Lord: Sequence Master

As soon as Rosen finished teleporting, he immediately used his Void Shadow Stealth to conceal himself.

He found himself in an enclosed space of about several hundred square meters, completely sealed off by metal with no visible doors. Behind him were several workbenches, and in front of him was a control panel with dozens of screens of various sizes.

Through these screens, Rosen could see several mechanical factories in operation.

The control panel seemed to have the capability to remotely control these factories. Although Rosen didn't know how to operate it, he used the Virtual Realm Invasion ability in his left eye to hack into the control panel's system.

Soon, he obtained full access to the control panel, which contained much of Pharis' research on this spirit realm.

It turned out that the place Rosen was currently in was the core of a Sequence 6 supernatural building—a mechanical factory.

As long as sufficient materials were provided, this factory could mass-produce various Sequence 6 mechanical creations.

In fact, the alchemical dragon he had once purchased had been assembled here.

However, this mechanical factory could not be taken out of the spirit realm, as part of its control was still beyond his grasp.

The Mechanical City was a city controlled by an AI, originally belonging to a branch of a mechanical race. One day, all the machines in the city went mad. The only AI that remained sane activated a defense protocol, killing all intruders that posed a threat to the mechanical race and tirelessly boosting the city's combat capabilities.

In the end, the city was destroyed, and its final moments of history were preserved within this spirit realm.

Rosen began operating the core control room, bringing up external surveillance footage of the factory.

The Mechanical City was now divided into two sections: one floating in the sky and the other on the ground. The floating mechanical structures remained intact, but the ground-level city was in ruins, ravaged by the mechanical inhabitants in their madness.

Since the AI couldn't harm its own kind, it had raised critical facilities into the sky and left the ground-bound machines to destroy themselves. When the last of the machines died, the AI would also self-destruct.

The spirit realm would then reset, and the Mechanical City would repeat its cycle of destruction.

The realm didn't even need human interference to weaken it; over time, it would naturally degrade and fade.

However, when Pharis discovered this spirit realm, he began investing resources into gradually restoring it to its original level.

By using a special method, Pharis had forced the last few surviving machines into hibernation, preventing the AI from resetting the realm. He then leveraged the lives of these remaining machines to force the AI to give him partial control over the mechanical factory. While the AI appeared dormant, it had been quietly researching the cause of the mechanical race's madness.

Pharis had also conducted his own research on the matter and had made even more progress than the AI.

Long ago, the mechanical race of the Mechanical City had produced a Sequence 2 powerhouse who aspired to ascend to Sequence 1. In the universal method used by all races, the path to Sequence 1 involved harnessing faith. Unfortunately, the mechanical race was one of the few that lacked faith.

In response, this Sequence 2 individual developed a thought virus to enslave the other mechanical beings and make them worship him.

The attempt failed miserably, driving the entire city's machines insane.

The Mechanical City had two major sources of value: the mechanical race's technology and the factory itself.

Knowledge could easily be copied, and as the spirit realm's level increased, it would yield up to Sequence 2-level mechanical technology. The factory could mass-produce mechanical creations, but since the Sequence 6 factory couldn't leave the realm, its value to Rosen was limited.

Unless he could find a way to take full control of this spirit realm.

To fully control a spirit realm that was born from a historical remnant, there was only one viable method: locating the realm's historical essence anchor—an object that served as the embodiment of the realm's history. This anchor could be anything: a stone, a tree, a book, a building, or even a living being.

The problem was that there was no reliable way to detect a historical essence anchor.

Typically, the process involved eliminating all resistance within the realm and then trying to refine various objects one by one with spiritual energy. If you were lucky enough to refine the anchor, you would gain complete control of the realm.

There was a limitation, however: humans could only refine anchors tied to human history.

The paper used in spiritual paintings was, in essence, a man-made historical essence anchor.

Rosen, of course, wasn't a member of the mechanical race, nor could he force the AI and the maddened machines to surrender. If Pharis could have fully controlled the realm, he wouldn't have left the factory here.

Thus, there was only one option left: to relocate the spirit realm.

Pharis had likely not moved the realm back to Adventurer King City because he intended it to be a backup escape plan for his family.

Rosen logged onto the Spirit Realm Dark Web and quickly purchased a transcendent artifact specifically designed to relocate spirit realms.

Half an hour later, a spirit realm courier delivered a palm-sized Spatial Anchor Array.

Rosen had the factory's mechanical drones transport the anchor array to the core of the spirit realm. Once activated, the array expanded to a diameter of several dozen meters, and under his control, it began slowly pulling the realm.

Rosen sent his Self-Portrait Avatar outside the spirit realm and deployed his divine domain.

With the help of the anchor array, the Mechanical City was gradually dragged into his divine domain.

From now on, the entrance to this spirit realm would be bound to his divine domain.

However, there was a price to pay: bringing a spirit realm into a divine domain meant that the realm would draw upon the domain's spiritual energy for sustenance.

A divine domain could only support a limited number of spirit realms—roughly one per sequence level.

For a Sequence 6 divine domain, it was best not to exceed four spirit realms, and ideally, their levels should not surpass Sequence 6. Artificial spirit realms, such as those created through spiritual paintings, could increase the limit by double.

Having relocated the realm, Rosen was still somewhat dissatisfied.

Though he had control over the factory, he couldn't fully tap into the realm's true potential.

Rosen thought of his Main God Computer. Perhaps its hacking capabilities could give him control over the AI?

In the factory's control hub, Rosen activated his divine study and extended a network cable out the window.

Before he could even connect the cable to a network port, the Main God Computer offered him a second option.

It turned out that after fully unlocking the human world map in the Full-Time Hunter Realm, Rosen could now begin unlocking the Dark Continent map.

Unlike the human world, where unlocking the map required fully controlled human spirit realms, the Dark Continent map could only be unlocked using non-human spirit realms.

Rosen could now fuse the entire Mechanical City spirit realm into the Full-Time Hunter Realm, unlocking a portion of the Dark Continent. The Mechanical City would then become part of the Dark Continent.

Rosen opened the Main God Computer and accessed the Full-Time Hunter Realm. A map of the Dark Continent appeared on the screen.

The area unlocked would be random, not chosen by Rosen.

He initiated the process, and multicolored light streamed out from the Main God Computer, enveloping the entire Mechanical City.

In just a few moments, the Mechanical City had merged into the Dark Continent, unlocking about one-thousandth of the map.

With about a thousand more spirit realms, the Full-Time Hunter Realm could fully unlock its entire map and become a complete realm.

The newly unlocked map did not grant Rosen any new identity or omniscient vision.

With these non-human spirit realms, unlocking the map only gave him basic teleportation rights.

But that was sufficient. Rosen immediately ordered Kurapika to assemble a team of researchers. Once they settled in the mechanical factory, they could begin mass-producing mechanical transcendents.

As Kurapika worked on selecting researchers, the AI sent an emergency request for assistance.

Viewing the footage transmitted by the AI, Rosen saw two enormous creatures approaching the Mechanical City. One was a massive, rotting bear-like creature over thirty meters tall, and the other was a headless giant, over one hundred meters tall.

Clearly, these were native creatures of the Dark Continent, drawn to the Mechanical City by its sudden appearance.

Judging by their spiritual energy fluctuations, both monsters were Sequence 5 beings.

To casually encounter Sequence 5-level transcendent creatures like this explained why humanity's explorers throughout history had all perished without even making it beyond the shores of Mobius Lake.

Rosen reconnected the network cable, linking the system to his divine study.

Whether or not he could fully control the AI would determine how much further he would invest in the Mechanical City.

The moment the network was established, the Main God Computer easily hacked through the AI's core programming, turning it into a subsidiary program. Through the Main God Computer, Rosen could now control the entire Mechanical City.

Having secured control of the city, Rosen couldn't allow the two monsters to destroy it.

He teleported to the outskirts of the city, standing atop a tilted tower and observing the approaching creatures.

Before they could even reach the city, the rotting bear and the headless giant collided with each other.

The rotting bear's body was covered in wriggling maggots, but instead of emitting a foul odor, it exuded a sweet, honey-like fragrance. Massive waves of nen surged from its body like volcanic eruptions, and the maggots absorbed the nen, transforming into bees.

Each bee was the size of a human fist, swarming toward the headless giant.

In response, the headless giant unleashed a torrent of nen even more powerful than the bear's. Wielding a giant club infused with enhancement-type nen, the giant swung it like a nuclear explosion, wiping out all the bees.

Rosen's own life force was incredibly strong, yet the nen energy within his body paled in comparison to these two monsters.

Of course, in a direct battle, he could easily defeat them both.

Although their destructive power was impressive, their abilities seemed relatively simple and one-dimensional. Massive power meant nothing if it couldn't hit the target—unless they had hidden abilities.

Rosen soon realized it wasn't that simple. The rotting bear's bees could explode.

What's more, the explosions released a sweet, intoxicating honey scent, which affected the spirit directly. As long as you were within range, you couldn't resist, even if your body was fully shielded by energy.

In just a few moments, the headless giant collapsed to the ground.

The rotting bear pounced on the giant and began tearing into its flesh. The headless giant, seemingly unconscious after losing a fifth of its body, instinctively retaliated.

The giant flipped the bear onto its back and smashed it into pieces with a single strike of its club.

The headless giant collapsed again, but its body began rapidly regenerating.

Meanwhile, from the shattered remains of the rotting bear, maggots emerged and transformed into bees, which reassembled into a smaller version of the bear, now only about ten meters tall.

This time, the rotting bear didn't approach the giant, instead turning its greedy gaze toward Rosen.

Through its innate abilities, the bear could sense the massive life force contained within Rosen's small frame.

"Looks like I can't just sit back and watch."

Rosen pulled out his Wrath of the Dragon King from his hunting belt and activated Fairy Dragon Xiao Longnu's Miracle Armament ability.

The miracle power of the Fairy Dragon infused the Wrath of the Dragon King, making the already powerful weapon even stronger.

Rosen used the Time-Sniping Scope to lock onto the rotting bear's position one second into the future, and fired the Future Silencer.

In the blink of an eye, the rotting bear charging at Rosen was hit by an unavoidable bullet from the past.

This wasn't a transcendent bullet, nor a judgment bullet formed by spiritual energy, nor even one drawn into existence.

It was a Miracle Fairy Dragon bullet, imbued with the Null Magic Orb ability.

An invisible, rainbow-colored sphere of energy appeared above the rotting bear's head, sealing all of its transcendent abilities. The bees it had released turned back into maggots and fell to the ground.

Rosen followed up with a second shot.

This time, it was a Dragonfire Vortex, engulfing an area of hundreds of meters in flames. The rotting bear and all the regressed maggots were consumed by the inferno, burning to ashes.

If the bear had still been its original massive size, one dragon spell might not have been enough to finish it off.

But now that it had shrunk to just over ten meters, how much nen could it possibly have left?

After successfully killing the rotting bear, Rosen turned his attention to the headless giant and prepared to fire.

He had already figured out that while the rotting bear had some intelligence, the headless giant was a mindless brute with nothing but destructive power and incredible regeneration.

Killing it seemed like a waste—perhaps it would make a good guardian for the Mechanical City instead.

Rosen used the Null Magic Orb to seal the giant's transcendent abilities and then attacked its spirit with the Mind Ball.

Finally, he used Dream Entanglement to drag the giant's weakened spirit into his Primordial Dream Realm, where he projected the Ashen Veil onto the giant's mind and began reprogramming its memories.

After half an hour of work, Rosen had successfully altered the giant's consciousness to suit his needs.

But that wasn't enough. The mechanical factory began producing specialized equipment for the headless giant.

The giant's original club was made from some incredibly sturdy wood, but aside from its durability, it had no special qualities.

So the factory produced a massive battle axe made from transcendent metal, imbued with special spiritual energy damage properties. It was also equipped with Crushing Blow, Heavy Strike, and Auto-Return abilities, making the axe akin to a long-range nuke when thrown.

Knowing the giant's defense was its weak point, Rosen also had a set of giant armor forged.

Now, the headless giant was truly worthy of its status as a Sequence 5 transcendent creature.

But a single giant wasn't enough. Rosen released several Sequence 6 abyssal demons from his Void God Prison, demons that had been tortured into becoming Mad Believers. Although they were somewhat mentally unstable, they could still act as guardians—at least for now.

Rosen wasn't naïve enough to believe the Dark Continent didn't have even stronger creatures than the rotting bear and the headless giant.

Floating in the air with his Feathered Serpent God wings, Rosen surveyed the Mechanical City from above. He projected the Ashen Veil down, forming layers of rocky mountains around the city. Eventually, the entire Mechanical City was encased within an artificially created barren mountain.

No ordinary creature would bother attacking a mere mountain, greatly reducing the chances of the city being assaulted.

Now that he knew alien spirit realms could unlock parts of the Dark Continent, Rosen's interest in such realms surged.

But for now, he was more eager to explore what the Dark Continent had to offer.

Using his godlike perspective, Rosen zoomed in on the newly revealed continent beyond Mobius Lake, outside the boundaries of the human world.

This new continent was home to countless Gray Mousefolk and ordinary mice.

This was the realm of the Gray Mouse, which had become part of the map when Rosen unlocked it.

Flipping through his Void Sketchbook, Rosen summoned the Gray Mouse and had it teleport to this new continent.

In no time, the Gray Mouse had gathered a large group of mousefolk and mice.

Rosen transported these mice to the outskirts of the Mechanical City. Under the leadership of the Gray Mouse, they quickly dispersed in all directions—some collecting soil, rocks, and plants, others scouting for potential dangers.

Of the millions of mice and thousands of mousefolk sent out, less than one in ten returned alive after half a day.

The good news was that the Dark Continent was incredibly rich in resources. The bad news was that danger lurked everywhere, both above and below ground.

Surveying the mountain of specimens the mice had brought back, Rosen was surprised to find several pieces of spiritual crystal among them.

It seemed that, unlike the world of Full-Time Hunter, where only nen existed, the transformation of this realm into a spirit realm had caused spiritual energy to become the dominant force. The Dark Continent had even spawned natural spiritual crystals.

There were far too many unknown specimens to identify at a glance.

Properly identifying them would require the expertise of specialized material scientists.

Rosen summoned more mice and mousefolk, expanding the range of exploration.

Then, carrying the first batch of specimens, he set off in search of an expert for identification.

Using Void Phase teleportation, Rosen locked onto a spatial coordinate near Thunder City and instantly arrived.

This ability, granted by the Fairy Dragon Orb, could transport him across vast distances, even from the Dungeon Kingdom to the Thunder Empire, in just a few seconds. Through the professional guild, Rosen issued a bounty for material identification.

That wasn't enough, though, so once the cooldown period for Void Phase ended, Rosen teleported to the 9th City on the Abyss battlefield.

There, he issued a similar bounty. Once two material scientists provided their analyses, he could compare their results to avoid being deceived.

Two days later, Rosen had the results.

Most of the materials were of little value. Only three types were truly valuable.

These were spiritual crystals brimming with life energy, the honey-scented corpse oil from the rotting bear, and an unnamed fungal plant that contained a rare element used in cursed potions.

While, in theory, all elements could be artificially synthesized, the cost of synthesizing some rare elements far exceeded that of harvesting them naturally. This particular element was prohibitively expensive to create, and if Rosen could find large quantities of this fungus, he could easily make tens of millions of spiritual crystals a year.

However, any higher income was unrealistic, given the limited demand for such cursed potions.

Following the maps created by the Gray Mousefolk, Rosen soon located the harvesting site for the fungal plants.

Slipping into the Void Shadow, he ignored all dangers on his way to the site.

Though he encountered several Sequence 6 and Sequence 5 transcendent creatures, their simplistic nen abilities made them incapable of detecting Rosen's presence in the spatial shadows. Naturally, they posed no threat to him.

Rosen arrived at a strange forest, where the trees resembled willows but had no leaves, only long, hanging tendrils. The trees' trunks bore faces formed by bulbous growths, and as the trees "breathed" through their nostrils, the tendrils swayed in rhythm with their breath. Growing among the roots of these eerie trees were clusters of glowing, purple-capped mushrooms.

"Jackpot…"

Rosen excitedly entered the forest and began harvesting the mushrooms with his hands extended from the Void Shadow.

He harvested all the mushrooms in sight, gathering enough to last him for decades.

Rosen then dramatically expanded his efforts to gather specimens, at the cost of billions of mice dying on the Dark Continent.

But mice breed fast. In theory, two mice could produce billions within a few years. The only limiting factor was food, but on the newly unlocked continent, the Gray Mousefolk had cultivated massive quantities of fast-growing plants suitable for mouse consumption.

Even if hundreds of billions of mice died within a short period, the Gray Mousefolk could replenish their numbers within a month.

Mice began swarming across a small corner of the Dark Continent, and Rosen continued to gather more and more specimens for identification.

After half a month of hard work, however, the results weren't as promising as he had hoped.

Those sustainable transcendent materials would yield no more than a few million spiritual crystals annually at best.

The fungus that could net tens of millions a year was the only significant discovery, and even after thoroughly scouring the newly unlocked section of the Dark Continent, Rosen hadn't found anything comparable.

This led him to suspect that the fungus had been a special reward tied to unlocking the map.

Still, the half-month of effort wasn't a complete waste—Rosen had at least familiarized himself with the Dark Continent.

(End of Chapter)