Lord: Sequence Master

Rosen opened his eyes and sensed the change in his spiritual energy, a smile of satisfaction forming on his lips.

After merging with the Nightmare Slime bloodline, his spiritual energy had evolved from 11 points to 12 points. However, there was still a considerable gap between just reaching 12 points and achieving 12 points in full.

He estimated that through painting, it would take another two months to reach the full 12 points. However, with the Nightmare Slime's ability to devour nightmares, it would only take him about a month to complete his spiritual energy growth.

Doubling his spiritual growth speed made this supernatural bloodline invaluable. If not for the unstable divine essence originally within it, there was no way he could have acquired such a powerful bloodline at this price.

Rosen closed his eyes again and continued to devour nightmare after nightmare. That night, nightmares across all of Yorknew City were eradicated.

The following morning, Rosen made a new discovery.

With the vast number of nightmares he had consumed, the divine ability of the Nightmare Slime bloodline had fully manifested overnight.

All slimes have a natural self-division ability, a mechanism by which they reproduce. Although Rosen's body couldn't gain the slime's division ability, as his physical form was constrained by his noble source essence, his spiritual energy had gained the ability to divide.

Rosen could now use his divine splitting ability to separate a portion of his spiritual energy, then continually feed this sliver of energy with devoured nightmares. Over time, this bit of spiritual energy would grow into a living Nightmare Slime magic pet.

Moreover, the potential of this pet would at least reach the level of an early demigod, Sequence 3.

Without hesitation, Rosen separated a portion of his spiritual energy and continued hunting nightmares throughout the city.

Not everyone sleeps at night; some people live a reversed schedule, and with their poor mental state, they are more likely to experience nightmares. This provided Rosen with a steady supply of nightmares to devour, even during the day.

Over the next two months, Rosen followed a routine: painting in the afternoons and feeding on nightmares in the mornings and evenings.

By the end of two months, his spiritual energy had reached the full 12-point limit. Moreover, after carefully nurturing it with his own spiritual energy and the power of nightmares, the Nightmare Slime he had cultivated was finally born. The newborn pet was already as strong as a fully-fledged Sequence 9, with 12 points of spiritual energy.

Rosen held the fist-sized Nightmare Slime in his hand, squeezing it as if it were a cold, gelatinous water ball.

After examining the little creature, he found that its defensive and survival attributes were fully developed, but it didn't have much offensive capability.

However, thanks to the pet-sharing abilities of the Hunter Sequence, the Nightmare Slime inherited four of Rosen's abilities: Nen, Death Strike, Shadow Stealth, and Supernatural Perception, which slightly boosted its offensive potential.

The Nightmare Slime's inherent vitality was incredibly high, and the amount of Nen it could generate was more than ten times what Rosen himself could manage.

With such a large reserve of Nen, Rosen speculated that the Slime might develop a Nen ability even more powerful than his Godslayer Crossbow.

Despite being a new life form, the Nightmare Slime, like all slimes, had no intelligence and only basic survival instincts. Thus, Rosen would need to help it develop its Nen abilities.

He began by taking a glass of water and instructing the Nightmare Slime to inject its Nen into the water.

As with Rosen, the Slime's Nen naturally belonged to the Specialization category, but when combined with its spiritual energy, it became multi-elemental.

Considering the Slime's talents, Rosen began designing an ideal Nen ability for his pet.

However, Nen abilities don't always manifest according to one's wishes. When Rosen had first developed his Godslayer Crossbow, he had hoped that its Hunter's Magic Eye would come with powerful visual abilities, but the result was a much simpler outcome. He could only grant the Hunter's Eye the potential to unlock various visual powers in the future.

It was clear that achieving one's ideal Nen ability wasn't easy. Yet, Rosen soon realized he had underestimated the power of natural talent.

The Nightmare Slime, which had once been a mere Sequence 9 slime, had nearly evolved into a Sequence 3 demigod before its mutation. Now, reborn with the divine ability to split, the Slime's potential could no longer be measured by normal standards.

Despite its current level of Sequence 9, the Nightmare Slime was destined to surpass that with its exceptional natural gifts.

Out of the Slime's 12 points of spiritual energy, the core of its power stemmed from the bit of energy Rosen had split from himself. Since an extraordinary being can perfectly control its own spiritual energy, Rosen could manipulate the Slime like an extension of his own body.

He only had to help the Slime become familiar with basic Nen techniques, and it quickly developed its own Nen ability.

Most Nen abilities are created through a long process of development, but in rare cases, some are born with innate Nen abilities. The Nightmare Slime, a mixture of innate and developed potential, naturally manifested an ability.

Its Nen ability allowed it to expend spiritual energy to create duplicates of itself. These duplicates had no physical substance and were immune to material attacks. Upon touching a living being, they could place a Nightmare Mark on the target.

If the target fell asleep, the Nightmare Mark would force the individual into a nightmare.

If the target stayed awake, they would be unable to perceive the Nightmare Slime.

Rosen tested this ability in the Divine Beast Pen within his Divine Territory. He instructed the Nightmare Slime to spawn a duplicate and then sent the duplicate to strike a Bladefin Mouse Shark cub.

Just moments before, the cub had been eagerly trying to bite the Nightmare Slime, but after receiving the Nightmare Mark, it simply wandered off, confused. Despite the Slime being right in front of it, the shark could no longer see it.

To further test the ability, Rosen released the spiritual mark he had placed on an adult Sequence 8 Bladefin Mouse Shark, severing their pet bond. He then commanded the Nightmare Slime to mark the shark with the Nightmare Mark.

Just like the cub, the fully-grown shark ignored the Slime entirely after receiving the mark.

At first, Rosen had been a little disappointed with the Slime's newly-developed Nen ability. After all, he could already force nightmares upon others with Freddy's power.

But now, seeing how the Slime could make itself invisible to its enemies, Rosen was thrilled. There were many supernatural abilities capable of making a target ignore something, but few could affect beings of Sequence 8.

And this was just the Slime's starting point. Rosen knew that he could further enhance its abilities as time went on.

Satisfied, Rosen pulled the Nightmare Slime from the water and implanted a Divine Beast Seal within it.

Although the Slime was already his pet, the seal would allow it to share more of his supernatural abilities.

Hunters and their pets could share abilities, but the extent of this shared power depended on the quality of the pet skills.

With normal pet skills, any shared abilities would be reduced by one level. For example, Rosen's Shadow Stealth, which was Level 2, would only be shared at Level 1 with a normal pet.

However, the Divine Beast Pen worked differently. Pets linked by the Divine Beast Seal wouldn't suffer any reduction in ability levels.

Additionally, the Divine Beast Seal could be easily removed, unlike normal pet skills, which required the previous pet to disappear when a new one was acquired.

Thus, Rosen decided to seal the Nightmare Slime, ensuring it would gain access to his Level 2 Shadow Stealth, thereby greatly enhancing its stealth capabilities. With this boost, the Nightmare Slime would be able to fully capitalize on its Nen ability.

End of Chapter