Lord: Sequence Master

The origin of the spirit world is lost to history, but it is certain that all supernatural sequences stem from it.

In the material world, matter dominates and nurtures all beings, with spirit playing a secondary role.

In the spirit world, spirit dominates, and matter plays a secondary role. It relies on the material world yet transcends it.

The spirit world is vast—far larger than the material world.

Even though the World Government is the undisputed ruler of the spirit world, they still control less than 1% of it.

The reason is that the spirit world is incredibly complex. It can be divided into three layers: the surface, the middle, and the deep.

Humanity controls only the surface and some parts of the middle layer. The deep layer remains largely beyond reach.

The surface layer is closely tied to the material world. The middle layer is associated with supernatural sequences, and the deep layer is intertwined with history and civilization.

The deep layer of the spirit world contains traces of countless extinct civilizations and histories buried by time. These traces include valuable treasures as well as immense dangers.

One of the terrifying entities that originated in the deep layer of the spirit world is the Spirit of Contracts.

The Spirit of Contracts has no intelligence but is a living entity. Its power rivals that of most gods, at least Sequence 0. Moreover, it is immortal and indestructible, which is why no one dares to provoke it willingly.

There's a theory that the Spirit of Contracts was born from the very concept of contracts.

As long as someone knows the proper method, they can use the Spirit of Contracts to sign binding agreements. Anyone who violates a contract witnessed by the Spirit will be punished, and without at least Sequence 1 power, there's no escaping the consequences.

The Gray Rat Patriarch and Duke of Blazing Shadow's bet was witnessed by the Spirit of Contracts.

After leaving his Mysterious Study Room, Rosen went to the Artist Guild to verify this information.

It turned out that the Gray Rat Patriarch was telling the truth. The Spirit of Contracts indeed exists. However, summoning it to witness a contract isn't cheap—it costs at least 100,000 spiritual crystals to summon it just once. Therefore, while many people know about the Spirit, few have actually used it to sign contracts.

Despite the steep cost, Rosen decided to use the Spirit of Contracts to sign a binding agreement with the Gray Rat Patriarch.

Standing inside a prearranged ritual circle, Rosen placed 100,000 spiritual crystals on the ground. The ritual array activated, absorbing the crystals and generating a blank contract parchment.

Rosen picked up the parchment, took out his divine pen, and began writing a contract that heavily favored him.

The contract's terms were highly restrictive: the Gray Rat Patriarch would be bound as Rosen's pet, unable to do anything harmful, unable to seize power, and even forbidden from disobeying Rosen's commands.

In exchange, the Gray Rat Patriarch only had three rights: Rosen must help him grow, cannot send him on suicide missions, and must ensure the Gray Rat Patriarch is treated with respect and dignity.

Once the contract was signed, both Rosen and the Gray Rat Patriarch breathed a sigh of relief.

Wasting no time, Rosen immediately used the divine beast sigil from his Divine Domain's Beast Pen to refine the Gray Rat Patriarch as his Sequence 8 familiar. With the Patriarch's full cooperation, the process went smoothly, and no accidents occurred.

The Hunter Sequence's ability to share attributes with a familiar comes with significant limitations.

At any given moment, a hunter can only share attributes with one familiar.

Rosen reviewed the talents and abilities of the Gray Rat Patriarch, now reduced to Sequence 9. The Patriarch possessed some truly tempting abilities:

Rat King: The power to control rat-type creatures and even induce mutations in normal rats.

Divine Clone: The Gray Rat Patriarch's strongest ability, which allowed him to repeatedly escape death.

Narrow Vision: A unique visual technique that allows him to discern spiritual auras, making him a highly capable treasure hunter.Earth Escape: The ability to travel freely underground.

Thanks to his treasure-hunting ability and his proficiency in moving underground, the Gray Rat Patriarch had amassed significant wealth over the years.

In fact, it was his vast riches that attracted the attention of the Cat God, an ancient being that destroyed the Gray Rat Patriarch's true body long ago.

Although the Duke of Blazing Shadow won the bet, his reward was merely the removal of a curse the Patriarch had placed on the Blazing Shadow Duchy.

The curse, powerful enough to affect even a Demi-god, had cost the Patriarch half his life to cast.

Now, forcing the curse's removal had cost him the remaining half.

Though the Gray Rat Patriarch lost his life, he managed to keep most of his treasure hidden.

Having not anticipated losing the bet, the Patriarch had not moved all of his wealth in advance. After losing, he only had time to shift a portion of his resources to his divine clone while the rest remained hidden in the spirit world, awaiting retrieval by someone with Sequence 6 power. For anyone weaker, attempting to retrieve it would be suicide.

Not wanting to waste time, Rosen left Blazing Shadow City by train the same day.

Two days later, Rosen arrived at Gray Rat City within the duchy.

The entire city was steeped in the symbolism of rats, and every household kept rats as pets. The city's specialty was, unsurprisingly, rats—whether used for experiments, food, or even medicinal purposes. Every kind of valuable rat could be found here.

Though rats weren't exactly beloved creatures, the people of Gray Rat City had grown accustomed to them. However, outsiders often found it difficult to live alongside such vermin, so the city rarely had visitors. The only exceptions were merchants who came to procure rats for various purposes.

As Rosen stepped off the train, he instantly drew attention wherever he went.

His clothes lacked any rat motifs, marking him as a rare outsider.

Rosen quickly ducked into an alley, using shadow concealment to move unseen. He silently made his way to the underground of Gray Rat City.

The shadowed areas underfoot provided the perfect hiding place. Beneath Gray Rat City, numerous wild rats lurked. These rats, having been subtly altered by the Gray Rat Patriarch, weren't ordinary rodents, though they hadn't developed into the intelligent Gray Rat People. For years, they had helped the Patriarch gather resources in the material world.

Following the city's sewer systems down to an underground river, Rosen, guided by the Gray Rat Patriarch, arrived at a hidden cave.

He pulled out 1,000 units of spiritual crystals and crushed them, filling the cave with spiritual energy.

The spirit realm node hidden within the cave absorbed the energy and activated, opening a swirling vortex of space.

Rosen stepped through the vortex, his surroundings spinning, and was transported into the spirit realm.

(End of Chapter)