100\% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full? Chapter 685 - Solutions

The next stage of the discussion became more focused.

They needed universal methods.

They needed defenses that would still function even when the source of suppression was unexpected.

By evening, three ideas had survived.

They were still theories.

Each contained weaknesses.

Each required development, testing, and refinement.

But together, they formed the beginning of a real answer.

...

The first was the Law Anchor.

The Abbess described the principle simply.

"When an outside authority begins taking control, the bearer should not continue struggling for possession of the active Law."

Several people looked toward her.

"The Law should return to the soul before it can be turned against its owner."

The Law Anchor would not overpower the superior authority.

It would watch the bond between the bearer and the Law.

The moment that bond began to weaken or respond to a foreign command, the anchor would activate.

It would collapse the active manifestation and draw the Law back into the bearer’s inner foundation.

Once sealed within the soul, the Law could enter a dormant state.

The bearer would temporarily lose access to it.

But the enemy would also lose the easiest path for controlling it.

The anchor would rely on the bearer’s personal imprint.

Their soul signature. Their Domain. Their memories of using the Law. The meaning they had personally given it.

A Primordial might possess higher authority over the Law itself.

But it did not possess the bearer’s life.

The anchor would use that difference.

"It will not preserve their strength," the Grandmaster said.

"No," the Abbess replied. "It will preserve the person."

That was enough to keep the idea alive.

...

The second solution was the Law Interweaver.

Lucien had already confirmed the principle.

A pure Law could be suppressed by a higher authority of the same kind.

A Law fully mixed with another authority could not be controlled as completely.

The Keeper War had proven it.

Lucien himself had proven it when he merged an existing Law with Living Creation.

The Interweaver would not permanently alter the bearer’s foundation.

Instead, it would contain a reserve of another compatible Law.

When the wearer released their own authority, the artifact would release the stored Law at the same moment and weave the two together.

The result would be temporary.

But during that period, the bearer would no longer be using a pure, exposed authority.

A person carrying Severance might borrow Stillness.

A bearer of Space might borrow Weight.

A fighter using Fire might carry a reserve of Motion, Light, or another compatible Law.

The exact combinations would require testing.

Some Laws would blend naturally.

Others would conflict.

A failed interweaving could be as dangerous as the suppression it was designed to prevent.

The Collegium would build compatibility tables.

Lootwell would create the artifacts.

The ancient beasts and Echo Crucible would help test the resulting combinations under authority pressure.

The most interesting part was how the Interweavers would be refilled.

The stored Law did not need to come from the wearer.

A friend could provide it. A companion. A sibling. A teacher. A trusted teammate.

Once the reserve was exhausted, the original bearer of the stored Law could fill it again.

That transformed the artifact into more than a defense.

It made one person’s survival depend upon the authority entrusted to them by another.

Lilith looked across the table.

"That will require trust."

Lucien smiled faintly.

"Then it solves two problems."

...

The third solution was the most ambitious.

Training.

Not a few chosen experts.

Not only the people listed in the Collegium’s records.

But the five continents.

Everyone could not be made immune to higher authority. But they could be taught to recognize it.

To endure the first pressure.

To withdraw their Laws before losing control.

To continue fighting after suppression.

To rely on their bodies, artifacts, companions, formations, and prepared alternatives.

The Echo Crucible already possessed echoes of hostile Primordial Incarnations.

Those echoes could reproduce the pressure safely enough for training.

The ancient beasts could manifest remembered battlefield conditions.

Lootwell could build controlled arenas and authority-pressure trials.

Even brief exposure would matter.

The first time someone experienced higher authority should not be on the day the world ended.

...

Lucien looked at the projection.

The first solution protected the self.

The second altered the Law being released.

The third trained the person to function even when both failed.

None was complete.

Together, they formed layers.

The Law Anchor could pull an endangered authority back into the soul.

The Law Interweaver could make that authority harder to seize.

Training could teach the bearer what to do during the seconds between danger and protection.

Lucien could already see the structure expanding.

The five continents gathering in one place.

His thoughts stopped.

He had already planned to bring the continents together.

Not merely for war councils, but for something larger.

Something that could encourage the world while preparing it without revealing everything that might cause panic.

A tournament.

A tournament that tested cooperation, authority resistance, adaptability, rescue, formations, and survival.

An intercontinental event watched by the entire world.

The public would see champions.

Lootwell would see preparation.

The factions would see rewards.

Lucien would see who could remain standing when their greatest strength was taken away.

He looked around the chamber.

The discussion had lasted an entire day.

Everyone appeared tired.

No one appeared discouraged anymore.

They had not solved the problem.

But they had found a direction.

Lucien looked at the three surviving proposals.

Law Anchor.

Law Interweaver.

Worldwide authority training.

This would require enormous resources.

It would demand cooperation from factions that rarely agreed on anything.

It would reveal weaknesses many people preferred to hide.

It might still fail against the strongest Incarnations.

But for the first time since Arctyx placed the records before him, Lucien could see a future in which the Thousand Races were not helpless.

He smiled.

"This will do."

The others looked toward him.

Lucien’s gaze remained on the five continents projected above the table.

The world had spent generations competing over which race, faction, and continent stood above the rest.

Soon, Lucien would give them a reason to compete again.

Only this time, the competition would teach them how to survive together.