Lord: Sequence Master

The Sea of Chaos was a vast underground sea that existed in the subterranean world. The only difference was that the seawater here was not in liquid form, but gaseous.

On the surface of the steam-like clouds, countless drifting islands of varying sizes and enormous steel ships floated aimlessly.

When Rosen was still a thousand meters away from the Sea of Chaos, he felt his spirituality gradually returning. With a flicker in the void, he landed lightly on the sea's surface, neutralizing the force from his high-speed descent.

The other prisoners, who had also fallen, employed various means to survive. Only one, likely unconscious from fear, plunged straight into the gaseous sea, exploding into a mushroom-shaped steam cloud.

Rosen turned his gaze toward the distant starlight he had noticed earlier and saw a giant lighthouse standing firmly amidst the sea, its light flashing steadily.

The other prisoners spotted it as well and began flying towards the lighthouse. However, Rosen, using consecutive flashes through the void, arrived first.

No life emanated from within the lighthouse, but powerful inscriptions etched into its structure radiated an oppressive force. Upon closer inspection, Rosen realized they were the World Government's regulations for the Sea of Chaos.

This was the Lighthouse of Disorder, an extraordinary structure classified as Sequence 2. Its power suppressed the entire sea, preventing anyone below Sequence 1 from ascending more than a thousand meters—let alone escaping the tens of thousands of kilometers back to the surface. Entry was permitted, but escape was nearly impossible unless one ascended to Sequence 1.

Rosen picked a random direction and continued forward, intending to locate someone alive to gather information.

There was no sunlight in the Sea of Chaos, yet a faint light rose from beneath the gaseous sea, casting an eerie glow over the surface. The visibility was equivalent to a perpetually cloudy day.

After several hours of travel, Rosen spotted an ironclad ship floating above the steaming sea. It appeared to use a special device beneath its hull to collect gaseous seawater, converting it into steam energy through specialized heating processes. This was not an extraordinary ship but a mundane engineering marvel.

With a few void flashes, Rosen silently boarded the vessel.

There were only a handful of people aboard—all ordinary humans, no extraordinary individuals. Rosen didn't need to reveal himself; a simple combination of mental control and mind reading allowed him to extract the information he needed effortlessly.

The Sea of Chaos had changed over time. Initially, it had indeed been a paradise for the disorderly. However, chaos bred conflict, conflict bred death, and death led to extinction. After catastrophic casualties among the early settlers, a bitter irony emerged: those who sought disorder ultimately established a new order.

Although this order was tenuous and fragile, it was stable enough to prevent complete self-destruction. Over the past 20,000 years, the population of the Sea of Chaos had steadily grown.

Humans and alien races coexisted in this region, surprisingly harmoniously.

The steam-like state of the seawater had an origin. An ancient true god lay suppressed beneath the Sea of Chaos, its incomprehensible power constantly dissolving and converting the seawater into steam.

It wasn't only humans who had sealed this true god—alien races had played a role as well. Much like humans exiled prisoners to this abyss, alien civilizations did the same, referring to it as the Abyss of Despair.

Beyond prisoners, both the World Government and alien powers occasionally delivered supplies into the sea. However, these resources were monopolized by major factions, leaving ordinary residents to fend for themselves.

This ironclad ship, it turned out, survived by harvesting steam. Most of the steam was ordinary water vapor, albeit slightly enriched with unique properties. However, some batches contained special spiritual energy, making them valuable commodities when traded in cities.

With the location of a human settlement in mind, Rosen flashed through the void once more. Soon, he spotted an island illuminated in the distance.

The island was small, barely ten miles across, yet densely packed with towering buildings. Ports encircled the island, hosting ironclad ships similar to the one Rosen had boarded. It was clear that collecting spiritual steam was the island's primary industry and the main means of survival for its inhabitants.

Rosen immediately noticed the only shipyard on the island. This was the sole place where ironclad ships could be enchanted with levitation magic. Without such enchantments, it would be impossible for these massive vessels to traverse the peculiar seawater composed of steam.

Adjacent to the shipyard stood the only three-story villa on the island—a clear symbol of its owner's status. The higher the status, the more knowledge one possessed about the secrets of this place.

With a flicker in the void, Rosen appeared inside the villa. He waited briefly, but the villa's owner failed to return. In the master bedroom, he discovered a photograph of a middle-aged man, likely the villa's owner.

Pulling out the Destiny Pen, Rosen performed a Destiny Test, successfully obtaining basic information about the man's fate. Next, he used Destiny Hunting to lock onto the man's current location. Finally, with a carefully crafted Destiny Script, he compelled the shipyard owner to return home immediately.

Within five minutes, the middle-aged man in the photograph arrived in front of Rosen.

Using mental control and mind reading, Rosen extracted the information he needed with ease.

From there, Rosen traveled to larger islands, relentlessly seeking out the individuals with the highest status on each island. After several days, he finally encountered an extraordinary individual. Up until that point, he had only come across low-tier extraordinary artifacts.

Controlling the Sequence 9 Transcendent in front of him, Rosen spent half an hour unraveling the truth about the Sea of Chaos.

Ordinary people only knew fragments—legends, myths, and half-truths. But the extraordinary individuals knew a deeper, more complex reality.

Most of the rumors weren't entirely wrong. There was indeed a true god of unknown origin sealed beneath the Sea of Chaos. Humans and alien races did live here in harmony. However, the supplies sent by the World Government weren't charity—they required special steam as payment.

Due to a severe shortage of magic potions and other supernatural resources, the number of extraordinary individuals in the Sea of Chaos was extremely limited.

Moreover, aside from foreign prisoners, almost no locals had advanced through the nine levels of human civilization.

This revelation left Rosen disappointed.

He hadn't come to the Sea of Chaos to hide from Damon's father—he came because he sought chaos and disorder, a place without rules or restrictions. Before arriving, he had even entertained the thought of conquering the Sea of Chaos to establish a foothold in reality.

But now, it was clear that the Sea of Chaos was no longer the anarchic land it once was. Its potential for conquest was long gone.

Those who had once opposed the World Government and helped establish this chaotic realm had vanished over the course of 20,000 years. The weak had perished, and the strong had escaped, leaving behind only stagnation.

"It seems there's no place left in the human world worth exploring."

Rosen shook his head, already contemplating his departure from the Sea of Chaos.

Yet, he hesitated. A flicker of curiosity kept him rooted. The true god sealed beneath the sea intrigued him. What kind of existence could compel humans and alien races to unite in sealing it?

Driven by this curiosity, Rosen initiated a Celestial Prophecy.

His resources were dwindling—only a handful of high-quality spiritual crystals remained, barely amounting to a few billion. It wasn't enough to alter ecological laws again. Fortunately, his previous modifications were permanent, ensuring that the Void Shadow World maintained its delicate balance of light and darkness.

As the Celestial Prophecy unfolded, vivid scenes materialized before Rosen's eyes. His earlier disappointment vanished, replaced by intense anticipation.

The information from the Sequence 9 Transcendent had been partially true and partially false.

The weak in this place had limited insight into the upper echelons of power, leading to distorted perceptions.

It was true that the extraordinary individuals here were few in number—but the weak were very weak, and the strong were unimaginably powerful. A unique extraordinary sequence had even developed, exclusive to the Sea of Chaos.

Several days later, Rosen arrived at one of the largest islands in the Sea of Chaos: Paradise Island.

This island was controlled by Paradise Pharmaceuticals, the organization responsible for producing nearly all magic potions in the Sea of Chaos. They dominated both pharmaceutical production and medical industries, securing their position as one of the Six Giants of the Sea of Chaos.

In this world, there were no nations or civilizations—only three corporations, two pirate kings, and one city.

Paradise Island resembled a colossal translucent medical chamber, stretching hundreds of miles across the sea.

The bottom layer housed extraordinary plants, carefully cultivated for their supernatural properties.

The second layer extracted extraordinary materials and experimented with cloning extraordinary lifeforms.

The third layer was an expansive industrial zone, filled with countless factories.

The fourth layer served as a living district for millions of people.

The fifth and final layer was the exclusive domain of company executives and the Sea of Chaos's most powerful extraordinary individuals.

Rosen gazed at the sprawling island, his eyes reflecting a mixture of curiosity and calculation. This was no ordinary place—it was the heart of power in the Sea of Chaos.

The entire Paradise Pharmaceuticals was completely sealed off, both inside and out, and Paradise Island was only open to the public on specific trading days.

Rosen didn't rush in this time. The entire Paradise Island was essentially a semi-finished transformation of a Sequence 1 Kingdom of God. Sneaking in unnoticed was out of the question. Although the chairman of Paradise Pharmaceuticals was only Sequence 3, according to the final prediction from Celestial Prophecy, this chairman possessed at least a Sequence 1 extraordinary artifact.

Rosen entered the mysterious study and observed Paradise Island through the window. All he could think about was how to seize the island and gain full control over Paradise Pharmaceuticals.

He targeted Paradise Pharmaceuticals first among the six major powers of the Chaos Sea because, with the spiritual awakening of billions of people in the Ancient God Realm due to the Lord God Game, he could no longer produce enough magic potions to support large-scale job transfers.

And job transfers were just the beginning. Supporting everyone on his own would be impossible in the long run. Especially since humans from Lake Mobius had started stepping into the Dark Continent, gaining access to increasingly vast living spaces.

Once humanity broke free from population restrictions, their numbers would swell from tens of billions to hundreds of billions. At that point, either the population would need to be capped, or some believers of the Lord God's Church would have to be sent out of the Ancient God Realm.

However, every piece of land and resource in the human world was already owned, while the lands outside were tightly controlled by alien races. It was no longer like 20,000 years ago, when expanding territories and establishing kingdoms was straightforward.

The Chaos Sea was the most suitable place for Rosen to develop his power. At first, he thought conquest wasn't necessary due to the scarcity of resources. But after learning about the six giants, he realized the region wasn't lacking resources—the valuable ones were simply monopolized by the giants, leaving the masses to scrape by on leftovers.

Rosen left the mysterious study and turned away. For now, Paradise Island wasn't a place he could infiltrate.

A few hours later, Rosen arrived at Despair Island, the closest island to Paradise Island. Being so close to such a prosperous hub, one would expect Despair Island to be well-developed. Yet the reality was the opposite.

While Paradise Island had no patients, Despair Island was filled with them. Due to the scarcity of doctor sequences and magic potions in the Chaos Sea, many bacteria and viruses had mutated into extraordinary pathogens after becoming spiritually contaminated. These diseases threatened even extraordinary individuals, let alone ordinary people.

Every major island in the Chaos Sea had a one-way teleportation array leading to Despair Island. Those suffering from incurable diseases were transported here, left to struggle for survival.

If they were unlucky, they would die unnoticed. If they were lucky, they might be taken to Paradise Island for drug testing or used as tools for doctors to practice their medical skills. A few survived, but most perished in obscurity.

The people here weren't treated as human beings, and no one cared about how their deaths might affect humanity's collective fortune.

Rosen had already pieced together the truth. The fate of humanity was built upon countless individual lives. While the fortune of a single person was weak, when combined across billions, it became a powerful force—one that the World Government safeguarded through basic living guarantees for the masses.

But this wasn't out of kindness. It was simply the most efficient way to maximize human destiny.

However, the Chaos Sea was unique. The personal fate of humans who died here didn't return to humanity's collective fortune. Instead, it flowed directly to the bottom of the Chaos Sea. The same applied to other alien races.

Not every race needed positive fate like humans. For example, the endless infighting among the Abyss Demons generated mostly negative fate, which was precisely what the will of the Abyss required.

Rosen speculated that the negative fate in the Chaos Sea wasn't meant to feed the Sealed True God—it was more likely used to maintain the seal itself. The various races had likely collaborated to create a seal that required negative fate for sustenance.

That was why the Chaos Sea was left to its current state—chaotic, violent, and full of suffering. It was intentional.

Upon arriving at Despair Island, Rosen began curing diseases through his paintings.

The golden apple he painted became a beacon of hope, capable of curing even the most difficult and complex ailments.

Within just a few days, the name Richard Phoenix had spread across Despair Island.

After eight hours of treatment each day, he would return to the small building he had rented on the island.

Before he even stepped through the door, he already knew someone was waiting for him inside.

Rosen pushed open the door and saw a middle-aged man in a suit sitting seriously on the sofa.

"Please, take a seat."

The middle-aged man spoke with an air of authority, as though he owned the place.

"You came pretty quickly."

After sitting down, Rosen opened his Void Album, pulled out two golden apples, and tossed one to the middle-aged man.

"You're here for us."

The middle-aged man took a bite of the golden apple, his eyes lighting up with satisfaction.

"There's nothing we can do. We have to survive."

Rosen shrugged helplessly. Since we've ended up in this cursed place called the Chaos Sea, we need to find a way out. I believe Paradise Pharmaceuticals needs someone like me. But since it's so closed off, all I could do was wait for you to come to me.

"Weina Butch, Medical Director of Despair Island. Welcome to the company."

The middle-aged man stood up and extended his hand.

Rosen stood and shook his hand firmly before Weina immediately took him to complete the onboarding procedures.

Weina was genuinely satisfied with Richard, his new colleague.

It had been days since Richard arrived on Despair Island, and as the Medical Director, Weina had received word of him on the very first day. He had waited patiently while the Investigation Department looked into Richard's background to ensure he wasn't a spy from another faction.

The investigation concluded that Richard's identity was clean. He was a prisoner exiled from the Shenmu Empire on the Holy Continent, accused of colluding with a duchess and her daughter to poison a duke.

Richard, a Sequence 6 Painter with a promising future, had fallen from grace due to his obsession with beauty and ended up exiled to the Chaos Sea. The possibility of him being a spy was almost non-existent since a painter had no access to the core of Paradise Pharmaceuticals.

The value of a painter lay in their ability to produce spiritual paintings, which could significantly enhance the yield of Paradise Pharmaceuticals' extraordinary plants.

The golden apple Richard had painted was priceless, a testament to his skill.

While he might not gain access to the core of Paradise Pharmaceuticals, it was clear he would thrive within the company.

Because of this, Weina's attitude toward Rosen was warm, almost as if they had been old friends from the start.

After completing the onboarding process, Weina personally escorted Rosen to Paradise Island.

For an island supposedly sealed from both the inside and outside, an entry passage had been opened just for Rosen.

The moment he stepped onto Paradise Island, he realized what he had seen from the outside was only the tip of the iceberg. The spiritual concentration within the island was even higher than that of the City of Stars.

This meant that while Paradise Pharmaceuticals might not have the same foundational strength as the City of Stars, the gap wasn't significant.

It seems taking control of Paradise Pharmaceuticals will be more difficult than I anticipated.

But since the Celestial Prophecy had pointed him to this place, and because he had gleaned some of the company's secrets from it, seizing control wasn't just a pipe dream. It all depended on whether he could grasp the opportunities that came his way.

Rosen was assigned to the Logistics Department, where his primary task was to paint spiritual paintings and produce golden apples.

The company operated on a merit-based system—the more he worked, the more he earned. All earnings could be converted into Paradise Island Company Credit Points.

Within Paradise Pharmaceuticals, capable individuals were promoted while the mediocre were demoted. The more credit points one accumulated, the higher their authority and the better their position.

This system was one of the reasons Rosen had prioritized Paradise Pharmaceuticals as his target.

At first, Rosen intended to quietly accumulate credit points and wait for an opportunity to rise through the ranks.

But after seeing the Credit Store of Paradise Pharmaceuticals, he fell silent.

There are so many valuable treasures here. Accumulating enough credit points to acquire even one will be anything but easy.

(End of Chapter)