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

Bang. Bang. Bang.

Three thunderous blasts ripped through the General's Hall.

"Hahahahaha! I am free!" Aldric the First roared, his laughter booming until it seemed to shake the heavens themselves.

Ethan, watching from a distance, could only stare at the man's reborn form. A fierce energy burst from Aldric's body—raw, blazing battle aura that shimmered around him like a second skin. Ethan raised a hand to shield his eyes. "Holy hell… he's gone full Super Saiyan."

The aura wasn't just so powerful—it radiated an overwhelming dominance that dwarfed anything Ethan had ever set his eyes on. It wasn't some invisible force sensed only by the gifted. No, this was visible to the naked eye, a golden brilliance rippling and flickering like firelight.

Beside him, a voice rang out, firm and certain. "Brother, you see it, don't you? That is the Ancestral Dragon's Aura, also known as the Imperial Aura. Only one Ancestral Dragon can be born on a single world. The birth of such a being demands countless reincarnations, and in every life, they stand above all others."

Ethan's eyes narrowed on Aldric, on the terrible light spilling from him. The Ancestral Dragon's Aura… Imperial Aura. The power of a true emperor. A Son of Heaven. If that's real, then every emperor since Aldric has been a fraud—a shadow wearing a stolen crown.

"Yaya," he asked silently, "are we… are we in the wrong here?"

Her voice came calm and unshaken. There is no wrong in this. To rise above all others, one must climb a mountain of corpses.

Her words steadied him. She was right. Never mind Aldric's so-called destiny—just look at what he had wrought. The Iron Dominion crushed nations beneath its heel. Entire peoples had been slaughtered. The Purge of Scrolls and Sages had burned centuries of knowledge into ash. If Ethan borrowed a fragment of this Imperial Aura, was that truly theft? Perhaps it was justice.

The thought cleared his doubts. He only had to play along, not reveal his intentions. If Aldric cooperated, perhaps there'd be no need to seize it outright. Still, Yaya had insisted the Aura was unlike any other power. Unlike the energy that sank into his body and vanished like a stone in the sea, this could be wielded directly. It could accelerate the growth of the Tree of Life within him, maybe even trigger another evolution, and stir the dormant seeds in his Core—the nebula swirling inside him, maddeningly out of reach. Most of all, the Imperial Aura carried the power of destiny itself.

But destiny? Ethan couldn't help doubting. If Aldric was truly so favored, then how had he rotted in this tomb for two thousand years?

"Kid," Aldric's voice cut across his thoughts, "fight at my side. We'll face that damned Crow together. You'll serve as my backup. Agreed?"

The aura then withdrew, though a faint shimmer still clung to his form. His eyes burned with arrogance, the same haughty disdain that had once commanded empires.

"I'll…" Ethan started, but his refusal was cut off as Aldric flicked his sleeve.

A crushing force wrapped around him, yanking him off his feet. Ethan gritted his teeth, struggling as the golden aura enveloped him. It was dense, like wading through liquid light, yet with effort he felt he could break free. "Yaya," he called quickly in his mind, "don't act. Not yet."

The aura pressed deeper into him, and heat erupted from within his bones. Focusing inward, Ethan saw a faint glow stirring—five-colored light flickering inside him, subtle but alive. His Quintessence Bone. Until now, it had acted only as a passive shield, an unconscious defense. But now, it pulsed with hunger, as though craving Aldric's aura.

'So this is the power of the Ancestral Dragon's Aura… it really is something else.'

---

The ground trembled. Aldric shot upward, dragging Ethan with him. With a single deafening crash, the roof of the General's Hall split apart. Boom… boom… boom. They ripped through floor after floor of the General's Tomb.

Creatures swarmed in the shadows: Corpse Guard Warriors, Javelin Corpses, abominations Ethan had only ever fought as game monsters. But here, in the flesh, they radiated slaughter and decay so thick it stung his nose.

He counted as they rose. By the time they broke into open air, they had passed through nineteen levels—eighteen beneath the hall itself. Yet the top three had already collapsed on their own. That must have been the Crow. But where was it now?

They hovered in the open sky. Ethan blinked, stunned. Gone was the blackened abyss of the Carnage Faction. Here was light, warmth, and color. Birds sang in the canopy of strange trees. Rivers glittered across rolling plains. In the distance, leviathan creatures swam lazily through the sky, crying out like whales.

"This…" Ethan's breath caught. It was like paradise, some untouched Eden. No choking smog like on Earth, no blistering heat like the Sea of Death. Every breath filled his lungs with clean, rich air.

'Is this the Path of Ethereal?'

Morzan had called it a place of exile. Ethan had pictured some nightmarish hellscape. Instead, he had found this.

"Caw, caw, caw… Kid, so you've finally crawled out."

The voice rang sharp and mocking from above.

Ethan looked up. A purple speck plummeted down from the heavens. Then, abruptly, it stopped the moment it saw Aldric. Cautious. Smart. A Crow that knows how to survive.

"Hmph. Feathered beast, I've finally found you!" Aldric bellowed, vanishing from Ethan's side in a flash of golden light.

A thunderous impact cracked through the sky. Ethan squinted upward—then gasped. A figure was tumbling down, faster than a meteor.

Aldric.

He streaked past Ethan and plummeted straight back into the yawning hole that led into the General's Tomb.

"What…? That fast?" Ethan gaped. "So weak? No way…"

A muffled crash rumbled up from below.

Above, a guttural caw echoed. Ethan looked up once more to see the Crowling God, wings thrashing as it reeled backward into the sky.