Lord: Sequence Master

Rosen activated his self-portrait once more and, after leaving the Mysterious Study Room, was relieved to not encounter the alchemical golem's ambush. The surrounding mechanical spirit weapons had already been destroyed, and the few remaining ones were too far away to pose an immediate threat.

The Mechanical Spirit Islands were made up of many islands of varying sizes, and the twenty human nobles who had entered the realm were scattered across different islands. The chances of meeting others were slim.

With a synchronized mind between his eyes and his Mind Canvas, Rosen projected an image of an eagle spreading its wings three meters ahead of him. The spirit beast eagle, rendered vivid and lifelike through spiritual energy, successfully materialized.

He also summoned Gray Rat, releasing a large number of ordinary rats from the Divine Beast Pen. The spirit eagle took to the sky to scout from above, while Gray Rat, the rat king, commanded thousands of rodents to conduct a ground search in a grid pattern. Together, they would ensure that both land and air were under surveillance, allowing Rosen to expect useful discoveries soon.

The spirit eagle, with its wide field of view, was the first to make a discovery. The island Rosen was on had an irregular gourd shape. He was currently on the bottom half, which was completely desolate. However, in the upper half, there was a small human town.

At its peak, the town likely housed more than ten thousand people. But through the eagle's vision, Rosen saw that most of the buildings had been damaged. Now, only a few dozen people could be seen on the streets, all moving cautiously. At the slightest disturbance, these townspeople scurried into nearby buildings, fearful and on edge.

Rosen accelerated into the shadows, moving at blistering speed. Although physical strength wasn't the main factor for most extraordinaries, the growth of spiritual energy also caused their bodies to evolve.

The growth rate of both body and spiritual energy was approximately 1.1. With Rosen's spiritual strength at 17 points, his physical body had similarly increased to 4.6 times the human limit. This might not seem like much, but these numbers represented a fundamental evolution in his basic attributes.

The human body's typical maximum strength hovered around 500 kilograms. Theoretically, the skeletal and muscular systems could withstand forces up to 5,000 kilograms.

For someone with Rosen's extraordinary abilities, his base strength was approximately 23,000 kilograms. With several passive enhancements from his skills, his absolute maximum strength reached around 30,000 kilograms—without any boost from spiritual energy.

At Sequence 9, one could easily destroy a single building. Sequence 8 abilities allowed someone to obliterate entire streets with a full-strength attack. However, concentrated force always delivered a more devastating result than widespread destruction—punching through high-strength alloys required far more power than leveling a block.

Along with his increased power, Rosen's speed had also skyrocketed. His maximum burst speed reached 75 meters per second, with his regular movement speed around 40 meters per second. With LV2 Shadow Step providing a 120% boost and the Dark Attribute of his spiritual energy doubling his speed again, Rosen could move at an incredible 240 meters per second in shadow form.

And that wasn't all—he wore Origin Hunter Boots that further enhanced his speed. Altogether, his top speed approached the speed of sound.

Considering Rosen wasn't even specialized in speed, the sheer difference in strength and ability between sequence levels became even more evident.

As the sequences advanced, the gaps between them widened significantly.

Rosen's progress from Sequence 9 to Sequence 8 had nearly tripled his abilities. Moving from Sequence 8 to Sequence 7, however, would see his power leap nearly nine times. The exponential increase at higher levels meant that, at Sequence 1, an extraordinary could unleash thousands of megatons of destructive power.

With these thoughts in mind, Rosen's excitement surged. The idea of wielding such overwhelming strength filled him with a burning drive for further advancement.

Moving at near-sound speed, Rosen arrived at the semi-abandoned town in no time.

He found an empty house, entered his Mysterious Study Room, and began using Freddy's Mind Powers to extend his spiritual perception and sense the nightmares present in the town.

It didn't take long for Rosen to detect several nightmares. He entered one dream and extracted the memories he needed.

The town had once been prosperous, but after the decline of the Mechanical Spirit Islands, most of the extraordinary beings had left, leaving behind only regular people.

One day, the mechanical spirit weapons buried underground began to awaken. The town's survival was due to a special Sequence 6 mechanical spirit weapon in the form of a ceramic pot. This pot had a vampiric nature, draining life from the townspeople slowly to keep them alive for further feeding.

The town had been reduced to a blood bank for this ceramic pot, while the rest of the population had succumbed to alchemical golems. The clashes between the ceramic pot and the golems left only a handful of survivors.

After gleaning this information from the dream, Rosen opened his eyes. The ongoing rivalry between two Sequence 6 entities presented a prime opportunity for him to exploit.

However, despite the opportunity, Rosen wasn't yet strong enough to intervene. If both Sequence 6 entities were fake mechanical spirits, there would be no skill crystals to gain, making it a dangerous and fruitless endeavor.

Therefore, Rosen decided to continue targeting lower-sequence mechanical spirits to maximize his gains while minimizing risk.

Rosen quietly left the town, staying far from both the alchemical golem and the ceramic pot, and began luring more mechanical spirits using his spiritual perception. He repeated his strategy of trapping them in the Void Gallery and then defeating them.

This time, no high-tier enemies appeared, but neither did any skill crystals drop.

For several days, Rosen continued this strategy, eliminating nearly all the mechanical spirits on the island. The remaining enemies were either too close to the Sequence 6 entities or were powerful Sequence 7 mechanical spirits with special abilities.

Still, Rosen managed to secure a second mechanical spirit conversion skill crystal, though his goal was to collect three in total. He needed to convert three divine buildings to fully maximize his Sequence 8 noble path.

While his Void Gallery was effective against lower-sequence enemies, it couldn't stand up to a Sequence 6 mechanical spirit. Rosen decided to convert two divine buildings first before taking further action.

(End of Chapter)