100\% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full? Chapter 485 - Return to the Big World

Before the day concluded, Lucien completed one final patrol.

He strolled casually, allowing the fading evening light to blanket the landscape as his mind wandered ahead into more tranquil paths.

One spot lingered in his thoughts that he desired to visit before further changes occurred.

The Slime Dungeon.

Or, more accurately, the location where it once existed.

He headed there solo initially, although Skittles and several others followed behind.

Upon reaching the site, Lucien halted.

The entrance had vanished.

The dungeon had long since caved in on itself, scarring the earth and leaving an unnatural, profound silence in its wake.

Vivian, who had trailed him at some point, murmured gently from nearby.

"It happened after you left," she said. "We heard it before we understood what it was. The whole dungeon just... ended."

Lucien stayed silent for a moment.

His eyes stayed locked on the spot that once housed one of the most bizarre and pivotal chapters of his early days.

Vivian went on, choosing her words with greater caution.

"All the slimes from inside came out after that. None of them stayed below. They rose to the surface and... over time, they merged Skittles and the others."

This drew Lucien's gaze downward to Skittles.

The small slime gazed up at him with a gravity that clashed with its typical use of adorableness as a weapon.

Then, as though grasping Lucien's unspoken question perfectly, Skittles hopped once and divided.

One turned into two.

Two multiplied into six.

Six colorful slimes touched down around Lucien in a neat ring, each bearing an uncanny resemblance to Skittles.

Identical vibe.

Identical over-the-top assurance.

Lucien blinked.

A quiet chuckle escaped him involuntarily.

"Slimes really are an enigma," he whispered.

He crouched down and patted each tiny slime, then watched as they recombined into a single form.

Yet the warmth of that instant failed to fully dispel the deeper emotion underneath.

Loss.

The Primordial Slime had never warned him of the dungeon's collapse.

It gave no sign that the site would disappear by his return.

For an instant, Lucien lingered there, sensing the outline of a void he couldn't fill.

He had anticipated one final exchange here.

Instead, only breeze and recollections remained.

Lucien breathed out steadily and placed a hand atop Skittles' head.

"Good job," he murmured softly.

Skittles swelled with pride and emitted a faint triumphant noise.

That soothed a tension within him.

•••

By Lucien's return to the central district, the choice had solidified completely inside him.

The reunions were finished.

Mourning had transformed into optimism.

Revival had turned into tangible fact.

The next phase could wait no longer.

Thus, Lucien assembled the key individuals.

Not just his immediate followers in Lootwell, but also the prominent leaders from the four nations—those who had believed in him well before he evolved into a being capable of traversing worlds and defying death.

He positioned himself before them under the vast open sky.

For a brief time, he remained wordless.

That quietude alone steadied the assembly.

All had come to recognize that Lucien's pre-speech silence heralded announcements of great magnitude.

Finally, he declared, "It is time."

Every gaze locked onto him.

Lucien's eyes scanned the group, and his next words rang out free of drama or doubt.

"I came back to this world because I had to. Because parts of me began here. Because the people important to me were here. Because truth itself was rooted here."

He paused briefly.

"But I did not return only to visit."

The atmosphere grew taut.

Lucien glanced upward at the sky overarching the small world.

"There is a bigger world outside this one," he stated. "A harsher world. A richer one. A world with greater dangers, greater opportunities, and laws deep enough to support lives that do not need to end so soon."

Hearts began pounding faster among the crowd.

"A world," Lucien pressed on, "where growth does not stop at the limits this place imposes. A world where immortality is not a fantasy told to children, but a path one may truly walk if one survives long enough to claim it."

The declaration hit them precisely as anticipated.

Like a gateway swinging wide.

Lucien allowed them to absorb it briefly.

Then he continued, "If you come with me, you will follow the rules. You will not carry this small world’s habits into a larger world and expect them to survive unchanged. You will learn, adapt, and build again."

His stare intensified.

"But if you come with me, I will not abandon you. I will help all of you equally, according to your effort and loyalty. The road will be dangerous. It will also be real."

No immediate replies came.

They weren't required.

The hush brimmed with deliberations, dread, aspiration, recollections, and the raw pain of the recent assault.

For the reality shone clear now.

Should another invasion strike, a subsequent one might follow.

And without Lucien and their mightiest defenders present, what would endure?

A frail realm.

A constricted heaven.

An inevitable demise.

They grasped the proper choice before it was voiced.

Accompany Lucien.

Trail after him.

Step into the vast world instead of lingering to face entrapment once more.

The resolve rippled across the group.

Lucien observed it in their expressions.

In how fear persisted yet surrendered its command over their choices.

He nodded sharply.

"Good," he said. "Then prepare."

•••

The following day, Lucien positioned himself in the void above the small world.

This occasion, no hesitation gripped him.

Beneath, the planet gleamed like a polished gem amid the blackness.

From his vantage, it appeared both invaluable and fragile.

His divine energy surged forth.

It expanded to encase the whole small world, enfolding lands, oceans, ranges, realms, and firmament within a grand domain of awareness.

Those below sensed it.

As a soft yet total embrace from the intent of one they relied upon.

Lucien extended his hand downward.

And the world responded.

The small world contracted.

It compacted into his Divine Energy Core with splendor beyond the grasp of onlookers within. In one instant, sky stretched above; the next, they inhabited a safeguarded realm nestled in a superior cosmic reality.

Emptiness lingered outside.

Lucien glanced at it fleetingly.

Then pivoted away.

Marie passed him an Obsidian Tower, releasing it into the vacuum nearby.

They entered, permitting Marie to manage the navigation systems once more, as her speed with them proved unmatched.

She flashed a grin from the controls.

"Back to the Big World?"

Lucien's mouth quirked upward.

"Yes."

With that, the Obsidian Tower advanced.

•••

The voyage back spanned another half month.

Upon arrival, Lucien wasted no time.

He extracted the small world from his Divine Energy Core and positioned it within the pocket universe they'd forged in the gray expanse.

The small world took root there.

Task complete, he reentered the small world.

He soared toward the continent's heart.

Then drew forth Morphis.

The weapon morphed in his grasp, extending into a colossal, razor-edged sword.

Cosmic attribute swirled around it in resonant loops. Laws stacked upon each other. Space constricted. Nearby planes appeared to pause.

Lucien pulled the blade backward.

Then struck.

The interplanar gray rent apart.

A genuine rift yawned before him, parting planar barriers like cloth severed at a concealed line.

A portal emerged.

Beyond it—

Lootwell.

His domain in the Big World.

The impact registered instantly.

The ripple coursed through space, heavens, and laws like an unmissable beacon.

Within Lootwell, gazes lifted skyward.

Defensive arrays activated.

Laborers paused.

Warriors spun around.

In the core awaiting area, Eirene responded quickest.

"It’s him," she declared.

Tension shattered immediately.

The elemental women's prime forms had stationed themselves near the designated point, lingering precisely for this. Anvil-Horn flanked them, and as the rift expanded, he sprang into action.

His law extended with unyielding firmness, seizing the ragged borders of the fractured reality and molding them into precise alignment.

He wasn't sealing the breach.

He was refining it.

Transforming a savage gash into a fitting portal.

A corridor befitting the homecoming.

As he toiled, a faint smile graced the elder Solhorn's features.

Lucien lived once more.

And beyond that—

His daughter Lilith would rejoice at his return.

That thought alone lightened the effort.

The rift broadened.

Realities on either side glowed brighter at the margins.

Then Lucien crossed the threshold.

For a timeless instant, both worlds beheld each other via him.

Then Lootwell's inhabitants in the Big World saw him distinctly.

And grins erupted across the board.

Expansive ones. Unbridled ones. The sort that burst forth before decorum could intervene.

Eirene voiced first.

"Welcome back," she said.

Lucien regarded them all.

The expectant visages. The vitality that had persisted and readied itself for him during his absence.

Then he grinned.

"I’m back."

That sufficed.

Joy flooded the assembly like thaw shattering winter's grip.