100% DROP RATE : Why is My Inventory Always so Full?

Dorian had entered the Apex Dungeon just before dawn.

He was completely unaware of the chaos that had erupted at Golddust Manor earlier.

His focus was singular.

Finding the Golddust Seal.

They had already slain the Boss monsters along the path, clearing the way. Still, the seal remained elusive.

Using a magical tool lent to him by Magnus, Dorian scoured every inch of the dungeon... but it detected nothing.

Just as they were preparing to leave, he spotted a group approaching from the opposite corridor.

Familiar faces.

A smirk curled on his lips.

"Well, well… Edric. What are you doing dragging a cripple into the dungeon?"

He said it with deliberate mockery as his eyes settled on Maxim.

He was unaware that Maxim had regained his strength.

Maxim only smirked back in silence.

He was not hiding it but he had no intention of revealing it too.

Edric was holding back a laugh. He decided to play along.

He furrowed his brow.

"Watch your words, Dorian. This is still a dungeon."

As he spoke, Edric let his mana stir. The wind shifted around him, brushing through the air with an invisible tension.

Edric stared Dorian down.

Dorian instinctively flinched but tried to recover.

He narrowed his eyes.

"Hah! Quit bluffing. If something happens to me, everyone will know who did it."

Edric let out a booming laugh at that.

Then his smile dropped.

"GAHAHA! Do you want to try me?"

His mana surged and it shrouded the corridor like a gathering storm.

The atmosphere shifted.

The servants behind Dorian froze. Their faces became pale.

They felt it.

Tier 8.

Edric wasn't just threatening them. He had the power to follow through.

They looked at Dorian in alarm, silently pleading for him not to escalate things.

Dorian clenched his jaw.

With a darkened expression, he barked.

"Tch. Let's go. There's nothing here anyway."

The servants exhaled in relief.

Without another word, they followed Dorian as he turned away.

Edric didn't stop them.

He simply watched in silence.

His mana slowly settled around him like a calm after the storm.

But then…

Dorian paused.

He pulled out the magic tool from his coat and activated it.

One final check just to be sure.

His eyes narrowed as the readings appeared.

Nothing.

The Golddust Seal wasn't with them.

His brows furrowed.

'Impossible.'

He refused to believe it.

There was no way he was wrong.

Determined, he reached into his bag and pulled out a slender magnifying lens.

It was actually... a Pocketglass.

He peered through it, scanning the trio.

And to his surprise…

None of them had an Item Box.

His gaze sharpened as it landed on Lucien.

There was something off about that boy.

Something he couldn't quite place.

Suspicion flickered in his eyes.

But after a moment, he turned away without a word.

Then, he left.

...

The trio continued deeper into the dungeon.

Lucien had one simple goal in mind.

Reach Level 50.

But as they arrived at the Boss room...

The chamber was empty.

There shouldn't be anything there anymore.

But...

Lucien paused.

Then suddenly... he flared.

A wave of revulsion surged through him.

His instincts screamed in alarm.

The sensation was familiar.

His expression tightened.

His eyes scanned the chamber.

But there was nothing.

No monsters.

No people.

Yet the feeling wouldn't go away.

Lucien activated DIVINE SENSE.

And that's when he saw it.

A trail...

A thin and curly-like smoke of malicious aura was snaking through the room.

Miasma.

The vile energy clung to the air like a sickness.

Just seeing it made Lucien want to purge it.

Edric and Maxim immediately noticed the shift in his expression.

"Nephew?" Edric asked. "What's wrong?"

Lucien didn't answer right away.

He simply raised his hand…

And pointed.

Toward a blank section of the wall.

Maxim stepped forward and squinted at the wall, studying it intently.

After a moment, his eyes narrowed.

"Wait… something's off."

Edric glanced at it, unimpressed. "Looks like a regular dungeon wall to me."

But Maxim shook his head. "No. The glow is wrong."

He gestured to the wall's surface.

"Dungeon walls emit a consistent mana intensity. This one? It's about 2% dimmer."

He stepped closer and knocked gently on the wall.

"There's more. The finish is sloppy and the humidity in this section is 4.2% lower than standard."

Edric raised a brow. "So… a fake wall?"

Maxim nodded. "Yes. And whoever made it was clever. They tried to replicate the dungeon's natural pattern. Almost succeeded too…"

He tapped the wall again then pointed at the floor.

"But they missed one thing. This segment should be 38 centimeters thicker, based on the dungeon's structural rhythm."

Only someone with Maxim's PERFECT CALCULATION could have noticed that kind of difference.

The moment he finished, Edric moved.

No hesitation.

He took a stance.

Crouched slightly.

And began channeling mana into his fist.

Wind gathered and surged around his arm.

Then—

Boom!

His fist struck the wall with concentrated power.

A blast of wind echoed through the chamber.

But the wall remained untouched.

Not a crack.

Not a scratch.

It was as if he had punched pure dungeon stone.

Dense.

Ancient.

Impregnable.

Edric stepped back. "It really is just like the real thing…"

Lucien furrowed his brows.

Even after activating INSPECT, all he got was a vague description like Fake Dungeon Wall.

Nothing more.

And while Divine Sense revealed a faint trail of miasma leaking from behind it, there were no further clues.

Just the certainty that something was hidden beyond.

"I don't know how to open it…" Lucien said quietly. "But something's wrong back there. My instincts are screaming. We need to get rid of it. Now."

His tone left no room for doubt.

Edric and Maxim exchanged glances.

They fell silent.

Lucien could sense things they couldn't. And by now, they knew better than to second-guess him.

Edric nodded and turned to Maxim with a glance.

Maxim understood immediately.

He stepped forward.

"Nephew," he said, "I'll try using my skill. Maybe I can figure out a way to break through."

He sat down cross-legged on the stone floor, placing his left palm gently on the surface of the fake wall.

With his right hand, he began tracing complex patterns in the air.

Silent calculations known only to him.

Then his skill activated...

PERFECT CALCULATION.

The air around Maxim shifted subtly. His eyes took on a faint white glow and an eerie stillness settled in the room.

Like a machine entering overdrive, Maxim's mind began processing everything.

But then…

Maxim stiffened.

He could feel his mana draining fast.

"No… This wall isn't ordinary and maybe made by someone stronger…" he thought grimly. "Perfect Calculation is burning through my mana reserves too quickly."

The deeper he reached for the truth, the more unstable the equation became. It's as if something is blocking him.

His calculations were pushing against a barrier...

"If this keeps up… my mana won't be the only thing lost. My life force could be next…"

Lucien noticed it immediately.

He channeled divine energy in his eyes. He saw Maxim's mana was draining fast like it was being devoured by the equation itself.

Maxim was just about to cancel the skill to prevent a breakdown when Lucien acted.

Without hesitation, Lucien poured Divine Energy into him.

A radiant pulse surged through Maxim's body.

And suddenly...

The skill responded.

Instead of draining him, it began drawing from Lucien's divine flow, stabilizing itself.

Maxim's eyes flashed white again. His thoughts realigned.

Information flooded his mind.

The fake dungeon wall.

Its composition.

Its false depth.

Its structure.

Everything unfolded before him like numbers on a page.

Then…

Silence.

Perfect Calculation deactivated.

Maxim dusted himself off as he stood.

He gave a nod to both Lucien and Edric.

Lucien let out a breath he hadn't realized he was holding.

He reached into his INVENTORY and pulled out three energy drinks. He handed one to each of them.

After taking a sip, Maxim finally spoke.

"Nephew," his voice was calm but edged with seriousness, "I've discovered two things about this wall."

He held up two fingers.

"First… this wall was created using a skill."

He glanced at the stone structure again as if still piecing together how it was even possible.

"I don't know who did it but whoever it was… they're not ordinary. This isn't just illusion or concealment. This is reality-bending stuff."

He sighed.

Edric and Lucien exchanged looks equally stunned.

That was no simple trick.

'Must be at least a 5-Star Skill,' Lucien thought.

Lucien clenched his fists slightly.

He needed to reach Level 50 soon. Unlocking access to the 5-Star Skills in his Skillpedia was no longer just a goal it was a necessity.

Maxim then lowered one finger, raising the second point.

"Second… the wall will only open for someone who shares the same bloodline as the one who created it."

Lucien's expression fell.

Of all the requirements, that was the worst.

But Maxim quickly added, "Don't worry, Nephew. There's still a way."

Lucien looked at him.

"This structure. It's sustained by mana."

Lucien's hope flickered… and dimmed again.

"Right," he muttered. "Except we're inside a dungeon. There's mana everywhere."

Edric nodded grimly.

"Too much, actually. That's why most people don't train here. You might end up with mana poisoning instead of progress."

Maxim agreed with a quiet hum but the gears were clearly still turning in his head.

Maxim added thoughtfully.

"If Ellen were here, we could use her skill to devise a countermeasure… something like a magic circle that drains mana and cancels out a skill. That would be perfect."

He began explaining the nature of such a circle how it would need to destabilize the mana sustaining the wall while also disrupting the skill itself.

Lucien's eyes lit up.

A seal that could cancel skills and drain mana?

That sounded exactly like something from...

Eclipse Magic.

Without hesitation, Lucien summoned his MAGIC BOOK.

It materialized in the air with a shimmer.

Edric blinked at the sudden appearance. He was surprised but he said nothing.

Maxim, on the other hand, immediately recognized what it meant. His eyes gleamed.

The book hovered in the air, flipping pages on its own as if guided by unseen hands.

It stopped at a specific section.

Ancient Magic of the Eclipse Attribute.

Lucien scanned the pages quickly.

Eclipse Chain wouldn't work. The spell required the original caster to be present.

He needed something… more surgical.

And then, he found it.

A magic circle titled...

Null Veil Seal.

Lucien's expression sharpened.

This was it.

Without delay, he grabbed a piece of chalk from his INVENTORY.

Maxim instantly caught on and pointed at a precise location on the stone floor.

He marked the best spot to draw the magic circle.

"Right there, Nephew," he said. "It'll disrupt the flow cleanly from that point."

Lucien gave a sharp nod.

And then… he began to draw.

Lucien shut out the world and focused.

With STEADY HANDS active, every movement of his chalk was precise.

Even if he tried to make a mistake, the skill wouldn't allow it.

The outer ring was drawn first. It was etched with sharp runes designed to sever links.

Then came the inner spiral. It was a complex channel meant to guide broken mana into the void, neutralizing the source.

Line by line. Rune by rune. The Null Veil Seal came to life.

And then...

It was complete.

Lucien pressed his palm to the center and poured Divine Energy into the circle.

A pulse rippled outward.

The runes lit up, glowing with black and white light.

Then it happened.

The magic circle flared and the fake wall responded.

Its surface cracked with a soft hum before disintegrating into a fine dust-like shimmer.

The particles twisted through the air and was pulled inward.

They were sucked into the center of the floating magic circle like iron filings into a black hole.

And finally…

The magic circle disintegrated when its job was finished.

And a path appeared.

Where there had once been solid wall, a corridor now extended forward.

Lucien swallowed hard.

The disgusting presence he had felt earlier… it was stronger now.

Edric raised a brow, visibly impressed.

"So there really was something behind it…"

Maxim stepped beside them.

"Let's see what was worth hiding behind all that effort."

Together, they moved forward.

At first, nothing seemed out of place.

Just more dungeon stone.

But each step carried a weight… a tension that clung to the air like rot.

Something wasn't right.

But soon… they found it.

A magic circle.

One etched not in ink or chalk... but in blood.

The pungent stench still lingered in the air.

The circle wasn't like anything they'd seen before.

It wasn't even fully formed.

The lines were formless and jagged. There's a web of crimson strokes that seemed to drink the light around them.

The runes etched into it were incomplete yet somehow… It was shifting as if alive.

It was disturbing in a way that made the skin crawl.

Lucien's expression darkened.

He activated Divine Sense again.

And surely...

This was the source of the dreadful feeling that had clawed at his instincts since they entered the boss room.

All three of them stood still, staring at the bloody design.

It wasn't active.

It looked unfinished, but even so… its presence was strong.

Lucien crouched beside it and summoned his MAGIC BOOK, flipping rapidly through the pages.

He scoured every seal, rune and magic classification.

Nothing matched.

Not even close.

That only meant one thing.

'It belongs to an attribute I haven't unlocked yet…'

Space magic? Time magic? Maybe something worse?

Whatever it was... it had no place here.

Lucien's eyes narrowed as he made careful notes in the margins of his book, copying as much of the structure as he could without disturbing it.

For reference.

And still… a bleak miasma oozed from the markings, curling like smoke.

He could feel it.

If this circle were completed and activated, it would unleash something terrible.

It had to be destroyed.

Now.

Edric and Maxim moved without needing to be told.

Edric summoned a blade of wind and slashed at the bloody circle. Maxim followed with a calculated burst of condensed mana.

Nothing.

The runes didn't flinch.

They tried again.

Slicing at the stone.

Chipping the floor.

But it was as if the magic was carved into reality itself.

Unmoving.

Untouchable.

Lucien narrowed his eyes.

He could see it now.

The miasma coiling protectively around the circle, shielding it like a cocoon of darkness.

He stepped forward and raised his hand, channeling Divine Energy.

The moment the light touched the circle, the miasma hissed and recoiled like oil meeting fire.

He poured in more divine energy.

The light clashed against the corruption.

Bit by bit, the darkness began to lose ground.

Fading.

Breaking.

Then...

Silence.

The runes dimmed.

The circle vanished.

Lucien exhaled.

The suffocating pressure lifted from the room.

But only for a moment.

Because something else still pulsed in the shadows.

He shook off the lingering feeling and led the way forward.

They pushed deeper into the hidden passage… until they found it.

A narrow compartment

Inside, piled haphazardly in one corner...

High-grade mana cores.

A pile of them.

Their glow lit the space like scattered stars.

But that wasn't all.

Next to the pile…

Sat several goblin figurines.