100\% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full? Chapter 767 - Integration

A good news arrived the next day.

Lucien had barely finished reviewing the latest reports from the Echo Crucible when a priority message from the void expedition appeared before him.

One of the Creation-trace locators had reacted.

This time, the readings satisfied every condition they had established from the previous Bark of the Tree of Creation.

Lucien was already standing before he finished reading the report.

The expedition member had transmitted the world’s location together with the stable reference information necessary for Lucien to reach it.

That was enough.

The Covenant of Pathless Sovereignty responded.

Space folded.

•••

Lucien emerged in the deep void with his senses already spread around him.

The distant world floated ahead.

It was so small compared with the Big World and almost completely dark from the outside. No artificial lights marked civilizations along its surface, and no formations surrounded it.

Most importantly, Lucien sensed no living presence strong enough to suggest occupation.

He did not approach immediately.

The previous discovery had taught Lucien not to trust appearances.

Seran had grown complacent while investigating that world and unknowingly stepped into a trap, leaving him injured. Traces of Convergence had also been found around the area afterward, making the incident even more suspicious.

Lucien expanded his perception farther.

Living Creation brushed across the surrounding space while his other Laws followed different paths through the darkness. He checked the world itself, the nearby void, old spatial disturbances, concealed authority, and anything that resembled the lingering traces he had learned to associate with Convergence.

Nothing answered.

That was reassuring.

Still, it was not permission to become careless.

Lucien circled the world once before descending.

By the time his feet touched the dead ground, the feeling was unmistakable.

The Bark was here.

•••

Lucien followed the feeling toward the remnants of an enormous basin.

At its center stood something that initially looked like a ridge of black stone.

Then Lucien got closer.

His expression changed.

It was wood. Or what was left of wood after surviving an age long enough to erase almost everything around it.

A massive piece of Bark was embedded beneath layers of petrified earth, its surface covered in patterns so faint that ordinary senses might have mistaken them for natural cracks.

Lucien recognized them immediately.

Creation.

Eventually, he extended his hand.

The Bark answered.

•••

Far away, the expedition member who had discovered the world received Lucien’s confirmation that the target was genuine.

That particular explorer would not be continuing farther into the void.

Lucien ordered him to return and rest.

He had earned it.

The expedition had already proven far more dangerous than the original plans suggested.

Many of the teams sent into deeper regions had returned to Lootwell early.

Some had encountered lingering Void Entities.

Others had discovered traces of Black Mass monsters moving through regions that should have been almost empty.

A few teams had been noticed before they even understood what was observing them.

Lucien’s instructions had been absolute from the beginning.

The expedition was for exploration.

If something dangerous found them, they were to leave.

Immediately.

The Instant-Return Talismans had justified every resource used to create them.

Whenever an expedition member judged the situation beyond their ability to handle, the talisman tore them away before the enemy could properly close the distance.

As a result, several expeditions had ended abruptly.

Some had returned with nothing.

Others had abandoned promising ruins or unexplored worlds.

Lucien did not care.

There had been no casualties.

That mattered more.

The void was large enough to search again.

People were harder to replace.

And despite the retreats, enough teams remained hidden or fortunate enough to continue.

Now one of them had finally found exactly what Lucien had been searching for.

A Bark of the Tree of Creation.

Lucien had no intention of pretending that was a small achievement.

The explorer who found it would receive a reward worthy of the discovery.

After that, he could sleep for as long as he wanted.

•••

Lucien returned his attention to the Bark.

The moment he permitted the connection, the ancient fragment dissolved.

It unraveled.

Countless threads emerged from the enormous piece of wood, each finer than light and carrying something far more fundamental than ordinary energy.

Strings of existence.

They flowed into him.

His Divine Energy Core reacted first. It trembled.

Above it, the Tree of Creation awakened.

The ancient Tree stretched across Lucien’s inner space, its branches carrying the Fruits of Creation that remained while empty stems marked the places where others had already been harvested.

The incoming strings reached the Tree.

Then they disappeared into it.

The effect was immediate.

Roots that Lucien had never been able to perceive clearly before seemed to extend deeper into the structure of his Divine Energy Core.

Branches shuddered. Leaves brightened. The entire Tree gained something difficult to describe.

It did not become dramatically larger. It became more complete.

Lucien felt it at once.

That’s when the Tree began drinking.

A tremendous amount of divine energy vanished from his core.

Lucien’s satisfaction faltered.

He stared upward.

The Tree continued absorbing energy without the slightest concern for his opinion.

"Of course."

There was something almost comforting about discovering that even an ancient Tree of Creation could behave like another member of Lootwell when resources were available.

Lucien allowed it to continue.

The Tree drank until the newest Bark had completely integrated.

Then something happened along several of the branches.

Lucien’s eyes narrowed.

At the places where Fruits of Creation had previously been removed, tiny points of light appeared.

They gathered around the empty stems.

Threads formed, then the beginnings of new fruits emerged.

Lucien went completely still.

They were small, but they were there.

The Fruits were growing back.

•••

Lucien immediately examined the Tree more carefully.

Previously, every Fruit of Creation had been effectively irreplaceable.

Once harvested, that specific fruit was gone.

The Tree could mature what already existed, but Lucien had never been certain whether the missing Fruits could truly regenerate without restoring more of the original Tree.

Now he had his answer.

The newly integrated Bark had filled enough of what had been missing.

The Tree had become self-sustaining.

Not self-powered.

Lucien discovered that distinction very quickly when another stream of divine energy disappeared into the branches.

The growing fruits brightened slightly.

Lucien stared at them, then at his reserves, then back at the fruits.

He sighed.

Apparently, "sustainable" did not mean "free."

The Tree could regenerate what had been harvested now, but creating another Fruit of Creation still demanded an enormous amount of nourishment.

That made sense.

The things had changed bodies, Laws, bloodlines, and potential.

Something capable of producing them indefinitely without cost would have been unreasonable even by Lucien’s standards.

Still, the difference was enormous.

The Fruits of Creation were no longer a diminishing inheritance.

They had become a renewable resource.

The first Fruits had already transformed several of his strongest companions and pets.

If the Tree could continue producing them, even slowly, then every additional year could create more opportunities.

He did not need to decide immediately who received the next ones.

The Grace System had already taught him the value of matching resources carefully.

The important part was that there would be a next one.

And another after that.

Lucien looked at the growing points along the branches and smiled.

Suddenly, the expedition budget looked extremely reasonable.

•••

Soon, the Tree settled.

Lucien expected the integration to end there.

It did not.

The branches moved again.

This time, no wind passed through his inner world.

The motion came from the Tree itself.

Lucien felt the change an instant before the information struck him.

His awareness vanished inward.

It resembled what had happened when previous pieces of Bark merged with the Tree.

Only this time, the scale was different.

Lucien received impressions embedded within existence itself.

Creation forming structures. Structures producing variation. Variation creating interactions that had never existed before.

Life altering environments. Environments reshaping life. Death returning what had existed into forms that could become something else.

Time giving creation continuity. Space giving it somewhere to unfold.

Lucien sank deeper.

Living Creation responded.

For months, he had been approaching a threshold.

His battles inside the Echo Crucible had refined the way he understood adaptation.

Lootwell had taught him how living systems changed beyond the intentions of their creator.

The Grace System had shown him that rigid rules eventually failed when faced with living people.

Voidwatch had become stronger precisely because it could attach itself to different systems rather than forcing every world to become identical.

The Liberators grew because Lucien did not demand that they become copies of one another.

Even the ancient beasts and pets had developed according to their individual natures.

Lucien had understood all of those things separately.

The Bark connected them.

Something loosened within him.