True Equivalent Exchange and the Dragon God Treaty

Inside the World Tree of the True Ancient God Realm, Rosen's divine perception seeped into its depths as he pondered.

During the years he spent upgrading and enhancing the Void Sketchbook, the World Tree had successfully assimilated both the Gatekeeper's divine kingdom and the Divine Domain of Time and Space. Its growth rate, which had previously been at 72%, had now increased to 86%. Additionally, the six original World Fruits had grown into seven.

Among them, one particular World Fruit had already developed the Law of Time and Space, becoming a Time-Space World Fruit.

From now on, whenever he wanted to experience time acceleration, he could simply enter the internal world of the Time-Space World Fruit.

Since the World Tree had surpassed 80% growth, Rosen's Miracle Sequence could now merge with new Miracle Artifacts.

However, his mind was elsewhere.

He was considering how to completely refine the World Tree into an incarnation of himself.

Although he already had absolute control over the World Tree, it was still an independent entity.

If he could transform it into his own incarnation, the benefits would be immeasurable.

But the sheer essence of the World Tree was too powerful, making it no simple task to refine it as an extension of himself.

Rosen sighed.

It seemed that refining the World Tree would require an entirely different approach.

For now, the more pressing matter was his Miracle Sequence advancement.

He casually pulled out his Sequence 3 Miracle Artifact—the Miracle Pouch—and began using the power of the World Tree to merge it into his Miracle Sequence's Extraordinary Source Essence.

The Miracle Pouch possessed many miracle traits. Normally, the more miracle traits an artifact had, the weaker each individual trait tended to be.

However, the Equivalent Exchange trait of the Miracle Pouch was anything but ordinary.

It was in no way inferior to legendary miracle traits such as the Wheel of Fate.

[Miracle Pouch: Miracle Sequence]

[Rank: Sequence 3]

[Miracle Attribute: The Miracle Pouch increases the probability of encountering Miracle Artifacts and can generate Miracle Coins.]

[Miracle Traits: Treasure Seeking, Treasure Appraisal, Treasure Storage, Invisibility, Void Escape, Equivalent Exchange]

Rosen's first reaction was surprise.

"Miracle Coins? What are those?"

Through his Miracle Sequence, he carefully examined the Miracle Pouch and made an unexpected discovery—

The Miracle Coins were not a new trait gained through his Miracle Sequence enhancement.

Rather, they had always existed as an inherent ability of the Miracle Pouch—they had simply been erased by a previous owner using Equivalent Exchange.

Now, by integrating the Miracle Pouch into his Miracle Sequence, he had restored this lost ability.

Using Equivalent Exchange, the Miracle Pouch could convert stored treasures into an equivalent amount of Miracle Coins.

And the greatest value of Miracle Coins was their role as an exclusive currency for Equivalent Exchange.

Previously, the only way to activate Equivalent Exchange was by directly sacrificing treasures, and it could only be used to enhance the Treasure Seeking trait.

But now, the Miracle Coins could be used to enhance all Miracle Traits of the Miracle Pouch.

Even more astonishingly—

Rosen could now reverse the process, using Miracle Coins to retrieve all the treasures and resources that past owners of the Miracle Pouch had sacrificed through Equivalent Exchange.

In the past, Rosen had sacrificed a significant amount of treasures through Equivalent Exchange to temporarily boost his Treasure Seeking Ability.

Now, with Miracle Coins, he could reclaim all of those treasures.

As Rosen delved deeper into the Miracle Pouch, he discovered that beneath its visible space, there was an uncontrollable mysterious dimension.

This dimension contained countless treasures and extraordinary resources.

As long as he had enough Miracle Coins, he could exchange for any of them.

However, after pondering for a moment, he didn't rush to convert Miracle Coins or exchange anything.

His intuition told him that the mysterious space hidden within the Miracle Pocket might be fraught with danger.

It was easy to guess why one of the Miracle Pocket's previous owners had gone so far as to erase half of its attributes through Equivalent Exchange. The reason was likely to prevent anyone from obtaining Miracle Coins and discovering this mysterious space.

Something that someone was willing to actively damage the Miracle Pocket to hide was undoubtedly either troublesome or dangerous.

After preparing various protective measures, Rosen began to carefully explore the mysterious space.

The value of the treasures piled inside was astonishing. There were enough extraordinary resources to rival the wealth of several True Gods, and the number of extraordinary artifacts ranged from Sequence 9 to True God level. There were even dozens of miracle treasures.

As he sensed the dozens of miracle treasures, Rosen quickly noticed one that seemed problematic.

While the attributes of the other miracle treasures could be directly seen through the Miracle Pocket, this one, which resembled a clay pot, showed no attributes at all. Its surface was covered in layers of seals formed by terrifying amounts of fortune.

Over the years, the Miracle Pocket had absorbed fortune from him, and all of it had been used to seal this clay pot.

Judging by the situation, the seals were quite sturdy. After carefully observing, Rosen didn't rashly tamper with it.

Based on his observations, the fortune used to seal this clay pot was conservatively estimated to be equivalent to the innate fortune of three True Gods. Moreover, the seals didn't seem to be at their peak state, meaning whatever was sealed inside was at least at the True God level.

Rosen didn't want to invite trouble at this point. He could wait until he became a deity before testing it.

Inside the world of the Life World Fruit, various elf races lived around the Mother Tree of Life, Iris.

Some of these elves were resurrected from spirit realm paintings, while others were born from the Mother Tree of Life over the years. As for the Wood Elf Kingdom that had initially followed Rosen, it was the only elf faction allowed to permanently reside near the World Tree.

By now, an elf royal city had been built around the Mother Tree of Life, Iris.

Rosen had once obtained a seed from the Mother Tree of Life and used it to create a spirit realm painting. However, the new Mother Tree of Life never grew, and after handing it over to Iris, she used it to create a divine avatar of the Life Elf.

Now, this divine avatar served as the king of this elf kingdom.

In the palace, Iris exceptionally warmly entertained Rosen.

Whether or not she had seen through Rosen's thoughts, Iris had shaped her divine avatar to look exactly like the Wood Elf Queen. Combined with Iris's deliberate efforts to please, Rosen couldn't resist and ended up making a mistake, forgetting his original purpose.

After indulging in the land of tenderness for several days, Rosen finally remembered his main task.

"I want to refine the World Tree into an avatar. Do you have any methods?" Rosen asked, playing with Iris's emerald-green hair while in the Great Sage state.

"It's impossible…"

Still in a dazed state, Iris instinctively voiced her opinion. "Although the World Tree has only recovered to Sequence 0, even a Great True God could at most destroy it. Refining it into an avatar is impossible. The fact that you can control the World Tree is already incredible."

"Is there really no other way?" Rosen asked, disappointed.

After regaining her senses, Iris knew how important this was to Rosen and fell into deep thought, considering various possibilities.

"Directly refining the World Tree into an avatar is absolutely impossible..."

After pondering for a long time, Iris asserted, "However, while the World Tree cannot become your avatar, you can become the World Tree's avatar. As long as you ensure the World Tree doesn't develop a divine consciousness, you can overcome it from below, devour its divine essence, and refine the World Tree into your true body."

Rosen fell into deep thought. The method Iris proposed was indeed feasible.

But this answer wasn't the one he most desired.

It seemed he needed to explore various avenues, seek out different methods, and conduct numerous experiments.

Since that was the case, he decided to leave the Hunter Sequence for last and prioritize advancing the Noble Sequence and the Painter Sequence.

For the Noble Sequence, Rosen didn't plan to take the conventional path.

Because he wielded the authority of Kingship, possessed multiple Kingship skills, and controlled two Glorious Kingdoms—one internal and one external—his Noble Sequence had already diverged from the World Government's Noble Sequence. Therefore, he not only needed to create his own skills but also forge an entirely new Noble Sequence.

Inside the Time-Space World Fruit, which inherited the thousandfold time acceleration of the Divine Realm of Time and Space, there was no longer any restriction on the body, allowing both body and consciousness to synchronously enjoy the time acceleration.

Now, within the Time-Space World Fruit, they had begun planting magical ingredients that required long periods to grow, cultivating extraordinary lifeforms that needed extended time to mature, and even constructing multiple cultivation sanctuaries similar to the Time Tower.

Under the thousandfold time acceleration, Rosen began continuously experimenting with new promotion plans for the Noble Sequence 1.

In fact, he had already made significant progress in this area, with the Hell's Soul-Snatching Diagram being a byproduct.

The creation of the Death God Sequence had incorporated the powers of the Abyss Monarch and the Hell Lord.

This was Rosen's initial attempt, and the results were relatively successful.

What he needed to do now was take it a step further, using the authority of Kingship to shape a new Noble Sequence.

This was no easy task. The birth of the Noble Sequence was the crystallization of the wisdom of at least a dozen True Gods, possibly even involving more than one Great True God. He wasn't arrogant enough to believe his wisdom could surpass theirs.

Rosen's goal wasn't to overturn the Noble Sequence but to truly integrate the authority of Kingship into its foundation.

Moreover, he wasn't doing this alone. He had gathered some helpers as well.

One by one, members of the Anti-True God Alliance sent their divine avatars into the Time-Space World Fruit.

Rosen collaborated with over a hundred future deities and fifteen future True Gods, pooling their collective wisdom to refine a completely new Noble Sequence.

In the blink of an eye, fifty years passed in the real world, while over fifty thousand years were spent perfecting the Noble Sequence.

Hard work paid off, and the brand new Noble Sequence 1 was finally born.

...

At the edge of the Dragon Realm, on a desolate island, Rosen silently arrived through the authority of the Dragon God.

This time, he wasn't alone. He had brought along some members of the Anti-True God Alliance.

Over the years, the Anti-True God Alliance had produced seven Sequence 0 deities.

All of them were of Taboo Sequences, and as for titled demigods, no one had yet accumulated enough merit to ascend to Sequence 0 Noble.

Why did ascending the Noble Sequence require sufficient merit and recognition from the World Government?

The essence of the Noble Sequence was power and control over the fate of civilization itself.

This was why the Noble Council was the core governing structure of the World Government.

However, those who ascended to nobility through this system would inevitably be bound to the World Government.

If the World Government ever collapsed, every Noble Sequence deity would be dragged down with it.

Rosen had now realized that the World Government was not incapable of producing True God Nobles.

Rather, the True Gods themselves refused to become True God Nobles.

For Sequence 0 Nobles, even if the World Government fell, the backlash they suffered would not be fatal.

But if they ascended to True God Nobility, they would be permanently bound to the World Government.

If the World Government perished, so would they.

This was precisely why Rosen had spent fifty thousand years gathering the collective wisdom of his allies to perfect the Noble Sequence.

The World Government's Noble Sequence was, at its core, a deeply flawed, incomplete product.

The Noble Sequence refined by Rosen still required immense civilization fate energy.

Even the Glorious Kingdom's accumulated civilization fate energy was insufficient for him to reach Sequence 1 Nobility.

He needed more.

The problem was that every territory in the Main World was already claimed.

Starting a civilization war within the Main World would be too conspicuous.

It would almost certainly alert the World Government when he advanced in the Noble Sequence.

After much deliberation, Rosen set his sights on the Dragon Realm.

If the Glorious Kingdom could completely conquer the Dragon Realm, if the Dragon Race became a vassal,

Not only would his territorial rule expand massively, but the civilization fate energy he needed to ascend to Sequence 1 Nobility—even Sequence 0—would no longer be a concern.

Furthermore, he would gain the opportunity to enslave two Dragon True Gods, solidifying an unshakable foothold in the Main World.

However, this war would be his most difficult battle yet.

The combined power of the two Dragon True Gods far surpassed that of the Mother of Flesh.

If the situation became unmanageable and they escaped, it would be an endless disaster.

Thus, after meticulous planning, Rosen decided to slowly boil the Dragon Realm like a frog in warm water.

Rosen instantly transformed into a Yinglong.

A silent dragon roar rippled through the realm, carrying his presence across the entire Dragon Realm through The Loudest Sound is Silence.

Every Dragon in the Dragon Realm felt the pressure of a Dragon God.

The Solar Dragon God and the Infernal Blood Dragon appeared almost instantly, descending upon the deserted island and confronting Rosen head-on.

"This form... So you really did inherit the legacy of Yinglong..."

The Infernal Blood Dragon let out a deep roar, unable to suppress its greedy excitement.

However, as its gaze shifted to the seven deities floating behind Rosen, sensing their unfolded divine kingdoms, the Infernal Blood Dragon immediately calmed down.

Defeating this group would already be difficult.

Capturing the Yinglong in front of them? Impossible.

"If I use the Authority of the Dragon God to form an alliance with the World Government... What do you think will happen to the Dragon Realm?"

Rosen made no effort to conceal his threat.

"State your true purpose."

The Infernal Blood Dragon spoke through clenched teeth.

The Dragon Race was once one of the top-tier races of the Main World, never lacking True Gods throughout history.

However, their arrogance had earned them too many enemies.

In the past, multiple races had banded together to attack the Dragon Race, leading to the successive deaths of several Dragon True Gods.

The betrayal of the Holy Light Dragon God had been a fatal blow.

As a result, a race that had once stood at the top of the Main World had been forced to retreat into the Dragon Realm to recover.

The only reason their enemies had not invaded the Dragon Realm to exterminate them was that the cost of doing so was too high.

Even a Great True God attempting to wipe out the Dragon Race in the Dragon Realm would pay a steep price.

But the Yinglong before them was different.

He wielded Dragon God Authority, just like them.

While he lacked as much control, the quality of his authority far surpassed theirs.

This was because his Dragon God Authority came from the original founder of the Dragon Realm—the Ancient Yinglong.

Apart from Yinglong himself, no one could strip him of this power.

If this Yinglong were determined to bring in foreign True Gods, the dragon race would lose the majority of the protective capabilities of the Dragon Realm.

If it weren't for this Yinglong's interference, even if the Flesh Mother were several times stronger, she wouldn't have been able to invade the Dragon Realm and retreat unscathed.

Thus, with just one threat, Rosen had already backed the Infernal Blood Dragon into a corner.

"I want one-third of the Dragon Realm, and I want a decisive war to claim my territory," Rosen stated unequivocally.

The Sun Dragon God and the Infernal Blood Dragon didn't respond immediately but quietly deliberated for a while.

In the end, they reached a decision: they couldn't outright refuse, as the dragon race couldn't withstand a siege by the True Gods of various races.

However, they also couldn't agree outright, as that would allow Rosen to take advantage, and the dragon race couldn't afford to let themselves be boiled like a frog in warm water.

"We can agree to your conditions, but you must also agree to three of ours," the Infernal Blood Dragon said, suppressing his anger.

"Let's hear them," Rosen asked after weighing the situation.

"First, if you want to occupy the Dragon Realm, you must truly become a member of the dragon race..."

"Second, if you want to occupy the Dragon Realm, you cannot rely on external forces. You can only claim as much territory as your own abilities allow, with an upper limit of one-third. The lower limit depends on your own capabilities. No Sequence 0 entities are allowed to participate in the war, as it would harm the dragon race's foundation..."

"Lastly, from now on, you cannot betray (betray) the interests of the dragon race."

The Infernal Blood Dragon laid out all the conditions in one breath.

After listening, Rosen nodded without hesitation. This was already the best outcome under the circumstances of mutual compromise.

If they were to completely break relations, what benefit would Rosen gain from the dragon race's destruction?

The dragon race was well aware of this, which gave them the confidence to set conditions.

They even hoped to use these conditions to fully integrate Rosen into the dragon race.

Rosen's true body left with the seven Taboo Deities, leaving only the Yinglong avatar behind.

"Your true body is human?" the Infernal Blood Dragon asked, his expression grim.

"No, I am a pure-blooded primordial human," Rosen explained.

"Primordial human? Is it true that the newly emerged World Tree is in your hands?" the Infernal Blood Dragon asked, shocked.

"How could that be?" Rosen denied. "This primordial human identity is the result of bloodline reversion caused by obtaining part of the ancient World Tree's heart. As far as I know, most of the ancient World Tree's remains lie in the Abyss World..."

At the end, Rosen even projected the scene he had witnessed in the first layer of the Abyss through the mental canvas.

The Infernal Blood Dragon believed this explanation, as the World Tree wasn't something that could easily come into existence.

It was a divine tree that only Ancient Gods were qualified to cultivate. He had only been trying to probe Rosen's true intentions earlier.

He hadn't expected to uncover such a massive secret. No wonder the Abyss World was so much stronger than the Dragon Realm.

In the past, the Abyss World had also screwed over the dragon race multiple times, even corrupting a Dragon God into becoming an Abyss Monarch.

The secret of the World Tree's remains being in the Abyss World could definitely be used to make the Abyss Demons pay at an opportune moment.

After both sides discussed the specific details of the war, the Infernal Blood Dragon and the Sun Dragon God began their preparations.

First, the entire Dragon Realm was completely sealed off, and all spatial rifts were erased, cutting off all connections between the Dragon Realm and the outside world. Now, no news about the Dragon Realm could leak out, and no one would know that a new Dragon God had emerged in the Dragon Realm.

Rosen also honored the agreement, deeply binding himself to the dragon race's civilization flame.

If he were to break the agreement, his control over the Dragon Realm would automatically lose effect.

Both sides were relatively satisfied with this outcome. Rosen gained the opportunity to advance to Sequence 1 through war, while the dragon race gained the chance to strengthen their overall power. As for the casualties caused by the war, as long as the foundation wasn't harmed, no one would care.

(End of Chapter)