100\% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full? Chapter 763 - Rhythm

After the inspections between the major factions concluded, the five continents finally entered something close to peace again.

It was not the peace they had known years ago, when the greatest concerns of most people had been trade disputes, territorial arguments, and which faction had offended which ancient family.

That world was gone.

What remained was a quieter rhythm built around preparation.

The conquered worlds in the void still experienced attacks. Black Mass monsters continued appearing without reliable patterns, sometimes vanishing for days before suddenly striking several distant territories within the same period.

Voidwatch prevented those attacks from becoming emergencies every time.

The void remained dangerous, but it stopped controlling everyone’s attention.

The five continents resumed their training, trade, construction, and preparations while the conquered worlds gradually learned how to live with the new pressure.

Even the liberated populations began settling into new lives.

Those who had chosen to return to the Big World slowly reintegrated into communities that had changed while they were gone.

Those who remained in the conquered worlds faced a different future.

The mines and settlements that had once belonged to their captors were becoming their own.

Lootwell advisors stayed long enough to prevent the transition from collapsing under its own weight, but Lucien had no intention of replacing one set of rulers with another.

The worlds needed to learn how to stand.

Gradually, they did.

Months passed under that strange balance.

The void remained violent.

The five continents became steadier.

And Lootwell continued preparing for something that still refused to reveal its full shape.

•••

Then something stirred inside the Monster Small World.

Lucien noticed it almost immediately.

The disturbance did not resemble an attack.

It came from within.

Several powerful auras began rising in succession, causing the energy throughout the small world to churn.

Lucien entered personally.

The moment he arrived, he understood.

Another ancient beast had broken through.

The Red Dragon was the first among the newer group to reach Extinction Grade.

His excitement announced the achievement before anyone could report it properly.

A roar erupted across the Monster Small World with enough force to shake distant mountains and send flocks of younger beasts scattering through the forests below.

Several creatures that had been training nearby froze outright.

Others fled before realizing nothing was attacking them.

The Red Dragon noticed what he had done only after the echoes faded.

His enormous head slowly lowered.

Lucien arrived in time to watch the newly advanced dragon attempting to look apologetic while half the younger monsters stared at him from behind rocks and trees.

It was not a particularly convincing expression on a creature capable of burning kingdoms.

Fortunately, the Red Dragon had learned enough restraint during the months of training to understand the problem.

By the following day, he had personally gathered several of the frightened younger beasts and begun helping with their training as compensation.

Lucien considered that acceptable.

The younger beasts seemed less certain.

Still, none of them ran away the second time he spoke.

That counted as progress.

•••

The Red Dragon’s breakthrough was only the beginning.

Over the following weeks, more fluctuations appeared throughout the Monster Small World.

Some ancient beasts were still consolidating what Lucien’s blood had done to them.

Others had already finished that process and begun forcing their way toward the next threshold.

Not everyone advanced immediately.

Lucien had never expected them to.

Ancient beasts differed too much in bloodline, constitution, Laws, and accumulated injuries for their progress to remain uniform.

What mattered was that the path had opened.

Lucien’s Eternal blood had changed the quality of what they could become.

Old limits began loosening.

Bloodlines that had remained stagnant for ages awakened again.

Bodies adapted.

Comprehension accelerated.

Even ancient beasts that had once believed they had reached the natural end of their species found themselves facing another road.

Lucien watched the progression with increasing satisfaction.

The Red Dragon had reached Extinction Grade first among the new batch.

He would not remain alone for long.

That made every drop of blood Lucien had lost feel inexpensive.

He could replenish blood.

Extinction Grade allies were much harder to replace.

•••

Astraea, Condoriano, Vaelcar, Saber, Kira, and the other ancient beasts who had already reached that level returned to the Monster Small World whenever the void front remained quiet.

Voidwatch had reduced the need to keep them permanently stationed around distant worlds, so Lucien allowed them to rotate between emergency response and training.

Their presence accelerated everything.

The younger beasts were no longer learning only from inherited instinct or fragmented memories.

They were being trained by creatures that had already survived the transition they were attempting.

Astraea taught them how to control the violent expansion of authority that accompanied the breakthrough.

Vaelcar focused on endurance and the ability to maintain combat effectiveness while under overwhelming pressure.

The others contributed according to their own strengths.

Even the Red Dragon, newly promoted and still noticeably proud of it, began helping those behind him.

Lucien occasionally wondered whether reaching Extinction Grade had made him more mature.

Then the dragon would find an excuse to demonstrate his new strength against a mountain.

Lucien stopped wondering.

•••

Still, the results were impossible to dismiss.

The Monster Small World had changed.

Months ago, many of the ancient beasts there had been powerful but unfinished.

Now the hierarchy was becoming clearer.

Several Extinction Grade beings stood at the top.

Below them were ancient beasts already approaching that threshold.

Beneath those were younger monsters whose growth had accelerated dramatically because of the blood pools, improved training, and the presence of stronger seniors.

They were no longer merely gathering strength individually.

They were becoming an army.

That distinction became obvious when Lucien watched one of their large-scale exercises.

The beasts had once fought largely according to instinct.

Their individual strength had been terrifying, but coordinating them was another matter.

That weakness had gradually disappeared.

Their intelligence had risen along with the changes brought by Lucien’s blood, and the training had taught them how to use that intelligence collectively.

Formations that once looked like several powerful monsters accidentally attacking the same target had become something far more dangerous.

The front line no longer blocked the path of those behind it.

Flying beasts created openings instead of obscuring one another’s attacks.

Heavy monsters learned when to anchor rather than charge.

Those with stranger Laws began timing their abilities around the larger formation rather than using them whenever instinct demanded.

The result was still rough compared with an army that had trained together for centuries.

But it no longer looked primitive.

Lucien watched an exercise where several Eternal-level monsters attempted to break through a coordinated formation led by Astraea.

They never reached the center.

That pleased him more than another individual breakthrough would have.

Strong monsters were useful.

Strong monsters capable of fighting together were something else entirely.

For the first time, Lucien felt comfortable with the idea of revealing this force when the situation demanded it.

The Thousand Races already knew Lootwell had been training beasts.

They did not know the true scale of what had been growing inside the Monster Small World.

That difference was worth preserving until it mattered.