Lord: Sequence Master

On the Lord God Network, Rosen once again updated a bounty he had posted many years ago.

The reward amount had been increased to nine Sequence 3 Star Fruits, plus 100 million high-quality spiritual crystals.

The bounty was for one type of extraordinary lifeform of Sequence 5. Even though this extraordinary lifeform was so rare that it was nearly impossible to find in the world—and even though its value far exceeded its sequence level—this reward was enough to drive all those below the rank of demigod who had the potential to complete the bounty utterly mad.

Half a month later, Rosen was performing Five-Dimensional Painting in the Void Gallery.

His Void Gallery was still only at Sequence 6. Of course, it wasn't because he lacked the ability to upgrade it. With the Mysterious Study and the highly versatile Hunter Sequence, he didn't need to hide in the Void Gallery to defend and counterattack like other painters. Naturally, there wasn't an urgent need for him to upgrade it.

The upgrade materials were already prepared and could be used at any moment when necessary.

The only reason he hadn't upgraded was that he was waiting to see if a better enhancement plan would appear. After all, strengthening was irreversible—it was easy to upgrade but impossible to downgrade.

However, as he inched closer to Sequence 4, he realized he could no longer afford to wait. He decided to prioritize Five-Dimensional Painting across the entire Gallery Maze, transforming the entire Void Gallery into one cohesive painting. This approach would allow seamless integration with the Möbius Strip at any time.

The Gallery Maze with its nine-layer space loops possessed an ability to trap enemies that was second only to the Void Shadow Realm.

Although his Void Shadow Realm was composed of the power of 50,000 Shadow Demons, the Void Gallery could carry countless Spiritual Paintings, leveraging their world power to enhance its defensive capabilities.

Rosen had drawn thousands of Spiritual Paintings, and once they were all integrated into the Void Gallery, its defense would be formidable enough to annihilate almost all Sequence 3 enemies.

As Rosen was painting, Miracle Flame suddenly noticed a drastic drop in his innate luck.

A full 90% reduction—a clear sign that something significant had happened, depleting his innate luck in an instant.

Rosen quickly discovered the cause: someone had completed the bounty he had posted on the Lord God Network.

The bounty transaction was swiftly finalized through the Main Temple.

Rosen examined the thumb-sized transparent bottle in his hand, which contained a sesame-sized cocoon.

The bottle itself was no ordinary item; it had been meticulously carved from divine power crystal imbued with the attribute of time.

Inside the bottle lay a cocoon—not an ordinary extraordinary lifeform, but the legendary Time Silkworm. This insect fed on time itself. Once it transformed from a cocoon into a butterfly, it would become the Time Goddess Butterfly—a creature that could only survive for nine moments before its life ended.

On average, one moment was approximately 0.018 seconds, making nine moments a mere 0.162 seconds.

Despite its fleeting lifespan, the Time Goddess Butterfly was regarded as one of the three most beautiful butterflies in the world.

Its beauty could stir the hearts of even True Gods. However, its true value lay not in its appearance but in its extraordinary abilities.

The Time Goddess Butterfly was born with the Seventh Sense. If someone could refine it with their own spirituality while it was still alive, they would not only awaken their Seventh Sense but also gain an exclusive ability possessed solely by the Time Goddess Butterfly.

Yet, refining it within 0.162 seconds was an almost impossible task.

For a Sequence 5 transcendent, the challenge was practically insurmountable. On the other hand, transcendent beings above Sequence 5 had no need to attempt it, as the unique abilities of the Time Goddess Butterfly could only be mastered by a Sequence 5. Certain abilities were specifically designed for the weak, and once missed, they could never be obtained again.

Rosen possessed the Star Emblem and the Ancient God Sacrificial Vessels, granting him an unparalleled short-term burst of spiritual power that exceeded the imagination of ordinary Sequence 5 transcendents.

However, even with his extraordinary abilities, he wasn't absolutely confident. Historical records showed that only two people had successfully refined the Time Goddess Butterfly.

Both individuals had ascended to become True Gods and had possessed the Time Racial Sequence from the very beginning. It was this inherent connection that had allowed them to refine the butterfly successfully.

Rosen wasn't sure whether he could succeed.

The Age Silkworm was extremely rare and could only be born in a few places in the main world where the laws of time were abnormal. A cocoon-spinning Age Silkworm was even rarer; otherwise, such a sky-high bounty wouldn't have remained unclaimed for years.

Rosen waited for five days without blinking. The Time Goddess Butterfly could disappear in an instant, and he couldn't afford to miss the critical moment.

Finally, the silkworm began to break out of its cocoon, and the silk threads started to dissolve.

He pushed his spirituality to its absolute limit—81 points—and wrapped the Time Goddess Butterfly the moment it emerged. He forcibly assimilated the butterfly, a pure life form of energy, with his spirituality.

At the seventh moment, the Time Goddess Butterfly completely disappeared.

Rosen succeeded. He felt his hunter's extraordinary source of sixth sense skill begin to transform forcibly.

Seventh Sense: Divine Power Skill

Passive Attribute: Can gain the ability to perceive the concept of time

Divine Power Characteristics: Extraordinary Five Senses, Mind Reading, Instantaneous Time

The Seventh Sense was essentially the ability to perceive time.

Although the Sixth Sense could also develop predictive abilities, it could only foresee short periods with inconsistent accuracy. However, with the Seventh Sense, the success rate and effectiveness of predictions improved significantly.

But the Seventh Sense of the Time Goddess Butterfly was different.

The inclusion of the two words "concept of time" elevated it far beyond ordinary Seventh Sense abilities. Normally, if the target of prediction also mastered time-related abilities or had interference methods, even the Seventh Sense would struggle with accuracy.

However, the concept of time was nearly untouchable. Below Sequence 0, only a handful of means could interfere with it.

If Rosen used Celestial Prophecy at this moment, while the spiritual consumption wouldn't decrease, the accuracy and clarity of the prediction would be exponentially enhanced.

Yet, prediction wasn't what Rosen valued most about the concept of time.

Its true worth lay in his ability to further master and strengthen his two key skills: Time Hunter and Time Shooter.

The Time Hunter skill allowed him to deprive a hunted prey of their remaining lifespan. Previously, he could only extract a maximum of 20% of their remaining time. Now, he could strip away almost 100%, unleashing the skill's full potential.

Meanwhile, Time Shooter imbued all his attacks with the power of time, causing skill damage to waste the target's time. Previously, consuming 1,000 years of temporal energy would only reduce the opponent's lifespan by 100 years. Now, that same energy could eliminate 200 years.

Though it appeared as just a doubling of efficiency, the value of this improvement would grow exponentially over time. Against ancient enemies who had accumulated countless years of lifespan, his Time Shooter would become a fatal executioner.

Rosen finally began to sense the Divine Power Characteristics of the Seventh Sense. His Extraordinary Five Senses and Mind Reading were significantly enhanced.

However, the most extraordinary aspect was Instantaneous Time, an ability unique to the Time Goddess Butterfly.

When activated, Instantaneous Time granted absolute control over nine instants.

During these nine instants, neither time acceleration nor time reversal could be influenced by any external force.

To illustrate, if his Sequence Ancient Tree were crushed by a True God, it would be beyond normal recovery. Even a True God wielding time-based powers would struggle to reverse the event. But with Instantaneous Time, Rosen could fully restore the Ancient Tree by reversing time within those critical instants.

In combat, where extraordinary beings often delivered fatal attacks in a single instant, having control over nine instants was equivalent to holding several extra lives.

On the offensive side, nine instants provided enough time to unleash devastating attacks in rapid succession, overwhelming any defense.

Of course, Instantaneous Time wasn't without its weaknesses. If a True God didn't destroy his Sequence Ancient Tree all at once but instead took more than nine instants to slowly wear it down—like cutting flesh with a dull knife—the time reversal and recovery effects of Instantaneous Time would become far less effective.

Rosen had now completed the final piece of the puzzle required to advance to Sequence 4 and began further transforming his Void Gallery.

Within the intricate layers of space, time, and energy that made up the gallery maze, he used the two abilities—Five-Dimensional Painting combined with Eerie Painting—to replicate and integrate scenes from the Horror Park. Ultimately, he wove a horror playground into the entire structure of the Void Gallery.

The final result would undoubtedly become the most terrifying Void Gallery imaginable.

To craft the perfect Horror Playground, Rosen had even struck deals with the Abyss, exchanging favors for several abyssal demons who naturally embodied the powers of the Seven Deadly Sins.

Even with his ability to accelerate time for painting, it still took Rosen five years to fully transform the Void Gallery.

Void Gallery: Divine Architecture

Level: Sequence 5

Defense: Sequence 3

Attack Power: Sequence 3

Functional Buildings: Horror Maze, Magic Altar, Void Studio, Void Prison, Wind and Thunder Furnace, Void Safe House

Extraordinary Features: Bone Picture Frame, Human Skin Drawing Paper, Gluttony Furnace, Sea God's Blessing, Void Gate

All the basic attributes had been pushed to their limits, forcibly enhanced to Sequence 3 without the need for divine power integration.

Beyond the attributes, the most significant change was the transformation of the Gallery Maze into a Horror Maze.

To truly test its power, Rosen needed Sequence 3 targets.

Five days later, on Survival Island in the Chaotic Sea…

Survival Island wasn't particularly large. It had only one port, one hotel, and one casino. Yet, it attracted countless visitors due to its wildly popular casino.

Despite appearing modest—covering only about a kilometer—the casino concealed numerous small worlds created through spiritual realms.

The casino captured both ordinary people and extraordinary beings from all races, tossing them into these spiritual worlds where they were forced to fight to the death. Those who survived earned their freedom and a hefty fortune, while gamblers bet on who would emerge victorious and how long they would last.

Iva Kelly, one of Titan Heavy Industries' Directors, was among the regulars.

He relished coming to Survival Island to gamble, savoring the sight of humans struggling for survival, their desperate screams, and terrified wails. Many of his personal spiritual realms were filled with humans, kept alive solely for his sadistic pleasure.

Rosen sat quietly in a shadowy corner of the casino, his gaze briefly passing over Iva, who had reduced his size to better navigate the crowded floor.

This was Rosen's target today—not only to test the Void Gallery's capabilities but also to eliminate a significant obstacle hindering his Hill Dwarves.

Thanks to Rosen's secret support over the years, the Hill Dwarves had established a strong foothold in Titan Heavy Industries.

The Sequence 4 Hill Dwarf King was now on the cusp of becoming a new Director.

However, the dwarves had accumulated many enemies in their rise, and Iva Kelly was the greatest threat to the Hill Dwarf King's ascension. Time and again, Iva had obstructed and undermined the dwarves during board meetings.

Rosen vanished silently from the casino and reappeared in Iva's private room at the hotel.

The Void Shadow World unfolded soundlessly, lying in wait for its prey.

After several hours in the casino, Iva Kelly was visibly displeased. He had lost more than he had won and decided to return to his room for rest, hoping to change his luck.

However, the moment he stepped into his room, the flickering interplay of light and darkness consumed him, dragging him into the Void Shadow World.

Before Iva could react or dispel the surrounding shadows, he found himself standing in a nightmarish Void Gallery, seawater swirling beneath his feet.

He immediately recognized the signature of a Painter's Void Gallery and instinctively attempted to unleash his Titan True Form to tear open the void.

But before he could act, the ceiling, the walls, and the floor shifted, each displaying horrifying scenes.

Before he could process what he was seeing, the nightmarish gallery twisted around him, and he was transported directly into the Horror Playground.

Iva wanted to mobilize the spiritual power in his body but found it completely imprisoned, locked away by an unknown force.

At this moment, he was seated on a carousel, rising and falling in a slow, hypnotic rhythm. The painted horses gleamed under flickering lights, casting distorted shadows. Looking closely, Iva noticed figures on the other carousel horses surrounding him. Each one was an exact replica of himself, their vacant eyes staring back at him with the same mix of confusion and fear.

They can't all be real…

Iva instinctively believed that the other versions of himself were impostors, but the divine energy within him was shackled, preventing him from acting recklessly.

The carousel began to pick up speed. Slowly at first, then faster, and faster still. Iva tried to leap off, but his body refused to respond. He could only move his head, barely able to glance around.

His gaze fell upon a wooden sign nailed to the central column of the carousel. The letters, written in crude human script, glared back at him under the dim carnival lights:

1: The carousel will continue to speed up.

2: Only one person on the carousel is real; the others are fake.

3: The game ends when only one real person remains on the carousel.

A cold chill crept down Iva's spine. He quickly deduced that the only way to escape was to eliminate the impostors.

But how?

He had heard of human amusement parks before—memories extracted from the fragmented souls he had devoured. Among them was one particularly chilling place: Horror Paradise. It was a bizarre, nightmare-infused park crafted by the Painters—beings who had mastered the Mind Canvas to manipulate reality itself.

The stories said that Horror Paradise operated under absolute rules. These rules bound both allies and enemies alike, and breaking them meant certain death. The park could bend time, distort logic, and trap even the most powerful beings within its confines.

If this carousel was part of Horror Paradise, then survival hinged on obeying its rules to the letter.

But there was a glaring problem: he couldn't use his spiritual power, and his body was locked in place. Only his head was free.

The carousel spun faster and faster, shattering the sound barrier with an ear-splitting crack. Wind tore at his face, and blinding lights swirled in chaotic patterns around him.

Iva's mind worked furiously, calculating trajectories, angles, and the impossibly narrow window of opportunity he would have to act. There has to be a way…

Then it hit him. His teeth.

Gritting them tightly, he focused all his strength into his jaw, feeling the strain of his paralyzed body resisting even this small action. At the perfect moment, he spat out several teeth, launching them like deadly projectiles into the hurricane-force winds swirling around the carousel.

Each tooth became a high-speed weapon, slicing through the storm, tearing into flesh, and rupturing the other versions of himself.

The sound of ripping meat and shattering bone filled the air. Skin peeled away, and blood misted in the wind like crimson rain. One by one, the impostors fell—flayed and broken by Iva's desperate gambit.

"There are 99 Ivas in total. I hope you can endure it."

The mocking voice came from somewhere beyond the spinning chaos. Rosen stood outside the carousel, watching with a twisted smile etched across his face.

Among the ninety-nine figures, only one was the true Iva. The remaining ninety-eight were fragments created by the twisted properties of this spiritual painting. However, each clone housed a shard of Iva's divine consciousness, and every single one believed it was the original.

But in the end, a copy can never surpass the original.

The real Iva would inevitably outlast the others. But there was a cruel twist to this game.

At the moment Iva finally stepped off the carousel—when victory seemed within reach—all ninety-eight fragments of his divine consciousness would return to him simultaneously.

The pain he had experienced across all those fragments—the agony of torn flesh, shattered bones, and shredded nerves—would be multiplied ninety-nine times and delivered to him in a single instant.

And if he hesitated for even one second before stepping off, the carousel would reset itself, trapping him once again in an endless cycle of torment.

This was the cruel logic of the Horror Paradise.

In theory, a Sequence 3 Demigod like Iva could endure the carousel's torment. His resilience would allow him to withstand the multiplied pain and still walk away alive. Even if the carousel reset once or twice, he would likely survive.

But this wasn't just any carousel. It was an interior scene of a spiritual painting, seamlessly integrated with the properties of a Möbius Strip.

Every attempt to escape would reset time itself, throwing Iva back to the start. Thousands, tens of thousands, even millions of resets could occur. Time would loop endlessly, and Iva's divine consciousness would slowly erode until nothing remained but shattered fragments of madness.

He would neither live nor die—trapped forever in infinite agony.

Satisfied, Rosen turned away from the spinning carousel. He exited the Horror Park, closed the Void Gallery, and used a Miracle Wish to erase all traces of his presence. Then he slipped away into the shadows.

Several months later, the Hill Dwarf King ascended to become the new director of Titan Heavy Industries.

With near-limitless resources at his disposal, he advanced from Sequence 4 to Sequence 3, becoming a powerful Demigod.

During this time, Rosen integrated rare materials into the Void Gallery, enhancing it to Sequence 5.

His preparations were complete. He was ready to ascend further in the Painter Sequence.

But Rosen wasn't planning to break through in the chaotic sea. Instead, he had set his sights on the upcoming World Government Painters Association Exchange Event.

At this prestigious gathering, painters from every Sequence level would compete, and the best performers would earn exclusive skills and secrets.

After much deliberation, Rosen decided to attend the event under his true identity.

Hiding in plain sight is sometimes the safest choice.

Even a Sequence 0 Archaeologist would hesitate to publicly attack someone under the eyes of the Painters Association.

Rosen's only concern now was how to ensure his escape after the event concluded.

However, with the mysterious study and data transmission, Sequence 0 has no chance of catching him.

(End of Chapter)