Lord: Sequence Master

At the Blue Whale Guild City's Gourmet Guild, Rosen couldn't help but smile as he held the newly acquired ticket in his hand.

Among the many guilds, the Hunter's Guild controlled the majority of the spiritual realms, but the truly high-quality ones were mostly in the hands of the Four Civilized Sequence Guilds. Without leveraging his noble status, Rosen would never have been able to purchase this ticket from the Gourmet Guild.

[Mechanical Spirit Islands: Spiritual Realm]

[Level: Sequence 6]

[Description: A mysterious archipelago ruled by evil god followers, where mechanical spirits feed on humans...]

This Sequence 6 realm ticket had cost Rosen a hefty 500,000 Spiritual Crystals. The high price was due to two reasons:

This spiritual realm was dominated by human civilization.

Spiritual realms like Merman's Lament, dominated by fish-people, or The Spiral Sea Battle, dominated by the Gray Rats, were remnants of alien civilizations, which humanity could never fully control. Humanity had to conduct destructive extractions on these realms, which lowered the value of tickets to such places.

In contrast, realms like The Mechanical Spirit Islands, which were based on human civilizations, were much more valuable. The mechanical spirits inhabiting the islands were created using advanced alloys that could house the souls of extraordinary beings. While these alloys were now rare, at the height of their power, the Mechanical Spirit Islands had produced weapons and artifacts as powerful as Sequence 1 demi-god weapons.

Half of the ticket price went toward replenishing the spiritual realm after every expedition, ensuring its long-term sustainability.

However, the allure of this realm wasn't just about treasure; it was about the rare skill crystals and the slim chance to obtain special resources that could enhance one's spiritual strength.

After waiting for five days, the Mechanical Spirit Islands realm finally gathered enough participants to open. Only twenty people came from the Gourmet Guild, the majority of them at Sequence 6, a few at Sequence 7, and only Rosen was a Sequence 8.

When the appointed time came, the staff activated the realm. A vortex, filled with ominous malevolence, appeared on the wall of the waiting room. Following the positioning by the identity cards, Rosen, waiting at home, was immediately captured by the entrance and pulled into the realm.

The world spun, and when Rosen opened his eyes, he found himself in a desolate graveyard. The piercing caws of crows echoed around him as he instinctively melded into the shadows, using his Shadow Step to instantly move away.

No sooner had he vanished than a rusted metal sword appeared, striking through the air where he had stood moments before.

The sword, seemingly imbued with its own will, twisted in mid-air and continued its relentless pursuit of Rosen, disregarding his concealment within the shadows.

Seeing that hiding was futile, Rosen quickly summoned his Nightmare Slime to act as a shield. The creature opened its large, panicked mouth as the sword stabbed right into it, only to be swallowed in a gulp. The Nightmare Slime, its form now bound by the chains of the Nightmare Binding, reluctantly began digesting the mechanical spirit.

These Mechanical Spirit Islands were filled with weapons and objects made from a unique metallic alloy. This spirit-bearing metal had the natural ability to house extraordinary souls, turning them into spirit weapons. During its peak, the islands had even produced Sequence 1 demigod artifacts. However, the islands fell into decline as their metal resources dwindled.

At some point, the islands had caught the attention of evil god followers, who brought a curse upon the land. According to the records, every night, the mechanical spirit weapons would hunt and kill any remaining humans, capturing their souls and turning their lives into fuel for the island's cursed weapons.

Though the Mechanical Spirit Islands had long since fallen, the realm persisted, as a bizarre mystery. In fact, this realm had spawned thousands of variations, with realms ranging from Sequence 6 to Sequence 1.

Rosen's Nightmare Slime took about half an hour to fully digest the rusted sword. However, to Rosen's surprise, the Devour ability seemed to yield nothing of value. It was as if the mechanical spirit weapon wasn't real.

This made Rosen wonder if everything on the island was just an illusion. The most prevalent theory about the realm suggested that there was only one true Mechanical Spirit Islands realm, while the others were mere projections, a blend of illusion and reality.

Though the Nightmare Slime had consumed the sword, it might as well have eaten air.

Nevertheless, there were real mechanical spirit weapons within the realm, and the only way to determine their authenticity was through sheer force—by killing as many as possible. The more one is slaughtered, the greater the chance of encountering a genuine spirit weapon.

Rosen entered his Void Gallery and summoned his self-portrait. He then took out the Divine Brush and began to cast a Circle of Sealing around the area, enclosing a radius of a hundred meters, encompassing the nearby graves.

Standing at the center of the circle, Rosen unleashed his spiritual perception, a form of advanced mental awareness. Unlike normal sensory perception, this ability allowed him to detect every detail within his spiritual field without any blind spots. It was so thorough that weaker entities wouldn't even realize they were being scanned, but against stronger enemies, it was like shining a beacon in the dark.

This was why even extraordinary beings with spiritual perception still relied on enhancing their natural senses.

With his spiritual perception spread wide, Rosen detected the approach of several mechanical spirit entities.

From his god-like vantage point, Rosen watched as more and more spirit-bound weapons began converging toward his location.

(End of Chapter)