Lord: Sequence Master

The Brilliant Continent, after half a year of construction, finally saw the completion of Brilliant Royal City.

Building the city's surface infrastructure took only a few days thanks to the collective efforts of numerous architects. Even with meticulous craftsmanship applied to the city's structures, the work wouldn't have taken more than a month. The remaining time was dedicated to establishing the city's defensive and offensive systems.

Without strong enough defenses, the Evil God cults would be thrilled.

Without counterattack capabilities, they'd be even happier.

The entire Brilliant Royal City spanned a hundred miles in diameter and was perfectly circular.

The outermost perimeter featured city walls towering three thousand meters high. Within the walls stood a thousand wizard towers, ranging from Sequence 6 to Sequence 4. Further inward lay various functional zones: industrial areas, residential districts, commercial hubs, entertainment sectors, and natural scenic zones.

At the very heart of Brilliant Royal City was, without a doubt, the Brilliant Royal Palace.

From the outside, the palace appeared as a five-thousand-meter-wide lake. At the center of the lake stood the city's sole Sequence 3 wizard tower. Above this tower floated the only authorized airborne structure—a floating island upon which the true royal palace was perched, overlooking the entire city.

Thanks to the wizard tower's illusion barrier, everything visible from the outside was a pre-configured illusion. However, the view from the palace remained completely unobstructed.

Together, the one thousand and one wizard towers, along with the intricate magic formations inside the city walls, formed a powerful defense system. Even a Sequence 0 assault would find it difficult to breach the city's defenses for several hours.

Of course, Brilliant Royal City couldn't withstand an attack from a true god. In the entire human world, there were only a handful of cities capable of resisting true gods without being destroyed.

During the six months of foundational construction for the kingdom, Rosen hadn't been idle either.

He had traveled extensively between newly established cities, setting up teleportation halls in each of them.

Every teleportation hall contained an initial spiritual realm.

Within these spiritual realms, teleportation arrays were built to connect different locations. Any external visitors would first be sent into the spiritual realm within the teleportation hall. If these visitors harbored malicious intentions, the realm could be immediately sealed off, minimizing potential losses.

Under normal circumstances, the wizard towers' teleportation functions would have sufficed for inter-city travel.

However, teleportation through wizard towers was costly, and the primary control of the towers always remained in the hands of the stationed wizards.

Thus, Rosen stripped most wizard towers of their teleportation privileges, forcing nearly all travel to go through the teleportation halls instead.

This arrangement was not only more secure but also far more cost-effective.

The spiritual realms within the teleportation halls all originated from Rosen's painted spiritual landscapes on the walls.

The teleportation between different spiritual landscapes was made possible through the Sequence 7 innate skill, Canvas Vault, which expanded its spatial transmission capabilities.

Rosen spared no expense, ensuring that each teleportation hall housed at least a Sequence 3 spiritual realm painting.

Beyond facilitating communication between cities, these teleportation halls were, in essence, alternative galleries.

He aimed to use the gallery within the teleportation halls to directly influence and strengthen the artistic faith within the Brilliant Kingdom.

Of course, the teleportation halls were primarily for domestic travel. For cross-border and intercontinental transportation, special long-range portals were built and seamlessly integrated into the city walls, meaning that any arrivals from outside would be transported directly to the city gates.

At that moment, groups of ordinary people, many with their families, were continuously arriving at the city gates via these portals.

Everyone carried a pre-distributed smart wristband, provided free of charge. These wristbands allowed access to the Brilliant Kingdom's virtual network and served as each individual's identification, specifying their place of residence and pre-assigned jobs.

The royal city had a capacity for twenty million residents, evenly split between incoming migrants and original citizens.

The remaining population was redirected through the teleportation halls to other major cities and surrounding small towns. Everyone eagerly threw themselves into work because nothing they now possessed came without a cost.

While the loans were interest-free, they had specific repayment deadlines.

Those who applied to live in the royal city but lacked any particular skills would soon find themselves unable to repay their loans and face expulsion.

Half a year passed in the blink of an eye, and the entire Brilliant Continent was now full of vitality.

The mountains were covered with lush forests, countless wild animals, and low-tier extraordinary creatures thriving in the wilderness. Farmlands surrounded the towns, and cattle and sheep roamed freely across the grasslands beyond.

With peace and stability in people's hearts, Rosen knew it was time to officially establish the kingdom.

The standard procedure required the crown to gather the faith of the people, the throne to ignite the kingdom-level civilization flame, and finally, the scepter to establish the newly-born royal authority within the territory—only then would the kingdom be officially recognized by the World Government.

At precisely six in the morning, all the smart wristbands worn by the Brilliant Kingdom's citizens began vibrating.

The billions of citizens, already aware that today marked the kingdom's founding, stepped out of their homes. The adults stood in the streets, facing the direction of Brilliant Royal City, and collectively knelt on one knee. Following the prompts from their wristbands, they began reciting their oaths of allegiance in unison.

"I hereby renounce my loyalty to my former nation and pledge my unwavering allegiance to the Brilliant Kingdom..."

"I will defend the Brilliant Kingdom and offer my loyalty to the great King Howard..."

"..."

As the ceremony unfolded, the crown atop Rosen's head began to absorb the faith of all his subjects.

Behind the throne, the civilization flame began to flicker and ignite.

The people's reverence for royal authority stirred the world's fundamental law of royal dominion, causing it to descend upon the Brilliant Continent. The royal decree enveloped every town and city, marking the formal establishment of the kingdom.

At this critical juncture, following the advice of the Star Coin King, Rosen activated the Fallen Tarot Card of the Holy Grail King.

Standing beside him, Farrah also activated the Fallen Tarot Card of the Holy Grail Queen.

The Holy Grail Crown enveloped the crown on his head. The Royal Sword of the Grail devoured the scepter in his hand. Lastly, the Source Grail was embedded behind the throne, absorbing the newly ignited civilization flame. At that moment, the dormant power of the Holy Grail King was fully awakened.

Rosen carefully sensed the changes—the powers of the three divine rights had become significantly stronger.

Previously, the Holy Grail Crown could only lock life points and endlessly heal all injuries by consuming faith.

Now, as long as Rosen remained within the Brilliant Kingdom, he was in a state of near-invincibility.

Unless an enemy destroyed the entire Brilliant Kingdom, he was immune to any harm.

The Royal Sword of Sovereignty previously allowed limited rule-setting through the authority of royal dominion. However, Rosen could now wield nearly all rule authorities within the Brilliant Kingdom. Unless a true god appeared, not even a Sequence 0 entity could contest his dominion over these rules.

Lastly, the Source Grail, which originally absorbed faith to strengthen its source essence, had now become even more powerful. It could now consume faith to enhance the extraordinary source essence of his subjects. More significantly, Rosen could instantly destroy the enhanced source essence of these subjects with a mere thought.

These changes were not limited to the kingdom; they also extended beyond its borders. All of these abilities could be fully realized within his Divine Domain.

Rosen could also sense that the Holy Grail King Card was currently enhancing and nurturing new cards. The Holy Grail Queen Card was being strengthened, while new cards were being nurtured: the Holy Grail Knight, the Holy Grail Attendant, and ten numbered Holy Grail Cards. All these cards would eventually reach Sequence 1 quality.

A total of fourteen Sequence 1 miracle cards—no wonder even true gods coveted their power.

With the nation's founding ceremony complete, the Brilliant Kingdom commenced a three-day celebration.

Rosen was initially expected to tour major cities across the country, but he was too busy strengthening the Holy Grail Queen Card. He delegated the task to a divine incarnation instead. By the end of the three days, the Holy Grail Queen Card successfully advanced to Sequence 1.

[Miracle · Source Essence · Divinity · Holy Grail Queen: Fallen Tarot Card]

[Rank: Sequence 1]

[Attributes: The Holy Grail Queen grants divinity with water attributes and can command the Holy Grail sequence minor arcana cards]

[True God Authorities: Focus, Charm, Loyalty, Intuition, Dreams, Fallen Grail]

Overall, the surface attributes had not changed much, except that divine authority had been upgraded to true god authority.

However, the Fallen Grail had been significantly enhanced. It no longer required the reduction of spiritual intensity to strengthen source bloodlines.

With this strengthened Fallen Grail, Rosen's awakening progress of his Ancient God bloodline was bound to accelerate dramatically.

With the kingdom's founding complete in the real world, the Brilliant Kingdom in the Ancient God Realm immediately began its own establishment process.

Since the Ancient God Realm was secure, founding a nation did not require massive effort in city construction. The process was even easier than in the real world. With 30 billion citizens joining, the power of the Holy Grail King Card grew stronger. What was originally expected to take decades to achieve—the birth of the Holy Grail Knight—occurred within mere days.

[Miracle · Source Essence · Divinity · Holy Grail Knight: Fallen Tarot Card]

[Rank: Sequence 1]

[Attributes: The Holy Grail Knight can consume faith to confer a Holy Grail Knight Sequence equivalent to divine strength]

[True God Authority 1: Loyalty — The loyalty of the Holy Grail Knight permanently enhances the Holy Grail King's overall capabilities]

[True God Authority 2: Fate — The Holy Grail Knight can lock onto all life forms hostile to the Holy Grail King]

[True God Authority 3: Art — The Holy Grail Knight can inherit artistic sequence skills from the Holy Grail King]

Rosen examined the Holy Grail Knight's attributes, his heart filled with unease.

If the Holy Grail Knight Card could truly confer a Holy Grail Knight Sequence, then based on his current divine strength, he could theoretically confer at least 82 Holy Grail Knight Sequences.

However, as far as Rosen knew, Pompey was only a candidate for the Scepter Knight. Could it be that even Sequence 1 individuals were merely candidates and not qualified to be formally conferred as Scepter Knights? Just how many powerful beings were under the command of the Scepter King?

On second thought, Rosen figured he might be overthinking things.

Even if the Scepter King was a true god, it was impossible for him to have conferred over a hundred Sequence 0 Scepter Knights. Rosen estimated that the Scepter King probably had only a few Sequence 0 Scepter Knights at most, with the rest being Sequence 1. As for why Pompey was just a candidate, it was likely because the number of formal Scepter Knights had already reached the limit.

Unless one of them fell, candidates like Pompey would never be promoted.

It wasn't that Sequence 1s were unqualified to be Scepter Knights; it was simply that the slots for Scepter Knights were already full.

Rosen decisively contacted the Coin King through the Spirit Realm Deep Web to inquire about this matter.

The Coin King was a bit surprised but still suggested conferring Holy Grail Knights.

By becoming part of the Holy Grail Knight Sequence, the Source Grail's enhancement effect on their extraordinary source would be significantly amplified. This gave those stuck at Sequence 2 in the Knight Sequence a chance to advance to Sequence 1. Many Sequence 2 knights would voluntarily seek to become Holy Grail Knights for this reason.

The Coin King also advised Rosen to reserve a few slots for nurturing promising candidates who could potentially become Sequence 0 knights in the future.

If a Holy Grail Knight advanced to Sequence 0, it would bring immense benefits to the Holy Grail King.

Finally, the Coin King even provided Rosen with a list.

This list contained individuals from the Knight Sequence who were stuck at Sequence 2 without a clear path forward. This was undoubtedly a generous gift, signaling the Coin King's intention to win Rosen over.

It was clear that the remaining three kings of the King Organization were not fully united.

Rosen immediately began selecting candidates for Holy Grail Knight conferment. He naturally prioritized his own followers, as knights he had cultivated himself would likely have greater potential and loyalty.

Additionally, conferring knights of lower sequences consumed less faith during the process.

A few days later, Rosen prepared to conduct the first batch of conferments.

There were only five knights in this batch, with the weakest at Sequence 8 and the strongest at Sequence 5. He didn't prioritize talent but instead valued their unwavering faith, which had nearly reached the level of sainthood. Each knight knelt on one knee, eagerly awaiting the king's conferment.

"Rien Collins..."

"John Smith..."

"Charlie Brown..."

"Henry Thompson..."

"David Robertson..."

"I confer upon you the title of Holy Grail Knights. May you become the sturdiest sword and shield of the Brilliant Kingdom..."

As Rosen spoke, he activated the Holy Grail Knight Card, conferring the title upon all five knights simultaneously.

Black-gold light enveloped the five knights, twisting and transforming their extraordinary source essence. Rosen quietly used the Miracle Spark to permanently enhance their innate fate.

All five had their innate fate strengthened to Sequence 3. Further advancement would depend on their postnatal fortune, which wouldn't be difficult to address. Rosen had already prepared full sets of Holy Grail Knight equipment, including mounts. Their innate fate would eventually be upgraded to Sequence 0 step by step.

After the conferment and all enhancements were complete, Rosen examined the attributes of the Holy Grail Knights.

Essentially, they remained within the Knight Sequence. However, Holy Grail Knights inherited the three true god authorities from the card. Additionally, all their Knight Sequence skills received about a 10% base boost, which accumulated into a significant advantage at the same level.

After careful consideration, Rosen also had the five Holy Grail Knights merge with Yinglong dragon blood.

Using the power of dragon blood, he transformed them into Dragonblood Holy Grail Knights.

He then sent them to the Dragon Realm, where they could hunt dragon beasts to enhance their strength and tame dragons as mounts. Thanks to their unwavering faith, Rosen shared the power of the Primordial Oil Lamp with the Holy Grail Knights through the mental network.

Even with a diminished effect, it was enough to grant them terrifying growth rates.

With the training of Holy Grail Knights now on track, Rosen began preparing to face the kingdom's trial for establishment.

Every new civilization's spark of origin inevitably faced a test from the Main World.

Recently, Rosen had clearly sensed more and more extraordinary and ash-born lifeforms gathering in the seas near Brilliant Continent. In less than half a month, the Brilliant Kingdom would face its first war since its establishment.

Defeat was out of the question, but the key was how much it would cost to secure victory.

Rosen wasn't one to sit back and take hits, so he decided to strike first.

He quickly arrived at the highest point of the mountain range on the edge of Brilliant Continent. Within the territory empowered by the rule of royal authority, he activated the Heart of the Ancient God and transformed into a ten-thousand-meter-tall giant. Holding the equally enlarged Dragon's Wrath, he began sniping all approaching lifeforms from an ultra-long distance.

However, the Brilliant Continent was far too vast, and his sniping range barely covered a tenth of the coastline.

So he also deployed the Undead Empress, who constantly parasitized nearby lifeforms beneath the sea to create undead.

Lastly, he dispatched all the kingdom's forces, including treants, wood elves, ash bees, metal slimes, shadow demons, vampires, and extraordinary citizens forming various sequence armies. The massive force began sweeping across all lifeforms around the Brilliant Kingdom.

After several days, the coastal waters had turned dark red.

Rosen's side had also suffered significant casualties, but overall, their combat strength had greatly increased.

Thanks to the Undead Empress, dozens of Sequence 3 extraordinary sea beasts and ash-born lifeforms had been parasitized in just a few days.

Indeed, the best strategy against the Zerg was a decapitation strike. While an ordinary Empress required a long time to nurture Sequence 3-level Zerg, the Undead Empress could easily parasitize Sequence 3 extraordinary lifeforms using seventh-turn soul eggs, transforming them into undead of the same level.

The brutal battle lasted a full three months before the extraordinary lifeforms from the deep sea finally retreated.

Normally, the Main World's trials for new civilizations lasted no more than a month.

However, Rosen's proactive assault prevented the coastal extraordinary lifeforms from gathering in sufficient numbers to invade the Brilliant Continent. As a result, they charged forward relentlessly for three months until the surrounding sea life was nearly wiped out, forcing the trial to end prematurely.

Rosen stowed the now-smoking barrel of Dragon's Wrath and began tallying the losses and gains.

Ranged units had lost less than 10%, while melee units suffered over 30% casualties. Typically, kingdom trials involved defending cities in a war of attrition, so it was inevitable that Rosen's aggressive counteroffensive into the sea would incur losses.

Despite the significant casualties, the gains were even greater. Every participant received enough spoils to advance by one sequence level.

Lastly, the Undead Empress had forcibly parasitized and converted over 2,000 Sequence 3 undead and six Sequence 2 undead.

However, these were all oceanic undead, unsuitable for long-term deployment on land in the Undead Continent. So Rosen sent them all into the deep sea to form a defensive line protecting the Brilliant Continent's coast.

Rosen thought he could finally take a break, but more matters demanded his attention.

He needed to establish professional guilds for each sequence, cultivate artificial sources for potion materials, and handle countless other tasks that kept him constantly on the move.

After several exhausting months, Rosen finally couldn't take it anymore.

"Farrah, I'm leaving the Brilliant Kingdom to you…" Rosen said emotionally, holding her close.

"You seem off," Farrah said suspiciously, eyeing Rosen.

"Not at all. I just found the core material for the Sequence 3 Hunter potion…" Rosen lied without hesitation.

Without giving Farrah time to react, Rosen bid farewell and left the Brilliant Continent through data transmission.

Although his primary reason for leaving was to escape managing the kingdom, he wasn't lying — he had indeed found the Hunter Sequence 3 potion material. He just didn't urgently need it at the moment.

(End of Chapter)