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

As the creature descended, GapInDefense quickly threw out his Advanced Analysis.

Ethan did the same.

[Blackfeathered Cuckoo Beast]

Rank: Rare Boss

Level: 98

Health: 9,800,000 / 9,800,000

Defense: 49,000

Attack: 98,000

Skills: Pounce, Wing Strike, Peck, Hawk's Eye.

Tameable: Yes.

...

Description: Blackfeathered Cuckoo Beasts are cunning but not particularly powerful. They thrive by devouring the young of other creatures, absorbing their strength to grow.

The Advanced Analysis confirmed Ethan's suspicions.

Cuckoos—even in the real world, they were notorious egg thieves.

What's more, he noticed that one of its claws and half its body bore scorch marks.

Probably got roasted by a Ridgeback's breath during their fight.

The injuries weren't life-threatening, though. After recovering, it had returned, ready to strike again.

And now, it had stumbled upon Apex Predators Guild battling the same Obsidian Ridgeback.

The beast had decided to play the vulture, waiting to scavenge the spoils.

Talk about bad luck.

Not only were they on Ethan's hit list, but a Level 98 Rare Boss had them in its crosshairs too.

Even if he hadn't shown up today, they'd have had no chance of taming that Ridgeback.

Ethan did the math. Snagging those dragon eggs wouldn't be easy, even for him.

He was the closest, but the Blackfeathered Cuckoo Beast was plummeting like a loosed arrow—just as fast. By the time his fingers brushed the first egg, the beast would be upon him.

And Ethan had zero confidence he could survive a single hit.

Sure, its skills were garbage—no real combat techniques—but with 98,000 Attack Power, even a basic strike would obliterate him.

Back off or go all in?

The hesitation lasted less than a tenth of a second.

Ethan wasn't some half-baked GapInDefense, scrambling for last-minute solutions. He'd prepped for this.

Worst-case scenario? He'd lose some EXP and a piece of gear.

As long as his Exclusive Weapon stayed intact, the rest was expendable.

And even that wasn't a concern—the damn thing was soulbound, tagged with Indestructible in its stats.

So he went for it.

The payoff? Three dragon eggs. Even one would make death worthwhile.

His body hurtled downward as the calculations flashed through his mind.

5 meters… 4… 3… 2… 1…

Just as his fingertips grazed the egg's shell, the Cuckoo Beast snapped its wings open.

A gale-force wind erupted, hurling Ethan 10 Meyers backward like a leaf in a storm.

"Son of a—"

The curse burned in his throat.

The beast hadn't targeted him specifically. The wingflare was just a braking maneuver—without it, the creature's skull would've splattered on impact.

Its descent slowed, but its talons were already outstretched, zeroing in on one of the eggs.

That's when Ethan noticed: Its other claw was mangled, hanging limp.

'Not so tough after all.'

No wonder it was so hellbent on revenge.

It had clearly failed the first. Now it intended to try again. Except… this wasn't theft anymore.

The angle, the force—this was annihilation. The beast wasn't here to steal, It was here to destroy.

Ethan's vision tinged red.

"Oh, fuck you—"

His boot's enchantment flared.

Swift Stride.

Ethan lunged forward with a burst of unnatural speed, his body cutting through the air like a bullet aimed straight for the dragon egg clutched in the Blackfeathered Cuckoo Beast's talons.

Transform: Bear Form.

The moment the shift took hold, his Stealth shattered—not that it had mattered to the damned bird in the first place. The creature had seen through his concealment from the start, dismissing him as nothing more than an insignificant pest. A single flap of its wings had sent him flying earlier, like a child swatting away a bothersome fly.

From his vantage point in the distance, GapInDefense's eyes widened in disbelief.

Who the hell was this guy?

He hadn't accounted for a wild card in this equation.

And Ethan wasn't just any Druid—his Bear Form wasn't the standard hulking mass of fur and muscle. There was something off about it, something that made GapInDefense hesitate before connecting the dots.

But Ethan didn't have time to care about spectators, his mind was locked onto one thing: the eggs.

The sheer value of a single dragon egg was staggering.

And this feathered bastard wasn't just trying to steal them—it was trying to smash them to pieces.

Sure, even if it succeeded in stealing them, the outcome would've been the same: the eggs devoured or destroyed. But watching it happen right in front of him? Unacceptable.

This wasn't just about survival, this was profit.

Screw it. Go all in.

Ethan lived by one rule when it came to skills: Holding back was not an option. Use it now, let it cool down later.

The instant Bear Form fully manifested, he triggered another ability—one etched into the very core of his weapon.

Transformation: Ancient Demigod.

A thirty-day cooldown, that alone spoke volumes.

He'd never used it himself, but he'd seen Lyla unleash a Forbidden-tier skill from he legendary weapon.

The aftermath had been apocalyptic.

Ethan had chosen to activate it in Bear Form for one reason: time.

All he needed was a single second to stash those eggs into his inventory. But what happened next defied all expectations.

A thunderous roar split the air as a column of golden light erupted from the heavens, slamming into Ethan's body with the force of a divine hammer.

The Bear Form—previously standing upright—was forced back onto all fours, his posture shifting into the primal stance of a true beast.

And then… he grew.

His body swelled, muscles expanding, bones reforging themselves under the weight of raw, untamed power.

His Health, Defense, Attack—every stat skyrocketed.

In the span of a single breath, the Bear Form that had once been imposing became colossal.

Where before he'd been a three-meter-long, two-meter-tall beast, now he towered at thirty meters in length, twenty in height.

The previous version might as well have been a teddy bear in comparison.

His Health surged to 320,000.

Defense now sat between 51,280 and 56,138.

A 9.2-fold increase.

Attack Power had quadrupled, now ranging from 12,990 to 18,657.

The scaling was tied to his level—exactly as he'd theorized.

And the duration? Ten minutes.

For the first time in a long while, Ethan felt something dangerously close to invincibility.

SCREEEEE—

The Blackfeathered Cuckoo Beast let out a shrill, panicked cry as Ethan's sudden expansion sent it catapulting backward, its wings flailing wildly to regain balance.

Ethan didn't waste a second.

With the beast momentarily disoriented, he scooped all three dragon eggs beneath his massive belly, tucking them securely against his fur.

Gotcha.

But the victory was short-lived.

A deafening roar echoed from the cave entrance, the Obsidian Ridgeback had returned.

The Soulbinding Collar around its neck was gone.

That could only mean one thing: MelancholyEgg, the Berserker Shaman, was dead.

The Ridgeback stormed into the chamber, its massive frame trembling with fury—only to freeze at the sight before it.

Its nest, Its eggs. And a thirty-meter-tall bear now occupying the space where it should have been.

For a long, tense moment, the Ridgeback just stared.