Lord: Sequence Master

Rosen carefully navigated the Bladefin Shark he had recently tamed, making his way back to the surface after twelve long days of relentless hunting. The grand feast of extraordinary sea beasts had come to an end, and he was eager to head to Blue Whale Royal City, where the largest trade fair in the kingdom was soon to be held. The spoils from the hunt would be exchanged for much-needed resources at this event.

However, after a short time, Rosen noticed something was wrong.

Given the Bladefin Shark's speed, they should have reached the surface by now, but the surroundings remained a pitch-black abyss. It seemed as though the surface was still far out of reach.

Growing concerned, Rosen entered his Mysterious Study Room, housed within the specially crafted underwater pressure chamber. Made of extraordinary materials infused with spiritual energy, this chamber allowed the Mysterious Study Room to travel with the Bladefin Shark.

Standing by the window, Rosen shared the shark's vision and peered into the murky depths. He took out his Blue Whale Kingdom identity card, which normally allowed him to connect to the Blue Whale Guild City in the spirit realm, as long as he wasn't too far from the Void Whale.

But the card was now completely unresponsive.

Next, Rosen tried crushing a Return Card. The nen shield enveloped the Bladefin Shark, marking Hailong City as their destination, but nothing happened—the shark remained motionless. The teleportation ability of the card had failed.

Frustrated, Rosen then attempted using a Magic Return Scroll, but it too failed to bring them back to Hailong City.

Finally, he resorted to a Random Teleportation Scroll. This time, it worked—teleporting them away, but when they reappeared, they were still surrounded by the same endless black sea.

Fortunately, Rosen had several more scrolls in reserve. After several short-range teleportations, they finally breached the surface, but the Void Whales had vanished, leaving only a few extraordinary ships scattered across the ocean. These ships were slowly converging on one another.

Rosen steered the Bladefin Shark toward one of the larger vessels, extending his spiritual sense to avoid any confrontations.

One of the ships bore a noble crest, and most of the extraordinary humans nearby had gathered there, seeking safety.

The ship's owner, Count Bartle, stood at the bow with a monocular, his expression dark as he scanned the distant horizon.

"Count Bartle, do you know what's going on?" a burly man with a thick beard asked, his voice laced with anxiety.

"We're in the Ghost Black Sea..." Bartle replied through gritted teeth, lowering his monocular.

The mention of the Ghost Black Sea caused a ripple of fear and confusion among the gathered hunters and nobles.

Though Rosen arrived a bit later, he quickly overheard others discussing this ominous name. It triggered a memory—he had read about the Ghost Black Sea in a Blue Whale Kingdom storybook.

The seas of this world were vast, and despite humanity's victory over the Naga and other sea-dwelling rulers, they still couldn't control the entire ocean. The World Government could only periodically purge dangerous creatures Sequence 3 and above from the real world.

However, the spatial coordinates of the real oceans corresponded to locations in the deep spirit realm, beyond the World Government's reach.

The Ghost Black Sea was one such phenomenon, a disaster that originated in the depths of the spirit realm.

No one knew exactly what triggered the Ghost Black Sea, but when it overlapped with the real world's ocean, anything below the demi-god level would be trapped within it.

It would take at least five days for the Void Whales to cross the real ocean and mount a rescue. Those caught in the Ghost Black Sea had to either survive those five days or perish.

During the dark, moonless nights, the Ghost Black Sea was relatively calm, but when the moon rose, strange and inexplicable disasters would unfold.

As more extraordinary humans surfaced and gathered on the ships, Count Bartle's grim expression relaxed slightly. With more Sequence 6 nobles present, their chances of surviving the Ghost Black Sea increased. However, entering one's Divine Domain in this sea would connect it to the spirit realm, exposing it to its mysterious disasters.

While the Divine Domain's defenses were strong enough to survive the threats, the damage it would suffer over five days would be significant. This was why multiple Divine Lords sharing the burden was advantageous.

By the end of the day, over a thousand extraordinary humans had surfaced. The rest were likely still trapped beneath the sea, unable to reach the surface, or had not been caught in the Black Sea at all.

Without spatial abilities, simply swimming to the surface was an impossible feat. Those left behind would remain forever trapped below.

Rosen stood on the deck of Count Bartle's ship, the Dragonhawk, gazing out at the dark waters with a sense of unreality. Typically, only Sequence 6 and higher beings could survive in the spirit realm. Yet here, even Sequence 8s were relatively safe.

Suddenly, a golden-furred rat leaped from the water onto the ship—Gray Mouse, Rosen's pet who excelled in aquatic environments. Despite its name, Gray Rat had recently developed a taste for dyeing its fur golden.

Through their mental link, Gray Mouse relayed its findings to Rosen, causing his pupils to narrow.

The Ghost Black Sea was the remnant of a fallen demi-god's dream, which had fused with the deep spirit realm to create a special spirit realm. Their being drawn into this sea wasn't a mere accident.

It wasn't hard to deduce that this was the work of the Blue Whale Kingdom. The kingdom's demi-gods likely knew that the Ghost Black Sea was a spirit realm, and with their power, they probably had the means to control the opening of this realm.

This implied that the kingdom could have rescued everyone within minutes, yet they chose to wait for five days, deliberately allowing many to die.

Those still trapped beneath the ocean were sacrificial lambs.

A surge of anger welled up within Rosen as he thought of the kingdom's cruelty. Both the Blazing Shadow Duchy and the Blue Whale Kingdom had left him with bitter impressions.

But Rosen calmed himself quickly, recognizing that this was likely the norm in this world. Even under the World Government, the strong still preyed on the weak, though they did so under the guise of righteousness.

In this world, the only way to avoid being prey was to climb to the top of the food chain.

Rosen was about to return to his cabin and wait out the five days in silence when Gray Mouse shared a piece of good news.

The Ghost Black Sea, at its core, was a dream realm, and in dreams, many things were possible that would be impossible in reality.

Though Gray Rat's spiritual strength had only recovered to Sequence 8, it still carried the divinity of a Sequence 3 being.

This divinity allowed Gray Rat to easily overcome Sequence 7 threats, but here in the dream realm, it could push its powers to Sequence 5.

Gray Rat was ready to delve deeper into the Ghost Black Sea, hoping to uncover what the Blue Whale Kingdom was truly seeking within this mysterious realm.

(End of Chapter)