100\% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full?-Chapter 358 - Starforge

They descended into Starforge.

The air carried a faint metallic sweetness. Furnace-glow ran through channels in the streets like veins, pulsing softly beneath plates of black stone.

Bridges arced between hammerhead towers. Chains of rune-lamps hung like constellations pinned to metal. Below, courtyards opened and closed with shifting formations.

Lilith stood at the forward edge of the ship’s ramp.

"Stay close," she said, then added with a smirk, "I do not want anyone to get brave enough to bother you."

They moved through the heart of the cartel. Starforge members passed them with brisk purpose. No one stared too long, but Lucien felt the quick flicks of attention when they noticed Lilith escorting strangers.

Lilith did not slow.

She brought them deeper, past a gate where the defensive arrays became gentler and the architecture softened. Less fortress. More residence.

Only then did Lucien lower his voice to Kaia.

"Hey, you’re a Liberator. You should have access to information," he said. "So how do you look more clueless than I did earlier?"

Kaia glanced away, suddenly very interested in a decorative lamp shaped like a hammerhead hawk.

"I delegated," she admitted. "My little brother always liked gathering information. I liked... using it after he gathered it."

Lucien’s mouth curved. "So you are a professional parasite."

Kaia’s elbow found his ribs. "I am efficient. Also, now we are separated, and I hope he is fine."

"He will be," Lucien said. "Bother Darian is clever."

Kaia hummed. Then her eyes brightened.

"By the way, brother," she whispered, "you promised. Later, please show me the bark."

Kaia’s tone turned earnest.

"I am close to comprehending another flame. A better one. Something that can spread like truth instead of heat."

Lucien’s interest sharpened.

"Good," he said. "Later then."

Kaia smiled in satisfaction.

Lilith led them into the accommodation wing.

Lucien paused at the threshold.

It was a small district carved for guests and important allies. Stone paths lined with low furnace-lamps. Water ran in channels that were not water at all, but a cooled luminous fluid that looked like liquid starlight, contained in glass troughs etched with runes to keep it from evaporating into mana.

The buildings were modest from the outside. Inside, they were complete.

Kaia stared at the training ground with excitement.

"Rest first," Lilith said. "I have to do business. I will come back later with updates."

She turned to leave.

But Lucien called out to her.

"Sister, as thanks for the pages," he said, "take this."

He extended a storage ring.

Lilith took it, and for a moment her expression was casual again. Then she checked the contents.

The change was immediate.

Her pupils tightened. Her breath stopped for a heartbeat.

"Astrafer," she said slowly.

Not the scraped, alloyed, corpse-ruined coating from an Alloykin body.

This was raw and pure.

Then her gaze moved again, and her aura stirred.

"And the other one," she murmured, "what is this?"

That metal did not merely look different. It felt different. It carried a faint living pulse.

"Living Alloy Essence," Lucien said. "It is rare."

Lilith looked up at him.

Her voice came out almost offended.

"This is..." she said, "how did you get this?"

Lucien shrugged lightly.

"I have unusual luck."

Lilith stared as if deciding whether to believe him or hit him.

Lucien added, more seriously, "Astrafer is excellent, but it has a weakness. I thought you would appreciate something that does not only disperse, but adapts."

Lilith’s fingers tightened around the ring.

For the first time since she had appeared on the battlefield, her smile went wide without sharpness.

It was genuine.

Then she laughed, and the sound had the warmth of a forge finally catching flame.

"I will not refuse this." Her eyes gleamed with hungry gratitude. "When I forge the strongest metal, I will craft you a divine weapon."

She then walked out with renewed energy in her stride, like a woman who had just been handed the future.

Lucien exhaled and turned toward the rooms.

He nodded to Kaia. "Rest first."

She nodded.

Lucien entered his room and closed the door.

The quiet fell around him like a cloak.

Lucien’s thoughts turned inward.

He stared at the Starlit Codex again.

What Lilith had given him was undeniably useful.

’Even if it’s incomplete, I can try to finish it myself,’ he thought. ’With my skills, nothing is impossible.’

Soon, he entered his divine energy core.

Lucien exhaled once.

Then he began to reveal what he had kept sealed.

First, the doors.

The Skillpedia and Magic Book constructs surfaced into being. Their doors appeared in rows.

Behind the doors, he felt them.

Lithrens.

He had left them training.

He did not know what he would find.

Lucien stepped through the 1 star door.

The training hall beyond was alive with motion. Hundreds of Lithrens moved through drills, practicing skill after skill with the obsessive rhythm of people who had discovered a way to stop being prey.

When they saw him, they stopped like a tide hitting shore.

Then they bowed.

Their respect was not the forced politeness of survivors anymore.

It was the respect of people who had tasted power and recognized who had given them the first bite.

"Savior," one of them said, voice rough with sincerity.

Lucien Inspected them.

His expression shifted into approval.

Ten skills at minimum for most. Some had more. Their skill sets were practical, layered, and disciplined. Movement skills. Defense skills. Weapon familiarity. Basic crafting.

They had turned training into a religion.

Lucien spoke, calm and clear.

"The danger has passed," he said. "You may leave. You can return to your world anytime."

A murmur ran through them.

Then one Lithren stepped forward, eyes bright.

"May we stay?" he asked.

Another added quickly, almost embarrassed, "Here, effort pays."

Lucien stared at them for a moment.

Then he nodded.

"Stay if you wish," he said. "But remember. Training without purpose becomes a cage. Decide what you are becoming, not just what you are learning."

The Lithren bowed deeper, as if that sentence alone was another skill.

Lucien moved on.

Door by door.

He checked the higher-star doors and found the same pattern. Relentless work and sharpened intent.

Then he entered the four-star door.

He heard hammer strikes before he saw the forge.

Rurik stood with sleeves rolled up, sweat shining, eyes alive with the kind of joy Lucien had never seen on him before.

When Rurik noticed him, he turned so fast he nearly dropped the tool in his hand.

"Savior!" Rurik called, grinning like a man who had found a treasure chest and decided to live inside it.

Lucien’s mouth curved.

"You look well."

"This place is unfair," Rurik said, still smiling. "In the best way. Hard work gives you results. I learned crafting skills I did not even know existed."

Lucien scanned him.

Then nodded once, satisfied.

"You are already better than most craftsmen in the Big World," Lucien said. "And you are still climbing."

Rurik’s grin turned fierce.

"My goal is five-star skills," he declared as if it were a vow. 𝑓𝑟ℯ𝘦𝓌𝘦𝘣𝑛𝑜𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝑐ℴ𝓂

Lucien glanced around. "Where are Riri and the elders?"

"They are learning magic," Rurik said quickly. "You fed us attributes, so the foundations do not reject us. They are... happy. And terrifyingly busy."

Lucien nodded.

’Good.’

He left them to it.

He returned to the main space of his divine energy core and lifted a hand.

"Monsterdex," he said.

The codex answered, hovering into place beside him. Its pages fluttered as if eager.

Lucien began summoning back the ecosystem he had stored.

The first presence to return made the air thicken.

The Abyssal One emerged like a piece of deep sea pulled into daylight.

Lucien clasped his hand.

"Long time no see, senior."

The Abyssal One’s gaze fell on him and lingered.

"Hm," it rumbled. "You have walked through peril. Your spirit bears the echoes of it."

Just then, its attention shifted.

It looked toward the Bark’s direction.

It watched for a long moment.

Then it said nothing. It simply lowered itself to the ground and rested, as if acknowledging a pillar and accepting that the pillar was not its concern.

Slimes followed, bubbling into existence, immediately crawling toward the Abyssal One like children returning to the biggest shadow.

Lucien summoned the rest.

One by one.

His inner world breathed again.

When it was done, Lucien sat down and let the Monsterdex hover open beside him.

The pages turned, presenting the monster lists.

He carefully noted each being and the Laws best suited for them.

Lucien watched his people, his monsters, his allies in the making.

His eyes hardened with intent.

The era outside had changed.

So he would change faster.

He tapped the Monsterdex page lightly with one finger.

"It is time," he murmured, "for them to transcend."

Outside his room, Starforge’s city hummed like a machine at rest.

Inside his core, Lucien began planning how to turn a fractured return into a force that could survive the new age’s teeth.