Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat!-Chapter 906: Beating Sense Into a Core

The man facing Ethan blinked, clearly stunned. It was obvious no one had ever hit him before, and his combat instincts were a mess. Ethan’s slap technique didn’t miss, and while the Coreborn stood there trying to process what had just happened, Ethan didn’t give him time to recover. He pulled his arm back and swung again.

WHAM.

This time, Ethan put almost everything into it. The impact echoed through the cavern, low and heavy. The Coreborn duplicate, Ethan’s own Energy Core given physical form, was launched through the air like a cannonball, spinning fully around before smashing headfirst into the cave wall.

Ethan hadn’t held back. Whatever this thing used to be didn’t matter anymore. It had grown its own consciousness and wanted to take his body. Mercy wasn’t part of the equation.

"YOU HIT ME?!"

The Coreborn scrambled to his feet, his face twisted with rage. Behind him, the nine-tiered tower vibrated violently as waves of raw energy surged outward in all directions.

BOOM.

Each pulse carried brutal force. Ethan wasn’t prepared for the shockwaves and was shoved back several steps before he stabilized.

"The hell I did. So what?" Ethan said flatly.

He stared at the man in disbelief. Same face, same build, and yet this guy acted like a complete idiot. Not just all talk, but his fighting sense was nonexistent. His attack style was sloppy, unfocused, and wasteful.

Still, Ethan couldn’t deny one thing. The sheer amount of power this thing had was ridiculous. If he ever learned to compress it into a proper strike instead of spraying it everywhere, even Ethan might take real damage.

How a thing trapped underground for who knew how long had accumulated this much energy was a mystery. But it wasn’t Ethan’s problem.

He cursed quietly as his body moved on instinct. The Coreborn saw him closing in and reacted late, eyes flickering as one hand shot up. Energy gathered rapidly in his palm.

"Too slow."

SMACK.

Ethan slapped the arm aside before the attack could form properly. He was already in close. When he knocked the arm upward, the unstable energy lost control and blasted straight into the cave ceiling.

BOOM.

The explosion ripped through the space above them. Ethan didn’t bother looking. He had the situation figured out. This guy was strong but clueless, all power and no experience.

That realization actually made Ethan more interested. If he could really reclaim this Core, the boost would be massive.

His thoughts moved fast, but his body moved faster. He hooked one arm behind the Coreborn’s head and yanked him down hard, driving his knee up at the same time.

CRUNCH.

The sound was sharp and unpleasant. Power didn’t protect noses. The knee landed cleanly, and the Coreborn hadn’t even thought to block.

Ethan almost laughed. This thing was greener than he’d ever been. Back when Ethan was weak, he still knew how to protect his face. He took hits, sure, but never there.

The Coreborn was sent flying backward, arcing high into the air, thirty or forty feet up. With gravity this heavy, getting launched that far said everything about how much force Ethan had used.

While the Coreborn was still rising, Ethan bent his legs and kicked off the ground, his body shooting upward until he was directly above him.

"Down you go."

THUD.

Ethan’s foot slammed into the Coreborn’s stomach. The sound was deep and hollow, like a drum being struck. The upward momentum vanished instantly. The Coreborn curled in on himself and shot back down even faster than he’d risen.

Ethan followed.

The Coreborn hit the ground and bounced once, a broken sound tearing out of him.

"AAAGH—"

"Shut it."

Ethan came down hard, planting his foot directly on the Coreborn’s mouth and cutting the scream off mid-sound. Before the guy could even react, Ethan dropped his weight and sat down on his stomach.

His fists started moving.

WHAM.

"SCREAMING?!"

WHAM.

"ACTING TOUGH?!"

WHAM WHAM.

"COVETING ME?!"

WHAM WHAM WHAM.

"LOOK LIKE ME?!"

Each punch landed with crushing force, all of it aimed squarely at that familiar face.

"Had enough? I SAID HAD ENOUGH?!"

SLAP SLAP SLAP.

"ANSWER ME!"

SLAP SLAP.

Ethan’s arms finally started to ache. He shook out his hands and switched to open palms, striking left and right, over and over, smashing the Coreborn’s cheeks until they were completely numb.

At first, the Coreborn fought back wildly, flailing and kicking, but it was useless. He had strength, not skill. He couldn’t land a single hit. Eventually, the resistance faded into weak whimpers.

Ethan kept telling him to talk, but he never stopped hitting him. Fists, slaps, anything that would land. By the time Ethan finally stopped, the Coreborn couldn’t speak even if he wanted to.

Ethan stood up, breathing a little harder than before. On the ground lay his duplicate, it’s arms and legs splayed out, eyes unfocused and empty as he stared at the ceiling.

"Tch." 𝚏𝕣𝐞𝗲𝐰𝕖𝐛𝐧𝕠𝕧𝚎𝚕.𝐜𝚘𝗺

Ethan dusted off his hands and looked down at him with open contempt. It felt good, like unloading on a heavy bag. Now he understood something from his past life. Bullying felt great when you were on the winning side.

He turned away and started searching the cave. He walked the perimeter, checking every corner. Aside from the tunnel that led deeper inside, there was nothing. No items, no markings, nothing of value at all.

Frustrated, Ethan ran his hands along the cave wall. The surface was ice-cold and unbelievably dense. Even using the Twilight War Spear, he could barely damage it. His strongest strike left a pit no deeper than an inch.

"Now this is something," Ethan muttered, rubbing the shallow groove. "If I could mine this, haul it back, refine it, build mechs out of it... the durability alone—"

As he spoke, the groove began to fill with a blood-red liquid. It didn’t drip or flow. It simply filled the pit, then solidified within seconds. The color was slightly different from the surrounding wall, but when Ethan tested it, the hardness was exactly the same.