Sequence 8 Painter

Inside the Mysterious Study Room, Rosen calmed his mind and used the supernatural essence of his Painter Sequence to communicate with the Spiritual Realm.

Unlike the Hunter Sequence, which required the consumption of potions and carried the risk of backlash, the Painter Sequence, as part of the Human Civilization Sequence, allowed a direct connection with the Golden Ancient Tree in the Spiritual Realm, provided that one's spiritual energy met the necessary requirements.

Once again, Rosen stood before the Golden Ancient Tree deeply rooted in the Spiritual Realm. A brilliant golden light immediately enveloped him. A golden leaf fell from the tree, descending into his Divine Domain and merging with the tree symbolizing his Painter Sequence. This infusion of power then flowed into his Divine Brush, the core of his supernatural essence, and further empowered several of his innate abilities.

Though this transformation didn't lead to a massive leap in his spiritual strength, it still greatly enhanced his spiritual energy.

Rosen carefully assessed the changes in his supernatural essence. His three innate abilities had all been elevated to LV2.

Spiritual Affixation LV2: Grants the ability to freely imbue spiritual energy into physical objects using supernatural essence.

Trait: Harmonization – Enables the fusion of spiritual energy with any attribute.

Ordinary spiritual energy lacks specific attributes, but it can adopt them. For example, when painting a night scene, dark-attribute spiritual energy would better suit the creation of spiritual artworks. With this trait, a painter could blend spiritual energy like a palette, merging it with attribute-specific spiritual crystals to achieve the desired effect.

Rosen recognized that while this trait wasn't extraordinary, it was a necessary foundation for any advanced painter.

Mental Canvas LV2: Allows the painter to project everything they see into their spiritual energy and consciousness, and even paint directly within their own spiritual space.

Trait: Projection – Grants the ability to project the contents of the Mental Canvas into the real world.

Rosen wasn't surprised by this development, as every practitioner of this skill at LV2 gained the Projection trait. When paired with the Rendering trait, the contents of the Mental Canvas could be made tangible.

Next, Rosen examined his Divine Brush, which had also advanced to LV2, though no new traits had emerged.

The Divine Brush had evolved as part of his supernatural essence and remained a core component of his abilities.

Divine Brush: Divine Object

Level: Sequence 8

Properties: Significantly enhances the effects of spiritual artworks, drastically increases painting speed, can transform into any brush type, slightly boosts the effectiveness of spiritual pigments, and anything painted within the Divine Domain becomes permanent.

Divine Skill: Prison of Paint – Draw a boundary with the brush, trapping everything inside it as if part of a painting.

Trait: Rendering – Grants the ability to render objects into reality.

"Rendering at this stage?" Rosen gasped, surprised by the rapid development of this special trait from the Divine Brush.

Traits that manifested during skill upgrades were typically 70% random and 30% personalized, but with the Divine Brush, that 30% personalization seemed to have shifted to 100%, producing exactly what Rosen needed most as a painter.

With both Projection and Rendering at his disposal, Rosen now possessed substantial combat power as a Sequence 8 Painter.

Lastly, Rosen eagerly inspected his new innate supernatural ability upon reaching Sequence 8. The strength of this innate ability was closely tied to the foundation laid in the previous sequence, and Rosen had cultivated three innate skills at Sequence 9, so he expected something significant.

Master of Light and Shadow: Your spiritual energy now possesses light and shadow attributes at a Sequence 4 level.

"???"

Rosen stared at the ability description for a while before realizing its full implications.

Every painter understands the crucial role that light and shadow play in creating a masterpiece.

Masterful use of light and shadow can dramatically enhance a painting's depth, dimensionality, and atmosphere. In the world of spiritual artworks, this equates to realism.

Master of Light and Shadow was a passive innate ability that fully optimized Rosen's talent for rendering light and shadow in his art. Additionally, it granted substantial resistance to light and dark-attribute attacks, while passively amplifying any of his skills tied to light and shadow.

Rosen activated Shadow Stealth and stood directly under the lights in his Mysterious Study Room. Despite standing in full view of a mirror, his reflection was nowhere to be seen.

Next, he used his Mental Canvas to recall a flashbang he had once painted in his spiritual space. In an instant, he projected it into reality through his eyes, then rendered it into existence using his Divine Brush.

Without hesitation, Rosen detonated the flashbang right in front of him, filling the entire room with blinding light. Yet, his eyes remained unaffected, shielded by his spiritual energy. With his spiritual energy attuned to the light and shadow attributes of Sequence 4, neither light nor darkness below that level could disrupt his vision.

Though passive, Master of Light and Shadow had significantly bolstered his capabilities in every way.

For the first time, Rosen understood why the Divine Brush was said to hold the potential to create invincible half-gods within the Painter Sequence.

Each sequence he advanced strengthened the brush and added layers to his foundation. As these foundations grew stronger, the Sequence Tree would grant increasingly powerful innate abilities with each upgrade.

Like a snowball effect, Rosen's skills and abilities would continue to grow more formidable over time.

Further study revealed that Master of Light and Shadow not only affected his Mental Canvas but also strengthened the Projection and Rendering traits. It even enhanced his Nen abilities, infusing his spiritual energy with both light and shadow attributes. The light attribute increased his damage and healing abilities, while the shadow attribute significantly improved his stealth potential.

Rosen stood by the window, contemplating before tossing the Nightmare Slime outside.

Initially, Rosen had planned to hide in the Mysterious Study Room, avoiding the confrontation between the Gray Rat Patriarch and the Duke of Blazing Shadow, but now he felt confident enough to stake a claim in the spoils. He was certain he could defend himself against any enemy below Sequence 6.

The Nightmare Slime followed Rosen's command, vanishing into the shadows.

After half an hour of waiting, Rosen spotted Gray Rats moving about nearby, searching frantically. Despite their efforts, they found nothing.

Eventually, several Sequence 7 Gray Rat leaders arrived and launched indiscriminate area attacks. The Nightmare Slime evaded by leaping from shadow to shadow. Frustrated by their failure to find the target their Patriarch sought, the leaders turned their rage on the ordinary Gray Rats, slaughtering their own kind in a fit of fury.

(End of Chapter)