Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat - Chapter 693

Chapter 693: Core of a Nascent Cosmos

Ethan listened to everyone’s account of what had happened. To say he was pleasantly surprised would be an understatement.

For a moment, he simply sat in stunned silence, the overlapping voices fading into a dull murmur. His thoughts refused to line up; the sheer absurdity of it all left him grasping for logic that refused to come.

He immediately focused his senses inward, examining his own body.

His energy pathways felt the same as ever, with no immediate signs of change. His body was still like a sieve, incapable of retaining a single drop of ambient energy.

But when he sank his consciousness deep into his core, the sight that greeted him was staggering.

His core, once a void of absolute darkness, was now encircled by two bands of golden light. They spun around it, one horizontal, one vertical, intersecting to form a simple, celestial orrery.

The rings moved with the quiet precision of cosmic machinery, radiating a light that seemed to pulse in rhythm with his heartbeat, steady yet unfathomably vast.

Within the space defined by these golden rings was his true core. The makeshift orrery had become his core. The vortex of seeds that once churned within it was gone. Instead, the seeds were now scattered throughout the inner space, moving in a slow, deliberate dance like distant stars.

At the very center of this internal cosmos, a multitude of seeds shone with a piercing, starlight intensity. Ethan could see that each one contained a tiny, flickering rune of lightning. He counted them.

There were 10,800.

And they were undergoing a transformation, a subtle shift in their very nature. A wild, unprecedented idea sparked in Ethan’s mind: these seeds were nascent stars.

The moment the thought crystallized, he felt a colossal power begin to stir within his core, a dormant treasure vault creaking open for the first time. A wave of profound, ancient energy washed through him.

“This…” Ethan was dumbfounded. His core… was incubating a galaxy? He could scarcely believe it. If he told anyone, they’d think he’d lost his mind.

His astonishment was cut short by a powerful, intrusive mental force sweeping over his body. Ethan’s eyes snapped open, his gaze instantly shooting upwards to a single black dot hovering high in the sky.

“Who the hell is this idiot?” Ethan muttered.

As he spoke, a pulse of energy flared from his brow. He tracked the invasive mental signature and launched a counter-attack. The force of his retaliation was so potent it visibly distorted the air.

He’d felt no goodwill in that mental probe, only a blatant, hostile invasion.

Thump!

The black dot in the sky shifted, somehow evading Ethan’s psychic strike.

“Huh?” Ethan frowned. He’d definitely locked onto the guy. How did he just shake it off so easily?

“Hahaha! Incredible… simply incredible!” a voice boomed from above. “To think someone within my domain has undergone a Heavenly Tribulation… An event not seen in millions of years! This esteemed one has lived a long, long life, and this is my first time witnessing one! Truly terrifying…”

As the voice spoke, the black dot expanded, flickering once before reappearing directly overhead, looking down on Ethan and the others.

Seeing this, Ethan’s anger ignited. “You piece of shit! How dare you float over my head?”

Whoosh!

Ethan, who had seemed weak and drained moments before, shot into the air like an arrow. He didn’t activate any of his forms, relying purely on his raw physical strength as he threw a devastating punch.

“Insignificant insect, you dare raise a hand against me?” The figure didn’t even look at Ethan, his gaze instead sweeping over Uncle Jed, Dragon Child, and Regis below, as if trying to determine which of them had endured the tribulation.

As he scanned them, he casually raised a hand to block Ethan’s incoming fist.

The result was not what he expected.

BOOM!

A thunderous crack echoed as Ethan’s fist connected squarely with the man’s palm.

Fwoosh!

The man was sent flying backward, the sleeve of his robe disintegrating into tatters.

“You—!” The man had sensed something was wrong at the last possible second, hastily conjuring an energy shield over his hand. He never imagined this seemingly weak, unremarkable young man could unleash such staggering power.

“Let’s see you try looking down on me again!” Ethan taunted, having now positioned himself higher than his opponent. He planted his hands on his hips, adopting a supremely cocky posture.

“Uh, boss?” Williams’s voice called out from below. He was holding a woman in his arms, one hand carefully covering her eyes. “You wanna… maybe put some clothes on first?”

“Huh?” Ethan looked down.

“Holy shit! Where are my clothes?!”

He finally understood. The first wave of tribulation lightning had vaporized every stitch he wore. No wonder he’d woken up wrapped in a white sheet.

He quickly manifested a simple robe from his spatial storage and wrapped it around himself. He wasn’t about to put on a full wardrobe-changing show in mid-air.

“Who are you?” the ‘esteemed’ gentleman spat through gritted teeth, his eyes fixed on Ethan with a mixture of fury and shock.

“Are you stupid? I’m your Father Ethan! I should be asking you the questions! What are you doing here, and why were you mentally groping us?”

Using Soul Sense to probe someone without permission was the supernatural equivalent of staring intently at a stranger. Any normal person would ask, “What the hell are you looking at?” If the answer was “What’s it to you?”, the only logical response was a fist to the face or whatever heavy object was handy.

This idiot’s reply was precisely that kind of provocation, and it sealed his fate.

“This is my sovereign territory, you insignificant brat! This esteemed one will scan whomever I please! What are you going to do about it?”

Despite having his arm nearly broken and his sleeve obliterated, the man still clung to his arrogance, chalking up his earlier disadvantage to a cheap shot. The condescension in his voice was palpable.