100\% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full? Chapter 505 - Scent

Lucien took a whiff of himself, yet no clear smell lingered on his person. Nothing familiar came to mind.

Suddenly, Seraphine’s parting smile flashed in his thoughts, and enlightenment hit him like lightning.

She had undoubtedly used her mysterious abilities to tamper with him somehow.

Activating Structural Insight, he spotted the issue right away.

A "scent clause" adhered stubbornly to his form.

Lucien almost burst into tears.

This aroma was detectable solely by females.

'Damn it.'

What came next wasn't tranquility.

It was a ruthless questioning.

The group unleashed their barrage on him in earnest.

Not with force.

Merely with inquiries honed sharp enough to count as an organized attack.

Vivian struck first.

Her worry stemmed not from envy, but from an ancient, instinctive guardianship.

Lucien caught it in her crossed arms and piercing glare.

"Lu," she demanded, "did someone deceive you?"

Lucien's face twisted in instant indignation.

"Why jump straight to that?"

Vivian didn't flinch.

"Because trouble flocks to you like moths to a blazing forge."

Regrettably, that hit too close to deny.

Marie offered zero support. She'd shaken off her first astonishment enough to turn prying.

"Who was that woman?"

Kaia, arms crossed, positioned herself nearby, her face a mask of strained composure cracking in subtle, graceful slips.

Sylra stayed mute, yet the quiet encircling her had shifted. Not aggressive. Merely... taut.

Lucien dodged with masterful finesse.

He replied without revealing. Grinned without admitting. Steered away without outright falsehoods.

When finished, Vivian appeared skeptical, Marie irked by the sparse info, Kaia more distrustful than earlier, and Sylra as if verbal exchange had lost its appeal for now.

Marina never showed up.

That detail hung over the moment like an unspoken thunderhead everyone avoided naming.

Then Eirene entered the scene.

She'd probably arrived for some unrelated purpose.

That changed the instant she neared and halted.

A subtle shift crossed her features.

Eirene compressed her lips.

Lucien gazed at her with the raw plea of a soul glimpsing rescue amid social catastrophe.

Eirene noted his expression.

Then, to Lucien’s shock, she averted her eyes.

A fleeting, obvious inner struggle flickered over her face, too swift for most to grasp fully. Reflection. Doubt. A private calculus of outcomes beyond the others' ken.

Finally, she exhaled deliberately.

The gentle floral particles wafting from her form stirred.

They drifted from her like obedient pollen, converging on Lucien. They brushed him softly, melting into his attire, locks, flesh, and surrounding atmosphere.

Seconds later, the alien fragrance vanished.

Or more precisely, it transformed.

Overwritten.

Now Lucien bore Eirene’s own perfume.

Unmistakably so.

Fresh petals. Crisp verdant vitality. A fragile essence that somehow claimed space aggressively.

Lucien gaped at her as if she'd yanked him from the gallows.

Eirene avoided his stare.

That worsened it all.

From observers' view, it seemed less like charitable aid.

More like she'd methodically wiped away a rival's mark and stamped her territory on him.

The ensuing hush grew so profound that even Lucien, seasoned veteran of his self-inflicted crises, struggled to draw steady breath.

Marie's mouth gradually dropped open.

Kaia went rigid.

Sylra sealed her lips tight.

Vivian darted glances between Lucien and Eirene, back and forth, lost in the bewilderment of stumbling into an undeclared emotional battlefield sans briefing.

Lucien eyed Eirene once more.

This time, her eyes locked with his for a fleeting second.

No justification lay within.

Just poise.

Then Lucien chuckled.

"Alright," he announced. "I should note the expedition succeeded brilliantly."

That shifted their focus.

Not entirely.

But sufficiently.

Lucien produced the Origin Core fragments.

Victory secured.

For the moment, at least.

The tangle of sentiments didn't evaporate, but got pushed back by a mightier pull.

Vivian snapped back quickest.

"As expected from my Lulu," she beamed instantly, her expression lighting up. "With these, can the network span the West fully now?"

Lucien eyed the shards in his palm and grinned.

"Not quite the whole thing yet," he replied. "But plenty to smooth out the upcoming expansion phase."

His words delighted them all.

Whatever odd emotions had begun sprouting in their cores, they remained Lootwell loyalists above all. Constructors. Warriors. Partners in world-building. The vision of their comms web extending across more lands proved too thrilling to dismiss.

Marie especially appeared to recover her composure fueled by raw determination.

Her eyes gleamed brightly.

Without any fuss, she approached Lucien and offered her own Origin Core fragment.

Lucien blinked in surprise.

Marie thrust out her chest slightly and flashed a grin.

"If I’m going to be a mastermind behind the scenes, then I have to contribute properly."

It was such a classic Marie response that Lucien nearly burst out laughing once more.

He accepted the fragment with care.

Before he could utter a word, Kaia moved forward as well.

Sylra followed suit.

Kaia held out hers without a second thought.

"We already decided this a while ago," she declared.

Sylra set hers down next to it.

"We want to help too."

Lucien glanced from one face to another, then at the fragments, and back to their expressions.

He instantly realized that turning them down would offend their genuine intent.

Suddenly, the ground nearby shifted.

A pool of water glided ahead with desperate resolve.

From its midst, another Origin Core fragment emerged and floated softly into Lucien’s open palm.

The puddle trembled.

Without shaping back into human form, it retreated down the corridor, producing a sound that was distinctly liquid yet brimming with sorrow.

Lucien couldn’t hold back.

He burst into laughter.

The whole scene was ridiculously over-the-top.

...

Shortly afterward, he started combining the fragments.

The one he had merged earlier. Marie’s pair. Kaia’s. Sylra’s. Marina’s poignant gift. Those from Tavian, Mirelle, and Auren. Seraphine’s. The collection Seran had handed him.

One by one, the fragments obeyed his command and blended into the expanding core.

When the fusion finally completed, the Origin Core fragment in Lucien’s grasp had grown vastly larger than its previous state.

Twenty fused fragments.

It throbbed with an aura that subtly warped the surrounding atmosphere.

Lucien gazed at it with true contentment.

He remained unaware of the total number of fragments out there, but twenty was already a massive achievement by any measure.

The Primordial Slime had hinted that the complete Origin Core might even reach toward Earth, a wholly separate universe.

Thus, the full assembly would be unimaginably powerful, defying normal descriptions.

This was merely a part of it.

Yet this part alone seemed outrageously potent.

The transformation hit right away.

Everyone around him sensed it clearly.

The communication reach would no longer just stretch toward far-off areas. Once fully incorporated and checked, it could potentially span the whole West Continent.

Moreover, the fused fragment now served as an even more formidable power reservoir. As long as environmental mana was present, Lootwell’s systems could draw, transform, and maintain operations at a level that would leave other factions green with jealousy.

Just imagining it thrilled Lucien.

He clenched his fist around the bigger fragment and faced the group.

"All right," he announced. "Stabilize everything first. I want testing done in layers, not chaos. Sis, take charge again."

Vivian nodded at once.

Marie stood taller, as if handed the reins of a grand scheme. Kaia seemed already diving into action. Sylra offered a subtle nod. Even Eirene, who had stayed eerily silent since her earlier move, quietly embraced the change and focused on the tasks ahead.

And off in the distance, Marina’s puddle form likely sobbed even more.

Lucien handed it off to them and headed back to his personal chambers.

Inside, silence enveloped him.

He took a seat.

Then his mind drifted inward.

Marina had hit the mark.

"Experiencing creation" had indeed shifted something deep within.

For real experience revealed truths beyond mere theory.

Lucien shut his eyes and sank into meditation.

He methodically sorted through the insight.

Creation went beyond simply manifesting something new.

It involved welcoming, permitting, and reciprocating.

The birth of anything never stayed isolated for long. True, vibrant creation demanded acceptance.

A world embraced seeds. A body welcomed life. A connection invited another soul. Even thoughts needed a receptive mind.

That was the gift from his night with Seraphine, something no theory could provide.

He hadn’t just performed an action.

He had received a response.

Creation wasn’t about forcing order onto void.

It thrived on shared exchange.

It marked a start embraced by something beyond oneself.

That explained why the moment felt alien to all his mental models and comparisons. Life didn’t arise from decree alone. It emerged via harmony, faith, openness, and one being’s readiness to accommodate another.

He inhaled deeply.

Creation demanded risk too.

That was the missing element he’d overlooked.

Creation meant embracing uncertainty, starting without complete mastery, and releasing the unfinished into the world while trusting growth to propel it beyond what certainty alone could achieve.

Worlds. Lives. Bonds. Societies.

Every one of them started before achieving perfection.

In the quiet, Lucien’s smile gradually spread.

The Law inside him stirred in response.

A profound harmony infused his spirit.

His Divine Energy Core glowed brighter. His law marks grew keener. The insight that had eluded him abruptly clicked into position.

Lucien’s eyes fluttered open.

"Fifth Stage," he whispered.

Those words emerged as a smile began to form.

Rising to his feet, he flexed a single hand.

Once more, he had transformed.

This time, the transformation felt perfectly attuned, urging him to chuckle at his own foolish insistence on unraveling it solely through abstract theory.

Beyond the walls, Lootwell continued its relentless motion, gearing up to evolve into a force the world could scarcely handle.

Lucien turned his gaze to the door.

The moment had arrived to thrust all things ahead once more.