Lord: Sequence Master

In front of the Main God Computer, Rosen continuously searched for virtual realms related to time manipulation.

The nearly forgotten boss had a vast collection stored in the computer:

Movies like Edge of Tomorrow, Source Code, Triangle, and even Harry Potter's Time-Turner or Marvel's Time Stone.

TV series such as Reset and My Date with a Vampire.

Games like the Xuanyuan Sword and Chinese Paladin series, both featuring time-related powers.

And in the world of anime, there were Detective Conan, Naruto, Doraemon, and others—all of which included elements involving time manipulation.

First, Rosen eliminated options he couldn't activate at his current level. Marvel and Doraemon were too high-end and required abilities beyond his reach, so they were dismissed early.

The Dragon Vein from Naruto's movie seemed feasible, while Harry Potter's magical setting had some interesting potential but was confined to a limited world. Triangle and Source Code revolved around restricted scenes, and Reset had similar confined settings. My Date with a Vampire came with complications related to destiny, which made it less appealing.

Rosen narrowed his choices to Source Code, Triangle, Harry Potter, Reset, Naruto: The Lost Tower, and Detective Conan. After further consideration, Conan was eliminated due to its sprawling length and unfinished story. Source Code was also ruled out, as it mainly involved a virtual world, which wasn't conducive to his goals.

Triangle offered an intriguing premise but lacked the peaceful atmosphere he desired for his painting practice.

While Harry Potter had strong game-breaking magic, it would be expensive to activate.

Finally, Rosen settled on Reset—a show with no extraordinary powers aside from the time loop itself, making it easier to activate and less spiritually draining.

Reset centered around the protagonist, Li Shiqing, who repeatedly experienced a bus explosion while crossing a bridge, constantly looping back in time to the moment before the explosion. Together with the male lead, she worked to identify the culprit and stop the tragedy from recurring.

Given that Reset was a TV series, it contained many static frames or "keys" compared to a movie, which had fewer. The scenes were simple, and the cast was limited, making it easier for Rosen to create a virtual realm.

After several virtual realm activations, Rosen had learned that the complexity of scenes, the number of characters, and the presence of extraordinary powers all determined the difficulty of activation.

Time manipulation realms were particularly challenging, and if powerful abilities were involved, the difficulty increased exponentially.

After half a month of effort, Rosen completed drawing the static frames for Reset. Upon arriving in Shafiq State, he used the financial resources of the Shafiq Family to distribute these keys, successfully creating the virtual realm in just five days.

This particular realm was unique. It consumed no spiritual energy when idle, but activating the time loop required spiritual crystals. The amount of spiritual energy consumed depended on Rosen's sequence rank.

At Sequence 8, activating a single day of the time loop cost Rosen 100 units of spiritual crystals, and within the realm, he couldn't restore his energy without relying on these crystals.

Rosen estimated that running a three-year time loop, factoring in the spiritual energy for painting and mental exercises, would cost at least two million spiritual crystals. Most of the cost would go toward energy restoration.

Still, the expenditure was acceptable to Rosen, given the accelerated practice it would provide.

He integrated the Time Loop Realm into his Divine Domain, placing it in his bedroom for easy access. After preloading 500,000 spiritual crystals, Rosen eagerly entered the realm.

In the blink of an eye, he found himself a passenger on Bus 45. Li Shiqing, the protagonist, sat in front of him, her head tilted as though experiencing a nightmare, drenched in sweat.

From his understanding of the narrative, Rosen knew that Li Shiqing was about to wake up and experience the time loop once more. Upon awakening, she would attempt to get off the bus, drawing the male lead into the loop as well, leading to the start of their search for the perpetrator.

However, this progression didn't suit Rosen's need for peace and quiet. Since the loop was dependent on Li Shiqing's death to reset, having others involved would complicate things.

Rosen reached from behind, gently shaking Li Shiqing's shoulder to wake her. As she stirred, Rosen pulled her into the Void Gallery.

Suddenly, the familiar yet terrifying Bus 45 vanished, replaced by the serene gallery filled with paintings. Rather than panic, Li Shiqing sighed in relief. After experiencing the time loop multiple times, the sudden change in scenery was a welcome relief compared to another explosion.

While her body remained unharmed with each reset, the vivid memory of being blown apart lingered.

Feeling safe in this new environment, she began exploring the gallery, admiring the various paintings as she wandered deeper inside.

After what felt like hours, her stomach growled. Spotting some fruit on a nearby table, she cautiously picked up an apple and began nibbling on it, gradually gaining more confidence when Rosen showed no reaction.

Eventually, exhaustion overtook her, and Li Shiqing felt the urge to sleep.

Rosen glanced at her momentarily but did nothing to stop her. He knew that once she fell asleep, the time loop would reset, but he wasn't concerned about the extra spiritual energy required.

In an instant, Rosen was back on the bus, though Li Shiqing didn't immediately wake from her nightmare this time.

He swiftly pulled her back into the Void Gallery and resumed his work, meticulously practicing his Mind Canvas technique.

Days passed, and as Li Shiqing's fear subsided, she began cautiously asking Rosen questions, though she received no response.

After numerous failed attempts to get closer to him, she gave up. She resigned herself to quietly watching Rosen paint each day, and over time, she too began experimenting with the spare brushes and paper left in the studio.

Every time she woke up, there was always food on the table, though she eventually realized that it, too, was painted.

Over the next three years, Li Shiqing adapted to her strange life. Though there was no internet or television, the endless, mysterious paintings provided her with endless fascination.

She had also discovered that Rosen wasn't projecting images with a machine—he was using his eyes to create the projections. The studio, filled with painted images, became her home as she learned to navigate this bizarre world.

One day, like many others, Li Shiqing prepared dinner. Though Rosen rarely joined her to eat, today, he took a seat.

Feeling a small surge of joy, she watched him eat the vegetables she had prepared. Though he preferred meat, he couldn't refuse her offerings. As they dined, Rosen's focus remained on his craft, but the quiet companionship they shared had developed into a rhythm over time.

For three years, Rosen hadn't spoken to Li Shiqing. This was part of a unique method for practicing Mind Canvas. In this ability, the word "mind" was the key, but understanding someone's mind—let alone one's own—was no easy task. Language, by nature, is filled with deceit. Unless someone is incapable of lying, no one speaks the absolute truth all the time. Even small, kind lies are not the true intentions of the heart.

Thus, for three years, Rosen refrained from any verbal communication with Li Shiqing, treating the silence as a form of meditative practice, much like the silent reflection monks often undertake.

Eventually, because it became boring for her to speak alone, Li Shiqing also fell into silence. Their communication was limited to mere observations and occasional eye contact, creating a purer, more genuine connection.

After these three years of wordless interaction, with Li Shiqing's presence and cooperation, Rosen's Mind Canvas finally reached Level 3.

At this level, as soon as Rosen made eye contact with Li Shiqing, his Mind Canvas ability would instantly reveal her true thoughts. Additionally, he could project his own thoughts into her mind through that same eye contact.

Projecting his thoughts was relatively simple, but reflecting another person's mind onto his mental canvas was much more difficult. This was only feasible with Li Shiqing because she was an ordinary person. If she were supernatural, capturing her thoughts would have been far more complex.

In the future, as Rosen combined this skill with other extraordinary abilities and leveled it up further, Mind Canvas would also work on supernatural beings, potentially allowing Rosen to glimpse into the minds of even powerful entities.

After finishing his meal, for the first time in three years, Rosen didn't sit back down. Instead, he walked over to Li Shiqing, bent down, and lifted her in a princess carry.

"I want you," Rosen said softly, gazing into her eyes as he carried her toward the bedroom.

That night, Rosen made Li Shiqing cry and bleed, a mixture of raw emotion and physical intensity. They spent hours together, finally breaking the silence that had stretched over the years. For the first time, they talked—about everything.

Li Shiqing's pent-up questions were answered, and though she was somewhat angry at having been ignored for three long years, she was also grateful. She realized she had escaped the nightmarish time loop, and in its place, she had found love that made her heart race.

The next afternoon, Rosen brought Li Shiqing to his Divine Domain, where she was transformed into a resident. She clung tightly to Rosen's arm as they stood on the terrace of the castle, gazing out at the fantastical landscape of his domain.

For Li Shiqing, the future was an entirely new world, full of opportunities and possibilities.

"What kind of sequence do you want to choose?" Rosen asked as they sat together on a rocking chair, relaxing on the terrace.

"A sequence where I can make delicious food," Li Shiqing blurted out.

Rosen understood. For her, the happiest moments were when they ate together, and she wished to preserve that joy.

The best sequence for making food was, without a doubt, the Gourmet Sequence. However, only hereditary nobles could transfer into one of the Four Great Civilization Sequences, and it wouldn't be easy for Li Shiqing to become a Gourmet.

It was a difficult proposition, but not impossible. Rosen explained that there was a Genius Clause in the World Government. If a commoner demonstrated extraordinary talent within one of the Four Great Civilization Sequences and gained recognition from the Sequence Tree of Civilization, they could be granted a hereditary knight title, allowing them access to these sequences.

However, this was no easy feat, and it came with a price—future merits would be required to pay back the opportunity.

Li Shiqing's talent in cooking was good, but it wasn't at the level required to impress the Sequence Tree of Civilization. But Rosen had an idea. With access to countless virtual realms from Earth, containing thousands of years of culinary recipes, he believed they might just be able to sway the Gourmet Sequence to grant her entry.

After explaining the complexities to Li Shiqing, she became a bit anxious. She hadn't expected that becoming a supernatural chef would be such a challenging endeavor.

Rosen spared no effort. He purchased various alchemical potions to enhance her memory and equipped her with Sequence 9 artifacts designed to boost her cognitive abilities. These tools helped awaken her spiritual power smoothly and effectively.

Over the years, the endless repetitions within the time loop and the mental projection exercises through Mind Canvas had gradually ignited her spiritual energy, bringing her closer to awakening.

Finally, Rosen gathered recipes from various virtual realms, even creating a new virtual realm based on a famous culinary-themed movie. He sent Li Shiqing into these virtual realms to help her memorize as many recipes as possible, refining her skills as she immersed herself in the culinary arts.

With Li Shiqing now busy training, Rosen found himself feeling a strange discomfort—he had grown used to her presence over the past three years. Yet, there was nothing to be done. He shifted his focus to other important matters.

One of his most pressing tasks was refining his Divine Pen, the supernatural brush he used for painting. The base for the Divine Pen was already a Sequence 7 artist's brush, and upgrading it was a natural process, though it could be further enhanced with specific high-quality materials.

Thanks to the time loop, while three years had passed inside the virtual realm, only three days had gone by in the outside world. Rosen's posted reward for rare enhancement materials had finally brought results during that short period.

News reached him that someone had spotted an extraordinary sea creature—the Rainbow Jellyfish—in a nearby sea region.

This jellyfish was known as the Painter of the sea. Its tentacles could recreate anything it touched, projecting the images on its translucent body as if it were painting. The extraordinary essence of the Rainbow Jellyfish was one of the best materials for crafting artist's brushes and paints.

Since the Rainbow Jellyfish couldn't be domesticated, it was highly sought after. Many artists would vie for it whenever one was spotted.

Rosen was already two days behind the competition, so he quickly hired an extraordinary ship to sail out to sea.

Upon arriving several hundred nautical miles from his destination, the sea was teeming with hundreds of extraordinary vessels. Some were hired by artists from the Blue Whale Kingdom, while others were captained by members of different extraordinary sequences, hoping to capture the jellyfish and sell it at a high price.

Though the competition was fierce, Rosen was relieved to see so many still gathered—it meant the Rainbow Jellyfish had not yet been caught. Despite its lack of combat ability, its hiding skills were exceptional.

Rather than joining the chaotic search, Rosen devised a strategy. He knew blindly searching the sea was a fool's errand, especially with thousands of other extraordinary individuals present.

The Rainbow Jellyfish wasn't intelligent, and at Sequence 9, it lacked the means to resist a powerful lure.

Rosen expanded his Divine Domain beneath the sea, placing a mountain of two million spirit crystals at the border, sending waves of spiritual energy in all directions. The strong spiritual force began to attract a multitude of nearby extraordinary sea beasts.

Human extraordinaries took notice as well. Although they couldn't openly trespass into Rosen's Divine Domain to steal the crystals, they stationed themselves around the perimeter, waiting for the jellyfish to appear.

If none of them could intercept the creature, then Rosen deserved the prize.

(End of Chapter)