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

If this situation had happened to an engineer who relied on mass-producing items to make a living, it would have been a disaster. But Ethan wasn't worried. He clapped the Mad Engineer on the shoulder and said, "Don't sweat it. Losing the ability to craft regular keys isn't a big deal. This time, your skill activation worked out perfectly, and it's a huge help to me.

Besides, you don't need to make stuff to earn money anymore. You're a shareholder now! Focus on experimenting with your Demonic Engineer skills and see if you can whip up more unique items like this. I have high hopes for your potential!"

"Really?" The engineer, who had been feeling down, perked up at Ethan's words, his eyes lighting up with renewed enthusiasm.

"Absolutely," Ethan said without hesitation, giving him a confident smile.

The engineer stood there for a moment, processing Ethan's encouragement, then suddenly looked determined. "I'll do my best!" he declared, his voice filled with resolve. Without another word, he turned and rushed back into his smoke-filled workshop, slamming the door shut behind him.

Ethan blinked, slightly taken aback by the man's sudden enthusiasm. 'Well, he's certainly eager,' he thought with a chuckle. But Ethan was just as excited. He clutched the Demonic Universal Key tightly and dashed out of the engineering shop.

As he ran, his mind raced through the locations of Gold-tier chests he remembered. He was ready to test his luck. But just as he was about to set off, a system notification chimed in his ear.

Ding…

[System Alert: Side Quest - Prismatic Stone's Nurturing, Third Stage (Soul Infusion) Time Remaining: 71 hours 30 minutes.]

Ethan froze. 'Crap, I almost forgot about this quest!' He sighed, realizing that his treasure-hunting plans would have to wait. He double-checked his inventory to make sure he hadn't forgotten anything. He had stocked up on all sorts of engineering gadgets, including two grappling launchers, plenty of potions, and every buff scroll the shop had to offer. He was as prepared as he could be.

Opening the quest panel, he tapped the dynamic portal icon. A sudden force pulled at him, and he felt himself being sucked into the portal. It was like being swallowed by a wormhole. His vision went dark, and he lost consciousness.

When he came to, he was startled to find himself in a completely different state. He was in soul form.

Oh no… Panicking, he quickly opened his inventory to check if the Wishbound Relic was still there. To his relief, it was. 'That was close', he thought, his heart racing. For a moment, he had feared he'd died and lost the relic. That would have been a disaster.

Ding…

[System Alert: You have discovered a new map: Soulforge Abyss!]

Ethan's eyes widened. This was a special map. In normal maps, discovering a new area would grant experience points, but in these unique quest maps, there were no such rewards. Looking around, he saw that the entire world was shrouded in a gray, misty haze. Above him, a massive swirling vortex of clouds dominated the sky. Occasionally, white orbs of light would fall from the vortex, drifting down like ethereal rain.

He checked his inventory again and noticed that his teleportation stone was grayed out. Even his Divine Teleportation skill was unusable. The portal button in the quest panel had disappeared as well.

'Looks like this is a closed map. The only way out is to explore and find an exit.'

Although the Prismatic Stone's Nurturing quest had a time limit, Ethan knew that in Ethereal, such timers would pause during offline periods. He stretched and tested his skills, relieved to find that none of them were restricted in this map. Still, he didn't let his guard down. He activated Panther's Stealth and cautiously made his way up a nearby hillside.

In Ethereal, special maps like this were rare and often tied to unique quests or random encounters. But one thing was certain—they were always filled with danger.

Reaching the top of the hill, Ethan looked down and saw a bizarre landscape. Jagged, otherworldly rock formations stretched out in every direction, crisscrossed by winding paths. Among the rocks, strange, towering creatures roamed. One of them caught his eye—a massive, upright-walking beast with the skull of a bull for a head.

The creature before him was massive, towering like a giant. Its body was encased in steel-plated armor, and thick chains hung from its arms. Ethan activated his Advanced Appraisal skill, which allowed him to inspect the attributes of creatures up to 15 levels higher than himself.

[Scorchbeast Titan]

Rank: Elite

Level: 55

Health: 275,000

Defense: 2,750

Attack Power: 5,500

Skills: Slam, Cleaving Tempest, Crush.

Description: These iron-clad, savage creatures crave destruction and will use their brute strength to crush any opponent in their path.

Ethan's eyes widened. A level 55 Elite monster? And these stats are insane! The Scorchbeast Titan even had the Cleaving Tempest skill, a 360-degree area-of-effect attack that could hit everything around it. What made it worse was that the skill was instant-cast, leaving no time to react.

As a Druid, Ethan could theoretically learn the Cleaving Tempest skill, but he had never been lucky enough to find the skill book. Skill books were rare in Ethereal, but back when he played as a Rogue in his previous life, they hadn't felt this hard to obtain.

The quest description mentioned that killing monsters would yield Soul Essence, but it didn't specify which monsters to target. Ethan decided to explore the area, hoping to find weaker enemies to farm. He activated Panther's Stealth and carefully made his way down the hillside, planning to skirt around the Scorchbeast Titan.

But just as he was about to sneak past the beast, a system notification popped up.

Ding…

[System Alert: Prismatic Stone's Nurturing, Third Stage Progress 1: Defeat Scorchbeast Titans - 0/5]

'What the hell…' Ethan cursed under his breath. The quest was now demanding that he kill five of these monstrous Scorchbeast Titans.

In his Panther Form, Ethan wielded his Legendary weapon, which ignored 50% of the target's defense. However, as a physical damage class, he would suffer heavily from the level difference. The higher the level gap, the more likely his attacks would miss. This made fighting higher-level enemies particularly challenging for physical classes.

But the quest left him no choice. He had to fight.

Ethan stealthily approached the Scorchbeast Titan from behind. He opened with Rake, stunning the beast for two seconds and applying a bleeding debuff. Normally, the stun would last five seconds, but due to the level difference, it was reduced to just two.

Next, he used Shred, but the attack missed. Ethan sighed in frustration. At least when an attack missed, it only consumed 50% of the skill's energy cost. Instead of the usual 40 energy, Shred only cost him 20.

Deciding to go all out, Ethan spammed Shred on the Scorchbeast Titan, hoping to land a hit.

-5,698!

Finally, one of his attacks connected. The level difference of 14 levels meant the Scorchbeast Titan had a 280% defense bonus—20% for each level above Ethan. Without the 50% defense ignore from his weapon, Ethan wouldn't have been able to deal any damage at all. He would have been forced to rely on debuffs and chip away at the monster's health over time, as he had done in the past.

The two-second stun wore off, and the Scorchbeast Titan turned its massive body toward Ethan, swinging one of its enormous arms in a Slam attack. Despite its size, the creature was slow, and Ethan easily dodged the attack with a quick roll to the side.

BOOM!

The Scorchbeast Titan's fist slammed into the ground, causing the earth to shake violently. Ethan struggled to keep his footing as the ground trembled beneath him.

Failing to hit Ethan, the Scorchbeast Titan roared in anger. It swung its arms, the chains attached to them whipping through the air.

-8,176!

A massive damage number floated above Ethan's head as the chains struck him.