100\% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full?-Chapter 356 - Changes

Lilith did not waste time.

Once the bodies were gathered and the wounded were stabilized, she snapped a few orders. Everything from the wrecked vessel was also recovered.

Lucien stood beside Kaia.

Lilith turned to them

"If you have no urgent destination," she said, "then come with us. We have walls, maps, and time enough to talk."

Lucien exhaled once. The Liberator branch was their initial objective, but the Spatial Compass had only pointed him east. It gave no sense of distance, only direction.

Lucien and Kaia glanced at each other, then nodded in agreement.

"That would be great, sister." Lucien answered Lilith.

Lilith’s grin turned satisfied.

"Good," she said.

They followed Lilith inside the ship.

The ramp sealed. The ship lifted. The ground dropped away.

The battlefield vanished behind them.

East Continent stretched below like a quilt of forests, broken ridges, and long scar-lines where old wars had left permanent marks.

Lilith then led them into a private chamber near the ship’s core. A large crystal pane showed the outside like a moving painting.

Lilith dropped into a seat.

Kaia sat too, but not before inspecting the chair like it might bite her.

Lucien remained standing for a moment, studying the ship’s interior.

Lilith poured herself a drink from a metal decanter then hesitated, glanced at Lucien and Kaia, and pushed two more cup across the table.

Lucien accepted it.

Kaia leaned in, sniffed hers, then nodded approvingly. "Great tea."

Lucien took a small sip. The drink was warm and bitter.

"Sister Lilith, can you tell me what happened," he asked. "The Big World feels... different."

Lilith tilted her head, puzzled by his question.

"Have you been locking yourself away all these years just to practice your Law?" she said, then waved it off.

Her expression dimmed.

"After the ruin exploration," she continued, "we returned to the East Continent."

She rolled the cup between her fingers, watching the liquid cling to metal.

"Then months passed," she continued. "Quiet months. The kind that make fools believe they are safe."

Her gaze returned to Lucien.

"The first news came from the West Continent," Lilith said. "Red wings in the sky. Shadow in the streets."

Lucien’s eyes narrowed.

Lilith did not soften them.

"The Red Dragon," she said. "And Dark Shade. They have recovered, and they have brought chaos with them."

The air in the room shifted.

"They began conquering land," she continued. "Openly. As if to remind the world that fear is still a currency and they intend to spend it."

Lilith paused.

"They were the first candle."

Lucien’s attention sharpened at the phrase.

Lilith leaned forward, more serious than her usual teasing cruelty.

"A candle does not burn alone," she said. "It proves there is air. It proves there is fuel. It tells everything in the dark that it is time."

Lucien understood immediately.

If those two could move, then others who had been waiting would rise.

Lilith’s eyes held his.

"And they did," she said. "Hidden sects. Buried organizations. Bloodline clans that have not stepped into daylight for a thousand years."

She lifted her hand and curled her fingers like she was closing around something invisible.

"The world’s balance shifted," she said. "It lurched."

Lucien listened without interrupting.

He had expected chaos.

He had not expected the world to change its rules so quickly.

"The Celestial Race tried to keep order," Lilith went on. "They always have. They have held the continents in place for millennia like pillars pretending they are not tired."

Her lip curled in something that might have been respect and might have been resentment.

"But now they are pressured from every side," she said. "Too many Eternals surfaced. Too many old hands returned to the board."

Lilith’s gaze sharpened.

She gestured toward the window where the horizon rolled beneath them.

"Some were guarding sealed inheritances," she said. "Some were sleeping inside ancient formations. Some were simply hiding until the world became worth the trouble."

Lucien felt a familiar chill.

When beings like that moved, normal people became collateral.

Lilith’s voice hardened.

"The values of the Big World changed," she said. "The polite lies cracked. Factions stopped pretending they cared about laws. Everybody started claiming territory."

Lucien’s smile faded. "So it is that kind of era."

Lilith’s eyes gleamed. "Yes. The era where you either have a banner or you become someone else’s resource."

The ship hummed as it passed over a long stretch of coastline. Below, the sea looked calm.

But Lucien felt it.

A pressure under the water.

A presence that made the waves behave.

Lilith followed his gaze and laughed softly, humorless.

"And it got worse," she said.

Lucien looked back. "How."

Lilith’s expression turned grim.

"The intercontinental teleportation arrays were destroyed," she said.

The words landed heavier than any weapon.

Lucien went still.

Destroyed.

"By whom," he asked.

Lilith shrugged.

"By everyone who benefits from keeping continents isolated."

Kaia’s brows climbed. "So we just fly to other continents?"

Lilith’s smile turned sharp. "If you want to die, sure."

Lucien’s eyes narrowed. "The seas."

Lilith nodded once.

"There are strong beings guarding the routes," she said. "Sea-lords. Old beasts that woke up because the noise above annoyed them. Some were placed deliberately. Some simply realized they could start collecting toll."

Kaia stared at her. "Toll."

Lilith leaned back. "Yes. Toll. Or you become the toll."

Lucien exhaled slowly.

So even if he wanted to reach Eirene, he could not rely on the array.

He would have to cross the world like it was ancient again.

And ancient travel in the Big World meant ancient dangers.

Lilith watched his expression and her tone softened slightly.

"And you, Wolf Brother," she said. "What did you get yourself into all these years?"

Lucien did not want to tell the full story. Not here.

He offered the clean truth.

"An unfortunate incident threw me into the void," he said. "Years passed. I only returned recently. Then I fell out of the sky and landed on this land."

Lilith’s gaze flickered with surprise, then narrowed, as if she was measuring how absurd the universe had to be for that to be real.

"And you call that unfortunate," she said. "Wolf brother, your life is a festival of disasters."

Lucien sighed.

Lilith tapped her fingers once against the table.

"That explains your timing," she said. "And your ignorance."

Lucien’s eyes sharpened. "Tell me what else changed."

Lilith’s smile thinned. "There are worse things that have changed."

She lifted her cup, paused, then set it down without drinking.

"Some factions began ranking Laws," she said quietly.

Kaia made a face. "That is the dumbest religion I have ever heard."

Lilith pointed at her. "And yet people believe it because it gives them permission."

Lucien’s gaze narrowed. "Permission for what."

Lilith’s eyes turned cold.

"Permission to look down on others," she said. "Permission to enslave talent that does not match their doctrine. Permission to say your life is worth less because your Law is not fashionable."

Lucien’s expression tightened.

Ranking a Law was an insult to the universe itself.

But that insult served a purpose.

It made control easier.

Lilith continued.

"Discrimination became policy in some regions," she said. "Cities split into tiers. Markets started charging different prices based on your Law. Some sects stopped recruiting anyone who did not fit their preferred ’superior’ paths."

Kaia’s black flame flickered faintly at her fingertips, then died.

Lucien remained quiet, but his mind recorded every detail.

Lilith gestured toward the crystal pane again.

"And land," she said. "Land is being claimed like meat."

Lucien nodded. "Like the Alloykins acting like they owned a region?"

Lilith’s jaw tightened.

"They do," she said. "Not officially. But effectively."

She leaned forward.

"They occupy trade routes. They tax caravans. They seize shipments under the excuse of ’regional security.’ They call it protection. It is extortion with better armor."

Kaia hissed. "Disgusting."

Lilith’s smile returned, sharp and bitter.

"And the worst part is how hard they are to kill," she said. "Their bodies on the same realm is a nightmare. Even with Solhorn strength, you cannot finish them quickly unless you have the right method."

Lilith’s expression darkened as she kept speaking.

"And that is not the only rot," she said.

Lucien waited. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝒆𝒘𝙚𝓫𝙣𝙤𝒗𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝙤𝙢

Lilith counted on her fingers, each one a small accusation against the era.

"First," she said, "trusted allies began betraying each other for profit. Trade secrets sold. Routes leaked. Defensive formations copied and delivered to enemies."

Kaia’s face tightened.

"Second," Lilith continued, "refugees. From factions. People fleeing forced recruitment, forced tribute, forced ’protection.’"

Lucien’s eyes narrowed. "Forced recruitment."

Lilith nodded. "Talented children vanish into sects that call it destiny."

Kaia’s teeth flashed. "Calling a kidnapping destiny does not make it holy."

Lilith’s gaze flickered with approval at Kaia’s anger.

"Third," Lilith said, "counterfeits. Identity. Medals. Tokens. Credentials. Everyone is pretending to be someone important because being nobody is dangerous now."

Lilith’s voice lowered.

"And lastly," she said, "trust died."

The ship’s hum filled the pause.

Lilith’s expression was hard now, but there was something bruised beneath it.

"Months ago," she said, "we were betrayed by people we fed, sheltered, and enriched."

Her fingers tightened around the cup.

"Some sold our routes," she continued. "Some sold documents that should never leave our vaults."

Lilith’s jaw clenched.

"And my father... It got him injured," she said. "The founder. My father. He has not woken up since."

Kaia’s grin was gone now.

Lucien felt the weight of it settle.

Lilith exhaled through her nose, forcing her rage back into a controlled shape.

"That is why I acted rashly earlier," she said, glancing at Lucien. "You appeared with a medal and an unfamiliar aura. I assumed the worst."

Lucien nodded once.

"I understand," he said.

Lucien looked out at the world sliding beneath them.

A continent that looked beautiful from above and rotten underneath.

He had left a world held in order by old powers.

He had returned to a world where old powers were moving again, and everyone else was being trampled under their footsteps.

Lucien exhaled slowly.

"Everything is different," he said.

Lilith’s voice turned soft, but her eyes stayed sharp.

"Yes," she said. "Welcome back."

Lucien’s gaze hardened.

He thought of the West Continent.

He had wanted to return and build.

Now he might have to return and survive first.

The ship pushed onward toward Starforge headquarters.

Below them, the East Continent rolled past like a living map.

And somewhere beyond oceans guarded by ancient things, and continents cut off by broken arrays, the Big World’s new era waited.

Not with celebration.

But with teeth.