Lord: Sequence Master

"The first wave of mechanical spirits is coming," Rosen muttered as he prepared for the approaching onslaught.

Even without relying on his spiritual perception, Rosen's Supernatural Five Senses could already detect the incoming weapons—blades, spears, and swords—hurtling through the air toward him. These weapons, though broken and rusted, had lost none of their speed or power.

However, as soon as the weapons crossed into the "Circle of Sealing" drawn by Rosen's Divine Brush, they all vanished.

Everything within the area marked by the Circle of Sealing was effectively absorbed into Rosen's Void Gallery. The weapons had entered a trap. Inside the Void Gallery's maze, the weapons were now like headless chickens, aimlessly slashing at the environment. However, with the Void Gallery's defensive capabilities now at Sequence 6, these Sequence 8 weapons were no threat.

Rosen's self-portrait, acting as a decoy in the physical world, continued to release its spiritual aura, provoking more and more mechanical weapons to attack. As each weapon entered the sealed area, they were teleported into the Void Gallery, where they found themselves trapped and disoriented.

Inside the Void Gallery, Rosen had activated the "Sea God's Blessing" special ability, transforming the maze into a deep underwater environment. Here, his Nightmare Slime and seventeen other slimes, all transformed into Frost Naga, easily overwhelmed the mechanical weapons, freezing them in place.

As time passed, the waves of incoming weapons grew larger. What started as simple melee weapons evolved into firearms, laser cannons, and even mechanical magic wands. Eventually, mechanical golems appeared, towering over everything as they lumbered toward Rosen's decoy.

At first, Rosen's team handled the threats with relative ease, but as a Sequence 6 alchemical golem appeared, the situation took a sharp turn. The moment the golem locked onto Rosen's self-portrait, it raised its hand, conjuring a massive lightning bolt that shattered all of the decoy's defenses in a single strike, obliterating it instantly.

Despite this, the golem had already stepped into the Circle of Sealing. As Rosen attempted to teleport the golem into the Void Gallery, the creature's feet suddenly lit up with a spatial magic array, tearing through the sealing trap.

The golem's eyes then gleamed with a piercing light, locking onto the hidden Void Gallery and striking at it with terrifying force. Though the Void Gallery's defenses could withstand Sequence 6 attacks, it still took some damage from the golem's blows.

"I've gone too far… I've hooked a shark this time," Rosen thought, realizing the gravity of the situation. He could neither fight nor flee at this point.

Instead of continuing to battle the golem directly, Rosen refocused on managing the interior of the Void Gallery, isolating the mechanical spirits into smaller groups.

Over a hundred Sequence 8 mechanical spirits had been drawn into the Void Gallery, and the transformed Frost Naga made quick work of them, using the watery environment to their advantage.

This combination of trapping enemies in the Void Gallery, separating them, and then having his army of slimes gang up on them proved an efficient tactic. It was, as Rosen observed, an overpowering synergy of cross-sequence abilities.

However, after eliminating numerous mechanical spirits, Rosen found that his Void Scavenger Space showed no signs of reward. Every spirit he'd killed so far was a fake.

It became clear why even Sequence 6 adventurers often walked away from the Mechanical Spirit Islands with a loss. Only by killing a real mechanical spirit could one hope to recoup the investment of the expensive tickets.

As Rosen continued directing his pets to battle, his pace slowed drastically.

To speed things up, he took out several spiritual paintings he had created since leaving the Merman's Lament realm. These paintings, all depicting high-voltage generators, were placed into empty frames on the walls of the Void Gallery Maze.

Immediately, the surrounding waters began to crackle with electrical arcs as the water became charged with high-voltage electricity.

But Rosen wasn't done yet. Drawing upon his most powerful resource, he activated his Heart Canvas. On this mental canvas, lightning bolts cut through the dark sky. Though the power of the lightning was limited by his spiritual strength, when combined with the charged waters and the Gallery Maze's amplifying effects, it created a deadly environment.

Even Sequence 7 mechanical spirits stood no chance as the electrical onslaught tore them apart.

Finally, Rosen's Void Scavenger Space reacted. He quickly retrieved a glowing orb and eagerly crushed it in his hand.

The reward was a rare hunter-skill crystal:

Mechanical Spirit Conversion LV1: Convert a weapon into a mechanical spirit weapon.

This description wasn't from Rosen's direct absorption of the crystal but from the Gourmet Guild's records. If a hunter received this skill, they would be able to create mechanical spirit weapons. Other sequences might receive a one-time use source essence that could temporarily create such weapons.

Because skills could grow in power, the skill crystal was far more valuable than the one-time essence. This was why the Mechanical Spirit Islands was such a coveted spiritual realm for hunters, despite being controlled by the Gourmet Guild.

Rosen returned to the Mysterious Study Room, placing the skill crystal on the mouse of the Main God Computer. He then retrieved a box from his scavenger space—one containing a sealed half-god anomalous item—and connected the box to the computer via a cable.

Bright seven-colored light flowed from the box into the skill crystal, and after the process was complete, Rosen analyzed the newly transformed skill.

Though not much had changed, the skill had been converted from a hunter sequence skill to a noble sequence skill. Instead of converting weapons, it now allowed Rosen to convert buildings into mechanical spirit structures, the effects depending on the type of building.

The Main God Computer also revealed a deeper history of the mechanical spirits. The metal used to create mechanical spirit weapons was imbued with the divine essence of a fallen Sequence 1 Machine God. When the Mechanical Spirit Island's rulers exhausted their supply of spirit-bearing metal, they uncovered the half-god's corpse and attempted to turn it into a mechanical weapon.

Unfortunately, the weapon became possessed by the evil god's power, transforming into an unstoppable force. In the end, the Machine God weapon and a human Sequence 2 lord perished together, and the entire island was banished to the depths of the spiritual realm.

Although Rosen now understood the island's true nature, there was little he could do about it at the moment. Perhaps one day, as a Sequence 1, he could explore the depths of the spirit realm to uncover the real Mechanical Spirit Island.

For now, though, his goal was to hunt more spirits and hopefully find another skill crystal.

"Sequence 6… I suppose it's time for something drastic," Rosen thought to himself.

Inside his Void Gallery's studio, Rosen opened the Mysterious Study Room and accessed the Computer. Then, using the study's window, he recalled the entire Void Gallery into the study.

With the Void Gallery fully retracted, the alchemical golem lost its target. After lingering around the cemetery for a while, it eventually returned to its resting place.

(End of Chapter)