant Ark had always excelled in the creation of medicines, tonics, restoratives, and all kinds of pills.

Eirene herself was highly skilled at it, and her subordinates were no less proficient.

When Lucien told Shadow that Lootwell would assist not only in ingredient cultivation but in cure production itself, the black-robed leader visibly relaxed.

That did more for Lucien’s understanding than any spoken gratitude would have.

Shadow needed this badly.

Shadow handed him another parchment.

"This is the step-by-step refinement process for the cure," he said.

Lucien accepted it calmly.

He did not need to study it closely.

He was one of the reasons the cure existed after all.

He and Seraphine had discovered its truth together. If anyone in the Big World could replicate it from memory, it was him.

The thought of Seraphine passed through his mind.

Lucien did not ask about her.

He already knew what sort of answer he would receive.

She was likely alive, buried in some laboratory, dissecting another problem until it surrendered.

Lucien exhaled quietly and let the thought pass.

•••

The truth behind Lucien’s decision to help until the end was simple.

While he thought about how to bypass the unknown presence standing somewhere between him and his small world, he had already decided to do something else with the waiting time.

Lucien did not want to bring his people out into a continent still infested with obvious poison.

So...

He would help cleanse the West first.

Enough that when he finally brought his people here, they would not have to step into a continent where the Exchange still controlled survival at the throat.

That alone made the decision worthwhile.

There was another reason too.

A few days earlier, Luke and Cienna had come to him with a request.

They wanted to go out.

They wanted to roam the world.

Lucien had refused immediately.

Luke and Cienna had both expected that.

That had not stopped them from continuing.

Luke practiced the Law of Skills. Cienna practiced the Law of Magic.

Neither of those Laws could fully mature through isolated training alone. They were broad, living frameworks. They demanded use, variation, experimentation, and contact with countless forms of knowledge.

Skills had to be tested, combined, broken down, rebuilt, and measured against the skills of others.

To understand the Law of Skills deeply, Luke needed to witness different systems, absorb foreign methods, and refine his own through success and failure. That law would not deepen merely by repetition. It required contrast.

Magic was no better.

For Cienna, the Law of Magic was not a single force but a world of structures. Spells, attributes, casting forms, symbolic systems, environmental interactions, old traditions, and regional variations all fed into true understanding.

If she stayed inside safety forever, then her law would remain technically impressive but conceptually narrow.

To master such a Law, she needed the world.

Lucien understood all of that.

Which only made the refusal more difficult.

He did not want them dead.

That was the problem.

If possible, he would rather keep them sealed safely inside him until the world itself became polite.

Luke had laughed when Lucien said no.

Cienna had only given him that quiet, knowing look of hers that somehow made him feel even more unreasonable.

In the end, they reached an agreement.

Once both of them entered Ascendance, they would be allowed to leave and walk their own path.

Until then, they would wait.

Lucien still did not know how he felt about that.

He could not help thinking that the roles had somehow reversed.

It was usually the parent forbidding the child from going outside.

And somehow, despite everything he had survived, he had become exactly that kind of overprotective fool.

He did not apologize for it.

Not yet.

So yes, helping the Liberators now fit well into his plans.

If the West stabilized, then future movement for Luke, Cienna, and many others would become less suicidal.

Lucien had also already decided that once this initial burden was handled, he would go to the Middle Continent.

He wanted to see Virel and Aniel.

He had not forgotten them.

He could only hope they were still doing well.

Shadow had mentioned that the Celestial Race and the Liberators had dealings.

However, when the Celestial dominion sealed its gates and raised its defensive barriers, the Liberators lost all contact with them.

That only gave Lucien more reason to go.

As for Shadow, gaining Lucien’s help changed everything.

He understood that almost immediately.

The headquarters had been right again.

The leader had said the West would not collapse.

The diviner had said the path would open.

Shadow had believed in both of them, but belief was one thing and visibility was another. Until now, the West branch had been surviving through strain, improvisation, and stubbornness. It had the fewest Liberators, the weakest supply line, and the least room for error.

He had not known what "success" would actually look like.

Now he did.

It looked like Lucien reading the cure documents once and solving the production problem in a day.

It looked like a territory that could grow enough medicine in hours to feed a rebellion.

It looked like impossible infrastructure becoming ordinary through repeated exposure.

Shadow found himself watching Lucien in silence for a while.

The future had not become safe.

But for the first time, it had become visible.

Then Lucien brought up something else.

"I want to introduce you to someone," he said.

Shadow looked at him.

"Someone who can improve your puppets."

That immediately made Shadow’s eyes narrow.

"Absolutely not."

Lucien blinked once.

Shadow’s refusal came so quickly and so firmly that it carried the force of long-formed paranoia.

"I do not like other men touching my puppets," he said.

Lucien looked at him for a second.

Then, very calmly, he said, "You can trust him. His name is Rurik. His passion is building. He can make your companions more durable, more flexible, and far closer to perfection than they are now. He has no improper thoughts."

Shadow still hesitated.

Lucien could see it clearly.

So he pushed, just a little.

"It could not be," Lucien said slowly as if arriving at the thought with reluctance. "Do you actually... "do it" with your puppets?"

Shadow’s eyes widened so violently that, for a brief moment, even his puppets twitched.

"You," Shadow said, scandalized beyond dignity, "that is vulgar."

Then the rest came out at terrifying speed.

"I never thought you would be that sort of man. Even in a world as chaotic as this, there should still be lines that are not crossed. One must carry themselves with dignity, with restraint, and with a sense of propriety befitting their standing. May the heavens forgive you for even entertaining such thoughts. I tried it once and it was painful because their materials were too stiff. That aside, such matters are beneath serious discussion. We walk the path of higher purpose, not indulgence. Do not ask such things again."

Lucien went completely silent.

He had caught the important part.

Unfortunately.

His mouth opened.

Then failed to produce words.

Somewhere deep inside, a part of him simply sat down and accepted that the world truly contained every kind of person imaginable.

To his credit, Lucien did not laugh.

He did not judge either.

Instead, he leaned in slightly and lowered his voice.

"Your concern," he said, "can be solved."

Shadow froze.

Lucien continued with unbearable seriousness.

"We have high-grade materials. Materials that will not only reinforce them, but improve texture, flexibility, and response. If Rurik rebuilds them properly, they can become stronger and far more lifelike. And if you want, we can complete the original members of the Shadow Garden too."

Shadow stared at him.

Lucien went on mercilessly.

"With your current strength, four should not be your limit anymore. You have the skill: Parallel Thoughts, right? You can control far more than that."

That struck home.

Lucien saw it immediately.

The embarrassment did not vanish, but ambition rose through it.

Shadow had been thinking about expanding for a long time. He simply had not had the materials, the infrastructure, or someone trustworthy enough to help him do it properly without being judged.

Now Lucien had placed a path directly in front of him.

Shadow swallowed once.

"So," he said slowly, "you are a man of culture as well."

Lucien gave him a thumbs-up and an understanding grin.

"I respect specialization."

For a long moment, Shadow said nothing.

Then, with the expression of someone making a dangerous but deeply desired life choice, he said, "Please take me to him."

And thus, in the middle of a continental crisis, a revolutionary supply effort, and a search for a lost world, Lucien acquired yet another side project.