Lord: Sequence Master

Splatter! Splatter!

Several gray slimes let out faint cries as they charged at the Nightmare Slime.

Though they showed courage, their performance was rather lacking.

The Nightmare Slime merely wrapped itself in a layer of spiritual energy, binding it to its body. With that alone, it knocked several slimes into pieces, sending toxic water splashing everywhere. The title of "the weakest of Sequence 9 creatures" was well-deserved for these slimes.

The Nightmare Slime rampaged through the area, crushing every slime that dared block its way. However, aside from one that instantly turned into a light sphere and disappeared, the other shattered slimes split into several smaller juvenile slimes. The easiest way to stop slimes from regenerating was to completely destroy their bodies.

Rosen casually pulled the light sphere from his Void Scavenging ability. This was one of the loot automatically picked up by his Void Scavenging skill. Crushing it revealed a pitiful reward—just one unit of spiritual essence, and nothing more.

Although killing so many yielded some returns, the slimes in Void Wasteland Valley had a crucial role in cleaning up the garbage. Anyone foolish enough to overhunt them for some spiritual essence might end up making money but losing their life.

The Nightmare Slime's reckless behavior, however, successfully caught the attention of a dormant slime in the swamp.

A water column suddenly burst from the toxic water next to the Nightmare Slime, and a black slime, several times larger than the Nightmare Slime, shot upward. As the black slime ascended, it executed a body slam attack, aiming to crush the Nightmare Slime beneath it.

The Nightmare Slime, hit by the powerful attack, sank into the toxic water. Meanwhile, the black slime floated on the surface, curling up in pain with tears streaming down its face.

This body slam move had allowed the dark slime to dominate this part of the swamp for a long time. Other slimes were either split to pieces or flattened into submission after being hit. However, this time, its move had failed—the small black slime it had hit was too tough.

The Nightmare Slime resurfaced innocently, unharmed. It had merely compressed its spiritual energy to form a protective barrier around itself and hadn't expected the backlash to leave the black slime crying. The Nightmare Slime, undeterred, then rolled the black slime towards where Rosen was hidden in the Mysterious Study Room.

Rosen couldn't help but be amazed by the weakness of the black slime. A Sequence 8 slime being reduced to tears by a Sequence 9? The fact that this species hadn't gone extinct was a miracle, and the fact that the Nightmare Slime had almost become a demigod was even more miraculous. Perhaps miracles alone couldn't explain it—there may have been some human intervention involved. Nevertheless, the final evolution had failed, and that was why the Nightmare Slime had ended up being discarded and sold in the black market.

Watching from the window as the black slime was herded right outside, Rosen pulled out his Godslayer Crossbow and unleashed a barrage of shots using his Death Strike ability.

The black slime suffered fatal injuries and repeatedly attempted to escape, but the Nightmare Slime kept blocking its way. Eventually, the Death Strike attacks shattered all of the black slime's split bodies, turning it into a light sphere that entered Rosen's Void Scavenging.

Rosen closed the window, retrieved the light sphere, and crushed it to reveal a darkened spiritual essence. Though it looked plain, this was the exact material he needed for his Sequence 8 potion.

Rosen placed the material on the table and carefully picked up the Sequence 8 Hunter potion instructions.

The recipe was detailed, with precise steps to follow:

One gram of solidified eagle saliva from a hundred-year-old Thunder Eagle, dissolved in five hundred grams of Mist Flower dew.

Reduce the temperature of the mixture to minus fifteen degrees.

Add five grams of lava lizard blood powder, followed by an immediate infusion of all personal spiritual energy.

Rotate the spiritual energy counterclockwise around the mixture five times.

Add nine grams of boneless snake cartilage within two seconds…

The instructions were extremely meticulous, detailing how to mix eight auxiliary materials together.

Rosen followed the steps exactly. Within a minute, he had combined all eight ingredients into a potion, then dropped the darkened spiritual essence into the vial. The materials reacted quickly, blending into a black liquid.

The mixture resembled thick crude oil, in stark contrast to the crystal-clear potions of Sequence 9.

Rosen lifted the vial and drank the potion in one gulp.

The thick liquid flowed down his throat, seeping into every pore of his body. It drilled into his heart and began fusing with the card-shaped Hunter source within him.

Soon, the Hunter source completed its transformation. The card shifted from gold to black, releasing a massive surge of spiritual energy.

Rosen's spiritual energy limit instantly broke through, increasing from 12 points to 13.

His physical body was further strengthened, and his spiritual energy began to undergo a qualitative change.

However, unlike when he consumed the Sequence 9 potion, this time his consciousness became hazy. His vision blurred, and murmurs echoed incessantly in his ears.

Time passed in a daze, with Rosen floating on the edge of consciousness as if standing naked in a blizzard on the brink of a cliff. One step forward would mean certain death, but behind him lay a path through the storm that offered a chance at safety.

Eventually, the murmurs and shadows in his vision subsided, and Rosen fell into a deep sleep for an entire day.

Upon waking, Rosen began to carefully assess the changes within his body.

The smallest change was in his physical strength. His physique had increased by only a few times compared to an average person—he could now lift around 16,000 kilograms effortlessly. But physical strength had never been a major focus in human development within this world.

Initially, Rosen had been surprised by how much this world's people neglected their physical bodies. They always placed spiritual energy above all else, and any enhancements to their bodies were merely byproducts of spiritual breakthroughs.

The idea of solely focusing on body strengthening wasn't well-regarded by humanity here. But after learning more, Rosen understood the reasoning behind this.

Humanity's greatest strengths lay not in physical prowess, but in their wisdom and formidable reproductive ability.

For those who pursued extreme body strengthening, another problem would soon arise.

A Sequence 3 human demigod might gain the power to tear the heavens and shatter the earth with a single move. But with such power, what kind of partner could handle their touch? Even a simple hug could reduce their partner to flesh pulp.

Even if a demigod perfectly controlled their strength, it would be akin to handling a porcelain doll with extreme care. And in a world where demigods were essentially self-serving beings, what force could compel them to pair up just because they could control their power?

Thus, for body-enhancing demigods, one of the first sacrifices was their ability to reproduce.

Many species outperformed humans in either reproductive ability or physical strength, but few could rival humanity in both.

By focusing on spiritual energy rather than physical power, humans could maximize their population and potential without jeopardizing their most valuable advantage—their ability to procreate.

Spiritual energy could be used to temporarily enhance physical abilities, allowing humans to gain immense power without fundamentally altering their biological limitations.

And so, it was no wonder that humanity's supernatural paths emphasized spiritual growth, leaving the pursuit of pure physical power as an abandoned road.

End of Chapter