Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat!-Chapter 342: The Shifting Sands

Ethan opened his quest panel and checked The Blood King’s Trial. To his surprise, the description was completely blank—just four ominous words: Complete within time limit. No objectives. No clues. No instructions.

What kind of quest was this?

How was he supposed to complete something when he didn’t even know what to do?

He eyed the unfamiliar terrain ahead. Instead of rushing in blindly, he activated Panther Form and Stealth together. But something was wrong. He didn’t transform into the sleek, familiar Starlight Panther. Instead, a translucent, spectral panther shimmered behind him like an echo of his true form—a ghostly shadow that mirrored his presence.

It felt... real. Too real.

And yet, he was using a skill he couldn’t access in the real world. The line between game and reality was beginning to blur. Ethan stood frozen for a moment, disoriented, unsure if he was still in the virtual world or somewhere else entirely.

After ten long seconds, he shook himself out of it. Whatever this place was, he had to keep moving.

Staying in Stealth, Ethan circled his surroundings. The sand dune he stood on showed no obvious threats—just wind, grit, and silence. But something felt wrong. Even cloaked in Stealth, he felt... watched. Was it a hidden creature? His muscles tensed instinctively, bracing for combat.

A sudden gust of wind whipped through the air, accompanied by a low rumble. Behind him, the sand kicked up violently. He spun around—and his heart skipped. A massive wall of yellow sand surged toward him like a tsunami, blotting out the sky. A sandstorm!

Ethan turned to flee. But before he could take a step, the dune beneath his feet trembled. A second later, it moved. Then a massive hook-like shape swung up before him. He leapt back, startled.

It wasn’t a hook.

It was a tail stinger—long, curved, and glistening. A giant scorpion.

Ethan’s eyes snapped downward. This wasn’t a dune at all. It was the back of a massive sand scorpion, half-buried beneath the surface. And it wasn’t alone. Around him, other dunes began to shift and ripple. The entire desert was alive.

No wonder his detection skills hadn’t picked up anything. He’d been walking on the danger itself. And now that he was on it, Stealth was useless.

But oddly, the scorpion didn’t attack.

In fact, none of them did. Instead, they surged forward, fleeing the incoming storm. Ethan quickly realized the truth: they were running for their lives too.

If these creatures weren’t hostile—for now—he’d take advantage of it.

The scorpion he rode moved like a living tank, gliding across the sand faster than anything he could summon. Even in Panther Form, he’d have no chance of outrunning the storm on his own.

But the storm was gaining.

Without warning, the scorpion beneath him came to an abrupt halt. Ethan, unprepared, was thrown forward and landed face-first in the sand. By the time he pushed himself up, the giant creatures were gone. Burrowed underground, leaving behind only shifting craters quickly swallowed by wind and grit.

The sandstorm loomed.

Ethan scrambled to his feet and activated Travel Form, sprinting toward the horizon. But the sand underfoot felt like a sponge—soft, unstable, dragging him down. He wasn’t moving fast enough.

Then, he heard a voice.

"Hey... don’t run... this way!"

He turned toward the sound. A man in ragged clothes was waving frantically, standing beside a small group of people huddled beneath a massive rock formation. Ethan’s eyes lit up, and he sprinted toward them.

The stone outcrop formed a natural windbreak, offering some protection. But it rested on nothing more than mounds of sand. Ethan frowned. If it collapsed, they’d be buried alive.

Still... it was better than dying out in the open.

As he ducked under the shelter, the man who had waved him over slapped a hand on his shoulder and grinned.

"Why were you out there alone?"

Ethan blinked. Were these NPCs... or something else?

"Uh..." He hesitated. What could he say? That he’d been dropped here by a quest prompt?

"Haha, don’t worry, I get it. You must be an exile too," the man said, laughing heartily. "Nobody comes to this cursed land unless they’re banished! You’re lucky, though. Your escorts probably got wiped out by the storm, eh? But you ran fast, I’ll give you that!"

The man was wiry and full of energy. Clearly, in this harsh desert world, he’d gotten used to surviving. Ethan glanced at the man’s shoulder, where his Spectral Panther still lingered. Oddly, the man didn’t seem to notice it.

"Yeah," Ethan replied, going along with the story. "We even ran into some giant scorpions."

The man’s expression changed. "You saw Deathstalker Scorpions? And lived to tell it? Brother, you’ve got some crazy luck."

Curious, Ethan cast Advanced Appraisal on the man.

[Ding... System Notification: Appraisal failed!]

He blinked. That message again. The only other time he’d seen it was when he tried to appraise City Lord Gregor, who had used a defensive skill to block it. But this man hadn’t activated anything. What was his tier?

Before Ethan could dwell on it, the man turned to rally the others. "Move! Dig! Fill the torn bags! We need a barrier before the storm hits!"

Ethan tried his appraisal skill on several others—seven or eight nearby. The result was the same every time.

[Appraisal failed.]

’What is this place...?’

He shook off the thought and reached back for his weapon. Panic jolted through him. The Twilight War Spear—gone.

Cold sweat broke out on his neck. He opened his equipment panel. Still there. It hadn’t disappeared. Just... invisible here. Probably a result of whatever strange filter was affecting the environment.

As long as it’s still equipped, he thought with relief, then joined the group in building the sand barrier.

They worked quickly, and soon everyone found a place to hide. Moments later—BOOM! The rock formation shuddered as the sandstorm hit.

Yellow sand. Stones. Bits of debris. freeweɓnovel~cѳm

The world outside became a blur of violence and chaos. Ethan ducked low, shielding himself behind the crude barrier. The storm didn’t pass quickly—it raged on for three long hours.

Or so he thought.

Watching his system time, Ethan’s jaw dropped. Three hours had passed outside—but the system clock had only ticked forward 10.8 seconds.

’Time is running a thousand times slower here?’

When the storm finally cleared, they crawled out from under the rock.

The sky was bright, cloudless, beautiful.

Too beautiful.

Ethan looked up. Nine suns burned above them, casting a relentless heat. In his world, Earth’s sky was always smogged and gray, with high PM levels. But this sky—this was surreal.

"Big bro," a small voice said.

He looked down. A little girl, maybe six or seven, tugged gently at his pants.

"Did you come from outside?"

He smiled. "Yeah. I just got here."

The girl’s eyes lit up. "What’s it like? I’ve never seen the outside. I heard there’s grass and trees... and they’re green! Big bro, what color is green?"

Her innocence tugged at his heart. She wasn’t just curious—she’d been born into this wasteland. Ethan knelt down to answer, but—

"Deathstalker Scorpions! Run!"

A woman’s scream cut through the moment. She rushed over, scooped the little girl into her arms, and bolted.

Ethan turned. Countless massive stingers rose in the distance. The scorpions he’d seen before—now charging straight toward them.

He clenched his fists.

’There’s no way we can outrun them. Not with so many people.’

He cast Advanced Appraisal again, hoping for some clue.

[Ding... System Notification: Appraisal failed!]

[Ding... System Notification: Side Quest triggered: Clear the Deathstalker Scorpions and rescue the Natives!]

Failed again. But at least a quest had been triggered.

Good enough.

"Brother, what are you doing?! Run!"

Someone grabbed his arm. It was the man from earlier. Ethan stumbled for a second, then steadied himself.

"You all go first," Ethan said with a calm smile.

The man froze. "What are you—?"

But Ethan was already moving. With the man staring after him in shock, Ethan turned toward the swarm of giant scorpions—and charged.

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