100\% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full?-Chapter 453 - Convergence

The next day, everything moved exactly as planned.

The second phase of the campaign began.

But this time, Lucien did not go personally.

He handed the Covenant of Pathless Sovereignty to the ancient beasts.

Nareth did not have the benefit of Luminarch paths. There would be no hidden circulatory network there. Their movement might be noticed.

That meant the next operation would depend less on perfect concealment and more on speed, timing, and precision.

The ancient beasts could do that.

Shadow chose to go with them.

He had no intention of stopping halfway. If the Liberators were to become a moving threat in the eyes of the Exchange, then he wanted to witness the next phase himself and make sure the strategy retained its shape.

For additional safety, Lucien also handed over the spare black cube he possessed.

It solved one immediate problem.

Traveling with too many visible figures would draw suspicion. Traveling with one or two would not.

So the rest would remain inside the black cube first and would only be brought out if needed.

Unfortunately, reason had very little power over a room full of ancient beasts who had just recently remembered how enjoyable movement could be.

No one wanted to stay inside.

Not one of them.

The refusal was immediate, dignified for perhaps two breaths, and then no longer dignified at all.

Condoriano laughed first.

"A prison made convenient is still a prison." 𝒇𝒓𝙚𝒆𝔀𝓮𝓫𝒏𝓸𝙫𝓮𝓵.𝓬𝙤𝙢

Ashkara’s tongue flicked once.

"I did not return to motion merely to be folded into a box."

Aurvang snorted through his nostrils.

"If one must be hidden, let it be someone whose pride can survive compression."

"That would eliminate you first," Astraea said flatly.

Soon enough, their "discussion" began drifting toward what looked suspiciously like an ancient-beast argument disguised as principle.

Lucien cut it off before it became an actual contest.

"We vote," he said.

That made them all stop.

He continued, "Each of you votes for who remains outside. You may not vote for yourselves."

That was fair enough that no one could object without sounding childish.

So they voted.

Unexpectedly... or perhaps not unexpectedly—

Condoriano won.

He threw his head back and laughed so hard the hall itself seemed offended.

The others could only bear it with varying degrees of bitterness.

But the result was logical.

Condoriano’s Law of Horizon made him exceptionally suited for long-distance movement, adjustment, and aerial reading of region-spanning patterns. If anything went wrong, he could reposition more easily than most and still maintain the shape of the campaign.

It was the correct choice.

The fact that he enjoyed winning it far too much was simply an unrelated tragedy.

"So," Condoriano said, still pleased with himself, "wisdom has prevailed."

"No," Astraea replied. "Chance has embarrassed us."

He only laughed harder.

And soon, they left.

•••

Later that day, Lucien made another decision.

He brought Luke and Cienna out into the world.

Aurion received them first.

He introduced them to Dawnbinder and to the others properly.

Then he spoke to them seriously.

"Sareth has stabilized enough," he said. "There is still danger, but not the kind that makes every road into certain death."

Luke and Cienna listened closely.

Lucien exhaled quietly.

"I said before that you could leave once you reached Ascendant."

Then he shook his head once.

"That was me being cautious."

Their progress had slowed because they had been kept too long inside safety.

It made him sigh more than once.

So he had changed his mind.

Not because the world had become safe.

Because hiding them forever would become another kind of harm.

Luke and Cienna, predictably, adapted to the others far more quickly than Lucien did to the idea of letting them go.

Luke got along with almost everyone at once. Cienna was quieter, but not withdrawn. Both of them were visibly happy seeing the people around Lucien, and just as visibly relieved that the friends he had made in the Big World were not the kind who only followed strength.

Marie was talkative as always.

Too talkative, perhaps.

She had the natural shamelessness required to make fast friends of nearly anyone who did not actively run from her.

Even Eirene and Lilith softened around them.

It was strange to watch.

Their sharper edges, which could remain intact through politics, bloodshed, and strategic argument, seemed to melt somewhat when speaking to Luke and Cienna.

They smiled more. They laughed more. They explained things instead of merely implying them.

Lucien watched all of it in thoughtful silence.

Then, when the time for parting came, he prepared as thoroughly as Lucien always did.

If he could not remove danger, he would at least stack survival on their side until fate itself became embarrassed to interfere.

He gave them drops.

Protective ones, restorative ones, movement-based ones, detection tools, emergency recovery items, and battlefield resources.

Among them were also the drops from the Bull Beastman Eternal he had killed.

EPIC:

Rumble Tendon Fiber – Material that reinforces muscles, slightly boosting explosive force output.

LEGENDARY:

Dominion Crest of the Bull – Emits a suppressive aura that weakens the resolve of weaker enemies in close range.

Seismic Hoof Core – Allows strikes to transmit force into the ground, creating localized shockwaves.

The mythical drop had already been crushed by Lucien.

The divine drop, however, he held back. That one was great for wars.

MYTHICAL:

Stampede Core – Holds the primal Law of Stampede; grants mastery over overwhelming advance and collective force.

DIVINE:

Covenant of Unbroken Stampede – Enforces a unified advance where all aligned forces move as one, allowing momentum to compound and rendering individual disruption incapable of halting the whole.

Afterward, Lucien turned to Dawnbinder and asked if he would grant Luke and Cienna crystal droplets for the Luminarch paths.

Dawnbinder agreed happily.

That solved more than one problem.

Now they would not simply be traveling blind.

They would have access to hidden roads, evasive routes, and emergency movement options that most of the West could neither predict nor track.

That eased Lucien’s mind.

Luke and Cienna’s journey in the Big World would begin from Aurion.

And later that day, Lucien’s group returned to Lootwell.

He bid farewell to Dawnbinder.

And to the people remaining behind.

Then Marie, delighted to be reunited with proper speed again, reclaimed the Void Craft and took the controls as if it had offended her by ever being absent.

Lucien remained quiet through the whole return trip.

He was thinking.

Or more precisely—

He was feeling something he could not name.

An unease.

It was subtle but persistent.

The kind that did not come from obvious danger but from instinct reaching farther than logic could yet explain.

At first he thought it was simply worry over Luke and Cienna.

That would have been reasonable enough.

But even after admitting that to himself, the unease did not disappear.

It lingered.

He shook his head and said nothing.

Soon, they returned to Lootwell.

•••

Elsewhere—

In Maereth Region, at one of the Evershade Exchange headquarters—

A human walked directly toward the base.

He looked almost offensively ordinary by comparison with the place he approached.

Curly dark hair. Modern-looking clothes by Earth’s standards. Hands in his pockets. Posture lazy in the way only very dangerous people could afford.

Two Void Sovereign guards noticed him at once.

Their weapons rose immediately.

They barked for him to stop and state his purpose.

The human looked at them as though they had interrupted him mid-thought and, somehow, done it badly.

"Hey," he said, voice rough and casual, "lemme see your boss."

His accent was strange.

The sort that made him sound careless even when he was not.

The guards attacked him instantly.

That turned out to be unwise.

The man raised one hand.

No grand gesture.

Just a small motion between thumb and forefinger, as though he were pinching reality shut.

His Law activated.

And the two Void Sovereigns lost control of their bodies.

Their limbs folded inward.

Their trajectories bent toward one another.

Not by force in the ordinary sense but by certainty.

They... converged.

Armor ground against armor.

Bone and structure compressed.

Their bodies collided so completely that movement ceased, each trapped in the impossible nearness of the other.

Just then—

The air above the headquarters split with pressure.

A booming aura surged outward.

An Extinction-grade Void-Walker emerged and flew toward the disturbance.

The newcomer’s geometrical face shifted as his gaze landed on the human.

Then silence.

The two simply looked at one another.

At last, the Void-Walker’s expression altered in the nearest thing his kind had to a smile.

"Convergence," he said. "It seems you have found a pleasing shell. A human, no less. Is it one from those small worlds you spoke of?"

The human grinned.

"Nice eyes for a shaped face," he said. "Yeah. Good shell. Came with weird habits, though. Petty feelings too. Kinda annoying."

Then he tilted his head.

The grin widened.

"But whatever. I found something way bigger."

He stepped forward just enough for the air around him to feel narrower.

"A real good secret."