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

Ethan stood atop the city walls, eyes narrowed as he stared out at the desolate horizon.

"Who told me Pincer-tailed Sand Badgers were brainless creatures?" he muttered.

His surprise was echoed by the others—Uncle Jed, Ormund, and Inugoro all stared in stunned silence. Clara, Nora, Dot, and Little Empty had already been taken away by Ormund's kin. That much gave Ethan a small measure of comfort. After witnessing his evolution through the Divine Contract, Ormund's relatives now treated him with the utmost respect, bordering on reverence.

Outside the massive city walls, the landscape was chaos. A slow-moving horde of Pincer-tailed Sand Badgers advanced steadily, kicking up waves of sand. Ahead of them, a terrified mass of people fled in panic—humans, beastfolk, and hybrids all running for their lives. Their destination was Beastfall City, whose four gates were now firmly shut.

Was their earlier retreat just a tactic? A way to corral everyone in the region and drive them here like cattle?

Ethan's thoughts raced. The sheer number of people made no sense. Even with the Beastfall Festival underway, the turnout couldn't possibly be this overwhelming. Normally, only a handful of delegates would be sent from smaller tribes.

From his vantage point, Ethan estimated seventy to eighty thousand refugees were pressing in from the west alone. If the other directions mirrored this, then the total headcount would be somewhere between two and three hundred thousand. Mostly hybrids, yes—but still lives, still people.

What would Beastfall City do? Deny entry, and let them die outside the gates? Or open up, and risk a city-wide massacre?

Letting them in meant the Sand Badgers would speed up. The beasts were faster than any crowd. The second those gates cracked open, the stampede would turn catastrophic. There wouldn't be time to close them again.

But to keep the gates shut meant condemning hundreds of thousands to die. Even for Ethan, it was a paralyzing dilemma.

Unbeknownst to him, high above on the city's central gate tower, City Lord Regis stood with a similar frown. Beside him loomed Priest Gorr the Elder—uncle to the very same Priest Gorr that Ethan had killed.

The Gorr family was powerful, almost disturbingly so. Of their bloodline, three held the rare title of Priest. The deceased Priest Gorr had not only wielded soul power but was also a skilled Beast Tamer. Even in childhood, he had shown the rare gift of speaking to beasts—similar to Clara and Dot.

Yet all that talent had crumbled in the face of Ethan. In his final act, Priest Gorr had launched a devastating soul attack, aiming to scramble Ethan's mind. Instead, it was his own skull that detonated—his signature move turned against him in a tragic twist of fate.

Suddenly, the city wall shuddered beneath their feet. A metallic groan echoed through the air—Creak... Clank, clank...

Uncle Jed snapped his head down. "Ethan! They're opening the city gates!" he shouted, face pale with disbelief.

Back when he lived in the Forgotten City, Jed had experienced similar events. There, they called them beast tides—swarms of monsters that rolled through the land like natural disasters.

The Forgotten City sat on the northern edge of the Sea of Death. To the south was desert, to the north, an ice plain. One might think the ice would provide water, but no one dared drink from it. Rumor had it the region was once a plague-swamp, frozen overnight by some unknown force. The poison, they said, still slept beneath the ice. Melting it was like opening a tomb.

Many monsters lived on that cursed plain. Every few years, they were driven south—not to conquer, but to feed. They collected corpses, human or otherwise, for sustenance. To Jed, opening the gates now was the height of foolishness.

But Ethan didn't see it that way.

He watched the Sand Badgers below begin to pick up speed and let out a low, unexpected chuckle. "This City Lord... he's quite humane."

Jed spun toward him. "Humane? You call this humane? He's putting the entire city at risk!"

Ethan didn't argue. The rules here were different. The Sea of Death didn't play by Earth's logic.

Up above, on the tower, the debate had already turned into confrontation. The f@ul-l serie%s is hos!te*d@ on My V.ir.t*ual Lib%r!a&ry+ E#mpir$e,! kno-w@n as M$V%7L&E+M*P%YR-..

"Four Quadrant City Guards, deploy ladders! Descend and intercept the beastfolk!"

City Lord Regis's voice boomed across the city. In his hand, he held a palm-sized, stone-like seal—Sigil of the Wild Legion. It wasn't just ceremonial. This artifact served as the core of the city's defensive formation, and through it, Regis issued direct orders.

The old men standing behind him looked as if they'd swallowed poison. Moments ago, they had all opposed opening the gates. Regis had ignored them.

"City Lord, please reconsider!" one of them stepped forward anxiously.

"Oh? And why's that?" Regis asked, coldly turning to face him.

The man hesitated. "If the Four Quadrant Guards go out now, they'll suffer heavy losses. They're the foundation of Beastfall City!"

"Is that so?" Regis said, his voice turning sharp. "The foundation of Beastfall City—or the foundation of your Four Generals of the East, South, West, and North?"

He turned back toward the battlefield, dismissing them. Moments later, ladders were launched from the walls, descending in synchronized arcs. The Four Quadrant Guards, bound by command, obeyed—even if their own generals had not authorized it. No one dared ignore the City Lord's seal.

Behind Regis, Priest Gorr the Elder stepped forward, expression tight. "City Lord... don't you think your remarks are... inappropriate?"

"Oh?" Regis didn't look back. "Then what should I say?"

"You sent out the Central Dominion Guards to help my nephew. Why aren't they being deployed now?"

Regis finally turned. His tone was casual, but his eyes gleamed like steel.

"Ah yes. I followed your advice and sent the Central Dominion Guards to assist your nephew. They haven't returned. I wonder how fruitful their little adventure was. Did they bag a Tier 4 demon beast? A Fire-Eyed Toad, wasn't it?"

He narrowed his gaze. "If the Central Dominion Guards had been here, I'd have sent them out last night. Maybe then Silas of Clearspring City wouldn't have died... of anal rupture. And if they return empty-handed, we've lost both the bait and the fish. Tell me, Priest, who will carry that burden?"

Priest Gorr the Elder froze, eyes narrowing.

"City Lord, I never asked for that deployment."

"No?" Regis arched a brow. "But your niece came to me herself. Said it was at your request."

He turned and nodded toward the woman standing behind Gorr—the young, pale-faced Priestess Dana.

She stepped forward, voice trembling just slightly. "Yes, City Lord. My uncle asked me to relay the message. He said my brother had discovered a Fire-Eyed Toad about to give birth. They needed support to capture it. So... the Central Dominion Guards were dispatched."

Every eye turned to Priest Gorr the Elder. His goatee trembled as he tried to process the betrayal.

"Good… good… good…" he hissed, repeating the word like a curse. Then he flicked his sleeve in disgust and stormed off the tower.

No one stopped him. No one dared.

Regis, still smiling faintly, turned to Priestess Dana.

"You'll follow me from now on," he said lightly. "I've been considering taking on a disciple. Age comes for us all—I could use someone to handle daily affairs."

Dana bowed low. Her expression flickered for just a moment—something unreadable—but it passed quickly.

"I pledge myself to your teaching, Master." she said, voice calm. A bead of sweat slid down her nose.