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

Ethan, slow to realize, had no idea that as he stepped through the portal, Lyla remained behind, watching his body vanish before her eyes.

The weariness weighing on her shoulders lifted slightly. At least he would no longer suffer from the gnawing hunger and weakness that came with spending so long inside the capsule. After days of keeping vigil in Ethan's room, Lyla finally forced herself to rise. She lingered on the VR chamber, gazing at it with a faint pout that was equal parts irritation and affection, before turning and walking out of the Star Chamber.

She had only just reached the doorway when she collided with someone.

"Oh, my—!"

"Sister Lyla! I'm so sorry!"

Lyla frowned at the flustered young girl before her, studying her for a moment before asking, "And you are…?"

The girl was one of the quadruplets. Since arriving, they had all been dressed in the blue-colored uniforms of the modern city, but with how often the sisters traded outfits, it was nearly impossible to tell them apart.

"I'm Mia," the girl blurted, panic flickering in her voice.

Lyla's exhaustion bled into her tone as she asked, "What's wrong? Why are you in such a rush?"

"The Young Master's friend has returned!"

Lyla's expression tightened. "Leo?" She hadn't thought much about him these past days. Victor had mentioned his disappearance once, but no one had pressed the matter again.

"His return should be good news. Why do you look as if the sky is falling?"

Mia's lips trembled. "He… he's badly hurt. Dragon Child and Evelyn, even that old doctor, they all say he won't make it! Crystal told me to find out when the Young Master would come out of the capsule."

"What?" Lyla's heart sank. She knew too well how much Leo meant to Ethan. In Ethan's previous life—before his rebirth—Leo had been the one constant presence at his side, the friend who had cared for him when he was broken and powerless. Without Leo, Ethan might never have left Harmony City alive.

"Take me to him. Now."

"But the Young Master…" Mia glanced nervously toward the capsule.

"He's fine," Lyla said with a weary sigh. "He won't be back anytime soon."

Mia's shoulders slumped with disappointment. "They're all at Matriarch Whitmore's estate."

Together they hurried through the ancestral grounds, where Lyla found the courtyard crowded. Anxiety and grief clouded every face.

From inside the hall came the rough bark of a man's voice. "Stop wasting your strength! This boy's already gone. Evelyn—the Mercer Thirteen Needles I taught you are meant to save the living, not stab at corpses!"

Lyla's jaw clenched. She recognized the voice at once: Dr. Aldric. Fury surged through her as she strode into the hall.

There, she found the old man yanking at Evelyn's arm while the girl, pale and desperate, fought to keep working on Leo's motionless body.

"Leeroy! Ryan!" Evelyn cried.

The two men in the courtyard rushed in at once, brushing past Lyla.

"What are you waiting for?" Evelyn snapped at them, eyes blazing. "Are you waiting until Ethan himself comes back to blame you?"

They understood without another word. Both glanced at Leo, who lay on the wooden plank, then turned to Aldric.

"Forgive us, Master," Ryan muttered. "We're sorry, Master," Leeroy echoed. Then the two grabbed hold of Aldric, wrenching his arms back and dragging him toward the door.

"You fools! You'll kill Evelyn!" Aldric roared, thrashing against their grip. "Do you even remember how her parents died?"

The words froze the room. Even Dragon Child, who had been weaving her water spells over Leo's body, faltered. Aldric seemed to realize too late what he had revealed. He fell silent, his struggle stilled.

"What did you just say?" Evelyn's voice trembled as she stepped forward. "Grandfather… you told me my parents were only missing."

Her wide eyes turned toward Leeroy and Ryan. The two older men lowered their gazes, guilt clear in their silence.

"You knew too?" she whispered.

For over a decade, they had hidden the truth from her. Evelyn's chest tightened with betrayal. She turned her pleading gaze to Leeroy.

"Brother … tell me."

He met her eyes for only a moment before sighing and lowering his head again, unable to speak.

Evelyn's throat tightened as she turned to Ryan. "Ryan?"

He winced under her look. "Evelyn, I was only five at the time. You were three. All I remember… are two words. Ill omen."

At that, his eyes flicked toward Aldric. Everyone followed his gaze.

The old man sagged, defeated. "So be it. Since the truth has already come out…" He gestured, and Leeroy and Ryan released him.

"Twenty years ago, your mother and father saved a man. He was like this boy now—half-dead, clinging to a single breath. Your mother, reckless as ever, ignored my warnings and forced the needles into him. She saved the man's life, but in doing so, she and your father drew down a terrible burden upon themselves."

"What kind of burden?" Evelyn demanded.

Aldric's face hardened. "This is the greatest secret of the Mercer Needles. To use them on the dead is forbidden. It is also their greatest power, the power to cheat death itself—to pull a soul back from the grasp of the Underworld. Your mother's skill was not strong enough then, so your father poured his own strength into the attempt. Together, they succeeded… and together, they invoked the omen. An ill omen that no one can escape."

The words fell like stones in the silence. Snatching someone from the jaws of death? To the others it sounded like a tale out of myth. But the grief in Aldric's face was too raw to be a fabrication.

"At first, nothing seemed wrong," he went on. "The year after, they even had you. But five years later, they brought you to me… and the moment I saw them, I knew. The omen had come."

His voice broke. Tears streaked down his face as he sank into a chair and closed his eyes, unwilling to go further.

"What was it?" Evelyn pressed, her voice sharp with desperation.

Leeroy answered in a low, steady voice. "When we buried them, their bodies had already changed. Only hours after death, gray hair covered them from head to toe. And while they still breathed, scales had begun to spread across their skin."

A horrified silence filled the hall.

"So that's how Sister Eva and Brother Leonard died…"

The words came not from within the room, but from above. An unfamiliar voice drifted down from the rooftop.

Aldric's eyes snapped open.