Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat!-Chapter 326: The Reluctant Escort [II]

Ethan toiled away for another half hour. Finally, the Corpse Guard Warrior he’d been targeting dropped to half health. The other hundred or so monsters showed a slight dip in their health bars, but it was barely noticeable.

Only Solar Flare and Celestial Barrage were area-of-effect skills, and even those didn’t pierce armor—just chipped away a sliver at a time.

He groaned inwardly.

’If only I’d invested in true damage gear earlier...’

But even if he went back now with a mountain of gold, there probably wasn’t enough true damage gear in all of Ethereal to fully outfit him. Not to mention, the combined revenue from Renegade Alliance’s six shops and three auction houses still wouldn’t be enough to afford it.

As he wallowed in that grim thought, something clicked.

Wait a second...

His eyes lit up. He’d forgotten all about the Silver-tier weapon from the Starter Zone. He quickly opened his inventory—yep, it was still there, untouched and gathering dust.

---

[Primal Warstaff +30]

Tier: Silver-Tier

Required Level: None

Attack Power: 304–412 (Base: 76–103 | +14 Enhanced: 228–309)

Attribute: On attack, adds true damage equal to player’s level × 2

Enhanced Attributes:

(10): Mastery +2

(20): Omni +2

(30): Omni +2

Restrictions: Survivor Faction | Mage, Warlock, Priest, Druid only

---

Compared to his current exclusive weapon, the attack power was laughable. But that passive—"adds true damage equal to player’s level × 2"—was exactly what he needed against high-tier monsters.

He remembered the ordeal of getting it. Back in the Starter Zone, he’d gone through hell and even faked a cliff dive just to snag it. Even a Level 100 player using this staff would only get 200 true damage. But once players realized the benefits of fighting higher-level monsters, the Swamp Leviathan had become the most hunted boss in the entire early game.

Without hesitation, he equipped it.

---

Ding...

[Twilight War Spear] was unequipped and sent back to his inventory. Just then, Ethan’s astral energy hit full. Time for another Celestial Barrage.

He activated the spell.

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh... A cascade of starlight poured from the sky.

-1, -100...

-1, -100...

-1, -100...

---

"Haha! I ask you—who else can pull this off?!" Ethan suddenly burst into laughter, startling Morzan, who was sipping wine nearby. The man nearly toppled off his stool.

"Do what, you lunatic?" Morzan grumbled. "You nearly scared me into an early grave! And hey, it’s been half an hour already—where’s the damn XP? The level gains? Are you planning to grind until next year?"

Ethan ignored him, counting heads—no, counting corpse heads. He began applying Lunar Beam to each Corpse Guard Warrior. But there were too many. He didn’t even get halfway through the debuffs before the first one he applied had already expired.

Still, Lunar Beam generated astral energy, letting him power up more Celestial Barrages. Eventually, his eyes started crossing from the sheer repetition. He gave up on full debuff coverage and focused on the Corpse Guard Warrior now sitting at 20% health, cycling through his spells on it nonstop.

To his surprise, he found that cycling skills refilled his astral bar far faster than just spamming Lunar Beam. He felt a small surge of satisfaction—and a bit of self-directed frustration for not realizing that sooner.

It was then that he noticed something else. Celestial Barrage, despite being an area-of-effect skill, didn’t hit every enemy in its radius—only those already hostile or in combat with him. Some Corpse Guard Warriors inside the skill’s range weren’t getting hit at all.

That realization gave him a new appreciation for the skill’s design. He’d initially worried that it might accidentally aggro every monster in a dungeon due to its uncontrollable area targeting. But this mechanic? It was smart. And forgiving. Celestial Barrage may have been the largest AoE spell he had outside of Forbidden skill, but it was also selective.

Now, though, he wanted more monsters. He began circling the top of the stone pillar, casting Lunar Beam at everything in range to draw them in.

---

"What the hell are you doing now?" Morzan called out, frowning. "You haven’t even finished these off, and you’re pulling more? Are you really trying to grind until next year?!"

Still, Morzan noticed something else. "Wait... why are they suddenly taking an extra 100 points of damage?"

Right as he said that, Ethan felt a chill down his back. He turned and saw his Alt’s eyes glowing a strange gold pattern, locked onto him like a predator.

"What the—! Golden Eyes?! What kind of busted skill is that?!"

---

"OW!"

In his distracted turn, Ethan missed a step. The top of the stone pillar wasn’t level, and he stumbled into a small hollow. He lost his balance and started tumbling off.

He instantly reverted to Human Form, just in time to grab the edge of the stone with his fingers.

A cold sweat ran down his back. "Morzan, you... If you’re trying to kill me, just say it! Pull me up!"

His Alt flinched and reached forward, grabbing his arm. Ethan hoisted himself back onto the platform, heart racing. Morzan, stung by the accusation, rubbed his nose awkwardly and went back to sipping wine.

Still, he muttered, "Isn’t that weapon a little too overpowered? If people could all level up like this, they’d break the system..."

By now, Ethan had aggro’d every Corpse Guard Warrior within range. Over two hundred of them were snarling and roaring below.

Despite the noise, Ethan still caught Morzan’s low muttering and snapped back.

"Bullshit! First, hardly anyone can get those boots I have. Even if they did, even if they managed to scale this pillar and pull this off, you’ve restricted Survivor Faction areas! Where are they going to find monsters this high-level? The top-level mobs in the war zones right now are, what, Level 60?"

He gestured below. "You realize there’s a hundredfold XP difference between Level 60 and Level 61 mobs, right? And Carnage Faction players, I haven’t heard of a single one with true damage gear yet."

He rattled off his explanation quickly and logically. The last thing he needed was for the system to flag the weapon and issue a silent nerf mid-grind.

Morzan listened quietly, stroking his chin. Ethan’s argument made sense. With a thoughtful grunt, he raised his glass and took another drink.

Ethan let out a breath, thinking, Close call. If he’d reported this, the devs might’ve patched the staff right out of the game. He wasn’t entirely joking, either. Once word got out that you could kite and grind high-level mobs like this, the Primal Warstaff would become the meta.

Still, not everyone could use it. It was locked to the Survivor Faction. Even then, once the higher-level maps opened up and more players caught up, anyone who wanted to grind like this would still need the strength to hold the spot. Otherwise, every good pillar would turn into a battleground.

---

Morzan had gone quiet. Seeing that he’d dropped the subject of the weapon, Ethan was tempted to ask about that weird eye skill. He’d scanned his Alt’s skill bar earlier and found nothing that matched it. It seemed like it had directly revealed Ethan’s gear somehow.

But after some thought, he decided against asking just yet.

Better let him forget about the staff first...

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