Lord: Sequence Master

In just three days, Rosen had fully mastered the Noble Blood Seal skill under Clement's guidance.

While the skill wasn't particularly powerful—boosting human figures in paintings by only 10%—it had its uses. Though its contribution to combat was limited, Noble Blood Seal was a clear choice for those with ambitions of becoming a Divine Territory lord.

Clement, who enjoyed the lively surroundings of his pseudo-spiritual realm with over a thousand servants, was no stranger to power. He too had mastered Noble Blood Seal, making his realm a miniature domain where he controlled the fate of its inhabitants, just as Rosen now could.

[Noble Blood Seal LV1: Condenses noble blood into spiritual paintings, imprinting them with a heraldic mark. This creates a sigil lock on the artwork, enhancing its connection to the divine domain and boosting human portrait attributes by 10%.]

Now that Rosen had mastered four skills within both his Painter Sequence and Hunter Sequence, his focus shifted to raising his spiritual energy and skill proficiency.

To advance to Sequence 8 in peak condition, Rosen needed to increase his spiritual energy to its maximum of 12 points and raise the proficiency of four of his eight skills to LV2. From here on, his primary goal was to improve these skills.

Noble Blood Seal would be the easiest to enhance, as it only required consistent practice painting portraits. However, his other combat-related skills—Death Strike, Shadow Walk, and Supernatural Senses—would need to be honed through real battles.

Regardless of which skills he chose to focus on, one pressing issue remained: Rosen was running low on funds.

For the first time in over a month, Rosen left the Artist Guild and headed toward the main branch of Blazing Shadow Trade Co. in the capital. The enormous building dwarfed the one back in Redstone City, and the setup was like a vast self-service supermarket for extraordinary items.

Each product was displayed as an alchemical projection, with detailed information about its properties and price. Customers simply wrote down the product code, paid, and the items would be fetched from the warehouse.

This projection system wasn't implemented out of fear of theft but because many of the extraordinary items required special storage conditions.

Rosen appreciated this method of shopping and spent the better part of the day browsing and making a list of the supplies he needed.

Before making any purchases, however, he needed to sell the resources he had gathered from the Forest of Death Spiritual Realm. His spiritual crystals and extraordinary materials could be used directly as currency, but the pelts, meat, and organs of extraordinary creatures needed to be converted into liquid assets.

Fortunately, Blazing Shadow Trade Co. was both a buyer and seller of extraordinary resources.

In the buyer's room, Rosen unpacked several storage bags from his Divine Territory and laid them out. The number of storage bags, looted from hunters slain by the Shadow Cats, made for quite an imposing sight.

However, the staff at Blazing Shadow Trade Co. was unfazed. They quickly cataloged the items and calculated the total value in spiritual crystals.

Satisfied with the transaction, Rosen used the proceeds to purchase the items on his list.

Two hours later, Rosen exited Blazing Shadow Trade Co., pleased with his haul of supplies.

Upon returning to the Artist Guild, he spun the ring on his left hand.

The Sequence 9 space ring, with its modest storage capacity of 100 cubic meters, made retrieving his items convenient.

Although his Divine Territory could also store items, entering and exiting it consumed spiritual energy, making the space ring more practical for frequently used supplies.

Rosen retrieved the materials he had purchased and left behind some backup funds—20,000 spiritual crystals and several thousand gold coins.

Among his purchases was a Sequence 8 Hunter Potion, which had cost only 100 spiritual crystals—an astonishingly low price. This was due to Blazing Shadow Duchy's reliance on imported Sequence 8 potion materials. Even so, the price was still far from affordable for commoners.

Tens of thousands of years ago, a Sequence 8 potion would have cost several thousand spiritual crystals. However, due to the World Government's efforts to make Sequence 6 and below more accessible, the cost has drastically decreased, allowing individuals with the potential to become extraordinary. But for most commoners, the price was still out of reach without the backing of noble patrons.

Rosen stored the potion in his Mysterious Study Room, where its spiritual essence would be perfectly preserved.

Next, he transferred the remaining materials into his Divine Territory.

Among his most prized purchases was a miniature model of an alchemy fortress. Though it appeared small, once unsealed, it would expand into a full-sized Alchemy Fortress complete with energy barriers. When linked to his Divine Territory, it would provide a continuous defense.

Rosen had opted to buy this alchemical fortress instead of painting one with his Divine Brush due to its durability and efficiency.

Thanks to the information Clement had provided on Noble Blood Seal, Rosen had learned that establishing a Divine Territory was not without risks.

While the World Government offered protection to novice domain lords, this protection was temporary. All divine domains were subject to continuous invasion by creatures from the Spiritual Realm. Though Rosen could gain resources from defeating these invaders, failure to defend his domain could result in its destruction.

The strength of the invaders was proportional to the power of the domain lord. For Rosen, only Sequence 9 creatures would invade, and novice protection would ensure the number of invaders was minimal. He was confident he could fend them off.

However, his Sequence Tree, the heart of his domain, would be the primary target of any invading creature.

Knowing this, Rosen had invested 30,000 spiritual crystals in the Alchemy Fortress to safeguard his domain.

Along with the fortress, Rosen purchased Magical Soil for 10,000 spiritual crystals.

This extraordinary soil, rich in spiritual energy, would be used to create a 100-square-meter garden within his divine domain, perfect for cultivating the rare plants he had harvested from Forest of Death . Many of these plants were essential for crafting potions related to the Shadow Cat Sequence.

Lastly, Rosen acquired a Sequence 8 Extraordinary Item: the Endless Water Jug.

This jug could store up to 1,000 cubic meters of water and, when infused with spiritual energy, could transform ordinary water into spiritual water. With Magical Soil, spiritual water, and the protection of the Alchemy Fortress, Rosen's divine domain would continue to flourish, growing ever stronger.

(End of Chapter)