Lord: Sequence Master

Rosen saw that his Divine Domain was tightly surrounded by other extraordinaries, leaving no chance for a peaceful escape. Without hesitation, he prepared to release a second lure.

It had been over five years since he first synthesized the Ash Bees, continuously purchasing beehives contaminated by Ash essence. Over these years of synthesis, the hive had finally birthed a Queen Ash Bee—a creature that had never existed before.

The hive now contained hundreds of ordinary Ash Bees, and their numbers kept growing. Some of these bees had already been devoured by Rosen's Gluttony ability to enhance his Death Strike skill.

At that moment, Rosen's self-portrait doppelgänger, stationed aboard the extraordinary ship he had hired, quietly released a single Ash Bee into the air.

It didn't take long for this bee to be noticed, and soon, dozens of extraordinaires were scrambling to catch it. Before long, more Ash Bees appeared, diverting the attention of most human extraordinaries away from the Rainbow Jellyfish.

Though both the Ash Bees and the Rainbow Jellyfish were valuable Sequence 9 creatures, the individual worth of an Ash Bee was no less than that of the jellyfish. Rather than aimlessly searching for the elusive jellyfish, it made more sense for these hunters to chase after the visible and tangible Ash Bees.

Rosen released five Ash Bees as bait, successfully diverting nearly all non-painter extraordinaries from the search. If any remaining painters managed to capture the Rainbow Jellyfish, Rosen was willing to accept that outcome.

A few hours later, as the Rainbow Jellyfish drifted into Rosen's Divine Domain, his Gluttony Slime swiftly swallowed it whole.

With the jellyfish's essence fused into his Divine Pen, Rosen had now fully maximized the enhancement materials for his breakthrough. Everything was perfectly aligned for him to ascend to Sequence 7.

...

Rosen carefully stored away his Divine Pen, preparing to advance to Sequence 7 within his Divine Domain. He took one final look at his Mind Canvas, which had reached Level 3 and unlocked the Mind Projection trait.

This trait allowed him to project his Mind Paintings directly into the minds of others with much greater effectiveness, greatly enhancing his ability to influence others through his spiritual artwork. Additionally, his spiritual energy had become significantly more potent.

As Rosen projected his spiritual energy into the Spirit World, he noticed that the process had become more fluid and faster, nearly doubling in speed thanks to the effects of Mind Projection.

Upon fully descending into the Spirit World, Rosen found himself standing before the towering Artist Sequence Tree. Golden leaves drifted down from the tree, locking onto Rosen and merging with the Sequence Tree within his own Divine Domain, allowing his spiritual essence to flow into his Divine Pen and carry his painter sequence to the next level—Sequence 7.

His innate skills—Spiritual Infusion, Master of Light and Shadow, Divine Pen, Void Gallery, Void Sketchbook, and Self-Portrait—all ascended to their next levels automatically.

However, the skill that excited Rosen the most was the new ability born from reaching Sequence 7:

[Hidden Painting: The ability to hide within painted spaces and travel through them]

Rosen was nearly overwhelmed with excitement. Hidden Painting was not supposed to be an innate skill available at Sequence 7. Most painters didn't acquire it until Sequence 6, and it was known to be an extremely valuable ability for those who could master it.

Like his Master of Light and Shadow, Hidden Painting was a special passive innate skill. Such passive abilities didn't develop unique traits, but they grew in strength as the painter progressed through the sequences. While it might seem like a waste of an innate skill's automatic upgrade, the earlier one acquired a passive skill like this, the greater its potential for future enhancement.

For instance, if a painter acquired Hidden Painting at Sequence 6, they could only hide within Sequence 6-level spiritual paintings. However, with Hidden Painting acquired at Sequence 7, Rosen would be able to hide within Sequence 5-level spiritual paintings by the time he reached Sequence 6, effectively granting him seamless spatial travel through his artwork.

Of course, to use Hidden Painting, Rosen needed spiritual paintings that possessed painted spaces.

Rosen quickly checked his other innate skills and discovered what had enabled this space-related trait to emerge.

[Void Sketchbook: Extraordinary Item]

[Level: Sequence 7]

[Attributes: The Void Sketchbook can store all of the painter's spiritual paintings, allowing for the repeated use of them.]

[Extraordinary Trait: Affinity Enhancement—Its high affinity with the Void Gallery greatly enhances the attributes of the Self-Portrait.]

[Extraordinary Trait: Space Paint—Allows spatial attributes to be incorporated into spiritual paintings.]

With Space Paint, Rosen could now create actual spaces within his paintings by infusing spatial elements into the background. The pseudo-realms found in places like the Blazing Shadow King's City Painter's Association were the result of combining Space Paint and Hidden Painting.

This meant Rosen could now begin experimenting with pseudo-realm paintings ahead of his sequence level.

He took out a piece of paper and, with a thought, summoned his Divine Pen.

[Divine Brush: Divine Artifact]

[Level: Sequence 7]

[Attributes: Greatly enhances the attributes of spiritual paintings, significantly increases painting speed, can transform into any kind of paintbrush, slightly enhances the effects of spiritual paints, and anything drawn within the Divine Domain will permanently exist.]

[Divine Skill: Drawing Trap—By delineating an area with the Divine Pen, everything within it will be trapped inside the painting.]

[Enhanced Trait: Mind Rendering—Grants the ability to capture and render the mind within paintings.]

[Enhanced Trait: Spiritual Rendering—Imbues spiritual paintings with greater vitality and life.]

Rosen had expected the Rainbow Jellyfish to be an excellent material for painters, but he hadn't anticipated how potent its effects would be. Normally, when a Divine Brush advanced to Sequence 7, it would only gain the Mind Rendering trait. But Rosen had also unlocked Spiritual Rendering, a trait that allowed him to bring his painted creations to life without the need for continuous spiritual energy input.

This wasn't merely summoning illusions—Spiritual Rendering imbued real life into his creations. Should this trait evolve further into Divine Rendering, Rosen would gain the ability to create true, living beings through his paintings.

Before putting his pen to paper, Rosen glanced one last time at his Level 3 Spiritual Infusion ability.

[Spiritual Infusion LV3: Freely attaches spiritual power to material objects using extraordinary essence.]

[Enhanced Trait: Enhanced Harmony—Temporarily harmonizes spiritual energy with any attribute and allows the fusion of different spiritual attributes.]

Unsurprisingly, Spiritual Infusion had not disappointed. While painters could create spiritual paintings of creatures like water elementals or fire elementals, they couldn't combine opposite elements like fire and water. But with Enhanced Harmony, Rosen could now create dual-elemental creatures in his artwork with ease.

Rosen's Divine Pen began to move swiftly, sketching the outline of a cave high on a cliffside. Inside the cave, he painted an eagle's nest, and finally, he added a hawk with dual-colored eyes.

The hawk wasn't just a simple sketch—it was a layered creation. Rosen meticulously painted its feathers, bones, internal organs, and flesh in intricate detail, layer by layer, until the final touches brought the hawk to life.

If the thickness of the painting were magnified to 80 centimeters, one would notice that the hawk in the painting resembled a compressed three-dimensional relief.

But this was only the surface. When Rosen painted the hawk, he infused it with Spiritual Rendering and Enhanced Harmony.

The former gave the hawk a soul, while the latter bestowed it with two extraordinary powers: Light and Darkness. The power of Light granted the hawk enhanced vision, and Darkness gave it the ability to use Shadow Stealth, allowing it to blend into shadows and disappear from sight.

After carefully infusing the hawk with these abilities, Rosen began working on the cave, incorporating spatial attributes into the background. After two full days of meticulous work, he completed the Sequence 7 spiritual painting.

Rosen placed the painting in a bone frame, and the moment he approached the frame, he vanished, reappearing inside the cave he had painted. Anyone standing outside the painting wouldn't be able to see Rosen at all, as the space within the painting was entirely separate from the outside world.

This was the power of Hidden Painting, allowing Rosen to hide within his own spiritual paintings and move freely between them.

Though the cave wasn't especially large, it was a real, functional space. Rosen raised his arm, and the painted hawk he had just created flew to him, nuzzling his hand affectionately.

Touching the hawk, Rosen noted that it was warm to the touch, just like a living creature.

He released the hawk, letting it soar out of the cave, and stood before the painting to activate his Noble Crest skill.

[Noble Crest LV3: Imprints a noble bloodline mark on spiritual paintings, allowing you to lock the painting with a crest seal. This enhances the painting's compatibility with your Divine Domain, increasing the attributes of painted characters by 30%.]

[Enhanced Trait: Strengthens the sealing effect of the crest mark.]

As Rosen imprinted the Crest Seal onto the painting, it ensured that no one but him could use the painting or enter its space.

With that done, Rosen shifted his focus to painting character portraits. His first priority was the citizens in his Divine Domain who had advanced in their sequences: Stephanie, Chrollo, Nobunaga, Feitan, Uvogin, Machi, Pakunoda, Franklin, Phinks, Shalnark, Shizuku, and Kalluto.

Two days later, Rosen finished his first portrait—a painting of Chrollo sitting beneath a cross in a dimly lit church.

Rosen immediately entered the painting, where a confused painted Chrollo sat waiting. This made Rosen realize that while Spiritual Rendering gave the figure spirituality, it wasn't enough to make them fully human—they lacked the memories that would make them behave like their real-world counterparts.

To address this, Rosen summoned the real Chrollo and Pakunoda from his Divine Domain.

"Pakunoda, transfer Chrollo's combat memories to his painted version," Rosen commanded.

Pakunoda nodded, pulling out her psychic gun and extracting Chrollo's combat memories, which she condensed into a bullet. She then fired it into the painted Chrollo's head.

The once-confused Chrollo in the painting became alert as the memories fused with him, bringing him to life.

Both Chrollos now stood face to face, and the real Chrollo felt a chill run down his spine as he stared at his identical copy.

Ever since Rosen had rescued him from Meteor City, Chrollo had grown in strength, recently reaching Sequence 8 after five years of rigorous combat in various spiritual realms. Confident in his progress, Chrollo had begun harboring thoughts of overthrowing Rosen and taking control of the Divine Domain.

Rosen, as always, was aware of Chrollo's ambitions.

"Why don't you two spar?" Rosen suggested.

The painted Chrollo didn't hesitate. His left hand summoned his Skill Hunter book, capable of stealing extraordinary abilities, while his right hand formed a psychic gun and fired a toxic, charged bullet.

Recognizing the familiar attack pattern, the real Chrollo shrunk to the size of a thumb, dodging the bullet. Towering over his opponent like a giant, he retaliated by unleashing a barrage of elemental bullets, forcing the painted Chrollo into a defensive position.

But in a critical moment, the painted Chrollo used stolen abilities to summon three illusionary clones, spreading them out wide.

The battle raged back and forth, both Chrollos equally matched in ability. However, the real Chrollo grew increasingly frustrated. While their techniques were identical, the painted Chrollo's physical attributes and spiritual energy were far superior. It was only the painted Chrollo's unfamiliarity with his own power that kept him from dominating.

Realizing this, Chrollo knew that it was only a matter of time before he lost. The idea of being defeated by a mere imitation gnawed at his pride.

Sure enough, after half an hour of combat, the painted Chrollo managed to block one of Chrollo's attacks and shattered his arm in a decisive blow, ending the match.

"Not bad, but you still need to work harder," Rosen remarked, summoning his Angel Beast to restore Chrollo's broken arm in an instant.

Over the next several months, Rosen continued painting character portraits at a steady pace of one every two days. He painted multiple self-portraits of every citizen in his Divine Domain who had reached Sequence 8, as well as portraits of various extraordinary creatures.

These creations, once they had become accustomed to their powers, could easily overpower Sequence 8 opponents. However, against Sequence 7 enemies, they still struggled. After all, they were still spiritual paintings, not true Sequence 7 extraordinary beings.

Nevertheless, quantity has its own quality. In a single year, Rosen could create 180 such spiritual paintings—180 relentless Sequence 8 warriors. What Sequence 7 fighter wouldn't be overwhelmed by such numbers?

This was the true power of the Painter Sequence: given enough preparation, painters were unparalleled in large-scale battles.

Though producing such high-quality paintings required better materials and a great deal of time, Rosen knew that if he invested three years in a single self-portrait, he could produce a spiritual painting as strong as any Silver-ranked Sequence 7 being.

Among the dozens of spiritual paintings he created, Rosen kept the character portraits for himself and distributed the rest as gifts.

For each of his lovers over the past two years, he gifted them a spiritual painting of an extraordinary creature. Through these paintings, Rosen could travel between their spaces using Hidden Painting, allowing him to spend time with multiple lovers in one night. At the same time, it provided a means of escape should he ever find himself in danger.

After two months of intense painting, Rosen was mentally and physically exhausted. He took a well-deserved break.

Once recovered, he turned his attention to advancing his Hunter Sequence. However, to reach Sequence 7, he lacked a key ingredient for his potion.

Having witnessed firsthand the power of the Painter Sequence over the past two months, Rosen was less concerned with rushing his hunter advancement. The hunter sequence, in his view, would primarily serve to support his painting abilities.

Therefore, when advancing to Sequence 7 as a hunter, Rosen decided to switch from the Beast Hunter branch to the Trap Hunter branch.

This way, he could set traps not only within his Void Gallery but also throughout his Divine Domain and even inside the spaces within his spiritual paintings. Should anyone attempt to enter the painted world, they would face an endless array of carefully laid traps.