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

That all-you-can-eat barbecue had dragged on for a solid two hours. Just when everyone was sprawled out, half-lounging, half-slumped, looking thoroughly disheveled...

A girl appeared at the doorway!

Pretty, with delicate features. The moment she stepped inside, she made a beeline for Markham.

Markham, usually the picture of calm no matter the crisis, shot up like he'd been zapped the instant he saw her. He bolted, ducking behind Ethan in a heartbeat.

"Ethan… save me!"

Seeing Markham looking like he was facing down a demon, Ethan reacted instantly.

Bear Form, activate!

Lacerate!

...

He'd unleashed a skill he'd never used before. This skill, like Ironhide, was from a book he'd looted in Soulforge Abyss. After learning it, he hadn't used it once in Ethereal. In Ethereal, he rarely needed his bear form for combat.

This was the first time he'd ever seen Markham so utterly terrified. Ethan didn't care if the newcomer was a girl; he went straight for a decisive blow. He brought his paw crashing down towards the girl's head. If this landed, she'd undoubtedly be a brain-splattered corpse on the spot.

"Don't—!"

Markham, from behind Ethan, suddenly roared.

But it was too late. Ethan's strike was ferocious and delivered with an unstoppable momentum, impossible to retract.

The girl, seeing Ethan's attack, was visibly startled. She hadn't expected the man shielding Markham to be so brutally decisive.

"By the Ancients… Dragon Soul Shield!"

"By the Ancients… Phantom Step!"

Two voices, one from in front of Ethan, one from behind, echoed almost simultaneously. Without any perceptible movement from her, a golden light flared around the girl's body.

Crack…

Ethan's paw collided with the golden light, the impact lasting barely a second. A sound like shattering glass.

"Bro… cough…" A delicate cry came from behind Ethan. It was accompanied by a spray of warm, metallic-smelling liquid on the back of Ethan's neck.

But Ethan had no time to see how she'd gotten behind him. He was desperately trying to pull back his strike. Because his paw had shattered the golden protective skill the girl—or someone—had cast.

The golden light dissipated, and the figure before Ethan was no longer the girl, but Markham!

His arms were raised, trying to block Ethan's descending paw.

CRACK… The sickening crunch of bone. Markham's arms were knocked aside. Ethan finally managed to halt his momentum. His paw stopped a mere inch from the crown of Markham's head.

Ethan, horrified, whipped his head around to look behind him. The girl from before was now where Markham had been standing only moments ago. The two had switched places in an instant.

Her face was now white as a sheet, clearly suffering from severe internal injuries.

For a moment, Ethan stood there, dumbfounded. That cry of "Bro," and the Phantom Step skill Markham had apparently used—that was proof enough.

This girl was his sister.

This… What was he supposed to do?

He'd never anticipated a situation like this. Markham had looked like he was being hunted by his worst nightmare, prompting Ethan to strike with everything he had.

And now, with one blow, he'd injured two people!

Everyone else had figured it out too. Evelyn was the quickest to react. She darted to the girl's side.

After touching a few points on her body, she announced, "She's fine, just exhausted."

She got up and went over to the groaning Markham. Checking his arms, she looked up at Ethan and said, "Ethan… his arms…"

Seeing her pause, Ethan tensed. "What is it? Can they be fixed?"

"Pfft…" Seeing his anxious face, Evelyn decided to stop teasing him. She gave Markham a light kick. "You've got a tough skin, it's just a bone fracture. Stop your whining!"

"Strange," Evelyn murmured to herself, "from the sound of it, it should've been a shattered bone at least. How is it just a minor fracture?"

She then turned back to tend to the girl.

Markham, seeing he couldn't keep up the act, pushed himself into a sitting position. His face a mask of misery, he wailed, "Ethan, man, you're brutal! I just yelled for help, I didn't ask you to murder her! If Aunt finds out about this, she'll skin us both alive!"

"Hey… how is this my fault?" Ethan felt thoroughly wronged. "The way you were acting, anyone would think you were being chased by a reaper!"

If Markham hadn't looked so utterly petrified, why on earth would he have attacked a young girl?

"Speaking of which," Ethan continued, voicing his confusion, "don't all you Whitmores have fraternal twins? Is this girl your sister?"

"Yeah, she's my actual sister!" Markham looked blank for a second, wondering why Ethan was asking.

"Heh heh…" Bobby and Rook snickered from the side. "She's definitely his sister. It's just that Markham here looks a bit… mature for his age!"

"Dude's eighteen but looks thirty-eight! Haha…"

Ethan listened, then cursed, "Holy crap… You're eighteen? And you've had me calling you 'Bro' all this time?"

"Hmph, like you're ancient yourself!" Markham stood up, sniffing dismissively.

Ethan almost blurted out that he was twenty-four. But on second thought, he realized he was probably only twenty right now. To be precise, his twentieth birthday was still a few days away. Meaning, he was actually only nineteen!

"Alright, knock it off. Come check on your sister," Ethan said. He'd noticed Markham's sister wasn't looking too good.

Using his Soul Sense, he found it wasn't just exhaustion as Evelyn had claimed. Her Energy was fluctuating wildly, strong one moment, weak the next!

"Ah… she's fine!" Markham said with a wave of his hand. "You just scattered her Dragon Soul, that's all. She'll need a week of rest to recover."

"She'll be in a vulnerable state during this time. But now… she won't be able to participate in the Noble Eight Lineages' Combat Tournament. What are we gonna do?!"

"Aunt is going to break my legs for sure!"

Markham rambled on, then scooped up his sister. He said to Ethan, "Ethan, I'm heading back to the Whitmores' estate first. If Silverwoods come looking for trouble, you hold them off and send someone to find me!"

"Oh, and you two," he gestured to Bobby and Rook, "don't leave. You might be useful later!"

He instructed Bobby and Rook to stay put.

"Mm…" they both agreed.

"Bro…" Markham had only taken a couple of steps when his sister woke up.

She said, "Grand-aunt asked me to bring you all back. And him too…"

She looked at Ethan.

"What?" Markham asked, uncertain. "Why him? I'm telling you, Maria, are you trying to trick me into taking him back so Aunt and Grand-aunt can deal with him?"

"It was a complete misunderstanding just now," Markham continued. "He was only trying to protect me!"

"Hmph… If I wanted revenge, would I need to trick you?

Grand-aunt knows what happened here. She sent me to get you all to Whitmores' place. Otherwise, why do you think I came?"

Maria struggled a bit and slid down from Markham's arms. Though still a bit weak, she wasn't as pale as before. Ethan scanned her with his Soul Sense and found her Energy was slowly starting to recover.

"Hello," Maria said, looking directly at Ethan. "My name is Maria. You're very strong!

Come with us to Whitmores' estate. Eighth Lord of Silverwoods is furious. People will be here to arrest you soon!"

Ethan nodded, a little surprised by the girl's straightforwardness.