100\% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full? Chapter 722 - Final Trial

The final stage was called the Convergence Trial.

Lucien had chosen the name because everything learned so far had to come together.

It did not introduce an entirely new concept.

That would have defeated the purpose.

Instead, each finalist entered a compact battlefield designed around their classification.

They received one primary objective and several optional opportunities.

Suppression changed during the trial.

Restrictions appeared.

Hostile constructs moved intelligently rather than remaining in fixed positions.

Preserved battlefield pressure rose and fell.

Resources existed inside the sector, but acquiring them could cost valuable time.

Some participants were even offered choices between an easier route with lower scoring potential and a more dangerous route with greater rewards.

Nothing required them to choose the harder path.

That mattered.

Lucien wanted to know who understood their own limits.

The trial was not asking whether someone possessed courage.

It was asking whether their courage came with judgment.

•••

The finalists entered.

Then the world watched.

Midas encountered a route where the safer path would almost certainly preserve his position.

He studied both options briefly.

Then he took the more difficult one.

Lucien raised an eyebrow.

Midas had apparently calculated something the spectators could not see.

Minutes later, the reason became clear.

The difficult route contained a resource cache that allowed him to bypass a restriction scheduled for the final section.

His risk had not been reckless.

It had been calculated.

His ranking climbed.

Augustus chose differently.

He ignored several optional scoring opportunities entirely.

Instead, he maintained almost perfect control through increasing suppression and completed his primary objective without triggering a single emergency threshold.

His raw score was not the highest.

His control rating became one of the best in his classification.

Leo encountered a battlefield full of destructible obstacles.

Many spectators laughed before he even moved.

Leo looked at the nearest wall.

Then he walked around it.

The laughter became louder.

Lucien smiled.

Apparently, yesterday had been educational.

Raven’s final route contained an area where excessive fire caused the preserved terrain to react violently.

He reduced his Law almost immediately, using thin controlled flames where he once might have flooded the region with heat.

Scarlet Sect observers became noticeably more attentive.

Their disciple was changing during the competition itself.

That was worth more than his placement.

•••

Not every famous participant performed well.

Several sect heirs fell sharply.

A renowned Eternal ancestor within his own high-level classification took the highest-risk route simply because choosing anything safer felt beneath him.

He survived.

He also exhausted nearly everything he possessed and finished far below competitors who had chosen intelligently.

His sect members became remarkably quiet.

Elsewhere, an Eternal beast from a younger ancient lineage performed exceptionally well despite having initially joined mostly out of curiosity.

Most of the true Millennia War era beasts still remained observers.

Their pride, experience, or simple lack of interest kept them outside the competition.

They watched instead.

That did not mean they were learning nothing.

Lucien’s pressure reached them too.

Some had begun deliberately resisting it.

Others allowed it to press against their Laws while observing how the younger generations responded.

Several sect ancestors did much the same from the observation districts.

Nobody forced them to admit that Lootwell’s methods were useful.

They did not need to.

Their actions said enough.

•••

Between stages, another unusual Lootwell benefit became unexpectedly popular.

Food.

None of the high-realm participants needed it.

Most experts present could go extraordinarily long periods without eating, and many no longer depended on ordinary food at all.

That did not stop anyone.

Anya and the Duovari had organized vast culinary stations throughout the safe districts, supported by Sinep and the Lootwell chefs, storage networks, and transportation formations.

The meals rotated rather than appearing constantly.

Sometimes an entire district would receive a special serving.

Other times registered participants completing a stage would receive one automatically at designated recovery areas.

The food tasted good.

That alone would have been enough.

Unfortunately for everyone’s self-control, many dishes could also grant small permanent improvements depending on the ingredients, preparation, and compatibility of the person eating them.

The culinary stations nearly created a larger crowd-control problem than the competition.

Lootwell adjusted distribution immediately.

Now portions were assigned through registration markers and scheduled by district.

High-level experts who had spent centuries claiming they had transcended mortal appetites became remarkably punctual whenever the day’s special meals were announced.

Lucien found this deeply educational as well.

Not everything required an Authority Resistance Field.

Sometimes sufficient motivation came with sauce.

The spirits seemed especially fond of the atmosphere around the food districts.

Tiny elemental forms frequently hovered near the queues, occasionally receiving offerings from amused visitors even though most of them had no need to eat either.

The preserved region, once remembered only for death, now regularly smelled of cooking.

Lucien thought that was probably an improvement.

•••

The Convergence Trial continued through the remaining competition classifications.

Because the number of finalists had fallen so dramatically, the final rounds moved quickly.

Spectators switched between projection feeds.

Others searched specific participants through their communication devices.

Names that had been obscure several days earlier were now being searched millions of times.

Independent experts gained followers.

Minor factions suddenly received inquiries from larger organizations.

Several people who had traveled to the competition expecting only experience discovered that much of the Big World now knew who they were.

The rankings had become useful beyond prizes.

They were revealing talent that might otherwise have remained hidden for decades.

Some factions immediately began recruiting.

Others discovered promising members already inside their own organizations whom they had somehow overlooked.

That embarrassed more than one elder.

Lucien considered that useful too.

The competition was teaching institutions as much as individuals.

•••

By late in the day, the final routes closed.

The remaining participants were extracted from their sectors.

For a while, the preserved region remained strangely expectant.

Then the enormous public ranking boards changed.

Classification by classification, final placements appeared.

There was no single individual champion of the entire Big World.

Such a title would have been meaningless when contestants ranged across vastly different realms, races, bodies, and Laws.

Instead, each competition classification had its own champions.

First placements.

Second placements.

Third placements.

Then the broader ranked positions beneath them.

Separate achievement boards appeared alongside the classification rankings.

Best Adaptation.

Best Control Under Suppression.

Highest Efficiency.

Best Resource Management.

Exceptional Judgment.

Fastest Valid Completion.

Several other distinctions followed.

A participant could fail to place among the top three of their classification and still earn recognition for an exceptional performance.

Midas placed extremely well.

So did Augustus and Leo.

Raven’s name stood prominently within his own classification.

Several independents appeared beside people backed by ancient sects and major powers.

Some winners were famous before arriving.

Others had been nearly unknown.

The Thousand Races stared at the boards.

This time, there were fewer arguments.

They understood the system now.

•••

Vivian appeared once more across the projection formations.

She looked considerably less nervous than she had during the opening ceremony.

Several days of speaking to what felt like the entire world had apparently forced adaptation upon her too.

"The individual competition has concluded."

Cheers spread through the districts.

Vivian waited until they settled.

"Final placements and achievement rankings are now available through the public boards and communication network. You may search individual participants directly if you wish to view their public results."

That immediately caused another surge of activity across communication devices.

Vivian continued.

"All rewards earned during the individual competition have been recorded."

The crowd became noticeably quieter.

"Rewards will not be distributed immediately. They will be awarded after the conclusion of the Grand Intercontinental Competition together with the rewards earned from later events."

Nobody seemed particularly disappointed.

If anything, it gave people another reason to remain until the end.

Vivian smiled.

"Individual placement is only one part of this competition. Some of you have shown exceptional personal ability."

Her gaze passed across the enormous gathering.

"Now we will see what happens when you have to rely on something other than yourself."

That line changed the atmosphere.

Lucien looked toward the next training districts.

The Interweaving Grounds had already begun activating.

•••

The individual competition ended, but its effects did not.

Participants who had performed poorly returned to training.

Winners reviewed their own weaknesses despite having succeeded.

Sect elders adjusted training plans.

Independent experts received opportunities they had never possessed before.

Observers had spent several days under gradually increasing Authority Resistance without realizing how much more comfortable the sensation had become.

Even people who had never entered a single trial were different from when they arrived.

Lucien could feel it.

The pressure that had caused thousands of sensitive experts to look around suspiciously on the first morning barely drew attention now.

He increased it by another tiny amount.

Across the preserved region, Laws adjusted, bodies compensated, and spirits steadied.

Most people continued whatever they had been doing.

Lucien smiled.

That was the result he cared about.

The rankings were useful.

The rewards were useful.

Finding many unexpected talents scattered across the Big World was extremely useful.

But the greatest success was harder to display on any board.

The world was becoming accustomed to pressure.

And now that Lootwell had tested what these people could accomplish alone, the next stage would teach them what they could accomplish using a power that was not their own.