Lord: Sequence Master

Inside the Mysterious Study Room, Rosen's spiritual sense expanded, surveying the vast spoils within his Scavenger Space. A towering mountain of time-attribute spiritual crystals lay before him, each of exceptionally high quality. When converted to lower-grade spiritual crystals, their value would total billions of units. More importantly, many of these crystals contained time divinity, elevating their worth to hundreds of billions.

However, Rosen noticed the quantity was less than expected. After 19,000 years of accumulation by the Bronze Dragon, there should have been far more. This likely meant that the Bronze Dragon had consumed most of the crystals to restore its strength, leaving behind only what it could not absorb due to the realm's restrictions and the Thunder Empire's seals.

Rosen tossed a handful of crystals into his Gluttony Stomach for digestion, while storing the rest. These crystals were invaluable strategic resources, far too precious to be used like ordinary spiritual crystals. The best use would be combining them with space-attribute crystals to create spiritual realm paintings.

He then shifted his focus to his left eye's Void Realm, where a clock diligently tracked the library of books he had copied so far. Filtering through the collection, Rosen focused on books related to time manipulation and began studying them meticulously.

With each book he completed, his Time Trap Crafting proficiency increased. After half a month of intense reading, he had already raised the skill to the threshold of LV2. Meanwhile, his Gluttony Stomach had long since digested the time-divinity-infused crystals, and that power instantly boosted his Time Trap Crafting to LV3.

Continuing his study, Rosen used his Glory Sage ability to convert knowledge into proficiency, and two more months passed before he fully maxed out LV3.

Hungry for further advancement, Rosen fed the Dragon Blood Bottle into his Gluttony Thought Beast, allowing the Bronze Dragon's dragon-blood avatar to be devoured by his Gluttony Stomach. The avatar, capable of wielding the power of a Sequence 5 beast king, stood no chance. Digested and absorbed, its power merged with Rosen's Hunter Sequence, advancing Time Trap Crafting to LV4.

[Time Trap Crafting LV4 (1/400)]

Attribute: Can imprint almost any Sequence 5 and below time skills into trap runes.

Enhanced Trait: Multi-Trap Fusion – Allows combination effects with other types of trap runes.

Enhanced Trait: Time Loop – Creates a self-sustaining time loop within the trap.

Rosen set up a Time Dust Trap to test the results, and the outcome was astounding. Time dust, which typically caused time acceleration when attached to a target, could now reset and loop without losing its effect. Theoretically, with continuous loops, the trap could compound the time effects until one second felt like ten thousand years. Of course, maintaining such loops consumed vast amounts of spiritual energy, limiting their practical use.

With Time Trap Crafting fully enhanced, Rosen's primary objective in the Time Dragon's Nest was complete. However, he wasn't content with merely leaving. He still had his sights set on hunting the Bronze Dragon.

Rosen connected the Main God Computer's network cable to the window of the Time Tower, allowing it to siphon divine essence from the extraordinary structure. Startled awake, the Bronze Dragon rushed to the bottom of the tower, unleashing a blast of dragon breath on the cable. Although the network cable withstood the attack, the shockwave knocked it loose.

Undeterred, Rosen prepared to extend the cable again, but this time the dragon stopped time, freezing the cable in place and wrapping its divinity around it to trace the connection back to Rosen's Mysterious Study Room.

This move backfired. As the dragon's divinity entered the cable, the Main God Computer devoured it entirely. The Bronze Dragon quickly cut off the flow, but the lost portion of divinity was beyond recovery, even with time reversal. Frustrated, the dragon retreated to its lair, determined to outlast the human. Surely, the human couldn't remain in the Time Dragon's Nest forever.

Just as the Bronze Dragon prepared to resume its slumber, Rosen activated the Star Emblem Projection, a Sequence 0 artifact that instantly raised his spiritual energy limit to the Sequence 5 maximum of 60 points. Transforming into his Feathered Serpent God form, Rosen converted this energy into divine power. Now wielding 60 points of divine energy, Rosen was ready.

The Gluttony Stomach had greatly enhanced his life force over time, and the Golden Apple he consumed, a Sequence 2 treasure, had further amplified his vitality. Using his immense life force, Rosen channeled all his power into the Godslayer Crossbow.

The Time Element Four-Aspect Bullet shot out at blinding speed, aimed directly at the Bronze Dragon's back. However, the bullet was quickly frozen by the dragon's time-stop ability. But Rosen was prepared—he fired nine consecutive rounds, the crossbow's maximum capacity.

The second bullet, infused with Space Element, teleported in front of the dragon, reversing direction to strike its eye. The third, fourth, and fifth bullets approached from different angles, but they too were frozen in time.

Overwhelmed by the rapid succession of attacks, the Bronze Dragon struggled to maintain its time-stop, and the sixth bullet, imbued with Nightmare Element, slipped through, pulling the dragon into a nightmare. In that fleeting moment, the other bullets surged forward, with one penetrating the dragon's rear.

At that critical moment, Rosen deployed a time trap, which had looped countless times, using time acceleration to propel the final bullets faster than the dragon's time-stop could handle.

The Time Stop faced off against Time Acceleration—whichever force was stronger would prevail. Two bullets were sacrificed to break through the time barrier, and the last one struck the dragon's liver.

Before the dragon could react, Rosen activated his mechanical steed's Holy Judgment, tripling the damage. The bullet embedded in the dragon's liver began wreaking havoc, its internal effects compounded by Rosen's spiritual painting, which ignited the dragon's blood.

Realizing that a foreign object had penetrated its liver, the Bronze Dragon attempted to reverse time and heal the wound, but to no avail. Desperate, it transformed into a humanoid form and tried to claw out the Dragon Blood Bottle, which had lodged itself inside.

Unable to reach the foreign object, the dragon was forced to gouge out its own liver, along with the spatial distortion surrounding the area. It sealed the extracted organs with time magic, but the damage was done. In mere seconds, the dragon had lost more than half its blood, reducing its strength by over 60%.

"Dragon Blood Bottle…"

The Bronze Dragon recognized the dragon-killer artifact immediately upon crushing its extracted organs. Although powerful, the Dragon Blood Bottle alone couldn't end the dragon's life, but the damage it caused had left the dragon in a dire state.

Seizing this opportunity, Rosen prepared for one final assault. His true body, self-portrait clone, three water clones created by the Dragon Blood Dagger, the Nightmare Slime, Grey Mouse, and the mechanical steed all activated Shadow Stealth, exiting the Mysterious Study Room and surrounding the dragon from every angle.

Grey Mouse used its Gaze of Fear to disrupt the dragon's reactions, while the water clones deployed traps from their Trap Space. The mechanical steed activated its Devout Aura, bolstering defenses and preparing to use Divine Shield for emergency protection.

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Rosen's self-portrait clone charged forward, wielding the Dragon Tooth Dagger in close combat, while Rosen's true body focused all his efforts on sealing the Bronze Dragon's spiritual consciousness with his Mental Canvas. Thanks to the power of the Star Emblem, Rosen could barely hold his own against the Bronze Dragon, though the effect would only last for nine seconds.

As soon as the Star Emblem's power faded, the Bronze Dragon counterattacked.

It activated Time Reversal, engulfing Rosen's three water clones and returning them to the moment before their creation, reducing them to mere puddles of water.

In the next instant, a dragon spear appeared in the Bronze Dragon's hand, accelerated through time, and pierced the head of Rosen's self-portrait clone.

The Bronze Dragon advanced on Rosen's true body, but the area was rigged with spatial traps. Undeterred, the dragon reversed time, disabling all the teleportation traps.

Rosen's Nightmare Slime charged in, only to be skewered by the dragon's spear. However, the slime didn't die—it began writhing and enveloping the three-meter-long spear, attempting to devour it.

Unfazed, the Bronze Dragon pressed its attack. Its spear struck the Holy Shield cast by Rosen's mechanical steed. Despite being able to block most attacks below a demigod's level, the shield shattered in a second.

With his defenses crumbling, Rosen activated a Time Dust Trap that had been primed with multiple time loops. Countless particles of time dust surrounded the Bronze Dragon, causing time delays that disrupted its movements. Simultaneously, the Nightmare Slime exerted all its strength, driving the dragon spear into the ground.

Seizing the opportunity, Rosen, mounted on his mechanical steed, unleashed a combination of Shadow Stealth, Holy Charge, and Scurry. Shadow Stealth doubled his speed, Holy Charge tripled it, and Scurry amplified it tenfold, resulting in a staggering burst—60 times his normal velocity—while also providing immense defensive protection.

Despite the immense speed, the Bronze Dragon's left claw pierced Rosen's heart. But Rosen managed to activate a Sequence 4 extraordinary artifact, the Void Guard, trapping the Bronze Dragon in a Void Guard Barrier.

Rosen had spent 1,000 Main God Coins on this one-time-use Sequence 4 artifact, known for three powerful traits: it could be activated by anyone, its defense was strong enough to hold off a Sequence 3 being temporarily, and it activated instantly. If Rosen had used the Void Guard on himself, the dragon would have been unable to break through for at least half an hour.

Now, trapped within the Void Guard, the Bronze Dragon would be unable to escape for a similar period. The downside was that the barrier couldn't be canceled early—it would only dissipate once its energy was exhausted. To get close enough to activate the barrier, Rosen had to endure the dragon's attack, which he had foreseen through his Time Gaze but couldn't avoid completely.

As the Bronze Dragon was sealed away, Rosen fell, his heart pierced. But instead of reviving in his Divine Domain, his mechanical steed quickly cast Resurrection on him. Using the combined powers of the Angel Thought Beasts' healing and the divine regeneration shared from Grey Mouse, the steed revived Rosen within three minutes, fully restoring him.

However, Rosen's Time Gaze immediately revealed another vision of his imminent death. Without hesitation, he used Shadow Stealth to teleport back to the Mysterious Study Room. As soon as he vanished, another Bronze Dragon, merely a clone, appeared where he had stood.

Rosen quickly understood that the Bronze Dragon had foreseen the future as well. The dragon had sent its clone to ambush him, lying in wait while its main body fought. The Void Guard trap had been successful because the dragon's injured state had limited its foresight. Moreover, Rosen's Time Dust Trap had successfully disrupted the dragon's time foresight, preventing it from fully predicting the danger.

Now, the Bronze Dragon clone was standing guard outside. Rosen would have to defeat it to imprison the real Bronze Dragon within his Gluttony Stomach.

Although the clone wasn't as powerful as a beast king, it was still a Sequence 5 entity—formidable in its own right. Sequence 5 beast kings were notoriously difficult to defeat.

Rosen called upon the Glorious Lighthouse in his Divine Domain, transforming it into a massive Feathered Serpent God. Using Shadow Stealth, he teleported out of the Mysterious Study Room, summoning the Feathered Serpent God to strike the Bronze Dragon clone.

The Bronze Dragon's Time Eyes foresaw the attack ten seconds in advance, prompting it to retreat. But in the confined space of the Time Tower's lower level, which spanned only a few hundred meters in height and over a thousand meters in diameter, there was little room to escape.

As the Feathered Serpent God closed in, the dragon clone became entangled in Rosen's spatial traps, leaving it vulnerable to an all-out assault. Although foresight could help avoid most dangers, when surrounded by omnipresent threats, knowing the future became futile.

The dragon clone was finally cornered, and Rosen unleashed a Solar Bomb from the Glorious Lighthouse, transforming it into a miniature sun that engulfed the dragon clone. This attack, strong enough to take down a Sequence 6 entity, left the clone heavily injured.

Despite the damage, the Bronze Dragon clone kept its eyes shut, preventing Rosen from invading its spiritual consciousness through his Mental Canvas.

However, Rosen had more tricks up his sleeve. He transformed into the Feathered Serpent God, activating the Bloodline Awakening ability granted by his Noble Sequence 7 profession. By tapping into the Feathered Serpent and Demon God bloodlines, Rosen could temporarily wield the power of a Sequence 7 beast king, making him significantly stronger than ordinary extraordinary beings.

In addition, Rosen shared the speed-boosting abilities of Grey Mouse. Using Scurry, he closed the distance to the dragon clone in an instant, unleashing a devastating Bloodthirsty Strike aimed at its shoulder. However, the dragon clone used time acceleration to narrowly dodge the attack.

Within the thousand-meter radius of the Time Tower, the two golden figures, Rosen and the dragon clone, blurred as they chased each other, leaving countless afterimages behind.

As Scurry's speed boost waned, Rosen shifted his focus to the Bronze Dragon's real body, still trapped within the Void Guard, forcing the clone to stop running and engage in close-quarters combat.

Both combatants could foresee the future, leading to an almost comical exchange where neither side could land a solid blow. Rosen's Bloodthirsty Strike missed repeatedly, while the clone's dragon breath and claw strikes were effortlessly dodged by Rosen.

Rosen knew the clone was stalling for time, waiting for the Void Guard to expire and free the real Bronze Dragon.

Determined to end the fight, Rosen unhinged his jaws wider and wider, mimicking a serpent's ability to swallow prey far larger than itself. The Feathered Serpent God had a natural talent for devouring, and with his Gluttony Bloodline Awakening, Rosen could now shrink anything he attempted to consume.

With jaws now expanded over ten meters wide, Rosen attempted to swallow the Void Guard whole.

Seeing this, the Bronze Dragon clone transformed into its true form and charged, biting down on one of Rosen's wings to stop the devouring process.

Rosen didn't flinch. He let the wing be torn off and retaliated with his tail, delivering a devastating Death Strike that smashed one of the dragon's eyes.

The clone ignored the injury and attempted to slow time around Rosen, accelerating its own attacks. It lunged at Rosen's neck, unleashing a torrent of time dragon breath.

But Rosen's Feathered Serpent God form coiled tightly around the dragon clone, crushing its neck.

In the end, Rosen's head was bitten off, but not before he managed to swallow the Void Guard. The Gluttony Stomach was a soul-bound entity, so despite Rosen's decapitation, his devouring ability was still active. Both the Bronze Dragon's real body and the Void Guard were transported into his Gluttony Stomach, even as his head and body lay separated.

(Chapter End)