Level 1 to Infinity: My Bloodline Is the Ultimate Cheat!-Chapter 855: The Valley of Mourning Winds

Upon arriving, Ethan took in the sight before them, his gaze sweeping across the wide, unnervingly flat valley floor. Mounds of earth rose everywhere, irregular and countless, interspersed with weathered, leaning headstones that jutted from the ground like broken teeth.

"This is your quest?" he asked flatly.

"Yep!" Leo replied, practically buzzing with excitement. "And the rewards have to be insane. It’s a Dark Gold tier hidden quest!" It was his first time encountering something of that rarity, and it showed.

Ethan rolled his eyes, unease prickling along his spine. "Then why do I get such a... chilling vibe from this place? It looks like a mass grave."

Even in Panther Form, with its heightened vision, the valley was smothered in a thin, clinging mist that dulled distance and swallowed detail. They stood at the mouth of a gorge, flanked on both sides by low yet steep cliffs, a classic narrow pass that felt designed to funnel anything entering straight inside. Beyond it, the earth was black and barren, devoid of even a blade of grass, dotted with countless indistinct humps fading into the fog. The nearest mound told the story clearly enough. Its coffin lay exposed, wood splintered and rotting, as if something had torn its way out long ago.

"Not just like a mass grave," Leo said, nodding seriously for once. "It is one."

Ethan’s expression darkened. "Don’t tell me this quest is about robbing graves."

"Hey! That’s a terrible way to put it," Leo protested. "This is archaeology. Studying ancient cultures. Exploring historical sites." As he spoke, he rummaged through his pack and produced a full set of excavation tools: pickaxes, shovels, trowels, chisels, every piece duplicated. He handed one complete set to Ethan. "The NPC lady said there are treasures everywhere down here. Anything we find is ours, as long as we can get to it."

Ethan accepted the tools with visible reluctance and fixed Leo with a long, flat stare. "I thought you said you didn’t know the quest details. You seem remarkably prepared."

Leo scratched the back of his head, suddenly sheepish. "Well... I asked Victor and the others first. They all thought I was crazy and said no. So I figured I’d need a partner. It’s kind of creepy down here, right?"

’So everyone else refused and he dragged me into this instead,’ Ethan thought, exasperation washing over him. Still, he said nothing. The moment he took the tools, Leo’s grin returned in full force.

"Alright! Let’s get started. There’s a timer on the quest. The faster we finish, the better the reward." When Ethan remained silent, Leo cleared his throat nervously, clearly worried he’d overdone it. He turned away and swung his pickaxe into the nearest mound. 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

The excavation was quick. Once the dirt was cleared, Leo pried open the fragile coffin with a crowbar, pulled on gloves, and rummaged through the remains. Moments later, he straightened up, disappointment written plainly across his face.

’Nothing.’

Ethan wasn’t truly angry, just deeply uncomfortable. Even knowing it was a game, digging up graves felt wrong on a fundamental level. What kind of person made a habit of this?

"What exactly are we looking for?" he asked, walking over.

"A dull, yellowish orb. No proper name," Leo replied, already trudging toward the next mound. "I’ll share the quest info with you."

A translucent window appeared in Ethan’s vision.

[Hidden Quest (Dark Gold Tier) – Find the Lost Orb of the Brewmaster]

Objective: Within the Valley of Mourning Winds, locate the Dull Yellowish Orb.

Lore: Ages ago, an apprentice stole what he believed to be a sacred treasure, the orb his master used to suppress volatile energies while brewing celestial ales. The apprentice believed it to be the source of his master’s legendary recipes. In truth, it was nothing more than a common Wind-Calming Orb. Upon the apprentice’s death, his own disciples buried him in this forsaken valley, interring the useless orb with him. Though mundane, the orb has been passed down through generations of Brewmasters as a symbol of ancestral legacy. Its loss has been mourned for centuries. Clues to its resting place were erased when the Lost Isle was torn from the mainland during the Great Collision. The task now falls to you.

Reward: Unknown (Quality scales inversely with completion time).

Time Limit: None.

Time Elapsed: 7 minutes, 38 seconds.

By the time Ethan finished reading, Leo had already cracked open another coffin and was elbow-deep inside, searching with growing desperation.

’About three minutes per grave’, Ethan calculated grimly. His gaze drifted across the valley, where shadowy mounds stretched endlessly into the mist. How many would that be? Hundreds? Thousands? If their luck was terrible and the orb lay in the last one, and if the timer dragged the reward down to a handful of gold coins, the result would be nothing short of soul-crushing.

His instincts screamed that quests with scaling rewards were never this simple.

"Leo, keep digging," Ethan said at last. "I’m going to scout ahead."

Already frustrated and sweating over his third empty grave, Leo merely grunted in response, silently praying the next one would finally be it.

By the time he looked up again, Ethan had already shifted forms. The panther vanished, replaced by a great eagle whose silhouette quickly shrank as it rose into the mist-choked sky.

A cold, mournful wind slipped through the canyon, whistling low and hollow. Leo shivered despite himself.

"Tch. Stupid game atmosphere," he muttered. "I’ve slept next to body dumps before. You think this scares me?"

Trying to convince himself, he forced his attention back to the grim work.

Far above, Ethan flew deeper into the valley, and his expression soon turned grim.

One kilometer. Two. Three.

He pushed on until he’d covered five kilometers, yet nothing below him changed.

Grave mounds. Headstones. Shattered coffins.

A strip at least fifty meters wide and stretching beyond five kilometers, nothing but graves. They could dig for a year and never clear it. Leo had probably assumed it was a small burial ground, something manageable with enough time and stubbornness.

"Leo," Ethan said over their private channel, exhaustion edging his voice. "Stop digging."

"What? Why?" Leo panted, having already desecrated more than a dozen graves.

"Because this quest is a trap. Even if we brought the entire Renegade Alliance, we’d be digging forever. I’ve flown five klicks and it still hasn’t ended. This isn’t about excavation." He paused, scanning the valley below. "Pack up and head toward me. I’m going further in. And be careful. A place this big with zero mobs is not normal."

Without waiting for a reply, Ethan beat his wings and accelerated, his passage carving a spiraling tunnel through the mist as he flew straight down the valley’s center.

It didn’t take long for his sharp eyes to catch movement.

His instincts kicked in instantly, pulling him higher and abandoning low-altitude flight.

Below him, the barren ground was no longer still.

Figures were moving, and there were a lot of them.