Sequence 1 Nobles and the Eerie War of the Main World

"Congratulations, you've won…" The Infernal Blood Dragon used instantaneous movement to appear before Rosen, blocking his newly resurrected army. 

Eliminating some pure-blooded Dragons was acceptable. It would motivate the survivors, making them understand the cost of weakness. Moreover, it would break the complacency that had developed among the Dragon Race after years of isolation in the Dragon Realm. So while the previous losses were within reason, continuing this battle was no longer acceptable. 

Although the Infernal Blood Dragon could see that the Yinglong Dragon God had paid a price to resurrect tens of thousands of Demi-Gods, a fully revived army of tens of thousands, combined with the Flesh Curse now spreading across the mountains of corpses, would require at least a hundred thousand pure-blooded Dragons to be sacrificed before the battle was settled. That level of casualties was far beyond acceptable limits. The Infernal Blood Dragon refused to suffer any further losses. 

At the end of the day, the territory of the Dragon Realm was not that important to them. For a Dragon God, conventional land and territorial resources were already irrelevant. What truly mattered was the civilization fate energy of the Dragon Race and the overall strength of the Dragon Realm itself. Only these factors allowed True Gods to ascend further and to compete for high-level divine resources in the Main World. 

If the Yinglong Dragon God truly needed land, the Infernal Blood Dragon wouldn't have minded giving him one-third of the Dragon Realm. However, the Yinglong Dragon God was not yet a True God. First, he had let the Mother of Flesh inside. Then, he brought a group of human Forbidden Deities to pressure them into surrendering territory. Such tactics greatly displeased the Infernal Blood Dragon. So he had intended to teach this new Dragon God a lesson. 

But now, he realized he had severely underestimated him. Even as a mere Sequence 1, he had managed to accomplish all of this. At this point, the Infernal Blood Dragon felt no more anger. Instead, he admired the Yinglong Dragon God. Because if such a monster were to fully mature, the Dragon Race's return to glory would no longer be just a dream. 

Furthermore, the Infernal Blood Dragon was not concerned about the Yinglong Dragon God betraying the Dragon Race. He possessed a fragment of the Dragon God's Authority. If the Dragon Race were to fall, it would bring no benefit to him at all. And only madmen and fools would pursue something with no benefit. But no matter how he looked at it, the Yinglong Dragon God was neither a madman nor a fool. 

With the cooperation of the two Dragon Gods, Rosen officially claimed one-third of the Dragon Realm. Within this territory, all Dragon Race members—whether pure-blooded Dragons or Dragon Beasts—were now under his command. Even pure-blooded Dragons who disobeyed could be freely disposed of. The Dragon Race upheld the law of the jungle. If one didn't want their life to be controlled, they needed to climb higher in power. 

After securing his new territory, the first thing Rosen did was to have his true body return to the Dragon Realm. 

To perfectly ascend to the new Sequence 1 Noble, he needed to meet five conditions. 

First, he had to wage a large-scale war and secure victory, gathering enough war-related divine essence. 

Second, he had to occupy vast amounts of land, with a minimum requirement equivalent to an empire's size. 

Third, he had to establish complete rule over the conquered land, implementing laws that all intelligent beings would be forced to follow. 

Fourth, he needed to impose taxation upon all inhabitants of his territory. 

And lastly, he needed to forge a miraculous artifact to bear the Authority of Kingship. 

In this regard, either the Holy Sword of Kingship or the Crown of the Holy Grail could serve as the vessel. However, the Holy Grail King Card was shrouded in too many mysteries. Until Rosen fully unraveled its secrets, he was unwilling to risk leaving a hidden flaw in his Noble Sequence. 

The divine essence infused with the Authority of War naturally formed when mass casualties occurred on the battlefield.

In preparation for this, Rosen had previously painted several Spiritual Artworks depicting the Heart of War, a powerful Extraordinary Artifact. By replicating part of its war-related supernatural power, he had successfully gathered an enormous amount of war-infused spiritual essence from the Dragon God Battlefield.

The land he had conquered far exceeded the scale of an empire. However, establishing absolute rule over his new territory and implementing laws was a more complicated process.

To accomplish this, Rosen had to utilize the Miracle Skill Kingdom of Sovereignty, temporarily converting his occupied territory into a Divine Kingdom. Then, through the Miracle Trait Royal Decree, he enforced strict adherence to his laws upon all intelligent beings in his realm.

However, while he had established legal systems, there were no tax-related laws in the initial statutes.

The reason was simple—taxation was a crucial factor in shaping his future path after ascending to Sequence 1 Noble.

If he imposed minimal taxation, the power gained from this step would be relatively weak.

If he heavily taxed the populace, it would inevitably trigger violent resistance.

Thus, he couldn't afford to set restrictive laws that would bind himself later. He needed to enforce taxation first, and only then draft the relevant laws afterward.

Starting from the outer edges of his territory, Rosen gradually sent his forces to collect taxes door-to-door.

And his tax rate? A full one hundred percent.

This meant that every intelligent being within his realm would not be allowed to keep even a single unit of spiritual essence. Every piece of wealth was to be forcibly seized.

For the Dragons, who cherished their hoards more than their own lives, this was utterly unacceptable.

Resistance was inevitable. But resistance was also futile.

Because the chief tax collector was none other than the Imagination Dragon.

And not just any Imagination Dragon—one wielding the Dragon-Binding Cords.

Over the span of several years, every Dragon in Rosen's domain had been completely stripped of their wealth, reduced to penniless beggars. Their Dragon Nests were so empty that even mice would pity them. Some pure-blooded Dragons even fell into severe depression as a result.

Some had attempted to escape, but Rosen had preemptively sealed his entire domain using his Dragon God Authority.

Once the forced taxation was complete, Rosen began crafting an Extraordinary Artifact to carry the Authority of Kingship.

When it came to proper artifact craftsmanship, Rosen only possessed basic knowledge.

But he was a Painter.

He could paint an Extraordinary Artifact into existence.

Using Nen Manifestation, he materialized the Divine Palette, then employed the Miracle Skill Divine Paint, pouring all plundered wealth from taxation into the palette.

Along with it, he infused the war-infused spiritual essence he had gathered.

He then added fragments of the Wisdom Dragon God's Divine Core and Extraordinary Essence from the Gatekeeper's Noble Sequence, both serving as foundational materials.

These extremely precious ingredients were gradually transformed into multicolored Divine Paints.

Rosen retrieved his Divine Brush, which had been enhanced to Sequence 2 using the Heartwood of the Painting Sequence's Ancient Tree.

Dipping the brush into the Divine Paint, he meticulously painted a three-dimensional Royal Scepter in midair.

As a Painter, he imbued the scepter with an array of supernatural powers.

Even with Time Sketch accelerating his process by over a hundredfold, Rosen still spent twenty full years in reality crafting this artifact.

He had not entered the Time World Fruit because the scepter's creation needed to take place on the very land he had conquered.

When the final stroke was placed, Rosen immediately began the final potion refinement process.

Uncapping the Potion Flask, Rosen dropped the golden Royal Scepter into the mixture.

Then, he extracted his own Ancient God Sequence Extraordinary Bloodline and Noble Sequence Extraordinary Essence, adding them to the potion.

Finally, he incorporated the civilization flame of the Brilliant Kingdom, along with various supplementary materials.

All the supplementary materials were symbols of royal authority once held by different kings throughout history.

Now that both the primary and secondary materials were gathered, the Potion Flask began synthesizing the Sequence 1 Noble Potion according to the designated formula.

Moments later, the flask expelled a radiant golden pearl.

Rosen grabbed the pearl and swallowed it in one gulp. The potion's power instantly surged through his entire body, reconstructing a brand-new Sequence 1 Noble Extraordinary Essence within him. Inside this Extraordinary Essence, the Authority of the Noble Sequence 1 took shape, and from that authority, his exclusive Extraordinary Artifact was formed.

[War Sovereignty: Noble Sequence 1 Authority]

[Trait: You have obtained War Sovereignty within the Authority of Kingship, granting you the exclusive Extraordinary Artifact—Golden Scepter]

Rosen carefully examined the transformations within himself and immediately understood the essence of War Sovereignty.

By mastering War Sovereignty, he could now fully wield a portion of Divine Kingship's power.

As a king, he could receive a power boost from all his subjects. Previously, this augmentation was limited to his Divine Kingdom territory, but now, it extended to all lands under the rule of the Brilliant Kingdom. Even a True God would struggle to defeat him within his domain.

Additionally, he could actively initiate wars, and during battle, he could negate all enemy buffs.

For example, if he declared war on a True God, he could precisely lock onto that deity and directly invade their Divine Kingdom. Normally, a True God would receive an immense power boost while within their Divine Kingdom, but War Sovereignty nullified this advantage, canceling out their Divine Kingdom's reinforcement effects.

Even more terrifying was the ability to combine War Sovereignty with Kingdom of Sovereignty, allowing him to temporarily convert an enemy's Divine Kingdom into his own domain.

Previously, Kingdom of Sovereignty only allowed Rosen to transform his immediate surroundings into his Royal Divine Kingdom. However, this effect was limited to his domain's range—if he moved beyond that range, Kingdom of Sovereignty would cease to function. At its core, Kingdom of Sovereignty was just an extremely powerful domain-based skill.

But now, by combining it with War Sovereignty, any area designated as a battlefield by War Sovereignty could be permanently converted into his Royal Divine Kingdom.

Summoning his exclusive Extraordinary Artifact, the Golden Scepter, Rosen already knew its attributes without needing to check.

[Golden Scepter: Noble Sequence Exclusive Extraordinary Artifact]

[Rank: Sequence 1]

[Trait: The Golden Scepter doubles the effectiveness of all Noble Sequence abilities.]

[Authority Traits: Royal Wisdom, Royal Declaration of War, Royal Law, Royal Taxation]

The basic power amplification provided by the Golden Scepter was already a tremendous advantage. However, its true strength lay in the four Authority Traits it possessed.

Royal Wisdom allowed Rosen to accumulate and access the collective knowledge of all his vassals.

Now, Rosen could directly bestow noble titles without needing the World Government's approval. These nobles might be powerless outside of the Brilliant Kingdom, but within its borders, the power boost they received rivaled that of a Divine Kingdom's Lords.

The more nobles he granted titles to, the greater their collective intelligence, thereby increasing the effectiveness of Royal Wisdom.

Royal Declaration of War allowed him to fully unleash the power of War Sovereignty. Once he targeted an enemy with Royal Declaration of War, they had no way to avoid it.

If the enemy willingly accepted battle, then the war would proceed normally.

But if they attempted to flee, their own luck and fate would be suppressed by the civilization flame of the Brilliant Kingdom.

Unless they wanted to become the unluckiest being alive, retreating from a Royal Declaration of War was simply not an option.

Then there was Royal Law, which enabled Rosen to permanently establish laws within the Brilliant Kingdom, regardless of whether they were reasonable or not.

Of course, this power wasn't without limits.

Setting a law that instantly kills all Sequence 2 beings upon entering the Brilliant Kingdom was completely feasible.

But setting a law that instantly kills any deity upon entering? Impossible.

At the end of the day, laws could only restrict the weak, not the strong.

Being able to weaken enemies to some extent was already the current limit of Royal Law.

Lastly, there was Royal Taxation, which, strictly speaking, was the strongest trait of the Golden Scepter.

No matter what kind of Extraordinary Being entered the Brilliant Kingdom, they were required to pay taxes.

And this taxation wasn't limited to just wealth—it extended to intelligence, lifespan, memories, spiritual essence, and virtually anything of value.

If the tax fell within the legal limits Rosen had established, it required no cost on his part. However, forced taxation beyond those limits would consume the civilization fate energy stored in the Brilliant Kingdom's Civilization Flame.

Of course, this wasn't a permanent depletion. It didn't lower the upper limit, only the current reserve. As long as the Brilliant Kingdom remained strong, the lost fate energy could be easily replenished.

Rosen examined the strength of the Civilization Flame and made a quick assessment. If the Solar Dragon God were to set foot in the Brilliant Kingdom at this moment, Rosen could invoke Royal Taxation to forcibly seize the True God's Extraordinary Artifact, or at the very least, strip away one-third of his divine essence.

He was only Sequence 1, and his mastery of the Authority of Kingship was still incomplete.

Even so, he could already threaten a True God to this degree.

No wonder those ancient kings had the power to wage war against deities.

Rosen had now recreated a portion of the mighty authority once wielded by the ancient rulers who mastered the Law of Kingship.

Turning his focus inward, Rosen examined his Divine Essence. His upper limit had now reached 105.

Moreover, a qualitative transformation had begun, affecting his Divine Kingdom Territory as well.

Though the influence of the Noble Sequence had already expanded beyond the Divine Kingdom Territory to encompass the entire Brilliant Kingdom, within his Divine Kingdom, these abilities received at least double the enhancement.

Once his Divine Kingdom Territory finished evolving, his Sequence 1 skill—Ten Directions Annihilation—would be powerful enough to instantly kill a True God.

This trump card wasn't something Rosen planned to use carelessly. Now, he just had to wait for some foolish True God to provoke him.

After confirming the full extent of the Noble Sequence's transformations, Rosen began granting noble titles within the Dragon Realm.

First, he bestowed titles upon his pets and heroes.

Then, he moved on to highly intelligent pure-blooded Dragons, particularly the Wisdom Dragons. Regardless of their level, every single one of them was elevated to the rank of Duke-level Dragon Lord.

As a result, Royal Wisdom's enhancement skyrocketed several times over.

Previously, the forcible taxation had left the pure-blooded Dragons seething with resentment.

But now, as Dragon Lords, they had received the favor of the Brilliant Kingdom's Civilization Flame, instantly acquiring the initial Sequence 9 rank of the Noble Sequence.

This allowed them to convert their Dragon Nests into Divine Kingdom Territories, granting them the potential to advance further in the Noble Sequence.

Wealth was important, but gaining power was the ultimate goal.

Among the 3.5 million pure-blooded Dragons, none dared to openly complain anymore.

After all, sacrificing their entire fortune to obtain a profession exclusive to the World Government was an incredibly rare opportunity.

For many Extraordinary Beings of other races, such a trade-off would be considered a bargain.

Reluctantly, Rosen departed from the Dragon Realm, forcefully suppressing his urge to slaughter the Solar Dragon God and Infernal Blood Dragon.

With War Sovereignty and the Golden Scepter, and seven Forbidden Deities on his side, if he could lure the two Dragon Gods into his territory, the Dragon-Binding Cords would ensure they were completely restrained.

Killing them would no longer be difficult.

However, capturing them alive was still uncertain.

It would be best to wait until his Sequence 1 abilities reached perfection and he was ready to ascend to Sequence 0. At that point, he could conquer the entire Dragon Realm in one decisive move.

The prolonged isolation of the Dragon Realm had already attracted the attention of many True Gods in the Main World.

The decision to seal off the Dragon Realm had been Rosen's request, but the moment he left, the Infernal Blood Dragon swiftly lifted the restriction.

After all, a prolonged blockade had stifled the flow of resources, causing considerable discomfort for the Dragon Realm.

New spies soon infiltrated Dragon society, and the mysterious Yinglong Dragon God finally came under the scrutiny of the True Gods from various races.

The World Government was especially furious—nearly to the point of losing its mind—upon discovering that the Yinglong Dragon God had the ability to bestow the Noble Sequence as a profession.

On the very same day that the authenticity of the news was confirmed, the World Government formally declared war on the Dragon Race.

However, before the Solar Dragon God and Infernal Blood Dragon could even respond, the Abyss World had already publicly declared war on the World Government.

Almost immediately afterward, nearly all non-human races surrounding human civilization followed suit, one after another, also declaring war on the World Government.

Even Rosen hadn't expected that dragons gaining access to the Noble Sequence would end up igniting a full-scale war across the Main World.

When he sought out the Infernal Blood Dragon for an explanation, the Dragon himself had no clear answers.

He could only speculate that it was related to the Authority of Kingship.

Back in ancient times, when various True Gods suppressed the Authority of Kingship, the Dragon Race had been excluded from the entire affair.

Beyond that, even the Infernal Blood Dragon didn't know the full details.

However, there was one person who definitely knew the truth—the Holy Light Dragon God.

Rosen immediately recognized that the Infernal Blood Dragon was trying to use him to get rid of the Holy Light Dragon God.

But at this point, killing the Holy Light Dragon God wasn't part of Rosen's plan.

With the Dragon-Binding Cords in his possession, these Dragon Gods would never escape his grasp anyway.

Killing him now would just be a waste.

Instead, Rosen turned to the Coin True God for answers.

"Why did the Dragon Race obtaining the Noble Sequence become the catalyst for a full-scale war?"

However, rather than providing an answer, the Coin True God simply warned him.

"Stay quiet. Don't seek death."

Through the Five Great Networks, Rosen observed that every single True God of the World Government had mobilized.

Yet, even with their full strength, they could barely maintain a situation of more defeats than victories.

This sudden, all-out war had drawn in over fifty True Gods from various factions.

If it weren't for the fact that the World Government's True Gods were noticeably stronger than those of the non-human races, they would have already collapsed completely.

On the surface, it seemed as though the World Government was in serious trouble.

But Rosen knew better.

The establishment of the World Government had been accompanied by the sealing of the World Will of the Main World.

Furthermore, more than one Great True God had been involved in its creation.

If the True Gods of the other races believed they could overthrow the World Government so easily, they were gravely mistaken.

In Rosen's estimation, this war was nothing more than a calculated test—an opportunistic probe from the True Gods of the other races.

And sure enough, his prediction was correct.

The entire war, from its explosive beginning to its abrupt end, lasted less than three months.

How it ended remained unknown.

Just as suddenly as it began, it was over.

Rosen had fully expected the World Government to launch an invasion of the Dragon Realm.

But to his surprise, they never made a move.

Instead, they merely cut off all official and unofficial dealings with the Dragon Realm.

And just like that, the entire Main World was plunged into a strange, post-war silence.

Rosen had already prepared for the worst-case scenario—abandoning his territory in the Dragon Realm and erasing the identity of the Yinglong Dragon God.

Yet now, with such an eerie calm settling over the world, he couldn't help but feel uneasy.

This only deepened his urgency to grow stronger.

He had to complete his Sequence 1 advancement in the Painter Sequence as soon as possible.

Among the Extraordinary Sequences he controlled, the Noble Sequence was the most complicated.

The Hunter Sequence was equally troublesome, especially if he wanted to refine the World Tree into a clone.

Only the Painter Sequence was straightforward enough to allow him to ascend quickly.

Since it was the easiest to break through in a short time, it was the obvious choice.

With all his preparations complete, Rosen made his decision.

He would travel to the birthplace of the Painter Sequence in the Main World—

And there, he would ascend to Sequence 1.