Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat!-Chapter 361: The Scorpion’s Gift [II]
Chapter 361: The Scorpion’s Gift [II]
Ethan opened his eyes and looked down.
Nora’s right hand, which he’d been holding, had drifted below his abdomen. Her slender fingertips were already inside his waistband. In that indignant region, she felt a sudden chill.
Nora’s gaze followed Ethan’s downward glance. When he looked up again, she quickly shifted her eyes away, tears brimming in her lashes.
Ethan flinched and released her hand as if burned. He sat up abruptly, bending at the waist, trying to cover his agitated companion.
"Nora... Nora. I... I’m so sorry!"
His voice cracked. Mortification flooded through him. This was a widow who had just lost her husband, and just now, in his sleep, he had almost forced her...
Nora didn’t say a word. She simply picked up the grilled scorpion claw and held it out to him. Then she turned and fled without looking back.
Ethan stared after her retreating figure, then looked down at the food in his hand. A wry smile tugged at his lips.
He pulled out a spoon and shoveled a big mouthful of scorpion claw into his mouth. Mixed with vermicelli and minced garlic, it melted across his tongue. He hadn’t expected Nora—doing this for the first time—to master the cooking technique so well.
The rich aroma blended with the spicy kick of Thai chili. It was simply heavenly. He still had over two hundred large scorpions stored in his Mindscape. When he returned, he’d have to let others taste this. What Australian lobster, what king crab—none of them could compare to even a fraction of this Deathstalker Scorpion.
He sat there, devouring the meal until most of the claw was gone. Patting his slightly distended belly, he stood up and spotted Uncle Jed patrolling a sand dune nearby.
Ethan walked over. "Uncle Jed, how long was I asleep?"
"About half an hour," Uncle Jed replied, his brow furrowed. "Ethan, something’s not right."
At once, Ethan spread out his Soul Sense. Within a five-kilometer radius—including dozens of meters underground—there was no unusual movement at all. fгeewёbnoѵel_cσm
"Nothing seems wrong. It’s pretty quiet," Ethan said, puzzled.
"That’s precisely the problem," Uncle Jed muttered. "It’s too quiet. Yesterday, you had those sand worm eggs in you, so the worms didn’t chase us. But today... they still haven’t come. That doesn’t add up."
Ethan let out a nervous laugh. "Haha... maybe that attack yesterday wiped out the whole sand worm tribe."
Uncle Jed just shook his head, unconvinced.
Ethan probed even deeper, extending his Soul Sense over fifty meters down, but still found nothing.
When it was clear there was no point arguing, he left Uncle Jed alone and stretched out a sleeping mat outside the tent. This time, though, he kept his Soul Sense spread while he rested. It burned through his Soul Power, but Uncle Jed’s unease had rubbed off on him.
Nothing disturbed the camp overnight. As soon as the first sun rose, Uncle Jed woke him, already back in drill sergeant mode.
And so began Ethan’s cart-pulling ordeal again.
Yesterday, he’d managed less than a hundred meters. After a quick breakfast—which he ate without daring to meet Nora’s eyes—he prepared himself.
Nora, standing nearby, hesitated before asking, "Ethan... do you have any soft fur or fabric?"
He frowned, unsure what she wanted. He shook his head, then thought better of it and rummaged through his Mindscape. After a moment, he pulled out some expanded cotton used for padding packaging boxes.
"Will this work?"
Nora took it, squeezed it between her fingers, then nodded. "Can you bring out more?"
Once he did, she walked to the rope he’d used to pull the steel plate yesterday and started wrapping the cotton around it, layer by layer.
Ethan watched, stunned. When he glanced down at his shoulder and saw the red, rope-burned marks, understanding dawned—and with it, the memory of last night’s dream.
In it, Lyla had stroked his shoulder with concern, asking if it hurt... then he’d pulled her hand downward.
He looked at Nora’s focused back. Could it be...
He shook his head, unable to figure it out.
"Today’s goal—one hundred meters..." he announced to himself, taking the rope she’d handed him. He tried to lighten the moment by winking at her.
She responded with a massive eye-roll.
Uncle Jed emerged from behind the tent, carrying a second rope. "If you don’t cover a thousand meters today, no dinner."
He bent to tie the rope to the steel plate.
Ethan’s stomach dropped. He realized too late what Uncle Jed had been planning. Earlier, when he’d tried to stash the scorpion carcass away, Uncle Jed had refused. Instead, he’d asked Ethan for another climbing rope.
And now, he tied the scorpion to the steel plate—adding even more weight.
Ethan stared in disbelief. A thousand meters? Was this a joke?
He didn’t argue. He just lifted the climbing rope, now padded so thick it was as wide as his arm, and draped it across his shoulders. Surprisingly, it didn’t bite into his skin anymore.
He let out a long breath. His muscles bunched and rippled. He took a careful step forward. The rope didn’t slip.
Unlike yesterday, he didn’t just lunge ahead. Instead, he took a step, stopped, and reflected on every movement.
By midday, he’d already covered twice yesterday’s distance.
When the nine suns hung overhead, Uncle Jed allowed him only a small cup of water—no food. Ethan cursed under his breath but kept it to himself.
As the afternoon wore on, he picked up his pace. His Soul Sense delved into his own body, monitoring how every muscle worked together.
Inside the tent, Uncle Jed sat with wide eyes as he felt the steel plate shifting under his feet. He watched Ethan straining in the heat, and a memory surfaced—his own childhood, when his father had trained him this very way.
From the time he was three, he’d struggled to move the plate at all. Even at five, he’d barely budged it.
Yet Ethan, in just one day, had inched it forward. And today, with added weight, he was actually gaining momentum.
Back then, when Uncle Jed had finally succeeded, his father had called him their family’s greatest prodigy in generations.
Compared to Ethan, though... hadn’t he been just a fool?
Of course, he didn’t realize Ethan had a cheat. His powerful Soul Power let him observe and adjust every movement in real time. That was how Ethan mastered the technique so quickly.
Uncle Jed’s method of exerting force turned everything Ethan had learned on Earth upside down.
On Earth, they taught that power began at the ground. The proper sequence was: foot driving calf, calf driving knee, knee driving thigh, and finally, the waist acting as the axis to unleash the strike. Ethan had drilled that system through two lifetimes.
But Uncle Jed insisted that true power came entirely from within. "Borrowing force" was nonsense to him. He spoke of body synchronization—if you mastered it, you could exert force even when airborne.
It reminded Ethan of cats. No matter how high they fell from, they always landed neatly on all fours.
Among Energy Users, attacking mid-air was considered a death sentence. TV shows made it look glamorous—flying around, throwing attacks from the sky—but in real combat, it was a guarantee you’d get yourself killed. In the air, you couldn’t adjust or change direction. One mistake, and you were finished.
One step... two steps... three steps...
Immersed in his own body, Ethan suddenly felt something shift. A mysterious light flickered across every muscle.
His muscles and fascia glimmered with a thin sheen of silver. Tiny motes of starlight seemed to settle into them.
Inside the tent, Uncle Jed shot to his feet.
"Uncle Jed, what’s wrong?" Nora asked, startled by his sudden movement.
He didn’t answer. His eyes were locked on Ethan, who stood outside in the dark, oblivious to everything but the sensations inside his body.
Just now, he’d seen Ethan’s form swell, if only for an instant. A faint silver glow had washed over him, then vanished.
Uncle Jed’s heart thudded wildly.
"How is that possible...?" he whispered. "He actually achieved Star Infusion..."
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