Lord: Sequence Master

When Rosen stepped out of his studio, it felt as if he had been reborn.

After three long months, he had finally completed drawing the 13 Elemental Four-Phase Bullets.

The effort was entirely worthwhile—his strength had grown exponentially compared to where he was before. If he had to face Count Fritz again, there would be no need to rely on the virus from The Rose of the Poor or hide in the Mysterious Study Room to avoid mutual destruction. He wouldn't have to depend on sheer luck to defeat Fritz either.

Now, a single volley of nine Elemental Four-Phase Bullets would be more than enough to end Fritz for good.

Despite working tirelessly for three months, Rosen didn't miss the company of noblewomen. In fact, he was eager to find a suitable target to test his new weapon. Conquest and combat were sometimes far more exhilarating than indulgence.

After spending half a day poring over the Hunter Guild's records, Rosen found a target that piqued his interest. Not long after leaving Adventure King City, he released his Alchemical Dragon and vanished from reality, entering the Spirit Realm.

Though the Dungeon Kingdom had no cities in the Spirit Realm, they had established many outposts in resource-rich areas. One such outpost, located near a spiritual crystal mine, had recently reported unusual activity.

Every night, a small sun would appear and raid the mine, stealing spiritual crystals. The extraordinary beings stationed at the outpost had tried fighting it off several times but failed, eventually requesting assistance from Adventure King City.

The Dungeon Kingdom was located underground, but its Spirit Realm entrance led to a massive island. Twenty thousand years ago, the Dungeon Kingdom had been situated on the surface of this island. However, when the world government sealed away the demon gods, the entire island sank deep beneath the earth, even lower than the ocean floor.

The Spirit Realm preserved the historical traces of that era. Here, the island appeared as it had 20,000 years ago—blue skies and white clouds, untouched by the darkness and decay that plagued its real-world counterpart.

Rosen rode his Alchemical Dragon, covering tens of thousands of miles in less than half an hour, eventually arriving at the island's edge. A sheer cliff hundreds of meters high marked the location of the spiritual crystal mine, embedded in the cliff face. Mining from the top was impractical due to the difficulty of dealing with waste rock.

The outpost consisted of a Spirit Realm Watchtower, which could be relocated in case of danger. If a powerful Spirit Realm entity appeared, the watchtower and miners would retreat. Although things hadn't escalated to that point, the Sequence 7 Beast Knight stationed at the watchtower welcomed Rosen with enthusiasm.

Rosen waited at the watchtower until nightfall, when, as expected, a small sun emerged from the sea. Activating his God-Hunting Demon Eye, he magnified his vision thirtyfold. As a Master of Light and Shadow, he filtered out the blinding light, revealing the true form of the Spirit Realm entity—a Solar Jellyfish.

Pleased with his discovery, Rosen refrained from attacking immediately. He wanted to capture the creature alive, so he decided to wait until tomorrow to make his move.

The Solar Jellyfish entered the mine, consuming large amounts of spiritual crystals before retreating back into the sea just before dawn.

Rosen anchored his Divine Domain at the sea beneath the cliff and moved it into position. He then placed several million spiritual crystals—his last reserve—under the Glorious Lighthouse and set up Space Traps layered with Freezing Traps. With everything prepared, he waited for the Solar Jellyfish to take the bait the following night.

Before nightfall, several Sequence 6 hunters arrived at the outpost, all drawn by the rumors of the Solar Jellyfish. Rosen was unsurprised. In the real world, the Solar Jellyfish was an almost extinct species, and the sight of a small sun rising from the sea would have led many to suspect its appearance. These hunters were simply delayed by the time needed to prepare for capturing or killing it.

Scattered along the coastline, the Sequence 6 hunters set their bait and waited for night to fall. Some approached Rosen, suggesting they team up to capture the jellyfish, but he declined politely. He didn't need help and had no intention of sharing the spoils.

As the sun set and the night quieted, the sea came alive with crashing waves and howling winds. Suddenly, the sun rose from the sea once more. This time, however, the Solar Jellyfish hesitated, torn between the abundance of bait laid out by the hunters and its instincts.

After a moment of uncertainty, it began to approach Rosen's Divine Domain, lured by the high-quality spiritual crystals Rosen had prepared. The nearby Sequence 6 hunters grew restless. Since the jellyfish had not yet entered Rosen's domain, it was still fair game.

Stopping the Solar Jellyfish from escaping was the primary challenge. If threatened, the creature could transform into pure Light Element and flee, and not even a Sequence 4 could prevent it. The key to capturing it lay in stopping its elemental transformation.

Rosen hadn't acted the previous night because he lacked the necessary means to counter the jellyfish's ability. Now, others were preparing to make their move. Within moments, the surrounding light elements were dispersed, the space locked down, and spiritual energy severely suppressed. Sensing danger, the Solar Jellyfish hesitated.

Rosen saw his chance. In the control room of the Glorious Lighthouse, he activated his Feathered Serpent God Transformation. Instead of transforming himself or his Self-Portrait Clone, he transformed the Glorious Lighthouse.

The Mechanical Spirit Transformation allowed domain buildings to come to life, and Rosen channeled his powers through the Glorious Lighthouse. As he transformed into the Feathered Serpent God, the lighthouse became a massive Feathered Serpent, stretching dozens of zhang in length.

The giant serpent soared toward the Solar Jellyfish, shielded by the Glorious Barrier. Despite the Sequence 6 hunters' efforts to intercept it, the Feathered Serpent God reached the jellyfish, its enormous form gliding just above the sea.

Sensing danger, the Solar Jellyfish attempted to flee. But before it could, the Feathered Serpent opened its mouth, revealing the God-Slaying Crossbow—now the size of a cannon. A meter-long Sealing Elemental Four-Phase Bullet fired, accelerating to several times the speed of sound as it closed in on the jellyfish.

The bullet exploded upon impact, but the sealing elements within it had already undergone two rounds of fission and fusion. Though the fire ignited, the sealing elements suppressed the Solar Jellyfish's control over light, depriving it of its ability to transform for several critical seconds.

The Glorious Barrier protected the Feathered Serpent from the hunters' attacks as the giant serpent seized the jellyfish and retreated toward Rosen's Divine Domain.

The desperate Sequence 6 hunters made a last-ditch effort to stop Rosen, but the Sequence 8 Glorious Lighthouse's barrier could withstand their attacks for at least a minute.

As the lighthouse retreated into Rosen's Divine Domain, a noble hunter saw an opening. His Divine Domain relocated, and his Thundercloud Tower summoned a thundercloud that crackled with lightning above the Glorious Lighthouse. The lightning serpent coiled around the massive Feathered Serpent, threatening to break through the barrier.

"A Sequence 8 domain structure attack..." Rosen recognized the threat immediately and didn't hesitate. He used the Glorious Lighthouse to activate Shadow Stealth, teleporting back to his Divine Domain, causing the thundercloud and lightning serpent to lose their target.

Such intense energy interference would typically make teleportation impossible, but Rosen had set up Space Traps in advance. These traps enabled him to teleport the massive Glorious Lighthouse by pulling it into the trap and stacking dozens of Level 4 Space Traps for the transfer.

Frustrated, the hunters remained, hoping for one last chance to stop the Solar Jellyfish.

Inside Rosen's Divine Domain, the Glorious Lighthouse expelled the struggling Solar Jellyfish. Dozens of freezing traps activated, encasing the creature in ice for several seconds.

By then, the God-Slaying Crossbow was fully charged. Eight Ice Elemental Four-Phase Bullets fired, hitting the jellyfish at close range, spreading frost and encasing it in an iceberg hundreds of meters wide.

In a desperate move, the Solar Jellyfish unleashed its Solar Burst, incinerating the ice but shrinking its body from ten meters in diameter to just one meter. It had sacrificed its form in a self-destructive attempt to escape, converting itself into pure light-element energy.

Rosen acted swiftly, activating four abilities simultaneously. First, he used Extraordinary Five Senses to blind the jellyfish. Then, he projected a Nightmare Painting from his Mind Canvas, flooding the creature's consciousness with terrifying visions. Finally, he employed Freddy's Nightmare Control, pulling the Solar Jellyfish's spiritual essence deep into the nightmare painting.

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Rosen activated the Heart Prison feature of his Sketching Techniques, trapping the Solar Jellyfish's spiritual essence within the Picture Prison. Without its spiritual essence controlling its body, the Solar Jellyfish plummeted from the air, crashing to the ground, losing its ability to resist.

The jellyfish had been forced to use its Solar Burst in desperation, severely draining its spiritual essence. While it seemed Rosen had easily captured the Sequence 6 Solar Jellyfish, he had actually used every technique at his disposal that could affect it.

Still in the Feathered Serpent God form, the Glorious Lighthouse approached, bit into the Solar Jellyfish, and swallowed it whole. Using the power of Gluttony, Rosen forcibly broke down the Solar Jellyfish's body, fusing it with the Glorious Lighthouse.

He gradually released the Solar Jellyfish's spiritual essence from the prison, allowing it to flow back into its body. By this time, the Glorious Lighthouse had absorbed a portion of the Solar Jellyfish's soul through Gluttony and Mechanical Spirit Transformation. Without its original control, the spiritual essence had no choice but to merge entirely with the Glorious Lighthouse.

After several hours, the Solar Jellyfish had a new body, and the Glorious Lighthouse had gained a soul, transforming into a complete Mechanical Life.

[Glorious Lighthouse: Divine Structure]

[Level: Sequence 8][Attributes: Light][Forms: Lighthouse, Solar Jellyfish][Skills: Light Elementalization, Solar Burst, Sunbeam Ray, Glorious Beam, Glorious Barrier][Divine Trait: Mechanical Life—Can integrate with Mechanical Spirit Alloy to gain mechanical intelligence][Mythical Trait: Spirit Realm Anchor—Enables the Divine Domain to establish two space coordinates within the Spirit Realm]

After merging with the Solar Jellyfish, the Glorious Lighthouse underwent significant transformation. The stationary lighthouse form offered higher damage output, while the jellyfish form provided superior mobility. Several new abilities had also been added. Light Elementalization could only be used in the Solar Jellyfish form, and Solar Burst replaced Glorious Shine, offering a far more powerful close-range attack. Sunbeam Ray allowed simultaneous firing of multiple beams, although it wasn't as sustained as Glorious Beam.

With just the Glorious Lighthouse, Rosen could now single-handedly hunt some Sequence 6 targets.

Rosen retracted his Divine Domain and mounted his Alchemical Dragon, preparing to leave. In the darkness, the frustrated Sequence 6 hunters watched helplessly as Rosen flew away.

Taking a long detour, Rosen quietly returned to the coastal area where the Solar Jellyfish had first appeared. Now that he had successfully merged the jellyfish's soul with the Glorious Lighthouse, Rosen also learned the reason for the creature's raids on the mine.

It turned out the Solar Jellyfish's former territory had been taken over by a Sea Dragon Beast, which had even devoured another Solar Jellyfish. The remaining jellyfish was desperate for revenge, which is why it had been consuming spiritual crystals to grow stronger.

Rosen stored his Alchemical Dragon and sent his Blade Shark Mice into an underwater pressure chamber. The mice soon located a small opening hidden among the sea rocks at the ocean's bottom, just large enough for creatures under a meter in diameter to pass through.

The sloping tunnel led deep underground, eventually opening up into a subterranean lake. Enveloped in Spatial Mist, Rosen teleported from the pressure chamber using Shadow Stealth. Thanks to the mist, the ocean's pressure posed no threat.

He recalled his Blade Shark Mice and dove into the tunnel, following the water through a winding cave that stretched for dozens of miles. After traveling for half an hour, Rosen encountered a fork in the path. One direction led toward a waterfall into an unknown area, while the other led toward the underground lake.

With time on his hands, Rosen's curiosity led him to follow the water's flow. As he descended, the temperature increased, and he saw dense white mist and a faint red glow. Unfurling the wings of the Feathered Serpent God, he hovered midair.

In most regions, magma wouldn't exist within the first million miles of the earth's crust. The red glow below, therefore, wasn't from magma.

Using the God-Hunting Demon Eye, Rosen inspected the light source and gradually made out a massive forest of red mushrooms covering over ten miles. The mushrooms, each dozens of meters wide, were ablaze with flames.

As the waterfall hit the burning mushrooms, the water vaporized instantly. The mushrooms absorbed the salt, while the steam condensed into rain, forming a small river that flowed through the mushroom forest.

Curious, Rosen summoned Gray Mouse to see if it recognized the species. After sharing Rosen's vision, Gray Mouse rubbed its eyes in disbelief.

"Dragon Blood Mushrooms? How is this possible?"

Gray Mouse squeaked in astonishment. Rosen immediately recalled the rare Dragon Blood Mushrooms described in texts—fungi that grew from the decaying bodies of dead dragons, used to extract dragon bloodlines.

However, these mushrooms were far larger than anything described in the books. Moreover, the Dragon Blood Mushrooms of legend weren't known to burn or absorb salt.

Gray Mouse explained that there were two types of Dragon Blood Mushrooms. The first grew from dead dragons, while the second, far rarer type grew from the decaying bodies of living dragons. This second type was more valuable but incredibly rare since it required a dragon's body to decay while still alive—a rare occurrence unless the dragon's soul had been destroyed, turning it into a Plant Dragon.

The mushroom forest was over ten miles wide, which suggested the Plant Dragon beneath the surface was immense—possibly a Sequence 3 dragon at its peak.

Despite the tantalizing prospects, Rosen sent his Self-Portrait Clone to investigate while his main body retreated to the Void Gallery. As he neared one of the mushrooms, the truth became clear—these were indeed real Dragon Blood Mushrooms.

Gray Mouse eagerly began harvesting the mushrooms but soon stopped, stunned. It bit into another mushroom, only to spit it out in frustration. Using the Nightmare Chains, Rosen tapped into Gray Mouse's thoughts and understood the situation.

Though the mushrooms were authentic Dragon Blood Mushrooms, their value was a fraction of what had been anticipated. The dragon blood they contained was so diluted that even Gray Mouse found them unworthy of consumption.

Disappointed, Rosen concluded that the mushrooms were little more than glorified fertilizer. But perhaps the Plant Dragon beneath would offer a greater reward.

Rosen summoned a swarm of slimes, which quickly devoured the mushrooms. After several hours, the entire mushroom forest had been harvested, and Rosen then sent in Cave Demons to dig up the soil that contained traces of dragon blood.

After hundreds of meters of digging, Rosen finally uncovered the Plant Dragon at the forest's center. But it wasn't the colossal, demigod-level creature he had imagined.

Instead, it was a juvenile dragon, no more than ten meters long and likely only at Sequence 7. A massive, festering wound on its back continuously oozed blood, from which the Dragon Blood Mushrooms had grown.

Despite its critical condition, the dragon had somehow survived for 20,000 years, its regenerative abilities continuously producing dragon blood to sustain the mushroom forest. The cycle had been broken when Rosen harvested all the mushrooms, and now the dragon's wound was expanding rapidly.

Rosen theorized that the mushrooms and dragon had been in a symbiotic relationship. The mushrooms absorbed the dragon's decaying blood, purifying it into usable dragon blood. The dragon, in turn, reabsorbed this purified blood to stave off death.

With the mushrooms gone, the juvenile dragon was losing its ability to regenerate, and the once-stabilized balance was rapidly breaking down.