Lord: Sequence Master

In this world, where there is light, there is also darkness, and the gray areas lie somewhere between.

The Pirate Alliance, which eventually became the Blazing Shadow Duchy, was notorious for its unsavory dealings, leading to the creation of the Blazing Shadow City's black market. Surprisingly, the black market wasn't controlled by any of the principality's nobles but by the Grand Duke of the Archipelago Duchy, a neighboring nation.

Similarly, the black market in the Archipelago Principality was controlled by the Grand Duke of Blazing Shadow.

This arrangement meant that each nation's gray forces were controlled by an outsider, a system with obvious benefits. First, any shady deals within one's own nation could be sold on the black market without worrying about internal investigations. Second, it served as an escape route for both grand ducal families in case of an emergency.

Neither principality was located near the borders of human territory, nor were they deep within the core of humanity's domain. The real issue was that for many years, neither principality had produced a new Sequence 3 demigod.

As for the old Sequence 3 demigods, the founders of both principalities, they had left their nations over twenty thousand years ago. The current dukes were descendants of those founders from many generations later, meaning there was little familial loyalty between them and their ancestral demigods.

In such a situation, if a foreign god were to appear outside human territory, neither principality would have much resistance without a demigod.

Since the formation of the World Government, many principalities had been annihilated when foreign gods invaded, unable to resist despite retaliatory strikes by the World Government afterward. Once destroyed, those nations were never revived.

Thus, truly powerful noble families often made sure to have backup plans in different countries.

Rosen, wearing a mask, entered an underground building at the edge of Blazing Shadow City.

A mask was all that was needed. The entire black market forbade the use of any spiritual energy, and anyone caught using it would be immediately ejected from the market.

Rosen stepped into a trading room marked "Available" and sat across from the trader.

In the black market, buyers and sellers never met directly. All transactions were handled through traders, who earned a commission from both sides. The typical commission was no more than 10%, as too much greed would drive customers away—especially since most items could be bought with spiritual crystals.

"I need an extraordinary item capable of disguising my identity, preferably Sequence 7 without usage restrictions," Rosen stated directly.

"Please be patient. This will take some time..."

Trader 166's eyes gleamed with joy upon hearing the request. A Sequence 7 extraordinary item would earn him a considerable commission. He promptly pulled out a thick alchemy book and began flipping through it. After about half an hour, he pushed the book across to Rosen.

Rosen lowered his gaze and scanned the page, his eyes locking onto an item that fit his needs.

[Source Essence: Actor's Mask - Extraordinary Item]

Level: Sequence 7

Attributes: The Actor's Mask can absorb the extraordinary source essence of other extraordinary sequences, allowing the wearer to assume a new identity.

Source Essence Ability 1: Grants the wearer an innate talent for mimicry.

Source Essence Ability 2: Allows the wearer to randomly copy an extraordinary skill from the mimicked sequence.

Source Essence Ability 3: Perfectly portraying a role accelerates the wearer's spiritual growth.

Equipment Requirement: Actor Sequence 7

"This is a good item. But how can I use it?" Rosen asked, looking up at the trader.

"There are many ways to bypass equipment requirements..." The trader seemed slightly surprised that his customer didn't know this but explained earnestly. "Most extraordinary items don't have strict requirements—at worst, a low sequence level means you can't fully utilize the item's power. Source Essence items, however, usually have usage requirements due to the inherent conflict between different types of source essence. But if you seal off the conflicting source essence, you can bypass the equipment restrictions."

The trader continued, "Given the level of this item, sealing off the equipment requirement would add 30% to the cost."

"An additional 30%..." Rosen considered the price and then asked, "How much will it cost in spiritual crystals?"

"After a discount, it will be 800,000."

The trader's response made Rosen's heart ache.

But without further hesitation, Rosen began handing over spiritual crystals.

His recent plundering of Spiral Port's warehouses, coupled with the loot from the Gray Rats, had netted him a total of about 700,000 spiritual crystals. The extraordinary resources he had collected were worth around 500,000 spiritual crystals.

While this seemed like an enormous amount, in reality, it was a treasure trove that should have been shared among over a thousand human extraordinaires.

Yet, thanks to his actions, Rosen had claimed it all for himself.

Realizing he had already revealed much of his wealth, Rosen felt there was little point in hiding it. Although many Sequence 7s couldn't produce such a large sum, the black market had seen far bigger deals. Thus, Rosen wasn't worried about getting robbed here.

So, Rosen opted to sell off the resources he didn't need, retaining only a small portion of rare items for later use.

After about an hour, Rosen left the black market with 500,000 spiritual crystals and the Actor's Mask.

Thanks to the trader's satisfaction with his commission, Rosen received a bonus tip: While the Actor's Mask was impressive, it couldn't match the abilities of a true Sequence 7 Actor.

If a Sequence 7 Actor's ability to disguise identities were perfect, they could replace anyone at will. But in reality, the disguise wasn't foolproof. The noble bloodlines of the Four Great Civilizations couldn't be replicated, meaning it was easy to spot a fake if they tried to assume such identities.

Additionally, certain extraordinary sequences and skills could detect the disguises of Actor sequences. Just as there were shields for every spear, anyone using the Actor's Mask shouldn't act too boldly with their new identity.

Usually, unless you caused trouble, no one would bother to expose a disguised identity—mind your own business was a common mentality, as meddling often led to early deaths.

Rosen took these warnings seriously, understanding their value.

With the Actor's Mask in hand, he now needed an identity free from complications.

Ideally, it would be a Sequence 9 hunter, which would also help him conceal his own hunter sequence.

Upon returning to the pseudo-realm within the Artist Guild, Rosen entered Masadora to search for a suitable target.

The thousands of resurrected souls from Redstone City now resided in Masadora.

These individuals had already experienced a spiritual awakening through the stimulus of the virtual realm. With the help of certain rare resources, it wouldn't be difficult for some of them, especially those with talent, to fully awaken their spiritual power and qualify to consume potions and transition to an extraordinary sequence.

Of course, the final step would require contact with the Sequence Tree, and whether or not they succeeded remained uncertain.

Rosen had an abundance of spiritual crystals, so he decided it was worth a try.

After several days of careful selection, Rosen identified a few suitable experimental subjects from the population of Masadora.

He then purchased the necessary awakening ritual materials and a Sequence 9 Hunter potion.

Returning to Masadora, he set up an awakening ritual in the basement of Rose Castle and forced his chosen subjects into the formation.

A few hours later, two of the five test subjects succeeded.

Rosen immediately gave Subject 1 the Hunter potion, and moments later, he sensed that Subject 1's spiritual energy had vanished.

Not long after, a freshly minted Sequence 9 Hunter was born.

Despite the unique nature of the Hunter x Hunter realm, it still couldn't block the power of the Silver Ancient Tree from the human world's spiritual domain.

Having successfully created one, Rosen decided not to make the other subject a hunter.

After some consideration, he had Subject 2 transition into a Knight, giving himself a backup identity in that sequence.

Rosen sealed Subject 2's spiritual energy and imprisoned him in Rose Castle, then placed the Actor's Mask on Subject 1's face.

With no ability to resist, Subject 1 was drained dry by the Actor's Mask.

All of Subject 1's life force, spiritual energy, soul, and extraordinary source essence were devoured by the mask.

When Rosen put on the Actor's Mask, he immediately transformed into a robust young man around twenty years old.

"Lynn Wills. This will be my hidden identity as a hunter," Rosen said, satisfied as he gazed at the ordinary face staring back at him in the mirror.

End of Chapter