Lord: Sequence Master

"They're coming..."

Through the torrential rain and flashes of lightning, Rosen saw thunderclouds gradually gathering above Thunder Bay.

The Storm Thunderbirds were driving and compressing the thunderclouds, creating a suitable environment for laying eggs.

Compared to those in the Natural Rainforest of the Thunder Empire, the Storm Thunderbirds here were far stronger.

Most were Sequence 4, and a significant number even reached Sequence 3.

For these Thunderbirds, the Storm Canyon was an ideal habitat.

If it weren't for the limitations of their bloodline, they wouldn't have been confined to the outskirts of the canyon.

It took less than half a day for the thunderclouds to be driven and compressed, turning the rain into liquid lightning plasma.

At that moment, several hidden demi-gods simultaneously revealed themselves.

A Sequence 3 Storm Thunderbird descended from the sky.

These demi-gods approached it, each offering vast quantities of extraordinary resources beneficial for raising Thunderbird chicks.

The Thunderbird accepted the resources and, in return, distributed feathers of varying quantities to the demi-gods.

This scene surprised Rosen, as well as two other demi-gods who had come for the first time.

So hunting Storm Thunderbirds was just a front—trading extraordinary resources for them was the real deal.

Rosen quickly understood: this was likely a compromise reached after countless conflicts.

Outsiders came to Thunder Bay targeting the Thunderbirds.

No matter how fiercely the Thunderbirds resisted, their eggs would be taken, and many of them would be killed.

On the other hand, the demi-gods likely suffered casualties too, reducing their overall harvest.

Eventually, it seemed that a strong Thunderbird had negotiated a truce with the demi-gods.

If they wanted eggs, they could trade extraordinary resources for them.

This reduced Thunderbird casualties while providing them with resources to help their young grow stronger.

Though the eggs taken lost their freedom, it could also be seen as a way for the Thunderbirds to spread their lineage beyond the canyon.

Meanwhile, the demi-gods, though paying a price, secured more eggs without the dangers of conflict.

It was a win-win compromise that only demi-gods who had visited Thunder Bay before knew about.

But Rosen had no intention of coming back for a second trip.

He planned to capture enough Thunderbirds in one go.

A vast number of Thunderbirds descended upon Thunder Bay, preparing to lay their eggs.

At that moment, Rosen transformed into a Divine Punishment Dragon using his Primordial Divine Form and shot up from the depths of the bay.

The silence of a thunderous dragon roar—

The soundless dragon chant, originating from Yinglong, reverberated through the storm.

Countless Storm Thunderbirds lost consciousness and plummeted from the sky.

All of the fallen Thunderbirds landed within Rosen's expanded Beast King Domain.

With the Beast King Divine Authority, he could forcibly tame extraordinary beings with divine strength lower than his own.

The subdued Thunderbirds were immediately sealed in suspended time and transported into the Historic Dragon Nest.

The Beast King Domain could easily tame Sequence 4 Storm Thunderbirds, but taming Sequence 3 Thunderbirds was much more difficult. Due to limitations in divine power, Rosen could only tame around eighty Thunderbirds at a time, and the process consumed a significant amount of his divine energy.

However, with the time energy stored within the Time Divinity Core, Rosen could reverse time to restore his divine power to its peak state.

This allowed him to continuously tame Sequence 4 Thunderbirds. For the Sequence 3 Thunderbirds that escaped his taming attempts, the Nightmare Shackles, embedded with Dragon Binding Cords and the Tower of Time, automatically ensnared their necks, disabling their resistance.

In less than a minute, Rosen had captured over a thousand Storm Thunderbirds—all females preparing to lay eggs.

This act enraged the male Thunderbirds driving the thunderclouds.

Countless bolts of lightning locked onto Rosen and descended from the sky, terrifying the other demi-gods at Thunder Bay, who dared not approach.

Yet the lightning bolts that struck Rosen were completely ineffective, vanishing without a trace.

Yinglong naturally wielded the Divine Authority of Storm and Lightning, which, though considered a subsidiary of the Creation Authority, still granted him near-immunity to lightning attacks. Even the residual damage posed no threat to the Primordial Divine Body and the Yinglong's Immortal Form.

Realizing this, the Thunderbirds halted their attacks and parted to the sides.

From deep within the thunderclouds, an enormous, sky-darkening Storm Thunderbird emerged.

This Thunderbird barely retained the appearance of a flesh-and-blood creature. Its wings were entirely composed of liquid lightning, and over half of its body had transformed into pure energy, with only its head and heart remaining corporeal.

"A Sequence 2 Beast King..."

Rosen's pupils narrowed slightly.

Beast Kings could vary greatly in nature.

The Sea Dragon King, which Rosen had hunted before, was merely a solitary Beast King. It could forcibly command extraordinary creatures, but they offered little support, serving only as cannon fodder.

However, there was another kind of Beast King—one born among countless kin, akin to a sovereign lord.

This type of Beast King could amplify its power using the collective strength of its kin. Such a Beast King was far superior to ordinary titled demi-gods and could rival the forbidden Sequence entities that broke traditional boundaries.

A deep blue lightning bolt descended from the sky at near-light speed, locking onto Rosen without giving him any chance to dodge.

Rosen's wing was directly scorched, feathers scattering in the wind.

Half of his right wing turned to charcoal.

The lightning strike had been so fast that even with time acceleration and the Guardian Parry skill granted by his Holy Grail Knights, he barely managed to block it.

The destructive power contained in that strike was far beyond Sequence 2.

This Storm Thunderbird was likely the most formidable opponent Rosen had ever faced in direct combat.

Reversing time, Rosen fully healed the injuries to his wings.

He stopped trying to tank the damage head-on.

With Vengeance Judgment already activated, and under time acceleration, Rosen entered an unpredictable pattern of high-speed movement and flashing through infinite voids using Void Gun Dance, completely denying the Thunderbird a chance to lock onto him.

At the same time, Rosen activated the Weapon Mastery miracle feature: Weapon Adaptation.

Dragon God's Wrath transformed from a firearm suited for human hands into a spiraled, hollow dragon horn mounted atop his head.

The Dragon God's Roar Shell fired instantly, swirling with layers of miraculous halos. The energy-packed bullet, infused with all of Rosen's skills, transformed into a blazing dragon that struck the Storm Thunderbird Beast King under accelerated time. The energy shell rapidly expanded, turning into a fireball of dragon's breath that engulfed a hundred-mile radius.

The outer shell of the fireball was formed by the World Domain, with dozens of fused authorities creating an impenetrable suppression over the entire Storm Thunderbird flock. Thunderbirds below Sequence 3 were almost instantly vaporized, transforming into black loot orbs. Only a few hundred Sequence 3 Storm Thunderbirds barely survived the fiery inferno.

The Beast King let out a despairing screech as its massive body began dissolving rapidly. All remaining flesh vanished, and its entire form became pure energy. However, this forced transformation was unstable and unsustainable. The Beast King's enormous figure shrank instantly to a mere one-meter wingspan, morphing into a golden flash of lightning that dove straight toward Rosen.

Rosen did his best to evade, but the Beast King in this state was even faster than him. Realizing escape was impossible, Rosen immediately activated all his defensive abilities.

He layered defenses upon himself: the Guard Block and Glory Shield shared from the Holy Grail Knights, the Holy Grail Crown's life-locking feature, the Elemental Immunity from the Fairy Dragon Pearl, the Light Walker and Holy Light Guardian from the Sacred Lion Cloak, along with the World Domain and hardened coverage formed by the Life Origin Qi.

With every defense stacked, Rosen swung his right wing, colliding directly with the Storm Thunderbird Beast King. The bird's indestructible beak tore through layer after layer of defenses.

Finally, the Beast King pierced through Rosen's dragon scales and drilled into his heart, where it unleashed all its storm thunder power. Rosen's body was incinerated from the inside, shattered by the storm until it was nearly reduced to ashes.

Only his head, protected tightly by condensed Qi, remained somewhat intact. Even so, through the charred skull, the writhing of his brain could still be seen. Were it not for the Holy Grail Crown's life-locking effect, Rosen would have been severely injured.

With the combined recovery effects of the Holy Grail Crown, Qi Regeneration, the Ancient God's Divine Body, and the Undying Dragon Physique, Rosen's body began rapidly regenerating. His shattered, carbonized form visibly regrew before the Beast King's eyes.

Seeing this scene, the Beast King, undeterred, launched another fierce charge. Although its speed and power had weakened significantly, it still possessed a destructive force that Rosen had previously been unable to withstand.

But now, things were different. Rosen's newly formed right wing directly blocked the Beast King's attack.

Rosen had never felt this powerful before. The greater the strength disparity with an enemy, the higher the damage amplification from the Vengeance Judgment. The more severe the injuries sustained, the stronger the power boost from the Undying Dragon Physique. Paired with the Holy Grail Crown's life-locking effect, these three abilities formed a perfect closed-loop.

Rosen's speed grew increasingly faster as he began relentlessly hunting down the Storm Thunderbird Beast King amidst the raging storm.

The Beast King, whose previous attack had been blocked, now realized that the dragon before it was an adversary it could never defeat. Without hesitation, it turned and fled toward the depths of Storm Canyon, enduring the oppressive dragon roars that shook its divine essence and the repeated strikes of the Dragon God's Roar Shells.

Meanwhile, the various semi-divine beings hiding in Thunder Bay fled desperately in every direction, seizing this final opportunity to escape regardless of who would emerge victorious.

Under Rosen's relentless pursuit, the Beast King's body grew increasingly larger, indicating the rapid depletion of its divine power. Gradually, it became unable to maintain its compressed and refined energy form.

The larger the form, the weaker the strength. The backlash from its previous complete energy transformation had finally arrived, pushing the Beast King toward utter collapse.

Rosen seized the perfect moment, using Void Blink to intercept the Storm Thunderbird Beast King.

The instant the World Domain expanded, it clashed with the Storm Domain unleashed by the Beast King. However, the World Domain, fortified by dozens of fused rule authorities, far outclassed the Storm Domain in strength. The Beast King was instantly trapped inside. Before it could tear through the domain, Rosen activated his prepared move—Dragon Devours the Heavens—and swallowed the entire World Domain in one gulp.

No matter how much the Beast King struggled within, it couldn't escape Rosen's stomach.

Rosen's strongest body part, aside from his heart, was undoubtedly his stomach. While his heart housed the Ancient God's Core, his stomach had been transformed by the Gluttony Authority. Strengthened by the Undying Dragon Physique and the Ancient God Body, it also contained the fused Gluttony Rune Stone, forming an infinite 87-layered Gluttonous Trap World.

If the Beast King had been at its peak, it might have stood a chance of breaking free. But now, it only grew weaker by the second until it was doomed to be digested completely.

By the time Rosen returned to Thunder Bay, there were no living Storm Thunderbirds left in sight. It was clear that the surviving birds had seized the opportunity to flee. Chasing after them now would only yield a few hundred captures at most.

It was pointless to continue waiting here. He needed to head elsewhere to capture more Storm Thunderbirds.

The outer regions of Storm Canyon were vast, and Thunder Bay was just one of many nesting grounds. While Thunder Bay was relatively safe, the other sites were far more perilous. Still, those outer dangers posed no significant threat to Rosen.

After several years of effort, Rosen had captured over ten thousand Storm Thunderbirds. He could have captured even more, but his aggressive hunting had unexpectedly attracted the attention of a Sequence 1 Storm Thunderbird Beast King. After several encounters, neither side gained the upper hand. Foreseeing imminent danger, Rosen wisely withdrew in time.

Rosen understood perfectly well that Storm Thunderbirds weren't the greatest threat in Storm Canyon. The true danger lay in the cults of the evil gods lurking within.

During his third encounter with the Sequence 1 Beast King, he had clearly sensed someone watching him from the shadows. This realization prompted his timely retreat—otherwise, he might have walked straight into an ambush by the cult's powerful forces.

In the Ancient God Realms, Rosen found a suitable lake on the Dark Continent.

Over the years, the Vengeance Judgment had amassed tens of thousands of black loot orbs, all dropped by Storm Thunderbirds. Naturally, these contained storm and lightning-related extraordinary materials and artifacts. With such an overwhelming quantity, Rosen set aside some premium resources for his knights and decided to merge the rest into the lake.

While the Ancient God Realms lacked an environment akin to Storm Canyon, it was possible to artificially recreate the Thunder Empire's natural rainforest ecosystem.

Rosen directly wielded the Creation Power of the Void from the Yinglong lineage, deconstructing all the storm and lightning-attributed materials and artifacts. Using the extracted essences, he crafted a miniature world with the lake at its core.

In the end, the once nameless lake expanded into a vast sea. Endless storm clouds and tempests roamed its skies.

All the Storm Thunderbirds, released from their temporal seals, had already been subdued by the Nightmare Shackles. The tens of thousands of birds obediently laid over a hundred thousand eggs while working hard to adapt to their new environment.

The eggs were transported to Paradise Pharmaceuticals, where the hatch success rate reached an impressive 90%.

All the female birds and a select few males were returned to the Storm Thunderbird habitat to expand their population. The remaining majority of male birds were sufficient to arm at least sixty thousand Storm Thunderbird Knights, a number that nearly surpassed the total count in the Thunder Empire.

With his primary objective in Storm Canyon accomplished, Rosen wasn't in a rush to leave.

Over the past few years, he had discovered two peculiar developments related to him.

The first was the Sea God's Fragmented Ring—he had sensed the presence of other fragments.

The second involved the Dragon Blood Flask and the Potion Flask. Through the Miracle Pocket, he detected the existence of other flasks within Storm Canyon.

Rosen was most intrigued by the search for these flasks. After all, the series had originated from crafting the very first potion, making them miracle treasures of immeasurable value. If he could collect an entire set, the potential benefits would be unimaginable.

However, for some reason, he could only sense the presence of a flask in Storm Canyon but couldn't pinpoint its exact location.

With no other choice, Rosen shifted his attention to the Sea God's Fragmented Ring.

He had set keyword alerts on major networks to track information about the ring.

Surprisingly, neither the Spirit Realm Deep Web nor the Gods' Network yielded any results.

That's definitely odd, Rosen thought, sensing that someone had deliberately erased all public records of the Sea God's Fragmented Ring.

He then shifted to researching the Sea God, only to find something even stranger—there had been numerous gods throughout history claiming the title of Sea God, all at Sequence 0.

Yet, none of them had ever ascended to True Godhood, at least not according to historical records.

How's that possible? Rosen frowned. The main body of the Primary World was the vast ocean. It made no sense for no one to have ascended to True Godhood within such a significant domain.

The only plausible explanation was that the oceanic domain had long since birthed a True God—possibly even a Great True God. This would have blocked any subsequent contenders from ascending through oceanic authority and explained the deliberate erasure of all records about the Sea God's Fragmented Ring.

Rosen had long suspected that the ring was no simple trinket.

Like the Holy Grail King, the Sea God's Fragmented Ring stood apart from other miracle treasures.

Most miracle treasures only possessed miracle properties and characteristics.

But the Sea God's Fragmented Ring and the Holy Grail King both granted the power to wield divine authorities.

It was already certain that the Holy Grail King was tied to a Great True God—otherwise, it wouldn't be worth three True Gods meticulously plotting the initiation of the King's Game.

By that logic, it wasn't hard to imagine that the Sea God's Fragmented Ring might be similarly linked to a Great True God.

Thus, upon detecting another Sea God's Fragmented Ring, Rosen couldn't help but be drawn to it like a moth to a flame.

Still, he wasn't being reckless. The other holders of the fragmented rings lacked the Miracle Pocket and might not even sense the presence of other fragments. Even if they had some way to locate the rings, Rosen habitually stored his own ring in the Mysterious Study Room.

Several months later, Rosen successfully approached the location of the first sensed fragment.

However, the closer he got, the more he noticed an increasing number of godspawn gathering nearby.

This raised a suspicion—could the Sea God's Fragmented Ring he sought be in the same location as the alchemical laboratory of Viska, which the godspawn were hunting for?

If true, it was a double-edged revelation.

The good news was that the ring had no current owner.

The bad news was that acquiring it wouldn't be simple.

Rosen could easily sweep through ordinary godspawn. What concerned him were the elite among them.

Even the most ordinary godspawn had at least one Sequence 0 backing them. Killing a few during a treasure dispute would likely result in several Sequence 0 enemies appearing out of thin air.

I absolutely can't reveal my true identity, Rosen thought grimly.

Maintaining his Heavenly Punishment Dragon form, Rosen prepped a scapegoat for any godspawn he might need to kill.

(End of Chapter)