Lord: Sequence Master

Satisfied, Rosen swapped out his ordinary belt for the Hunting Belt and began considering which of his Hunter skills to enhance. Once a skill was upgraded, it couldn't be changed for at least a day.

Since he was hiding safely in the Mysterious Study Room with no need to venture out, the obvious choice was to improve his damage skill, Deadly Strike.

[Deadly Strike LV2]: Compresses spiritual energy, boosting the next attack's damage by up to 210%. The damage gradually decreases from 210% down to 110%, while the compressed energy costs up to twice the usual spiritual energy.

Trait: Armor Piercing — There's a 10% chance of dealing 10% armor-piercing damage.

The increase in both maximum and minimum damage was a modest 10%, which left Rosen slightly disappointed. However, he was pleased with the added armor-piercing trait, since it could be crucial against enemies with strong defenses. Not all hits would deal significant damage without this kind of penetration, as most extraordinary sequences had some form of defense or survival skills.

After choosing his upgrade, Rosen grabbed his canvas and paints—recently exchanged from Masadora—and began painting more flashbangs.

He'd only been painting for a few hours when he suddenly heard agonized screams from outside the window. Curious, Rosen put down his brush and approached the window.

What he saw were seven crucifixes planted in front of his window, with seven Hunters tied to them. A group of Shadow Cats was using pincers to cruelly pull off the Hunters' fingernails.

"They're from the same batch of passengers…" Rosen frowned.

Just as he had used a Shadow Cat finger as bait to lure the cats, these Shadow Cats had reversed the tactic, using human prisoners to lure him out.

In just three days, seven Hunters had already been captured alive by the Shadow Cats. At this rate, the Shadow Cats would likely wipe out all the other passengers before the Black Shark pirates even had a chance to eliminate witnesses.

Rosen didn't consider trying to rescue them. The captured Hunters had their spiritual energy sealed. Even if he freed them by destroying the crucifixes and ropes with flashbangs, without their powers, they'd have no way to escape. As for hiding them in the Mysterious Study Room, that was Rosen's deepest secret, one he wouldn't reveal to anyone.

He shut the window and locked the latch, ensuring complete isolation from sound. With the latch open, he could still hear noise from outside, and opening the window would let in sunlight. However, for fresh air, he'd have to rely on the air conditioning in the Mysterious Study Room.

Rosen continued stockpiling flashbangs, but the more he prepared, the less confident he felt about killing the Shadow Cats outside.

Yesterday, he had noticed that a Sequence 7 Shadow Cat had joined the others.

While his flashbangs might irritate a Sequence 7 cat, the highly compressed arrows imbued with Deadly Strike probably wouldn't deal much damage. Even if he managed to kill some of the Sequence 8 Shadow Cats, he wouldn't have time to collect the spoils before the Sequence 7 came after him.

This meant that his hunt for the Shadow Cats was essentially over. Now, he could only wait for the realm to reset and force him out.

Disappointed, Rosen shifted his focus to improving his spiritual energy. Every day, he alternated between painting spiritual artworks and practicing Deadly Strike at a makeshift training ground inside Masadora. Like all extraordinary skills, Deadly Strike required constant practice to improve its level.

Over the next few days, while Deadly Strike remained stagnant, Rosen's spiritual energy increased from six to seven points.

Though the Painter Sequence was notably weak at Sequence 9, it excelled at increasing spiritual energy. In contrast, Hunters had to rely on battles and successful hunts to raise their levels. However, hunting weaker prey didn't help much, and engaging in battles always carried the risk of injury.

One day, the alarm from Rosen's Main God Computer echoed through the room, signaling the imminent realm reset. There were only five minutes left before the realm would forcibly eject him.

Rosen grabbed the Drift Spell Card, preparing to use it to return to Blackstone Port the moment he was expelled from the realm.

But five minutes passed, and Rosen remained in the Mysterious Study Room without being ejected.

He quickly realized what might have happened—the Mysterious Study Room was so powerful that the realm couldn't detect him. It was unable to expel him when the realm reset. This meant Rosen could stay hidden within the realm, waiting for it to reopen again, which could take another nine days.

However, he would then face a challenge: once he left the Mysterious Study Room, the Shadow Cats would likely still be hunting him.

"Is this the price I pay for exploiting the system to hunt the Shadow Cats?" Rosen muttered to himself as he stood by the window, carefully observing the changes outside.

The Hunters tied to the crucifixes had already been possessed by Shadow Cats. As a result, Rosen was now the last living human in the realm.

As the realm began to reset, the crucifixes outside vanished one by one. Then, the destroyed trees and plants began to reappear, and the Shadow Cats that had been lurking nearby also disappeared.

The reset process resembled a movie rewinding to its opening scene, though not everything returned to its original state. The Shadow Cats that had possessed humans, the slain extraordinary creatures, and the harvested plants wouldn't regenerate so easily.

To resurrect dead creatures, the realm had to expend a significant amount of energy. If the realm had sufficient spiritual reserves, it would revive the fallen beings, but if it was running low, it would let them remain dead.

Creatures like the Shadow Cats, which had evolved by possessing humans, wouldn't lose their second form during the reset. However, their positions would reset, sending them back to their original locations.

Many skilled Hunters had, over time, mapped out the reset points for certain creatures, allowing them to bypass exploration and head straight to their targets after the reset.

Rosen didn't have to worry about Shadow Cats camping at his location anymore, though it wasn't yet safe for him to leave. The realm's reset could twist time and space, potentially tearing him apart if he ventured out prematurely.

As he watched, white mist engulfed the realm during the reset. Once it dissipated, the trees outside began swaying in the wind again.

Realizing the reset was complete, Rosen left the Mysterious Study Room and activated Shadow Step to blend into the shadows.

The dense forest provided plenty of shade, allowing Rosen to move twice as fast while remaining concealed. He even passed several extraordinary creatures along the way, simply slipping past them without being noticed.

Thanks to Shadow Step, it took him less than half an hour to return to the shoreline.

Without hesitation, Rosen dove into the sea, sticking close to the cliffs where some shadows remained, hoping this would help him evade the Shadow Cats' tracking abilities.

He swam towards a sunlit cliff, where the sunlight penetrated deep into the water.

Reaching the base of the cliff, Rosen placed his hand on the stone wall, opening the door to the Mysterious Study Room after the usual nine-second delay.

If the realm opened and closed again, Rosen would use the last moments to escape, positioning himself under the sun's full glare. With daylight shining brightly over the sea, there would be few places for the Shadow Cats, who detested sunlight, to hide in wait for him.

(End of Chapter)