Lord: Sequence Master

"The 95th floor of the Artist Guild housed the painters of the Blazing Shadow Duchy, and Rosen had a residence here, provided free of charge by the guild. Unless he stayed away for more than a century, the guild would not reclaim his allocated housing. Living here ensured that no one in the entire Blazing Shadow Duchy could threaten his safety.

Due to this high level of security, many painters preferred to stay rather than return home. The only minor inconvenience was the mandatory identity verification each time they entered or left. For those who spent most of their time secluded in their studios, it was hardly a problem. However, for those with families living alongside them, the daily verification process could become bothersome. As a result, most residents were single.

An alarm broke Rosen's focus, prompting him to put down his Divine Brush and check the clock. His scheduled lesson for learning the Sequence skill was about to begin.

After tidying up his studio, Rosen left his residence to visit a senior painter for his lesson.

It's worth noting that the residences in the Artist Guild were all pseudo-spiritual realms. These homes existed within paintings, with their actual entrances being the artworks hanging on the walls. Although the Artist Guild was incredibly wealthy, even they couldn't afford to give every painter a true Sequence 6-level spiritual realm painting. These pseudo-spiritual realms had spatial properties but couldn't draw power from the Spiritual Realm.

Maintaining these residences required a constant supply of spiritual energy crystals.

Pseudo-spiritual realms were easier to create than true spiritual realms, but even so, such housing was reserved exclusively for painters.

As Rosen strolled through the wide, ten-meter hallway, the walls were lined with paintings leading to other pseudo-spiritual realms. He soon arrived at the painting of the painter he had scheduled with and touched the frame with his spiritual energy.

The painting depicted a cabin on a tranquil lake under a starry sky. The serene lake, dotted with reflections of the stars, suddenly rippled as a whirlpool formed, pulling Rosen inside. In the blink of an eye, he found himself standing before the cabin.

"Ms. Fam, it's an honor to receive your guidance," Rosen greeted the woman emerging from the cabin, her aura warm like the midday sun.

Despite not being one to judge by appearances, Rosen was surprised to see the youthful, blue-haired woman before him. According to his knowledge, Ms. Fam was over sixty years old and considered the painter closest to reaching Sequence 6 in the Blazing Shadow Duchy. He hadn't expected such a renowned painter to personally take on the task of teaching him.

"Do you enjoy stargazing?" Fam asked, her question laced with hidden meaning.

"I wouldn't say I love it, but I do enjoy looking at the stars from time to time," Rosen replied honestly.

"That makes my job easier," Fam smiled. A Divine Brush appeared in her hand, and with a casual flick, paint streamed through the air, forming two lounge chairs perfectly positioned for stargazing.

Rosen's heightened five senses allowed him to notice something extraordinary—while Fam's stroke seemed simple, each bristle of her brush was intricately sketching the chairs in space the size of a thumbprint. Each bristle acted like a separate brush, enabling Fam to draw multiple things at once with unparalleled precision.

Both sat in the chairs. The sky above was dull and empty, but as Fam's pupils reflected the image of a starry sky, the dark sky transformed into a brilliant display of stars.

Of course, these stars weren't real. Not even a Sequence 7 painter, let alone a Sequence 1, could recreate actual stars. These were projections—Fam used her memory of the stars and projected them from her mind onto the sky. This was the very skill Rosen had come to learn: The Mind's Canvas.

Mastering The Mind's Canvas meant that a painter was no longer bound to physical surfaces but could paint within the realm of the mind. At its basic level, the skill allowed painters to create images in their consciousness. At higher levels, they could project these mental images into reality, and at the highest level, they could paint on the mental landscapes of other beings.

When Rosen first read about this skill, he was astonished by its potential. There was even a legend of a Sequence 2 Painter who used The Mind's Canvas to paint on the collective consciousness of an entire alien race, convincing them they were plants. The race eventually starved to death, believing they were basking in the sun while standing motionless.

While the skill was undeniably powerful, raising its level was incredibly difficult, which was precisely what attracted Rosen to it. Abilities that were easy to improve weren't necessarily strong, but those that were hard to master were always formidable—otherwise, they would have been discarded long ago.

Since Divine Brushstroke already occupied one of his innate skill slots, Rosen had decided to reserve the second for The Mind's Canvas. Even if the skill was hard to improve, it would naturally level up as his Sequence advanced, allowing him to focus on developing other abilities.

Fam had instructed him to stargaze, so Rosen fixed his gaze on the sky.

Gradually, he felt a mysterious pull from the stars, subtly affecting his spiritual awareness. While the influence caused minimal harm, it forced his spirit to build a resistance over time.

Two hours later, Rosen had successfully mastered The Mind's Canvas.

Fam was astonished. She had never expected Rosen to grasp the skill so quickly. In her experience, it took at least ten days of daily spiritual stimulation to learn The Mind's Canvas, yet Rosen had mastered it in a single session. This suggested his spiritual strength and potential were exceptional.

Rosen, too, was surprised as he sensed the new Mind's Canvas ability now residing within his spiritual essence.

He hadn't anticipated such talent in this area, though perhaps it stemmed from the unique strengthening of his soul and bloodline after absorbing all that had once belonged to Young Rosen.

Because he had mastered the skill sooner than expected, and out of admiration for his talent, Fam extended their lessons. She allowed Rosen to ask further questions about cultivating and enhancing The Mind's Canvas. Over the next several days, Rosen diligently visited her, soaking up all the practical experience Fam shared.

After half a month, Rosen had completely grasped all the intricacies of The Mind's Canvas.

That evening, after dinner, Rosen reluctantly bid farewell to Fam. It was time to move on to learning the final Sequence 9 auxiliary skill he had scheduled.

This last skill was relatively simple compared to the complexity of The Mind's Canvas, both in terms of learning and progression.

But sometimes, a skill didn't need to be powerful—it just needed to be the right fit. Having unmatched abilities that don't complement each other could lead to failure, especially when facing more well-rounded opponents with synergistic abilities.

(End of Chapter)