Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat - Chapter 685

Chapter 685: A Tribulation of Pure Destruction

A relentless downpour of lightning lashed at Ethan without mercy.

He felt like a lone boat tossed in a stormy sea, his body shuddering violently under the assault.

For some reason, the Five-Colored Divine Light that should have automatically protected him was conspicuously absent this time.

Yet, Ethan realized that as each furious bolt struck his skin and exploded, it failed to break through. Not a single one could pierce his defenses.

This gave him a new appreciation for his own resilience. His natural defense was even tougher than Ormund’s had been. He remembered seeing Ormund battered by similar lightning, his body blooming with bloody wounds where the bolts hit.

But this Annihilating Lightning was not so simple. While it didn’t break his skin, an endless, destructive energy seeped through his pores, forcing its way deep into his body.

At that moment, the Tree of Life within him stirred, radiating a soft, verdant glow. Its branches, each connected to one of his vital organs, pulsed with light. As the destructive energy flooded his system and surged toward his organs, an agony so intense wracked him that cold sweat drenched his trembling form.

But within that agony, he sensed something else. His organs, caught between this hammer of destruction and the anvil of vibrant life, were being tempered. He felt them growing stronger, his heart most noticeably. Each beat became a powerful, resonant drum, and with that new strength, he felt a surge of power throughout his entire body.

A fierce, wild joy rose in him. He stopped resisting. He opened himself completely, allowing the Annihilating Lightning to flood into him.

Back within the void, Morzan and the Order Keeper watched, their initial concern having morphed into sheer disbelief. They couldn’t peer into the changes happening within Ethan—even Morzan and the entity were blind to that—so they had no clear idea of what was truly happening.

First, they were shocked that Ethan’s natural defenses could withstand the initial storm of the Annihilation Tribulation. Now, seeing him raise his arms, almost as if embracing the heavenly punishment, they were stunned. They knew the Annihilating Lightning didn’t just attack; it invaded, seeking to extinguish every last trace of life force.

Yet, the expression on Ethan’s face told a different story. The kid looked like he was… enjoying it.

And he was. While Ethan had never personally faced a tribulation before, he’d witnessed many in the Sea of Death. He’d also discussed the process at length with Uncle Jed.

The basics were simple: the first wave of lightning was always the weakest, the most “gentle.” This was the person’s best chance to absorb the lightning’s power and use it to fortify themselves. The later stages would be too brutal to absorb; you just had to survive them.

Of course, as Uncle Jed had dryly noted, “gentle” was a relative term. This “gentlest” wave was still perfectly capable of vaporizing the person who’d triggered the tribulation. Those who survived were the exceptions, the elite. “One in ten thousand,” as the old man put it.

Uncle Jed had also said that in a standard tribulation, the lightning was one part destruction, nine parts vitality. If you could endure the destructive part, the nine parts of vibrant life energy would rush in, healing, strengthening, and rebirthing you. It was the Path of Ethereal’s way of testing and then rewarding an Energy user. A process of breaking down to build back up stronger.

It was the system’s way of weeding out the weak. If you couldn’t handle that first bit of destruction, you were simply too mediocre to waste the world’s energy on. Better to be recycled, your energy returned to the universe for someone more worthy.

But this… this was different. Ethan sensed no vitality within this tribulation, none of that promised life-giving energy. The force invading his body was pure, unadulterated destruction.

What the hell was going on?

After a few more moments of this relentless erosion, the truth dawned on him. His tribulation was different. Were all tribulations on Earth like this?

***

Out on the sea, beyond the range of the storm, Regis stared toward Ethan’s location, his eyes narrowed in confusion. “Impossible… How can this be? Am I sensing this wrong?”

Next to him, Uncle Jed was also staring, a low mutter escaping his lips. “You feel it too?” Regis asked, his voice tight.

“Destruction… Nothing but endless destruction,” Jed replied, his gaze meeting Regis’s. The confirmation was in their eyes. In unison, they breathed the same dreaded name:

“The Annihilation Tribulation?”

It was a question, but the grim certainty in each other’s faces confirmed it. A deep, cold worry settled over them both.

They had only ever heard of the Annihilation Tribulation in legends. It was said to descend only upon the most heinous evil-doers—which Ethan certainly was not—or upon those whose very existence defied the heavens. Individuals the Path of Ethereal itself perceived as a threat, and was thus determined to erase.

Legend told of peerless figures who had faced this tribulation. Without exception, they were all snuffed out mid-ascent. There was one story from the Umbral Star, of a prodigy who, upon reaching the War God-rank, had triggered and miraculously survived the Annihilation Tribulation. His power became so immense he could slaughter those at the Voidbreaker-rank with ease.

But when he later attempted to break through to the Saint-rank, the very first bolt of his new tribulation had reduced him to dust.

The Annihilation Tribulation appeared so rarely in history that Uncle Jed had never even thought to mention it to Ethan. So now, adrift in the storm, Ethan only knew his trial was different from what he’d been told. He had no idea it was the heavens themselves trying to murder him.

***

The lightning rain began to slow, fading into a sparse, sputtering drizzle before the rolling thunderclouds fell silent, the storm ceasing as abruptly as it began.

Ethan stood alone in the sky, completely exposed. Every shred of his clothing had been vaporized. Fortunately, the thunderclouds blanketed dozens of miles in every direction. No one was around to witness his… aerial nudity.

The rain of lightning was over, but the battle within him raged on. The destructive power now inside him was still furiously trying to tear his life force apart. Without the Tree of Life, he would have been ashes long ago.

But with that heaven-defying artifact inside him, the destructive energy of the Annihilating Lightning became the ultimate forge, relentlessly tempering his muscles and reforging his bones. As the power rampaged through him, his skeleton, his organs, his very flesh were washed in this fiery baptism again and again, like steel being folded and hammered into a finer blade.

Unnoticed by Ethan, his Quintessence Bone, while not glowing this time, was the final destination for all the destructive energy invading his body. It was being drawn into his very skeleton.