In a corner of the underground world shrouded in endless darkness, the Radiant Lighthouse stood firmly rooted to the ground, its light dispelling the surrounding gloom. Thanks to the Sun Golden Wheel, a relic of the Golden Crow, the power of the Radiant Lighthouse had been amplified several times over. If its light were concentrated, even a Sequence 0 Dark Sun Child wouldn't dare approach.
However, the Dark Sun Children were also drawn to the light, which could lead to a dangerous situation where more and more of them would gather, eventually turning on each other and forming a Dark Sun Nest. This was the greatest threat faced by the various celestial dynasties in the underground world.
Therefore, whenever a Dark Sun Child approached the territory of a celestial dynasty, the true gods of that dynasty had to hunt it down immediately. To prevent the sunlight covering their territories from attracting too many Dark Sun Children and forming nests, they also had to build massive walls around their borders. These walls were reinforced with arrays that not only blocked the Dark Sun's minions but also dimmed the sunlight, reducing its allure to the Dark Sun Children.
Rosen Howard's divine territory, however, lacked such walls, and he had no intention of dimming the sunlight. His goal was to use the Radiant Lighthouse to attract Dark Sun Children and then hunt down these easy prey.
The Dragon God's Wrath transformed into a sniper rifle, and the Hunter's Map appeared in Rosen's consciousness.
[Hunter's Map: Miracle Treasure]
[Level: True God]
[Miracle Attribute: Can mark all life forms within the perception range, distinguishing friend from foe.]
[Miracle Traits: Hunter, One and Only in Heaven and Earth, Eternal and Indestructible]
Thanks to his divine status as the Dragon-Tiger Emperor, Rosen had refined this miracle treasure ahead of time. The Hunter's Map generated a mini-map in his consciousness, similar to a game interface. The diameter of this mini-map was related to the upper limit of his divine strength. Currently, his divine strength, amplified by the Ancient God's sacrificial artifact, was 126, so the mini-map covered a radius of 126 kilometers.
Within this range, all life forms were marked on the mini-map, clearly distinguishing allies from enemies. If a target was identified as hostile and was human, then hunting that human would earn him Hunter Points. With enough Hunter Points, he could exchange them for any ability possessed by humans marked on the Hunter's Map who died by his hand.
This was why the Hunter's Map was the bane of humanity—a terrifying miracle treasure that thrived on devouring humans to grow stronger.
Although Rosen's humanity had diminished as his strength increased, he still couldn't bring himself to slaughter ordinary people. From the moment he obtained the Hunter's Map, he had been scheming to alter its definition of what constituted a "human."
Over time and through the evolution of life, the concept of "human" had taken on different definitions in different eras. In the earliest days of the old world, only primitive humans had the right to call themselves human. Other life forms didn't qualify.
In the current new world, the dominant species of the World Government—the human race—were considered humans. If one day the humans of the World Government declined and the angelic race rose to replace them as the dominant species, and if the angels abandoned the title of "angels" and began calling themselves "humans," then over time, the angels would become the legitimate humans.
And if the declining humans were renamed "dog-headed people" by the angels, then the term "human" would eventually refer to the dog-headed people.
Calling a deer a horse—such a thing, when acknowledged by enough people and when those who acknowledge it are powerful enough, can become reality. In the history of Blue Star, Zhao Gao famously pointed at a deer and called it a horse. If Zhao Gao had the ability to alter historical records and change public perception, then by the time it reached future generations, the names of deer and horse could have been completely swapped. This is even more true in a supernatural world where the definition of species is fluid.
Rosen didn't want to use the Hunter's Map to hunt ordinary people, so he had to achieve the ability to call a deer a horse. However, achieving this in the truest sense was something even a Great True God would find difficult. It would require the efforts of a dominant civilization over tens of thousands of years to truly make other races be recognized as human.
Therefore, at the very beginning, Rosen planned to specialize in a unique branch of the Hunter Sequence: the Deception Hunter.
This branch of hunters possessed an ability called True Deception. If this ability was used to deceive a sheep into believing it was human, then the sheep could truly become human, naturally satisfying the Hunter's Map's requirement for hunting humans.
However, Deception Hunters could only deceive the weak, and they couldn't deceive many targets at the same time. While this allowed Rosen to reluctantly use the Hunter's Map, it fell short of unlocking its true potential.
Thus, when Rosen created his own Hunter Sequence skills, he developed a more suitable system than the Deception Hunter: the Contract Hunter skill system. Now, with only one last skill left to complete, he would be able to call a deer a horse and classify all life forms with blood ties to humans as humans. At that point, he would successfully activate his "devouring" cheat and become a True God or even a Great True God in no time.
"Hunting Contract, target selected: Dark Sun Child."
Rosen activated the Hunting Contract, and the Dragon God's Wrath began to aim and shoot at the Dark Sun Children approaching the Radiant Lighthouse. The divine bullets, composed of the laws of Holy Light, dealt terrifying true damage to the Dark Sun Children. Meanwhile, the laws of Time and Holy Light allowed the Dragon God's Wrath to fire at a rate of nine shots per second.
It could fire even faster, but that would either require reducing the Holy Light divinity compressed into each bullet or using physical divine bullets. Without considering energy consumption, the Dragon God's Wrath had no upper limit to its firing speed. However, for the best balance of efficiency and cost, nine shots per second were more than enough to kill a Sequence 0 Dark Sun Child in a few seconds.
Most of Rosen's time was spent waiting for the Dark Sun Children to be drawn to the Radiant Lighthouse. As the Dark Sun Children were continuously shot down, the comprehensive growth effects brought by the Hunting Contract proved to be as effective as expected.
Rosen could absorb the life essence of the Dark Sun Children to strengthen his vitality, their divine essence to enhance his divinity, and their souls to fortify his own soul. Except for the inability to absorb authority and laws, the Hunting Contract was almost equivalent to a weaker version of the Hunter's Map.
While the rewards from hunting with the Hunting Contract were inferior to those of the Hunter's Map, the Hunting Contract wasn't limited to humans. Rosen couldn't possibly hunt only humans; he would eventually encounter life forms with no blood ties to humans, such as the World Tree or the Dark Sun itself. It was obvious that these beings had no ancestral connection to humans whatsoever.
Thus, the Hunting Contract essentially compensated for the weakness of the "devouring" path, transforming it from a purely human-devouring path into a more universal "survival of the fittest" path.
The various essences plundered through the Hunting Contract were absorbed by Rosen. Any excess that his body couldn't handle was transferred to his contracted pets.
As a result, the pets he had contracted underwent a qualitative transformation at the essence level, reaching a level that was no less than that of the Forbidden Sequence.
Rosen had completely lost himself in the slaughter. In just half a year, nearly a thousand Dark Sun Children had fallen to his gun. On the day he killed the thousandth Dark Sun Child, he suddenly felt an abnormal change occurring within him.
Rosen tore open his clothes and looked at his chest, where a mark of the Dark Sun had inexplicably appeared. His first thought was that he was done for—his arrogance had attracted the attention of the Dark Sun itself.
However, he soon discovered that this Dark Sun Mark brought him only benefits and no harm. The mark showed no intention of corrupting him. Instead, it granted him a very special ability: he could now command Dark Sun Children, with the number he could control depending on his divine strength.
Rosen had used his Apocalypse Eye to observe many Great True Gods and True Gods, but he had never seen a Dark Sun Mark on any of them. Either the Dark Sun had set its sights on him, or he had met some special condition to obtain the mark—such as killing a thousand Dark Sun Children within a certain period of time.
Those True Gods who had achieved their status through divine positions lacked the ability to continuously hunt a thousand Dark Sun Children. Great True Gods, on the other hand, had the strength to do so, but they wouldn't senselessly slaughter Dark Sun Children without reason. After all, Dark Sun Children had little practical value. Aside from being used to refine Divine Ruins Pills, their uses could be counted on one's fingers.
Was it because no one had ever gone on a rampage killing Dark Sun Children that the existence of the Dark Sun Mark had remained undiscovered until now?
Although the Dark Sun Mark seemed to bring only benefits for the time being, anything related to the Dark Sun was not something to be taken lightly. Rosen immediately began attempting to remove the mark. He had expected it to cling stubbornly to him, but to his surprise, it was easily detached. After some experimentation, he discovered that the Dark Sun Mark could be freely integrated into any living being.
Rosen summoned his Metal Slime and fused the Dark Sun Mark into the Nightmare Slime. With infinite resources and the acceleration of time through the laws of space-time, those close to him—both people and pets—had gradually advanced to Sequence 1 over the years.
The Nightmare Slime was no exception. However, Sequence 1 was essentially the upper limit for the Nightmare Slime. Despite its immense size, it remained foolish and simple-minded, even at Sequence 1. There was no way it could ignite its divine flame, condense a divine core, or open a divine realm on its own.
If it didn't follow the normal path of a deity, the only way for it to reach Sequence 0 was through external means. However, Sequence 0 beings achieved through such methods—whether divine position holders or deities—were often weak. Dark Sun Children were even weaker than these divine position holders.
Moreover, divine position holders consumed their lifespans, while Dark Sun Children sacrificed their minds. All power obtained through unnatural means came at a cost proportional to what was gained.
Because of this, Rosen had already planned to dissolve his contract with the Nightmare Slime and replace it with a new pet when the opportunity arose. But now, it seemed he might have to reconsider.
The Nightmare Slime, having successfully fused with the Dark Sun Mark, could now command over a hundred Dark Sun Children at once.
Rosen continued his hunt for Dark Sun Children, and another half a year passed in the blink of an eye. When a new Dark Sun Mark appeared, he attempted to transfer it to the Nightmare Slime once more.
The moment the two Dark Sun Marks came into contact, they began to merge. However, there was no evolution yet—more Dark Sun Marks would be needed to trigger a full fusion and evolution.
Nearly seven years passed, and Rosen had successfully obtained his fifteenth Dark Sun Mark. He casually transferred it to the Nightmare Slime and prepared to continue his search for Dark Sun Children. By now, the Dark Sun Children near the Cosmic Holy Court had almost been completely exterminated by him.
But at that moment, the Dark Sun Marks on the Nightmare Slime began to change.
Fifteen Dark Sun Marks—it seemed the conditions for evolution had finally been met. The Nightmare Slime, originally at Sequence 1, rapidly grew to Sequence 0 as the Dark Sun Marks evolved. Its extraordinary bloodline condensed and compressed, eventually merging with the Dark Sun Marks to form a divine core unlike anything Rosen had ever heard of.
[Dark Sun Slime: Eternal Servant]
[Level: Sequence 0]
[Sequence: Dark Sun]
[Divine Core: Bloodline Divine Core (150)]
[Talents: Dark Sun Mark, Eternal Shapeshifting]
[Skill: Infinite Gluttony]
If not for the fact that the pet contract was still intact, Rosen wouldn't have believed that the colossal creature before him was the Nightmare Slime. After its successful evolution, the Dark Sun Slime looked like a massive black water droplet. Though it had large, watery eyes, its towering height of nearly a kilometer made it anything but cute.
Through the Ancient God's Shackles, Rosen carefully examined the Dark Sun Slime's condition. It still had no brain—it seemed that slimes, as a life form, simply couldn't develop one. This wasn't surprising, as its body was entirely liquid, leaving no room for a brain. The only potential sources of intelligence, its soul and spiritual essence, didn't seem to have been allocated to mental faculties either. However, if the Dark Sun Slime had actually gained intelligence, Rosen would have been even more uneasy.
The current Dark Sun Slime was so powerful that even Rosen felt a sense of trepidation. Perhaps because it was his pet, his Apocalypse Eye could easily discern information that far exceeded his usual understanding.
The Bloodline Divine Core was a material divine core formed from the fusion of extraordinary bloodlines and spiritual essence. Normally, divine cores were composed of mental and faith-based energy, leaning toward the spiritual. Over time, ordinary divine cores would give rise to True God Will and Immortal Will.
In contrast, the Bloodline Divine Core, upon ascending to True God status, would give birth to True Blood. Rosen immediately thought of the Ancient God's True Blood—perhaps the Ancient Gods had mastered the Bloodline Divine Core.
As a being of the Forbidden Sequence, Rosen gained an average of 13 points of divine essence Upper limit per sequence level. However, the Dark Sun Slime was even stronger, with an average of 15 points per sequence level. It was only now that Rosen realized the Forbidden Sequence wasn't the end. Above it were the Immortal Sequence and the Eternal Sequence.
Only by mastering the Immortal Sequence could one have a chance to surpass a Great True God. And only by mastering the Eternal Sequence could one have a chance to become an Eternal Lifeform.
The Dark Sun Slime was now of the Eternal Sequence, with the potential to grow into an Eternal Lifeform like the Ancient Gods.
However, the Dark Sun Slime is currently only an Eternal Servant. It needs to rely on its Dark Sun Mark talent to continue hunting Dark Sun Servants and strengthening its marks. Once the Dark Sun Marks reach their limit, the Dark Sun Slime will evolve into an Eternal Lifeform.
Just by killing fifteen thousand Dark Sun Children, Rosen had unexpectedly obtained the initial form of an Eternal Lifeform. But as he looked at the Dark Sun Slime, he felt no joy—only unease.
He didn't believe this was a stroke of luck or a gift from the heavens. Instead, he suspected it was part of the Dark Sun's plan. Rosen was more inclined to believe that the Dark Sun was in a severely weakened state and that the Dark Sun Marks might be a means for its rebirth. If the Dark Sun Slime were to slaughter countless Dark Sun Servants and ascend to become an Eternal Lifeform, would the entity that ultimately survived be his pet, the Nightmare Slime, or the Dark Sun itself?
To Rosen, the Dark Sun Slime now felt like a ticking time bomb.
He had considered abandoning the Dark Sun Slime, but could he really shake off the Dark Sun so easily after being marked by it? For now, the Dark Sun had shown no hostility. If he were to discard the Dark Sun Slime, he might provoke its wrath. Therefore, whether or not the Dark Sun Slime was problematic, he couldn't afford to abandon it—at least not until he returned to the New World.
For the time being, the Dark Sun Slime could still serve as a powerful asset.
Its other talent, Eternal Shapeshifting, was an Eternal Talent born from reaching the Eternal Sequence. According to the Apocalypse Eye's analysis, Eternal Talents were on par with the unique miracle traits of miracle treasures.
With Eternal Shapeshifting, the Dark Sun Slime could transform into anything it devoured using its Infinite Gluttony skill. If it transformed into a living being, it would inherit 100% of that being's extraordinary power. If it transformed into an inanimate object, the amount of power it inherited varied.
Rosen directed the Dark Sun Slime to hunt Dark Sun Children on its own. The slime's defensive capabilities were terrifyingly strong—even a full-powered shot from the Dragon God's Wrath might only barely penetrate its defenses. Killing the Dark Sun Slime was nearly impossible.
Returning to the Mysterious Study Room, Rosen prepared to master the final self-created skill of the Hunter Sequence. Looking back, he realized his behavior had been abnormal. By the time he had hunted over two thousand Dark Sun Children, he had already met the conditions to master the final skill. However, he had been consumed by an almost obsessive drive to hunt more Dark Sun Children and collect more Dark Sun Marks for fusion and upgrades.
It wasn't until the birth of the Dark Sun Slime that Rosen felt he had truly regained his clarity of mind.
As countless spiritual runes overlapped and recombined within his simulated divine core, they soon fused with his faith to form a unique skill rune. This faith wasn't derived from his followers but from the obsessive belief in killing humans that Rosen had accumulated through hunting Dark Sun Children.
[Hunter's Mind: All humanoid life forms are automatically recognized as human.]
This wasn't a miracle skill or a law-based skill but a special innate skill. The three self-created skills Rosen had mastered at Sequence 1 of the Hunter Sequence were all unique innate skills.
With a thought, Rosen arrived at the Ancient God's True Realm, where a row of targets immediately appeared before him. These ranged from ordinary white rabbits to Sequence 1 Abyssal Demons—but none were pure-blooded humans.
In the past, hunting these life forms would only activate the Hunting Contract, not the Hunter's Contract. But now, as long as a life form was humanoid, it was automatically recognized as human.
As for why a rabbit could be considered humanoid, Rosen's understanding of "humanoid" was based on conceptual similarities. Humans have eyes, and rabbits have eyes—isn't that enough to make them humanoid? No matter how bizarre their forms, as long as they possessed features similar to humans, they were classified as humanoid.
Thus, hunting these life forms not only activated the Hunter's Contract but also triggered the Hunter's Map's miracle trait, Hunter, allowing Rosen to earn Hunter Points. These points could be used to exchange for any ability possessed by humanoid prey.
Rosen fired a shot, blowing off the rabbit's head, and the Hunter's Contract automatically took effect. He continued to shoot the remaining humanoid targets and noticed an extremely faint increase in the damage of his divine bullets.
In the short term, the effect was negligible, but as the number of humanoid kills increased, the true damage stacked by the Hunter's Contract would become increasingly terrifying. Eventually, even a Sequence 9 bullet might be able to effortlessly kill a deity.
Rosen discovered that hunting ordinary humanoid life forms yielded very few Hunter Points—so few that they didn't even register as whole numbers, with several zeros after the decimal point. However, hunting extraordinary humanoid life forms granted Hunter Points equivalent to their spiritual essence.
There were differences in the points, though. Hunter Points earned from killing life forms below Sequence 3 couldn't be used to exchange for abilities of demigod-level prey. On the other hand, points earned from killing demigods had no such restrictions—at the very least, Rosen could exchange them for the abilities of a Sequence 1 Abyssal Demon without issue.
Without hesitation, Rosen exchanged his points for the Flame Authority of an Abyssal Flame Demon, instantly mastering the authority over flames.
(End of Chapter)