Lord: Sequence Master

Within the desolate forest, Rosen swiftly dashed between the shadows cast by the barren trees.

Previously, when using Shadow Meld, he had only performed the most basic form of the technique, merely hiding within the shadows. This was far from the level of mastery expected from a true hunter.

However, after undergoing grueling training with his three skill instructors, he had learned how to avoid being detected by his prey, how to track his targets, and how to better conceal his body within limited shadows, as well as how to muffle his footsteps—all basic yet essential techniques.

Even though these were just the basics, they were still not enough to raise Shadow Meld to LV2.

The essence of Shadow Meld lies in the power of shadow energy. To enhance Shadow Meld to LV2, one needs to master even greater shadow powers.

To this end, Rosen purchased numerous shadow attribute spiritual crystals, only to learn that spiritual crystals come with different elemental properties. Spiritual crystals have two sources: they either condense after the death of extraordinary beings or are refined from spiritual materials.

Most spiritual energies possess inherent properties. For example, the spiritual crystals dropped by Shadow Cats contain shadow-related energy.

However, such spiritual crystals couldn't be used to enhance abilities like Shadow Meld because they contained residual mental imprints from the Shadow Cat. Using them could result in unwanted side effects, such as developing some of the cat's instincts—like the habit of licking oneself. The mere thought of doing such a thing sent shivers down Rosen's spine.

Thus, Rosen bought spiritual crystals extracted from spiritual minerals, which contained pure, untainted shadow energy. These crystals were incredibly expensive—he spent 10,000 units of regular spiritual crystals to buy 1,000 units of shadow attribute crystals.

The results, however, were worth it. His Shadow Meld absorbed the shadow energy and advanced to LV2.

Beyond Shadow Meld, Rosen's Supernatural Five Senses had also improved to LV2.

There were no shortcuts for this skill. The only way to enhance it was by constantly honing one's senses.

The Supernatural Five Senses allowed Rosen to shift his focus to any of his five senses, amplifying one by fivefold. If he maintained this amplification for extended periods, even after reverting back, that sense would retain some permanent enhancement.

Therefore, the key to improving this skill was continuous use.

Thanks to his large reserves of spiritual crystals, Rosen could quickly replenish his energy, allowing him to train his senses relentlessly. Under the guidance of his three instructors, he learned how to track targets using his five senses, how to sense danger before it struck, and how to fight using accumulated experience.

Still, the most satisfying breakthrough for Rosen was the new feature that came with Supernatural Five Senses LV2.

[Supernatural Five Senses LV2: Can greatly enhance a hunter's basic senses, increase sensitivity to spiritual energies, enable the hunter to amplify or reduce their own senses or those of a single enemy, and significantly reduce negative sensory effects.]

Special Trait: Sixth Sense—As your five senses evolve, you will gradually develop a sixth sense.

Rosen hadn't yet fully awakened his sixth sense, as he still needed to push his Supernatural Five Senses to LV3. However, he felt as though he was standing on the threshold. By the time he reached LV3, he was confident he would awaken the sixth sense and acquire one of several powerful abilities, such as elemental manipulation, future sight, telekinesis, mind-reading, illusion creation, spiritual control, or enhanced intuition.

While Rosen's progress with Shadow Meld and Supernatural Five Senses had been smooth, he found Death Strike to be much more challenging.

The essence of Death Strike lay in the compression of spiritual energy, and improving it meant sharpening his control over that energy.

There were no shortcuts for this—it required constant practice and mastery.

As Rosen flitted through the forest, he continuously used his Supernatural Five Senses to search for the targets his instructors had set up.

Soon, he spotted a small leaf with a cross-mark etched on it. Without hesitation, he raised his Godslayer Crossbow and fired. This time, the shot wasn't from a special bullet transformed from spiritual artwork but a basic spiritual bullet formed from his own spiritual energy.

The bullet pierced through the leaf, tearing it apart before dissipating.

Disappointed, Rosen moved on to the next target. Success would only be achieved when his spiritual energy became refined enough that his spiritual bullets could hit the leaf without breaking it.

After several hours of intense practice, Rosen finally stood before a perfectly intact leaf, his heart filled with satisfaction.

After days of relentless training, he had finally reached the point where his shots no longer damaged the leaves.

Sensing the changes in the hunter's source essence within his heart, Rosen confirmed that Death Strike had advanced to LV2.

With all his acquired skills now at LV2, it was time to focus on accumulating enough spiritual energy to advance to Sequence 8.

Returning to the Artist Guild, Rosen switched back to his original identity and entered the Mysterious Study Room. From here on, he would focus solely on creating spiritual artworks until his spiritual energy reached the cap of 12 points.

After a month of seclusion, Rosen successfully raised his spiritual energy from 10 to 11 points.

In the two months that followed, his spiritual energy continued to grow, from 11 points to the very brink of 12 points.

He was only one step away from reaching the perfect state of 12 points of spiritual energy.

However, no matter how many spiritual artworks he painted, he could not make any further progress. His spiritual strength seemed to have hit an invisible wall.

For a normal noble sequence, the spiritual energy limit at Sequence 9 was 11 points.

Yet, due to the double bloodline enhancement he had received, he had miraculously pushed his limit to 12 points. This was highly unusual, and it was likely that there would be a price to pay for breaking such a limit.

After careful consideration, Rosen decided to take a dual approach to solving this problem.

First, he posted a bounty at the Scientist Guild. Of course, he couldn't ask directly how to push his spiritual energy from 11 to 12 points, so he instead asked how to increase his spiritual energy from 10 to 11 points. He hoped that the answers might offer some insights.

Secondly, he visited the Great Library of Blazing Flame in the royal capital. The library housed all publicly available books in the Blazing Shadow Duchy. He hoped to find something related to spiritual energy that might provide the answers he sought.

The bounty yielded results first. As it turned out, nobles weren't the only ones capable of raising their spiritual energy to 11 points.

Many powerful non-human races were able to achieve the same, often without relying on noble sequences.

In fact, the human noble sequence had been inspired by the powers of these non-human races.

Rosen's thoughts immediately returned to the empty bloodline slot listed in his attributes.

After further research at the library, he finally understood why he had been unable to push his spiritual energy beyond 11 points: his noble bloodline was incomplete.

Noble bloodlines were considered inherently superior, but why were they so special?

It was because all noble bloodlines were fused with a supernatural creature's bloodline.

The more powerful a noble family was, the stronger the bloodline they had fused with.

In fact, many human extraordinary sequences sought to merge with the bloodlines of supernatural beings in pursuit of greater power.

For most sequences, fusing with such bloodlines would corrupt the human genetic makeup.

But the noble sequence was different. Nobles did not integrate the supernatural bloodline into their physical bodies or their human genes. Instead, they fused it into the extraordinary source essence within their blood, ensuring no negative side effects.

End of Chapter