Lord: Sequence Master

"This is the entrance to the Hunter's Guild..."

Rosen glanced around and noted that this Guild City had almost no tall buildings. It seemed that the Blue Whale Kingdom wasn't fond of high-rise constructions. In the real world, the limited space within the cities made them a necessity, but here, in this dreamlike spirit realm, there was no need for them, so tall structures were nonexistent.

Upon entering the Hunter's Guild, Rosen's identity card from the real world automatically appeared in his hand.

As he held the card, an influx of detailed information about the guild city poured into his mind.

Here, he could trade, with the resources purchased delivered to the real world by linking to his identity card.

He could also enter spirit realms, with the guild using the power of the spirit world to teleport people to various realms remotely.

Additionally, he could study, either by enrolling in vocational academies or hiring private instructors.

Moreover, this guild city even allowed a person's physical body to be present within its walls. Once a Sequence 6 being physically entered the city, they could step through the guild's gates and venture into fixed regions of the spirit world to hunt spiritual creatures directly.

All of these conveniences depended on the identity card, which essentially functioned like a smartphone or computer in this advanced city.

From every angle, this place was far more advanced than Blazing Shadow Duchy.

Rosen channeled his spiritual energy into the identity card, and a holographic display appeared before his eyes—visible only to him.

Options like the Marketplace, Spirit Realms, Academy, Professional Guilds, and a Friends List popped up, making the interface resemble that of a video game.

Rosen navigated to the Hunter's Guild section and then into a more detailed interface.

The new menus included a bounty board, task listings, and a news section. He chose the news section and began searching for information.

Basic information was free, but more detailed reports required payment.

This section was akin to a forum, filled with posts from high-level hunters sharing advice on the optimal skills and paths for each stage of the Hunter Sequence.

Rosen became engrossed as he learned more about the future paths within the Hunter Sequence.

In the modern day, there were two main development routes for hunters:

Mastering numerous skills, combining different abilities to create a well-rounded hunter with powerful, versatile combat capabilities.

Focusing on a few specialized skills, becoming an expert in one or two areas but leaving numerous weaknesses exposed.

The first route offered broad capability, with no significant weak points but no standout strengths either.

The second path created a hunter with incredible strength in certain areas but glaring weaknesses, making them vulnerable if enemies targeted those shortcomings.

The first path was the most common choice among hunters, while the second was rare—only pursued by those who joined powerful supernatural organizations around Sequence 8. Such hunters needed dependable teammates to cover their weaknesses.

Rosen, typically a lone wolf, should have logically chosen the first path. However, the second path piqued his interest.

While it did come with numerous weaknesses, Rosen wasn't an ordinary hunter—he was also a noble with a divine domain and a painter with a Void Gallery.

He could use the strengths of his other sequences to compensate for the weaknesses in his Hunter path, allowing him to focus on maximizing the Hunter Sequence's strengths and significantly boosting his overall combat power.

Due to his main computer, Rosen was currently a Sequence 8 Pet Hunter.

When he reached Sequence 7, he would naturally select a branch of the Hunter Sequence and gain its specialized innate abilities.

Therefore, at Sequence 8, his optimal approach was to acquire the three key specialized skills exclusive to Pet Hunters.

After two days of meticulous research, Rosen settled on three skills: Pet Transformation, Beast Taming, and Pet Aura.

Pet Transformation would allow his pet to morph into certain forms. With Nightmare Slime sharing this supernatural ability, it could morph into any supernatural creature whose essence it had obtained.

This would turn his Nightmare Slime, initially a tank, into a versatile pet.

Of course, Pet Transformation came with its costs. First, the transformation consumed a permanent essence of the targeted creature. Second, only one form could be saved for transformation. Finally, the transformed creature had no growth potential.

From a power perspective, Pet Transformation wasn't an especially remarkable skill for hunters.

Thus, Rosen also selected Beast Taming and Pet Aura. Beast Taming would allow him to tame multiple supernatural creatures as secondary pets.

These secondary pets couldn't share abilities with the hunter, and having too many could make controlling them cumbersome.

However, when combined with Pet Aura and his divine beast pen, they could form a powerful skill chain.

For example, if Rosen tamed a horde of slimes, his Nightmare Slime could use Pet Aura to merge them into a unified force. The aura could also share a diluted version of the Nightmare Slime's abilities with the other slimes.

As a result, all of his tamed slimes would gain weaker versions of the Devour ability and Shadow Cloak.

While the abilities would be downgraded by one level—meaning a Sequence 8 slime would only get Sequence 9 abilities—the devouring ability would retain its Sequence 5 potency.

With a legion of slimes equipped with weakened Devour powers, all they'd need to do was keep consuming to grow stronger.

In an ideal scenario, at his Sequence 8 limit with 24 points of spiritual energy, Rosen could lead his Nightmare Slime as his main pet, alongside 24 additional Sequence 8 slimes as secondary pets. Together, they could all morph into powerful supernatural beings.

Rosen could already imagine the chaos of commanding a pet army, overwhelming his enemies.

Since these skills weren't particularly rare, Rosen didn't need to venture into a spirit realm to acquire them. He simply placed an order through the Hunter's Guild, and they were delivered at a surprisingly affordable price.

Exiting Blue Whale Guild City, Rosen's identity card began to emit a spatial vortex.

Three skill crystals dropped from the vortex. He picked them up one by one, using his spiritual energy to assimilate the powers contained within and merge them into his supernatural essence. Afterward, he prepared to venture out and buy some Sequence 8 slimes.

In the cities nestled within the Void Whales, trash disposal was a significant challenge.

Dumping garbage directly into the sea was impractical due to the hassle of daily waste disposal, and storing large amounts of garbage onboard until a designated disposal point could be found was equally troublesome.

As a solution, many cities opted to breed slimes. The slimes would consume the city's daily waste, helping manage the problem effectively.

Rosen visited one such waste processing facility and explained his intentions to the manager.

The manager was thrilled, allowing Rosen to pick and choose freely.

Slimes reproduced rapidly, and the facility often had to cull their numbers to prevent overpopulation.

Selling them was essentially a bonus income for the facility.

Rosen selected 24 Sequence 8 slimes and added an additional 100 Sequence 9 slimes.

Though slimes reproduced via splitting, typically only Sequence 9 slimes had a high reproduction rate.

Once a slime advanced in sequence, its chances of splitting greatly diminished.

Rosen transported his new army of slimes into his divine beast pen, then hurried home to begin taming his new squishy, round companions.

(End of Chapter)