Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat!

The moment Ralph collapsed, Ethan shifted back into Panther Form and leapt onto its back. His claws lashed out, each strike precisely aimed at the back of Ralph's head—universally the weak spot of all monsters, designed to inflict bonus damage.

Still, there were no critical hits. A Fatal Strike trigger wasn't happening.

Three seconds later, Ralph stirred. It shook its head groggily, trying to rise. Its health had dropped below 50,000.

Ethan launched off its back and shifted into Owl Form mid-air. Before even landing, he cast Bramble Bind, locking Ralph's feet in place.

The monster had barely stood up before vines snaked around its legs, pinning it to the ground. Ethan landed three yards away, near the corner of the wall. The corridor's staircase was narrow—only about six yards wide—but the bend worked in his favor. Monsters outside couldn't see in.

Ralph, now immobilized, stood like a dumb beast—an easy target. He had activated both Enrage and Bloodlust, reducing it to a mindless berserker. It didn't even try to break free from the vines. Instead, it roared wildly at Ethan, its rage blind and directionless.

But the fury was wasted.

Ethan knew he had to finish this quickly. He could already hear the distant chaos of monsters gathering beyond the bend. The control duration on Bramble Bind wouldn't hold long enough to drag this out. If it had, Ralph would've died while still stunned.

---

[Ding… System Notification: Gatekeeper Ralph killed! You have alerted the Blood King. He will send elite subordinates to intercept you!]

Clang…

As Ralph's corpse hit the ground, the system notification chimed. A brass-colored key dropped from its body, and a thunderous roar echoed throughout the entire castle.

"Foolish human… daring to trespass upon my domain… you will…"

The rest of the voice was lost in a deafening chorus of howls and screeches erupting from the first floor.

Ethan gritted his teeth. What the hell? Killing a gatekeeper alerts the boss directly?

He snatched up the key and the loot, then sprinted toward the massive iron gate. He didn't get far before a horde of werewolves, vampires, and clouds of bats surged around the corner, shrieking like zombies hungry for blood.

Click…

The key turned in the lock, and the iron gate creaked open. Ethan yanked it wide, dashed through, and slammed it shut behind him.

Some of the smaller bats managed to squeeze through the narrow gap. They swarmed toward him.

But with only one health point each, they weren't a real threat. Before, Ethan had worried about them sounding the alarm. Now that everyone was already alerted—what was there to be afraid of?

Owl Form… Sunburn.

A radiant pillar of light burst from above, bathing the corridor in golden fire. The swarm of bats within its radius was instantly incinerated. A few seconds later, not a single one remained.

On the other side of the gate, the werewolves and vampires clawed and pressed forward, piling on top of each other in their frenzy. Ethan narrowed his eyes.

'Since I'm already exposed… I might as well clear you all out. Fifty or sixty thousand health? That's it? Why act so tough?'

He cast Sunburn again and again, washing waves of searing light over the monsters outside the gate.

-859!

-982!

Even the debuff alone was shaving off nearly a thousand HP per second.

As his Astral Energy reached sixty points, the Owl Form's wings spread wide, tilting upward toward the ceiling.

"Celestial Barrage… fall!"

Buzz… Swish, swish, swish…

Beams of starlight burst through the ceiling, raining down in a brilliant cascade. Wave after wave lit up the corridor—more spectacular than even the General's Tomb.

Experience +1100… Experience +1100… Experience +1100…

The popups flooded his view. But still—only 1100 per kill? These zombie-like mobs really didn't give much.

If anyone knew he was complaining about this, they'd probably curse him for being too greedy. Ethan thought wryly.

He glanced at the final tally: 4,383,500 experience.

That meant… over 3,985 monsters.

Eventually, the waves stopped. No more monsters rounded the corner. The hallway was now piled with corpses, some already beginning to despawn. In the ten-plus minutes of combat, many bodies had vanished already, but a hill of remains still stood nearly half a story tall.

Among them, flickering lights sparkled—loot.

---

Ethan wasn't in a rush to leave. With that many monsters, there had to be some decent drops. Even if they were just minor mobs, in Ethereal, they still had a small chance of dropping good gear.

He waited patiently for the corpses to despawn. He couldn't even open the gate again until the pile thinned out.

Five minutes later, the floor outside was finally clear. Copper coins littered the ground, their reflections casting a soft gleam over the shadowy space. Wisps of green and white smoke hovered above some items—Bronze and Silver gear.

Ethan sighed.

This was Carnage Faction territory. Any dropped gear here couldn't be deposited into the Renegade Alliance's vault. Most of it had faction restrictions.

But he didn't care.

He issued commands to his avatar back at the guild stronghold and began clearing the battlefield, picking up everything—gear, coins, trash—didn't matter. Quantity over quality.

The operation went like clockwork: pick up → pass to avatar → avatar unloads into the Guild Hall.

---

At the Guild Hall, Celia was managing internal affairs. The "FleetingYouth" incident had stirred up trouble for Renegade Alliance, and she was organizing an investigation into suspicious players.

That's when Ethan's "brother" barged in—his avatar. Without a word, it dumped a heap of gear onto the floor.

Celia blinked. "Hey—wait! Where did all this come from?"

No answer. The avatar ignored her and kept dumping items like garbage.

Curious, she picked up a few pieces. Every single one was tagged Carnage Faction Only.

Frowning, she sent Ethan a private message:

Tears of the Fallen: Boss, your brother dropped off a pile of gear. Why is it all Carnage Faction stuff?

Ethan was still elbow-deep in loot. He glanced at the message but was too busy to reply. He wished he had a giant vacuum—picking up items one by one was ridiculous.

---

It took nearly thirty minutes to finish clearing the battlefield.

The final copper coin went into his bag. Ethan checked the numbers. This wave had earned him 22 gold coins. Not bad.

As for the gear…

He finally opened his messages again and replied:

"Sis Celia, I'll trouble you to sort the gear. Anything usable by Survivors, put it in the vault. The Carnage gear—set it aside. I'll figure out what to do with it later!"

---

[Ding… System Notification: Your friend 'Tears of the Fallen' has sent a video call. Accept?]

"Accept."

The screen lit up. Celia, Victor, Leo, and Williams appeared.

"Boss," Celia began immediately, "your brother—where did he get this gear?"

Ethan hesitated. "Ah…"

Then he waved a hand. "Alright, alright. First of all, that's not my brother. It's my avatar. I'm currently in Carnage territory. All this gear? I got it. Inventory is shared."

Skyblade suddenly leaned in, eyes wide.

"Holy crap—an avatar?! Ethan, you… I… we…" He stammered until finally falling silent. Everyone gave him a strange look. He went quiet and didn't say more.

Slashblade frowned. "That's really your avatar? A few days ago, it ran a dungeon with us—and it talked. Its moves were too sharp to be AI."

Ethan raised an eyebrow. "You saying I suck?"

Slashblade shook his head. "No. I'm saying… it wasn't you. We talked. And I could tell. That wasn't your voice."

Ethan's expression shifted slightly. Slashblade wasn't wrong. The guy was sharp—no wonder, he was a veteran afterall.

After a moment of thought, Ethan said, "There's another… individual. A mysterious person who can control my avatar. So, it's not just mine."

"Mysterious person?" They all looked puzzled.

Ethan nodded. "Yeah. If you meet them again, just be nice. It'll benefit you, trust me."

No matter how much they probed after that, he said nothing more. He ended the call and let the avatar handle things directly from there.

Eventually, he sent the avatar back to the mining area. Just before logging off, he glanced back.

Skyblade was still with the others—but something about the way he acted… Ethan could tell.

That guy was hiding something.