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

Ethan slipped away from the convoy, casually peeling off the five or six masks he'd been wearing. Stretching out, he turned and sprinted back the way he came. A few minutes later, panting, he lifted the flap of the tent and stepped inside.

Thump!

He crashed head-first into something and nearly bounced off.

"Ouch…" came a soft cry.

Sitting on the ground was Clara, clutching her chest with a pained expression contorting her face.

"Uh… I'm… I'm sorry!"

Seeing exactly where she was rubbing, Ethan instantly understood what he'd collided with. That elasticity…

Clara glared at him, then stood and silently moved behind Nora Vance, pointedly turning her back to him.

Nora, arms crossed, addressed Ethan coolly. "That Pincer-tailed Sand Badger Alpha… you took it down?"

The creature had stood seventy or eighty meters tall—its collapse had been clearly visible even from Uncle Jed's position.

Ethan shook his head. "We're pulling out. Let's head to the South Gate. Were taking the long way."

"Huh? No more hijacking?" Uncle Jed was stunned. Even Nora paused for a moment, though her expression didn't change. Clara just pursed her lips with a look that said I knew it.

Ethan stiffened his neck and shot Jed a look. "Hijacking? Am I some kind of barbarian?"

"Aren't you? Just now, you—" Uncle Jed didn't finish, but his expression said You were the one who said we should hijack the convoy.

Ethan waved a hand dismissively. "I just thought the weather was nice, so I went out for some stargazing. Picked up a few things along the way, that's all. Hijacking, hijacking… Uncle Jed, that kind of thinking will get you nowhere. Are you a bandit? Be a law-abiding citizen, got it? Look at me—doing good deeds, accumulating virtue. Even stargazing brings me treasure!"

With a casual wave, a massive wooden crate materialized in front of them. It was ornately carved, with the words Clearspring City emblazoned across the side.

Uncle Jed and Nora, both familiar with the convoy's supplies, instantly recognized it.

"This…" Jed stepped forward and lifted the lid. Inside were rows of meticulously arranged leather pouches.

Even Clara's eyes lit up.

A single crate of spatial pouches was priceless. Any one of them could become an heirloom in a tribe. Entire tribes had been known to risk annihilation just for a chance to obtain one spatial item.

And this entire crate was full of them.

Clara picked up a pouch and peeked inside. Water.

The space inside was perfectly cubed: twenty meters wide, twenty meters long, and twenty meters high—a total volume of 8,000 cubic meters.

And it was filled to the brim with clear water.

At a density of 1,000 kilograms per cubic meter, each pouch held eight thousand tons of clean water.

The crate contained a thousand pouches.

That was eight million tons of water.

Ethan blinked, stunned by the scale. That was just one crate. And he remembered—there had been one hundred crates in that same vehicle. That meant one truck had been carrying eight hundred million tons of clean water.

Only now, standing here with the crate at his feet, did Ethan truly grasp the scope of what he'd stumbled into.

He had looted a fortune.

But… why had Beastfall City abandoned this shipment?

Inside the tent, the group fell into silence, the sheer weight of the discovery hanging in the air.

Suddenly, the ground trembled.

Ethan pulled back the tent flap and looked outside. The encirclement was collapsing. Pincer-tailed Sand Badgers scattered in chaos, their movement erratic. But they weren't fleeing above ground—they were digging in place, disappearing underground in swarms.

"The Alpha's dead… are they retreating?" Ethan muttered.

Uncle Jed, leaning out beside him, shook his head grimly. "Something's not right. They wouldn't just scatter because their leader's gone. I think we should leave."

"Yeah," Ethan agreed. "Whether it's monsters or not, if the Clearspring City folks catch us with this stuff, we're dead."

He waved a hand, storing the crate back in his Mindscape, then tossed out four raincoats. "Put these on—we move now."

This time, he veered sharply south, plotting a wide ninety-degree arc to cut diagonally toward Beastfall City's South Gate. It wasn't that he feared the Clearspring convoy—he just had other plans, and it wouldn't be ideal to be seen by that group right now.

The monsters might be gone, but the rain hadn't let up. Sheets of water poured from the sky as the four of them charged south at full speed.

"Hey! We're going the wrong way!" Uncle Jed shouted after a while.

"Heh heh…" Ethan turned and grinned, saying nothing.

That strange smile unsettled them. But since he insisted, they had no choice but to follow.

"There are people ahead!" Jed shouted again moments later.

Ethan glanced back, grinning once more. "Oh…"

He adjusted their direction slightly, veering just enough to avoid the hundred-man team ahead. Anyone still standing after the Sand Badger swarm had to be formidable.

"What are you smiling about? Possessed?" Uncle Jed finally snapped. Ethan had been smiling like an idiot ever since he returned, what had gotten into him?

He didn't know that Ethan's Soul Sense was compressed into a tight line, stretching twenty kilometers ahead… where it was now watching the Clearspring City convoy.

Specifically, a certain luxurious carriage.

A rather… eye-watering performance was unfolding inside.

Just earlier, when the ground trembled under Ethan's feet, that richly dressed old man—had taken down the final Sand Badger Alpha with the help of his three powerful subordinates.

They had braced for more attacks. But then, unexpectedly, the beasts began retreating en masse.

The sudden reversal left Silas stunned.

From what Nora had told Ethan, this man's name was Silas. He had once been a minor District Overseer in Clearspring City. Eight years later, he now held the powerful and lucrative position of General Manager of External Material Deliveries.

Clearly, he wasn't simple.

Relieved by the horde's retreat, Silas returned to the convoy, ordering a subordinate to begin tallying losses.

"You three—carriage. Now," he said, motioning to the three who had fought beside him.

As they passed the cargo vehicles, Silas paused for a glance.

Five trucks stood neatly parked. The outer frameworks looked untouched. Satisfied, he kept walking.

Ethan watched this unfold through his Soul Sense.

When Silas stopped by the trucks, a chill ran down Ethan's spine.

'No way… If he notices the missing crates, he'll rush back. If he takes too long… won't the gases from Serpent's Embrace and Phoenix's Desire mix and dissipate?'

But then, Silas boarded the carriage and four people entered together. Ethan's expression darkened.

He didn't even know what emotion it was that surged through him—but one thing was certain.

That old pervert named Silas… was finished.