100\% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full?-Chapter 457 - Formulating Countermeasures

The weight of Seran’s words did not fade.

It settled.

And the deeper it settled, the worse it became.

No one spoke.

A Primordial Incarnation was already beyond reason.

An Abyssal Entity on top of that—

It stopped feeling like a problem.

It felt like a verdict.

Marie’s fingers curled unconsciously at her sides. Sylra’s lips pressed thin. Marina lowered her gaze, her breathing uneven. Kaia’s usual sharpness dulled into something quieter.

Lilith stood still.

She did not understand everything.

But she understood enough.

Lucien was in danger.

And there was nothing she could do.

That truth hit harder than anything else.

Their eyes drifted toward Lucien.

Waiting. Hoping. Fearing.

Lucien did not look much better.

His jaw tightened.

Convergence.

If Seran was right, then the process had already begun.

Threads he could not see were already moving.

For the first time in a long while—

Lucien felt something close to helplessness.

He hated it.

...

Seran broke the silence.

"Alright," he said. "If you all keep staring like that, you’ll age ten years before the enemy even arrives."

A few of them blinked.

The pressure loosened, just a little.

Seran leaned forward, elbows resting on the table.

"We can’t stop the meeting. That part is already decided. But we can prepare for how it happens."

His eyes settled on Lucien.

"I’ll help you build a countermeasure," he said.

There was no promise of success.

No reassurance.

But there was intent.

And strangely, that was enough to steady the room.

Lucien nodded.

Then Seran turned his attention to the others.

"Shadow," he said, "have the others refill the device first. As promised."

Shadow gave a short nod and stepped out immediately.

Seran then looked at the women.

His expression softened slightly, but his voice remained firm.

"Ladies, you should step out for now too."

Silence.

Marie frowned. Kaia raised her brow. Sylra straightened. Marina looked like she was about to protest. 𝙛𝒓𝒆𝙚𝒘𝒆𝓫𝙣𝓸𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝒄𝒐𝓶

Seran continued before they could.

"The fewer people who know the details of what we’re about to discuss, the better. There are powers in this world that do not need eyes or ears to learn things."

That quieted them.

"This isn’t about trust," he added. "It’s about containment."

Eirene moved first.

She placed a hand lightly on Lilith’s arm.

"Let’s go," she said quietly.

Lilith hesitated.

Her gaze flickered toward Lucien.

He met her eyes and gave a small nod.

That was enough.

Reluctantly, they turned and followed Eirene out.

The door closed behind them.

••

Outside, the corridor felt colder.

Marie crossed her arms. "I hate this."

"Same," Kaia muttered.

Sylra clicked her tongue. "We’re being told to wait while something we can’t even measure is coming for him. That’s not a great feeling."

Marina hugged her arms, trying to steady herself.

Lilith said nothing.

She was the most frustrated. She could barely grasp half of what had been said, and without the full context, everything only felt more distant and out of reach.

She simply stood there.

Eirene glanced at her.

Then, deliberately, she spoke.

"So," she said, as if changing the subject, "what exactly is a reincarnator?"

Eirene was pretending not to know.

For Lilith.

Marie sighed.

"It’s going to sound insane."

Lilith looked at her.

"It already does," she said quietly.

That broke the tension a little.

So Marie explained.

Earth. Memories. Another life. Another world.

A beginning that did not belong to this one.

Kaia added pieces when needed.

Sylra corrected details.

Marina filled in the emotional parts.

Lilith listened.

At first, she frowned.

Then she stilled.

Then her eyes slowly widened.

By the time they finished, she was silent.

Primordials were real.

Reincarnators were real.

And Lucien—

Was standing in the middle of all of it.

She looked down.

It was too much.

It would take time to understand.

But one thing did not change.

If anything—

It became clearer.

Her fingers tightened slightly.

Then loosened.

Then steadied.

If she could not understand everything yet—

Then she would simply do what she could.

Stay. Fight. Protect.

That was enough.

For now.

•••

Inside the room, Seran leaned back.

"Let’s make this fast," he said. "You can’t stay here too long. The longer you remain absent from your normal pattern, the more likely it is that something adjusts."

Lucien nodded.

That made sense.

Convergence would not just look for him.

It would look for deviations.

So they began.

And within minutes—

Lucien realized something.

Seran, when serious, was nothing like the man who had greeted them.

He is sharp and flexible.

He moved between ideas quickly. Tested assumptions. Threw out possibilities without attachment, then cut them apart just as easily.

Sometimes he joked.

But never when it mattered.

Lucien felt it clearly.

This man—

Understood far more than he showed.

And more than once—

Lucien had the strange feeling that they had already spoken like this before.

Somewhere.

Somewhen.

...

Their discussion deepened.

Ideas flowed.

Plans formed.

They layered contingencies over contingencies.

"If the encounter is inevitable, then the question is not ’if’ but ’when’ and ’how.’"

"Then we force the ’how’ into something survivable."

"Or misleading."

"Or incomplete."

"Or redirected."

They worked.

Lucien brought out ideas from his drops.

Seran refined them. He suggested traps.

Lucien adjusted them.

They examined loopholes.

Predicted counters.

Predicted counters to those counters.

Perfect Calculation whispered in Lucien’s mind.

And again and again—

Seran arrived at the same conclusions from a completely different path.

Lucien smiled.

’Interesting. Very interesting.’

This was not just intelligence.

This was—

Experience shaped into instinct.

By the time an hour passed—

They were no longer cautious strangers.

They were two people solving the same impossible problem.

Together.

•••

Hours passed.

Neither of them noticed.

At some point—

Their worries loosened.

It was not gone... but replaced by something else.

Challenge.

Lucien leaned back at one point and let out a breath.

"This is ridiculous," he said.

Seran grinned.

"Of course it is. We’re trying to outplay inevitability."

Lucien shook his head.

"And we’re enjoying it."

"That’s the best part," Seran said.

They both laughed.

Indeed, they were enjoying it.

Not the situation.

But the thinking.

The back-and-forth. The way Seran would twist a problem and he would untwist it. Then twist it again.

Like a game.

A deadly one.

But still—

A game.

...

Eventually, Seran leaned back and stretched.

"If you die," he said casually, "I’m going back to Earth."

Lucien glanced at him.

"What are you even going to do there?"

Seran pretended to think.

Then nodded to himself.

"I’ll go back in time," he said, completely serious, "and make sure I meet your mother first."

Lucien frowned.

"That’s your plan?"

Seran grinned.

"Of course. Then I’ll fuck her and become your father. That way I can ground you before you make terrible life decisions."

There was a beat of silence.

Then Lucien smiled slowly.

"Oh," he said. "I see now... So that’s why you felt familiar."

Seran blinked.

"What?"

Lucien leaned forward slightly.

"I remember now," he said. "Back then, I used to tickle your feet."

Seran stared at him.

"...You used to tickle my feet?"

Lucien nodded, completely straight-faced.

"Yeah. Your mom told me to stop."

A pause.

Then Lucien added,

"She said I should wait until you were born first."

Seran froze.

For exactly one second.

Then he slapped the table.

"Alright, that’s on me," he said, laughing. "I walked straight into that."

He leaned back, still laughing.

"That is disgusting."

Lucien laughed too.

The tension broke completely for a moment.

...

Just then—

The door opened.

Shadow stepped in.

Behind him, the others followed.

They stopped.

Both Lucien and Seran were still laughing.

The group stared.

Marie raised a brow.

Sylra blinked.

Marina looked confused.

Lilith tilted her head.

Kaia sighed.

"...Men," she muttered.

Shadow cleared his throat.

Both of them coughed almost at the same time and straightened.

Lucien’s composure snapped back into place.

Seran wiped his eyes again.

"You’ve returned," Seran said, as if nothing had happened.

Shadow nodded.

"We’ve gathered enough reserves. The Void Disc is ready."

Seran nodded once.

"Good."

Then he turned to Lucien.

"You should return. Staying here longer is not worth the risk."

Lucien nodded.

"Ah, before I forget."

Seran looked at the elemental women.

"You’ve felt it, haven’t you?" he said. "That pull. That location the system pointed you toward."

They stiffened.

Then nodded.

Seran continued.

"Every Liberator receives that, once certain conditions are met. But don’t go there yet."

Kaia frowned.

"Why?"

Seran smiled faintly.

"Because right now... you’re too weak to carry your fate."

Silence.

No one argued.

Then Seran looked back at Lucien.

He handed him a jade disc.

"This will let us communicate."

Lucien took it.

"Good," he said.

Finally...

Shadow activated the Void Disc again.

Space bent.

Lucien glanced once more at Seran.

"See you later," he said.

Seran smiled.

"You better."

And then—

They vanished.

•••

The room fell silent.

Seran remained where he was.

Still smiling.

The door opened again.

A woman in white stepped in quietly.

"Has he left?" she asked.

Seran nodded.

"You should have stayed," he said. "You wanted to see him."

She shook her head.

"I couldn’t."

Her voice trembled slightly.

"We finally reached this point... and he still has to face that."

Seran’s eyes narrowed.

"He won’t die," he said.

His voice was firm.

"I’ll make sure of it."

The woman lowered her gaze.

"No," she said softly. "My divination hasn’t changed."

Seran’s smile faded just a little.

"Then we’ll make it wrong," he said.

This time, she did not answer.

And for the first time since Lucien arrived—

Seran Vale did not look amused at all.