My attributes are increasing infinitely Chapter 381: Treasure

Ethan’s hand was steady as he reached for the grey thread. To the Patriarch and the guards, it looked like he was grasping at empty air. But to Ethan, he was touching the very essence of decay.

As his fingers made contact, a freezing chill raced up his arm. It wasn’t just cold; it was the feeling of nothingness. The Law of Entropy within him, that tiny 0.1 percent, began to pulse like a hungry predator.

Ethan began to pull. Slowly. Carefully.

He wasn’t just healing a girl; he was unravelling a tether. Every inch of the grey thread he pulled from Seraphina’s chest was absorbed into his own palm. As the thread entered his body, his mind felt like it was being scraped by sandpaper. He saw visions of crumbling stars and dying galaxies.

"This is not a natural occurrence," Ethan thought, his brow furrowing. "This thread has a signature. It’s calculated."

A terrifying realization dawned on him. A thread this precise, anchored to a prodigy of a powerful family, suggested that an inverse being was either living among them or had marked this girl personally.

The "sickness" was a slow motion consumption. Someone from the inverse world was using her as a living battery, slowly turning her existence into entropy.

This made Ethan’s heart cold. He was here to hide from a hunter, but he had stumbled into a web woven by the very world he was trying to avoid.

"I need to master this law," Ethan mused, even as sweat began to bead on his forehead. "If I can control entropy, I can turn the hunters into the hunted. Their own power would become my weapon."

The urgency to upgrade the Space Cube intensified even more. He could feel a grand stage being set. The war between the positive and negative planes wasn’t just a legend; it was a storm approaching his front door.

One hour passed. The silence in the room was absolute, broken only by the Patriarch’s heavy breathing.

Suddenly, the last flicker of grey mist vanished into Ethan’s skin. The translucent, waxen color on Seraphina’s skin receded, replaced by a healthy, rosy glow. Her chest rose in a deep, shivering breath.

Her eyelids fluttered and slowly opened.

The first thing she saw was Ethan.

He was leaning over her, his silver eyes still fading back to their natural color. His face was etched with a mixture of intensity and a strange, ancient wisdom. In that moment, to Seraphina, the world didn’t exist. There was only this man.

Her heart, which had been nearly still for months, suddenly gave a violent, powerful thud. A heat she couldn’t explain rushed to her cheeks. She felt an instinctive, soul deep pull toward him, a gratitude so intense it felt like love at first sight.

"You..." she whispered, her voice raspy but clear.

The door burst open. The Patriarch and her father rushed to the bedside, tears streaming down their faces.

"Seraphina! My child!" the Patriarch cried out, his Monarch level aura trembling with pure joy.

They hovered over her, checking her pulse and soul. She was perfect. Better than perfect.

The Patriarch turned to Ethan, his eyes shining with profound respect. "Doctor... Alistair... you have done what even the gods of this world could not. From this day forward, you are the Eternal Benefactor of the Velzard Family. Our blood is your blood."

Ethan stood up, wiping his forehead. He didn’t smile. He didn’t celebrate. "It is time for you to fulfill your end of the deal. Take me to your treasury."

The Patriarch didn’t hesitate for a second. "Of course. My word is absolute. Guards! Clear the path. The Benefactor wishes to visit the Hall of Origins."

Ethan was led deep into the bowels of the mountain. The path was lined with obsidian and protected by seals that could vaporize a Saint level cultivator in an eye blink. Finally, they reached a massive door made of star forged iron.

"Take your time, Your Highness," the lead guard said, bowing low. "A grand banquet is being prepared in your honor. We will wait for your emergence."

The guard stepped back. Ethan stood alone before the treasury. But as he raised his hand to the door, the atmosphere changed.

The space around him curdled. A pressure so immense, so ancient, crashed down on his shoulders. It was a pressure that felt like it belonged to the very beginning of time.

"A Primordial being?" Ethan’s eyes narrowed. He hadn’t expected the Velzards to have a guardian of this level.

"Who are you?"

The voice didn’t come from the ears; it echoed directly in Ethan’s soul. From the shadows beside the door, an old man manifested. He looked frail, wearing rags that looked like they were rotting off his body, but his eyes were like two dying suns.

"You are not of Velzard blood," the old man rasped. "Outsiders are forbidden from the source."

Ethan didn’t back down. He felt the pressure, but his own origin source acted as a shield. He calmly pulled out a crystal card. "I came with the permission of the family. This is the pass they gave me."

The old man’s eyes locked onto the card. His pupils dilated. It was the Heart of the Clan, a card he himself had forged eons ago. He had given it to the family with one instruction: Only give this to one who saves the lineage from total extinction.

The old man had been in seclusion in this treasury for so long he had lost track of centuries. He didn’t know about Seraphina’s condition or the recent miracle.

"Old man," Ethan said bluntly, his voice cutting through the pressure. "You are the Ancestor of this family, aren’t you?"

The old man’s aura exploded. The walls of the corridor cracked. "How do you know that? No one living in this world knows my face!"

Ethan didn’t flinch. "Your energy signature matches the girl I just healed. It’s written in your existence. Relax, I won’t tell anyone. I have no interest in your family’s politics. But my time is precious. May I enter?"

The old man stared at Ethan for a long time. He saw no fear in the young man’s eyes. He saw something else, a depth that made even him, a Primordial, feel small. He slowly withdrew his pressure.

"Enter," the Ancestor whispered, his voice full of confusion.

The doors creaked open.

The treasury was not a room filled with gold. It was a pocket dimension. Mountains of spirit stones, floating weapons of different ranks, and cultivation resources filled the horizon.

"Nini," Ethan called out internally. "See if there is anything of use."

He began to walk through the rows of treasures. He passed by swords that could level worlds and scrolls containing lost techniques, but Nini remained silent.

Then, as they reached the very back of the vault, where the light of the torches couldn’t reach, a voice spoke in Ethan’s mind. It wasn’t the usual calm voice. It was a voice filled with a desperate, primal craving.

"Master..." Nini whispered. "I am feeling... an existential hunger. There is something in this room... something that is calling to the very core of my being."

Ethan followed Nini’s guidance. He moved toward a small, isolated pedestal. There was no guard here, no trap, and no seal. It was as if the family had forgotten this item even existed because it lacked any detectable energy.

Floating in the air above the pedestal was a stone.

It was not shiny. It was not beautiful. It was a jagged, pitch black rock that seemed to swallow the light around it. It felt heavy, not in weight, but in meaning.

"Master... this is it," Nini’s voice was trembling with excitement. "This is a fragment of a World Heart from the Void. It contains the raw essence of unformed space. If I consume this... I am sure I’ll be able to upgrade to the Chaos rank, but I’ll need some more treasures alongside with it."

Ethan reached out. As his hand approached the stone, he felt the Space Cube inside his soul vibrating violently.

"With this," Ethan thought, "I can finally vanish from their sight."

He grabbed the stone. The moment his fingers closed around it, the entire pocket dimension groaned. The dark stone began to melt into his palm, flowing toward the Space Cube.