Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat!-Chapter 324: Ascent [II]

Time: 21:00

The official forums of Ethereal exploded again.

Under Overlord’s latest post, tens of thousands of replies flooded in. But this time, the crowd wasn’t cheering for him—they were dragging him through the mud.

Simultaneously, another popular post had its title quietly changed. Originally titled "Druid God Is Second Place", it now read:

"Druid God Rises Again — Surpasses Pig Butcher, Reclaims the World’s Number One Rank."

Somewhere in Ember City, Zachary stormed out of his VR capsule like a lion unchained. In seconds, the room around him was in shambles, glass shattering and furniture cracking under his fury.

Moments earlier, the Dragonspire Northern Frontier Leaderboard had updated. And to his disbelief... the rankings were the same.

---

Leaderboard – Dragonspire Northern Frontier

1st: NotADruid — Level 48, Exp 19.8%

2nd: Overlord — Level 46, Exp 93.6%

Zachary had been waiting all day for the 9:00 PM refresh. He planned to crush Ethan’s rank and pressure Renegade Alliance into submission. But when the update hit... he couldn’t believe his eyes.

He stared in silence for a full minute before reality set in: NotADruid had already hit level 48—nearly two full levels above him—and had kept going.

His confidence shattered. The smug post he’d just published was already getting ripped apart.

PermanentLie: Overlord, eat your own words!

NoFoodInLunchbox: You really wanna challenge the Druid God? Might as well slam your head against a wall.

BloodShadow★Assassin彡: Where did this clown come from? Do you even know your place?

It wasn’t brutal, but it stung enough. Zachary read the replies one by one, each one twisting the knife deeper. With his pride bleeding out, he logged out without a word.

---

"Ethan..." he muttered, eyes burning with rage.

He had already investigated Ethan’s identity once. Even arranged an assassination.

But that man had failed—and was now missing. Well, not missing. Dealt with. Zachary made sure the man left no loose ends behind. Not even a body.

After that mess, he laid low for a while. But the investigation on Ethan never stopped.

He’d learned that Ethan was from the Ninth Division. And more than that—he was an Energy User.

That revelation made Zachary pause. He wasn’t afraid of Ethan exactly... but he knew not to poke a dragon in the eye. Especially one trained in Energy.

What worried him even more was the Ninth Division starting to dig into his background. They hadn’t found his real identity—yet—but it was enough for his family to step in.

The warning had been sharp and personal: calm down, or be eliminated for the good of the family.

Zachary had never feared many things in life, but that moment chilled him. The Steele family didn’t build their underground empire in the US by playing nice. They were merciless—to outsiders and their own blood.

Anyone who endangered the family would be erased. No exceptions.

---

In the weeks since, Zachary had used the Steele Corporation’s name to acquire and consolidate guilds across Ethereal. It was official business—part of his assigned task. And for a while, things had been going well.

His character had leveled quickly, his gear improved, and now 70–80% of the guilds in the Northern Frontier Region belonged to Steele Corp.

He even tried to reach out to Renegade Alliance’s acting guild master. But his people were turned away at the door. They couldn’t even get a meeting—so much for acquisition.

And Renegade Alliance wasn’t some throwaway guild. It was the largest in the region, with serious influence.

Even Marcus—once a major contender around Harmony City—had been forced to retreat and regroup in Springhaven after a crushing defeat by them.

In Blackridge another guild, Nocturne Order, had formed a coalition with smaller groups to resist Steele’s influence. It was turning into open opposition.

---

Despite the tension, Zachary had been focused on leveling. Ethan’s progress had appeared to slow, and he thought he’d found his chance to pull ahead.

His plan? A brute-force grind.

For the last half month, he’d deployed 900 people—three full groups.

The Rogue group drew aggro and cleared out ranged mobs. The Warriors formed a perimeter fortress to block melee enemies. The Priests stood behind, endlessly healing.

Zachary remained in the center. Alone. Not even in a party.

He just cast his area-of-effect spells on repeat, wiping out wave after wave of mobs. The monsters couldn’t reach him—they were too busy clawing at the tanks shielding him.

The Warriors didn’t dare retaliate. If they stole his kills, they’d be stealing experience. They had no choice but to grit their teeth, hold their shields, and suffer.

It was an efficient grind—but nowhere near as fast as Ethan’s Inscription based leveling.

Of course, not many people knew about that method.

Plaguewood Valley was remote. And almost no one had the Reputation and Favorability required to unlock the store that sold Arcane inscriptions.

But Ethan knew—thanks to his memories from a previous life.

If Ethan ever found out how Zachary was grinding, he would have laughed his ass out.

---

Ethan hadn’t met Zachary face to face yet. Celia had mentioned several times that Steele consortium wanted to speak with him.

He always refused.

Because Ethan knew himself. The moment they met, he wouldn’t be able to hold back.

And now wasn’t the time.

Renegade Alliance wasn’t strong enough yet. And more importantly, there was no gain in fighting now—only wasted time, wasted money, and wasted momentum.

He was waiting. Waiting for the Fortress system to launch. Only then would taking over the Northern Frontier Region truly begin.

According to his estimate, the system would launch in just over three months. Until then, his focus was on strengthening the guild—both its cohesion and its firepower.

---

[Ding... System Notification: [Clear General’s Tomb 1]

Corpse Guards Defeated: 30/30

Quest Complete. Gained EXP +5%]

[Ding... System Notification: [Clear General’s Tomb 2]

New Objective: Kill Corpse Guards 0/35. Accept quest?]

"Decline," Ethan muttered.

After eight hours of nonstop grinding, averaging four kills an hour, he had finally completed the repeatable quest again. But the reward no longer excited him.

He checked his level. Still 24% to go before hitting 51.

Earlier, when he killed his eighth Corpse Guard, he’d hit level 49. At number eighteen, he leveled again—50.

The climb was getting steeper. As his level rose, the Corpse Guards’ relative level advantage shrank. Bonus experience was dropping off. The grind was slowing.

It was time to move to the second layer of the General’s Tomb.

---

He took down the final Corpse Guard, watching it collapse.

[Ding... System Notification: Congratulations! Your level has increased to 51!]

[Ding... System Notification: Congratulations! Solar Flare skill increased to Level 19. Damage increased.]

Two quick dings.

His Owl Form skills had all leveled up during the grind.

While the next wave of Corpse Guards began to respawn, he leapt down from the stone pillar to gather loot.

He’d done this many times before. But this time... something different caught his eye.

He reached down and picked up a heavy, cold shard of metal.

[Ding... System Notification: Obtained Item — General’s Token (Fragment) x1.]

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