Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat - Chapter 720

Chapter 720: Another Master
With the groups finalized, Ethan gave them a set of coordinates and told them to head out first. He turned to the one person he’d held back.

“Alright,” he said, facing the Mad Engineer. “What was the deal with that schematic?”

He’d caught the man’s sudden, intense focus when he’d laid eyes on the Blazing Cannon blueprint.

“Right! So, I’ve been stuck on the Demonic Elemental Magethrower project,” the Engineer explained, his words coming in a rushed, excited tumble. “A few core principles just wouldn’t click. That schematic… it had some design concepts I can adapt. It’s a straight upgrade to my current approach. This could shave days off my research!”

“Good. Then get back to it,” Ethan said, filing the information away. “By the way, you have some Expert-tier Engineers under you, right?”

“Sure do! Three of them!” the Mad Engineer declared, puffing out his chest with pride.

“Three?” Ethan was genuinely surprised. Any non-combat crafter who’d hit Expert-tier at this stage was a serious asset. Recruiting this guy had been a bit of a gut decision, partly fueled by an old grudge from his past life. Seeing it pay off like this was deeply satisfying.

“I need you to lend me two,” Ethan said after a moment’s consideration.

“What? No way, Boss! If I give you two, I’ll actually have to get my hands dirty with the grunt work…” The Engineer’s face immediately crumpled into a mask of theatrical despair.

“Oh, I see. So you trained up three Experts just so you could kick back and delegate everything?” Ethan laughed, seeing right through the performance.

“Ermmm… So, when did you need them?” the Engineer asked, awkwardly changing the subject.

Ethan knew he’d hit the nail on the head. The kid had learned the art of delegation a little too well. “After we get back. I’ll let you know.”

“Alright then.” Relieved it wasn’t an immediate demand, the Mad Engineer agreed readily.

With that settled, Ethan turned his attention inward. ‘Hey, old man. You coming with us for this?’

“No. I will pass. You control it,” Morzan’s voice echoed in his mind, and in the next instant, the familiar presence vanished from the avatar. Ethan couldn’t help but chuckle. ‘Suit yourself.’

“Celia,” he said aloud, pulling a schematic that shimmered with a silver-white luminescence from his inventory. “Get the Blacksmiths together and start production on this. Immediately.”

Her eyes went wide the moment she saw it. “A Silver-tier schematic?” She took it from him, her voice dropping to a hushed whisper. “Fortress Defense System Schematic… a full set?”

“What? Let me see that!” The Mad Engineer, who had been loitering, was stunned by the schematic’s glow. Hearing Celia’s words sent him from stunned to frantic. He practically snatched it from her hands.

Knowing their relationship, Celia let him.

“Holy crap… Holy, holy crap…” the Mad Engineer muttered, his eyes darting across the pages as he flipped through them, lost for any other words.

“Enough gawking,” Ethan cut in, amused. “Get to work. You can shelve your current project. I need this set completed before I secure the first fortress.”

Seeing the Engineer’s overwhelmed expression, Ethan allowed himself a small smile. This was the reward for being the world’s first player to hit level 60. Because he was the leader of a level 6 guild, the system had granted him this complete set. It was only Silver-tier, but a full set of integrated offensive and defensive blueprints? Its value was incalculable.

“But… the learning requirement is Master-tier!” the Engineer sputtered, looking up from the schematics, his face pale. “A project this massive… I can’t do this alone! And forging the component blanks requires a Master-tier Blacksmith! Where in the hell are we supposed to find one of those?”

Ethan’s demands felt impossible. He fully believed Ethan could capture a fortress the moment the expansion launched, but this… this was a monumental task. With this set, any fortress they took would become a nearly unassailable bastion.

“A Master-tier Blacksmith, you say? Watch this.”

A smirk played on Ethan’s lips. The black-robed figure standing silently to the side—his avatar, now empty of Morzan—stepped forward. It reached up, pushed back its hood, and revealed a golden badge pinned to its chest. The emblem was a hammer, with a single, sharp five-pointed star gleaming beneath it.

“Gold Badge, one star! Damn… A Master Blacksmith!” The Mad Engineer himself wore a similar badge, only his bore a gear instead of a hammer. He knew exactly how brutal the grind was to go from a Silver three-star Expert badge to that single, glorious gold star. He never expected Ethan to just have one on retainer.

This was a treasure. The Engineer’s eyes gleamed. His own progress had stalled because he couldn’t get his hands on Master-tier component blanks. This changed everything.

“Hey, friend… How about you come work with me from now on?” The Mad Engineer stepped forward, trying to sling an arm around the avatar’s shoulders.

No sooner had he gotten close than the black-robed figure lifted its foot and delivered a solid kick, sending the Engineer stumbling backward to land on the floor.

“Fine, don’t join me! But… was the violence necessary?” the Engineer grumbled, picking himself up.

“Trying to poach someone right under my nose? Who else should I kick?” The voice was familiar—it was Ethan’s. But it was coming from the black-robed figure in front of him.

The Mad Engineer froze.

In the next second, the figure pushed back its hood.

“What the hell?! A ghost!” The Engineer scrambled back a step. From his angle, he could now see the faces of both Ethan and the avatar simultaneously. For a moment, he just stammered, his finger darting between the two identical faces, completely lost for words.

“Stop gawking,” the avatar said, now under Ethan’s split concentration. “You said you couldn’t handle the assembly alone, right? Here. Let me show you something.”

As the Mad Engineer watched, the avatar pulled out a blank scroll of drafting paper and a Scribe’s Pen. It then opened the “Blacksmithing Section” of the Fortress Defense System Schematic (Set)], and the pen in its hand began to move with swift, precise strokes. It was starting to copy the schematic.

“Master-tier schematics require at least Grandmaster skill to copy! What are you trying to do?” The Mad Engineer’s eyes widened in pure disbelief. He couldn’t comprehend what this doppelgänger was attempting. It was supposed to be impossible.