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

Chapter 960: Without Warning

A long list of impossibilities stood before them. No one, absolutely no one, could have guessed that the shirtless man standing there in nothing but boxers was the long-absent Druid God himself, the legendary guild leader known as NotADruid.Ethan remained logged in under stealth mode. His presence did not appear on the surface, no grand announcement, no system notification. Yet within the guild interface, one subtle change had already occurred. In the member list, the offline timer beside the Guild Leader’s name had vanished.

Almost no one noticed.

"You trash, you’d better not leave the city. Otherwise..." one of the players behind Little Prince sneered while continuing to insult Ethan.

Mid-sentence, his voice broke into a startled scream.

The Renegade Alliance insignia glowing on his chest flickered, then faded away as if erased by an invisible hand. The guild emblem disappeared completely, and the name above his head instantly turned red.

He was no longer a guild member.

Inside guild territory, that meant only one thing. He had become an intruder. Anyone could attack him without penalty.

The surrounding players froze.

This was not some random recruit. He was part of the Elite Corps, a contracted member. Elite Corps players signed formal agreements with the guild. They received fixed salaries and exclusive benefits in exchange for absolute participation in guild activities. Whenever the guild issued a command, they showed up. No excuses.

The compensation alone made the position desirable. Twenty silver coins per day translated to roughly two hundred dollars in real-world currency, nearly six thousand dollars a month. For many people, that exceeded the income of their actual jobs.

And because of those contracts, removing an Elite Corps member was no simple matter. Only the guild’s highest authority, the Honorary Leader or someone ranked above, could dismiss them directly. Even senior officers like Slashblade or Skyblade lacked that authority.

The Honorary Leader, Tears of the Fallen, had also been offline for several days. Had she secretly logged back in? But if she had, why remove someone without explanation? The guild would suffer financial penalties for breaking a contract.

Zephyr wondered the same thing. He was just about to open the guild roster to check her status when chaos erupted.

Guild guards suddenly rushed in from every direction.

"No, wait!"

The expelled player screamed, but the guards showed no hesitation. Steel flashed. He fell within seconds. A mage stepped forward and cast a fire spell onto the corpse, reducing it to ashes before anyone could process what had happened.

A collective wince passed through the crowd. The execution was swift and merciless.

"Next," the shirtless man murmured quietly.

Zephyr’s eyes narrowed. "What?"

Before he could react further, another player behind Little Prince stiffened. He stared down at his own chest as the Renegade Alliance insignia slowly dissolved into particles of light.

"I... I didn’t even do anything..."

He never finished the sentence.

The guards, who had barely walked away, turned back instantly. Another body hit the ground.

"Four more," Ethan said casually, as if counting groceries. "Too many people. Finding them in the list is annoying."

Another guild emblem vanished. Another execution followed.

This time the guards did not leave afterward. They remained nearby, silently watching Little Prince, Zephyr, and the rest like predators waiting for permission.

Little Prince stood frozen, completely dumbfounded.

Zephyr stared at Ethan, realization dawning piece by piece.

"You’re..."

Before he could finish, Ethan smiled lightly.

"Alright. Small fry cleaned up. Garbage... goodbye."

The guards moved at once.

They charged straight toward Little Prince and the two remaining players behind him.

"No... you... who the hell are you?!" Little Prince shouted while desperately defending himself.

His equipment and level were respectable. Facing three guards at once, he actually managed to hold them back briefly. Still, fear crept into his eyes as he glanced toward Ethan.

If he still failed to understand who was responsible for all this, he truly was hopeless.

Zephyr felt secondhand embarrassment just listening to him. This was supposed to be his rival? How had this man survived in the guild for so long?

There was only one person, besides Tears of the Fallen, who possessed the authority to remove members instantly.

The true Guild Leader of Renegade Alliance. The Druid God; NotADruid.

"Idiot," Ethan said flatly, rolling his eyes without even sparing Little Prince another glance.

Instead, he turned toward Zephyr and his squad.

Zephyr forced a crooked smile while the players behind him stared as if their worldview had just shattered.

"Stop him," Ethan said calmly. "Don’t let him leave alive. And your squad will handle the other four. Send all of them back to the starter zone."

He spoke with an easy smile, yet the order carried brutal weight.

For players approaching level one hundred, being sent back to the starter zone was devastating humiliation and lost progress rolled into one.

A guild mission notification appeared in front of Zephyr.

Issued directly by the Guild Leader.

[Reward: ten percent increased reputation gain and ten percent salary increase, effective immediately upon completion.]

"Boss..." the squad members behind him whispered excitedly. They had received the notification too, but only Zephyr could accept it.

Their eyes urged him forward.

Zephyr hesitated. The mission also carried a penalty if failed: twenty percent reduced reputation gain and salary cut.

Refusing was not really an option.

He accepted.

"Man... you’re ruthless," Zephyr said with a sigh, looking at the bare-chested man before him.

Ethan had seen straight through him. Zephyr and Little Prince competed constantly for rankings, and Zephyr always ended up second. Not because he lacked ability, but because he never chased fame or status. His personality matched his name. Calm, drifting, unconcerned.

His squad had followed him since the starter zone. Brothers more than teammates.

He never abandoned anyone. Even the weaker members, the ones with poor awareness, remained because loyalty mattered more than efficiency.

When Ethan had previously ordered him to hunt them down, Zephyr had resisted instinctively. He disliked kicking someone while they were down. But now Ethan forced a choice he could not ignore. Zephyr himself could endure consequences, but his brothers depended on that salary.

"People need goals," Ethan said as he turned away. "And dreams. Otherwise, what’s the difference between you and a grilled chicken?"

He walked off casually, leaving the words behind.

Zephyr stared at his departing back, something shifting quietly inside his chest.

"Goals... dreams..." he murmured, a faint spark appearing in his eyes.

"Boss! That bastard Little Prince is trying to run!"

"Damn, he’s tough. Still alive after all those guards."

"Running away is the only thing he’s good at."

Zephyr said nothing at first. His squad was eager for action but waited for his command.

Finally, his gaze sharpened.

"Do it."

Two words.

Little Prince, still fighting desperately while edging toward the guild boundary, suddenly felt cold dread crawl from his feet to his scalp. His body stiffened. He looked toward Zephyr in disbelief.

For nearly two years, Zephyr’s eyes had always been lazy, indifferent. Now they were sharp.

’What changed?’

That question became his last thought. His body froze for a split second. The guards’ blades struck simultaneously as he collapsed, lifeless.

"Damn..."

Zephyr’s squad had already begun drawing their weapons, only to watch their target die before they could even act. The tension they built dissolved instantly.

Zephyr laughed, lighter than usual. "Come on. Don’t forget our mission. We still have four people to send back to the starter zone."

His presence felt subtly different now. The others sensed it but did not question it. Excitement drowned out curiosity.

Little Prince had tormented them for months with his constant boasting about second place rankings. This time, they would finish things properly.

With renewed energy, the group followed Zephyr out of guild territory.

—

Ethan no longer paid attention to the situation behind him. He headed straight for the Renegade Alliance Guild Vault.

The materials Morzan had left were sufficient to upgrade all his current equipment to Dark Gold tier. But that was not his objective. Ethan aimed higher. He wanted a complete Artifact-tier set, then refine it into a true set bonus configuration.

That was not something achievable overnight. The required materials were incomplete, and his avatar needed time to smelt, refine, and craft each component properly.

For now, he needed resources. Massive amounts of ores and materials.

Druids wore leather armor, which meant he also required high-quality leather in addition to metal components. Fortunately, leather quantities were smaller compared to ore requirements. The real difficulty lay in Divine-tier materials refined from rare minerals.

Divine-tier leather presented an entirely different challenge. Leather could not be smelted or synthesized. It had to be harvested directly from monsters, often rare elites or even Divine-tier bosses.

"Looks like I need to learn Skinning," Ethan muttered.

The Guild Vault stretched before him, packed with accumulated wealth from countless guild activities. Equipment lined one side. Consumables and potions filled another. Ores and crafting materials were fewer, but still valuable.

After searching for a while, he found a piece of fiery red leather resting in storage.

[Fire Lizard Belly Leather (Divine Tier)]

Description: Crafting or upgrade material granting Fire Resistance to equipment.

Note: The softest belly leather taken from the Divine-tier boss Fire Lizard Punisher.

Source: Skinned by player LuckySon.

Ethan withdrew the leather.

This single piece, combined with Divine-tier steel ingots, was enough to elevate one item to Artifact tier.

Continuing his search, he discovered four pieces of Ten-Thousand-Fold Tempered Steel. A grin spread across his face. Each piece of Artifact equipment required exactly one.

This was the advantage of a guild vault. Genuine treasures accumulated here, unlike the Mad Engineer’s shop warehouse, which contained quantity without quality.

After another thorough check, Ethan found nothing else immediately useful. He deliberately ignored the lower-tier ores. Draining guild resources recklessly would disrupt member exchanges and cause unnecessary problems.

The Mad Engineer’s shop was different. That place ran on money, and the kid could simply restock using profits.

The guild, however, lacked supervision at the moment. Tears of the Fallen and Lyla were still missing, leaving no one to manage the aftermath if he emptied the vault.

Ethan closed the storage interface thoughtfully. Even a returning god needed to avoid creating chaos too early.