Lord: Sequence Overlord

Chapter 152 The Time Dragon's Nest and the Bronze Dragon
Chapter 151

At the edge of the Great Rift Valley, the distortion of time causes a significant reduction in lifespan for those living there.

Therefore, there are no human cities near the Great Rift Valley, but there is an ancient castle that has stood for 20,000 years.

Rosen rode his mechanical mount, hovering in the sky, gazing at the dilapidated castle in the distance.

Seeing it with one's own eyes, it's hard to believe that the nobles living in this dilapidated castle are actually from the Milburn family, which ranks among the top three of the nine hereditary dukes of the Thunder Empire.

The Milburn family is known for its small population, and no demigod has been born in the family for 20,000 years.

The key to their ranking in the top three lies in the fact that the Milburn family's extraordinary bloodline is time-related.

That's why Duke Milburn's family has been able to live on the edge of the Great Rift of Time for generations, and that's why the Thunder Empire was able to appoint them to manage the spiritual realm here. If he wants to enter that spiritual realm, he can't bypass Duke Milburn.

Instead of living guards, there were two Sequence 7 alchemical golems standing in front of the castle gate.

"The hereditary Duke Rosen Howard has come to visit the Duke of Milburn."

After jumping off the mechanical mount, Rosen revealed his family crest.

The alchemical golem glanced at the noble emblem and immediately contacted the steward.

The steward, who was watering the flowers inside the castle, didn't dare to delay and immediately notified Duke Milburn, who was fishing.

“A stranger, a hereditary duke, please come here.”

Duke Milburn thought for a moment and then gave the order.

The butler soon arrived at the castle gate and respectfully invited Rosen to go to the Crystal Lake behind the castle.

When Rosen arrived at Crystal Lake with the butler, an alchemical golem had already set up a deck chair and fishing gear next to Duke Milburn, actually inviting visiting guests to fish. This Duke Milburn was truly extraordinary.

"It is an honor to meet you, Duke Howard."

Duke Milburn picked up a fishing rod and handed it to Rosen.

Just now, he had used his family's connections in the World Government to investigate the true nature of the Howard family.

He was a hereditary nobleman, concurrently holding the title of non-hereditary earl, and in the blink of an eye, he became a hereditary duke.

Moreover, he is no more than thirty years old and is already a Sequence 7 painter capable of creating paintings of the Spirit Realm.

From any perspective, Rosen's future potential is considerable.

“It is an honor to meet you, Duke Milburn.”

Rosen took the fishing rod and sat down beside him, looking at the crystal lake in front of him with some curiosity.

"My Crystal Lake is a wonderful place..."

Duke Milburn proudly said, "Don't be fooled by the small size of this place, which is less than a kilometer in diameter. There are high-quality time fossil veins at the bottom of this lake. I have released quite a few aquatic species with time attributes into it. What we will eat for dinner tonight depends on our harvest."

"Then I'll really have to take fishing seriously."

Rosen smiled with a hint of envy.

Fishing is a very boring activity, but fortunately the Duke of Milburn was very enthusiastic.

However, their enthusiasm was only superficial; in reality, they were both testing each other's strengths and weaknesses.

The situation only improved when Rosen presented a gift.

Five rare and precious pregnancy stones—if they're lucky enough, it's enough to give the Milburn family another child.

For the sparsely populated Duke of Milburn, this was more sincere than any precious gift.

However, Duke Milburn hesitated when he learned that Rosen wanted to go to the Time Dragon's Nest Spirit Realm.

It's not that I'm reluctant to leave, but this spiritual realm is too dangerous.

The core of the Time Dragon's Nest originates from the divine apostle of the fallen God of Thunder, the Bronze Dragon Vlada Valencia of the Gundam Sequence 1, who knew from the beginning that he had perished in reality.

Therefore, when the Bronze Dragon was first born in the Spirit Realm, it had already completely integrated the fighting forces within the Spirit Realm.

In the past, in order to develop this spiritual realm, several deities even descended in avatars to slay the bronze dragon time and time again, gradually stripping away the essence of the spiritual realm. In the end, the entire nation mobilized and spent thousands of years to weaken the original Sequence 1 spiritual realm to Sequence 5.

However, even after 19,000 years, the Time Dragon Nest, this spiritual realm, is still at Sequence 5.

The reason is simple: the Spirit Realm of Sequence 5 can only accommodate Sequence 5. The strength of the Bronze Dragon Sequence 1 was also suppressed to Sequence 5. Although its level was suppressed to Sequence 5, the Bronze Dragon still possessed divinity, and its skill level was terrifyingly high.

Of course, the skill level cannot reach LV9, because the spirituality of Sequence 5 is not qualified to activate the LV9 skill.

However, activating LV6 skills is not a problem at all, which means that the Bronze Dragon is a super high-end Sequence 5 that has mastered divinity and LV6 skills. No other extraordinary life form of the same level as the Beast King is as powerful as the Bronze Dragon.

To defeat a bronze dragon of this strength, one would need to deploy a divine child or a titled demigod who actively seals their power.

However, how could a super-specification Sequence 5 with such strength possibly risk its life against the Time Dragon Nest and the Bronze Dragon?
When they die, they are truly dead. The death of the Bronze Dragon is simply a matter of waiting for the Spirit Realm to refresh.

Therefore, spiritual realms, especially those formed based on historical traces of races other than humans, are more harmful than beneficial to humans. Some have even publicly stated that humans will eventually suffer the backlash from spiritual realms.

Those civilizations destroyed by humanity will rely on spiritual rebirth to overthrow humanity.

The Millburn family has guarded the Great Rift of Time for generations. Besides the fact that the environment there is suitable for the growth of the bronze dragon bloodline that the family possesses, the key is that they can suppress the Time Dragon Nest through other means, so that the spirit realm level they have attacked will not rebound.

Rosen's attempt to enter the Time Dragon's Lair was tantamount to suicide in the eyes of Duke Milburn.

If this gets out, many people will definitely think that the Milburn family framed Duke Howard.

Moreover, Duke Milburn was also worried that Rosen might have ulterior motives in wanting to enter the Time Dragon's Nest.
Duke Milburn was naturally wary of something that would bring him no benefit but only trouble.

If it weren't for the wonderful scent of the Pregnancy Stone in his hand, Duke Milburn would have refused outright long ago.

Left with no other option, the Duke of Milburn could only think of an excuse to politely decline and what treasure to give in return.

Rosen's mental canvas couldn't yet reveal what the Duke of Milburn was thinking, but he could guess some of his concerns.

"I can guarantee, with the contracted spirit god as my witness, that I will not do anything detrimental to the Time Dragon's Nest."

Rosen spoke first, "What I want are specific extraordinary materials to enhance the time trap creation technique. Duke Milburn, you don't need to worry about my safety. I have prepared treasures to restrain the dragons. I only dare to do this because I am absolutely certain of success."

"Time Trap Creation Technique?"

Duke Milburn asked in confusion.

Rosen deployed the trap space, instantly casting a time dust trap onto the surface of Crystal Lake.

"Free skill crystals from dungeons?"

Duke Milburn looked at Rosen with envy.

The time trap creation technique that Sequence 7 can master costs at least tens of millions of spiritual crystals.

If you add the word "freedom," meaning there are no restrictions on the sequence from which this skill can be mastered, its value increases tenfold. A Sequence 7 skill worth hundreds of millions of spiritual crystals is something even the Milburn family couldn't afford to do.

Since things have come to this point, if I refuse now, we'll probably become enemies rather than friends.

Anyway, even if something goes wrong and Rosen dies, with the contracted spirit as witness, he's not worried about anyone spreading rumors afterward.

"The Time Dragon's Nest can be opened at any time, and there is detailed information about the Time Dragon's Nest in the study."

Duke Milburn stopped fishing and took Rosen directly to the castle study.

Rosen spent two days researching information about the Time Dragon's Nest in the castle's study, which significantly reduced his confidence in conquering it.

Relying on the Dragon Blood Bottle and several precious life-saving trump cards, he thought that the mere Sequence 5 Spirit Realm was a piece of cake. However, it now seems that it is not as simple as he imagined. The Time Dragon Nest is completely different from the Spirit Realms he has experienced in the past.

However, since we've already given out such generous gifts, it would be a waste not to go now.

Moreover, the true value hidden in the Time Dragon's Nest far exceeds the information that can be found on the surface of the virtual network.

Rosen slept well that night and was refreshed and ready to head to the Time Dragon's Nest early the next morning.

Duke Milburn personally led Rosen into the Great Rift of Time, and they soon arrived at the bottom of the rift directly below the castle, next to the ruins of a collapsed bronze tower. Only the base of the bronze tower remained, but it was surrounded by layers of seals that even demigods could not overcome.

Duke Milburn opened a layer of the barrier, and Rosen stepped into it.

After passing through nine layers of barriers, he appeared alone on the ruins of the bronze tower's base.

Rosen took out a specially made spatial key, which instantly created a spatial vortex upon activation.

Watching Rosen walk into the spatial vortex, Duke Milburn shook his head and returned to the castle.

Rosen passed through the spatial vortex and appeared in a dense forest.

Release the Hunter God's Eye and soar into the air, sharing vision to see everything around.

The forest is located behind a magnificent city, surrounded by endless fertile fields, and beyond that, an endless grassland. In the center of the city stands a bronze tower that is three thousand meters high, with countless mysterious bronze dragons carved on its surface.

Finally, at the top of the bronze tower, you can see a giant clock made up of countless gears, billowing black smoke.

The city has no walls, so it's easy to see what's happening inside.

Many of the buildings on the outskirts of the city have been demolished and transformed into farmland for growing crops.

Only in the inner city, preliminary estimates suggest that tens of thousands of people are still living numbly.

Most of these people are human, but there are also a few rare half-dragon subhumans.

As Rosen secretly observed the city before him, the area outside the bronze tower of the Time Dragon's Nest had already become bustling with activity.

The great bronze dragon Vladar has issued a divine decree: the blasphemers have once again infiltrated this world. They must find the blasphemers at all costs, hang their corpses in the inner city, and offer their hearts as a sacrifice to the great bronze dragon.

The once lifeless city came back to life, but it looked like it was struggling to survive. When the Time Dragon's Nest was still Sequence 1, the world space spanned tens of thousands of miles.

However, by the time it weakened to Sequence 5, it was only a few thousand miles in radius.

It still looks huge, but almost all the spiritual energy in the entire spiritual realm has been gathered by the bronze dragon into Time City. Except for the land on the edge of the city, which still has spiritual energy, everything outside is a spiritual desert where only ordinary plants can grow.

Logically speaking, with a high concentration of spiritual energy in Time City, the residents should be living very well.

However, all these spiritual beings were bound to the Tower of Time by the Bronze Dragon, so even within the city, spiritual beings were scarce. As a result, the city's residents could not find a single Sequence 7; without exception, they were all the weakest Sequence 9.

Looking at these cannon fodder who were ready to die, Rosen felt a little sorry for them.

These people are nothing but servants of the Bronze Dragon, or rather, they are pitiful creatures who have been thoroughly brainwashed and take pride in becoming cannon fodder.

These cannon fodder are easy to deal with; they have quantity but no quality.

The only real troublesome one is the Bronze Dragon. Rosen didn't intend to confront it head-on; that's not how you court death.

He reached out and placed his hand on a tree to open the mysterious study, then walked straight in to the window facing the Time Tower.

Then, they set up a giant, sniper-like Godslayer Crossbow and projected and rendered the four-phase bullets of the Time Element through the Mind Canvas.

The fission and fusion of time elements result in bullets traveling at unimaginably fast straight-line speeds.

Rosen himself lost his sense of the bullets and could only barely reverse them into a spiritual painting the instant the four-phase bullet of the time element hit the Time Tower. In the painting, the poor man's rose rose close to the Time Tower and rose-shaped explosion cloud rose up.

The light and heat, which spread over a radius of thousands of meters, did not destroy everyone in Time City.

However, the viruses that followed were powerless against the mere Sequence 9 viruses. They could only feel their bodily functions collapsing and their spirituality crumbling, and in the end, they could only look at the Tower of Time in despair and confusion.

Rosen could clearly sense that there were eyes focused on the spot where the bullet had first appeared inside the Time Tower.

He was even certain that the Bronze Dragon was capable of intercepting that elemental four-phase projectile.

But the Bronze Dragon did nothing, allowing all of its followers to die.

Anyway, they are just beings in the spirit realm. When the spirit realm is reset, all the dead will be resurrected.

Time City didn't have just that small population, but the vast majority of its members had been eaten by the Bronze Dragon.

Of course, the Bronze Dragon would not allow the Spirit Realm to be reset unless absolutely necessary.

Because that would mean he would also be in his weakest state, and the accumulation of 19,000 years of hard work would disappear.

The essence of the Spirit Realm is that a piece of history has come to life, and then this piece of history is captured and continuously cycled.

Logically speaking, the Time Dragon Nest Spirit Realm should have cycled through countless times by now.

However, since the Time Dragon Nest weakened to Sequence 5, its internal historical storyline has never been reset.

Because of the power of the Time Tower, the Bronze Dragon extracted a segment of the historical storyline and artificially created a small loop. This prevented the Spirit Realm from being reset, and the Bronze Dragon didn't have to worry about the Spirit Realm being reset. He was able to accumulate tens of thousands of years of power and start over.

The bronze dragon's idea was simple: to continuously accumulate spirituality and then let quantitative change lead to qualitative change.

If a demigod-level strike can be unleashed, the seal that the Thunder Empire has placed inside the Time Dragon Nest can be broken.

The Thunder Empire also saw through the Bronze Dragon's plan and continued to deplete the Bronze Dragon's power through sealing.

So even after accumulating for 19,000 years, the bronze dragon still couldn't see any hope of escaping.

Even at Sequence 1, the will of the Bronze Dragon could not withstand such torment.

Therefore, bronze dragons are usually in a dormant state and will only wake up when they feel truly threatened.

Rosen confirmed that the Elemental Quadruple Bullet had awakened the Bronze Dragon, which began firing continuously at the Time Tower.

One after another, crossbow bolts struck the Time Tower, causing no damage but creating a loud explosion of psychic energy.

It deals zero damage, but has a very strong taunting effect.

The bronze dragon Flada strained his eyes staring through the window of the Time Tower, but still couldn't find the human who kept provoking him. He was certain that the human was hiding in another dimension, a dimension that even he could only stare at helplessly.

This situation stems from being constantly provoked by humans, yet having no way to retaliate against them.

The bronze dragon felt even more aggrieved than when it was trapped in the spirit realm. At least in the past, the battles were real and fierce, and it was acceptable whether it was life or death. But being provoked and humiliated like this almost made the bronze dragon lose control of its negative emotions.

Seeing that the Bronze Dragon could still tolerate it, Rosen put away his God-Slaying Crossbow and looked at the Tower of Time.

The Mind Canvas projected through the eyes onto the Tower of Time, depicting a Time Dragon with a collar, kneeling at the feet of humans like a dog on a leash. The sight of this painting made the Bronze Dragon's nose practically spit fire.

However, this was just the beginning; various highly humiliating spiritual paintings were continuously projected into the sky.

Finally, the Bronze Dragon could no longer restrain itself. In an instant, it accelerated time, leaving the Tower of Time and moving a mountain from afar. It used this mountain to suppress the forest where the Mysterious Study was located, and the provocation finally stopped.

However, the mountain was soon pierced by crossbow bolts, and the canvas of the mind was projected once again.

The Bronze Dragon then tried various methods, such as setting up a barrier to seal off a space, peeling off the entire space of the original forest site and sending it to a place far away from Time City, or actively shutting off its own senses.

Unable to find or do anything about humans, the Bronze Dragons were forced to become ostriches, burying their heads in the sand.

Rosen hadn't seen the Bronze Dragon for several days and realized that the Bronze Dragon, helpless against him, might have chosen to shut down its senses.

He immediately released a clone of his self-portrait, which disappeared into the shadows and lurked toward the Tower of Time.

Upon approaching without encountering any danger, the self-portrait clone immediately pressed against the tower to open the door to the mysterious study. At the same time, Rosen left the mysterious study and entered the spatial transfer trap, then transferred his true self to the side of the self-portrait clone.

Rosen instantly entered the mysterious study, and the self-portrait clone also returned to the self-portrait in the Void Gallery.

If the Bronze Dragon hadn't been forced to shut down its senses out of desperation, it would have been impossible for it to get close to the Tower of Time.

Of course, it's also possible that the Bronze Dragon doesn't have closed senses, so the chances are actually fifty-fifty.

Rosen didn't mind taking a gamble, because he had enough cards to save his life.

Now that the bet had been successful, Rosen went to the window and opened it, immediately seeing the scene at the bottom of the Time Tower.

The entire Time Tower has only three floors, with the bottom floor originally being the place where the servants would pay homage to the Bronze Dragon.

Under the investigation of the Thunder Empire, this place has been transformed by the Time Dragon into a place that gathers and compresses spiritual energy to create time-attribute spiritual crystals. Therefore, Rosen saw the time-attribute spiritual crystals that the Bronze Dragon had painstakingly accumulated over ten thousand years.

At its peak, the entire Time Tower was a superb building of Gundam Sequence 3.

Even though it has been weakened to Sequence 5, the Bronze Dragon still has absolute confidence in the Tower of Time, because only Sequence 3 has a chance of breaking through the Tower of Time.

The explosion of the rose on the poor man's face did not cause the slightest damage to the Time Tower.

However, with the help of the mysterious study, Rosen successfully opened a door and a window in the tower.

Rosen released his spiritual perception, enveloping the mountain of spiritual crystals accumulated over time.

All the spiritual crystals quickly disappeared one after another, and were all transferred to the Scavenging Space by the Void Scavenger.

The bronze dragon, unaware that its home had been raided, was still on the middle floor of the Tower of Time, pondering how to find the humans, completely oblivious to the fact that its supposedly safest lair had been destroyed.

However, the bronze dragon quickly realized something was wrong, as the concentration of spiritual energy in the surrounding area seemed to have decreased.

The bronze dragon's spiritual senses spread to the bottom of the Tower of Time, and the entire dragon collapsed upon seeing the empty space below.

This is wealth accumulated over 19,000 years, how could it suddenly disappear without a trace?
The Bronze Dragon immediately realized that the human he couldn't find had somehow managed to bypass the Time Tower's Sequence 3 defenses and steal his millennia-long savings without a sound.

"Damn human rats..."

The bronze dragon's angry curses didn't sound angry at all; instead, they sounded like sobs and cracked voices.

Rosen heard the bronze dragon's curses through the window and, without hesitation, projected various rapidly provocative images onto his mental canvas, including one of a faceless human sitting on a mountain of spiritual crystals counting things.

The bronze dragon, already filled with grief and indignation, was further enraged by the inability to find the humans, and roared in despair.

"Ahem... Actually, we can make a deal."

Rosen's voice came through the window, "I am not a nobleman of the Thunder Empire. If you can meet my conditions, I can return the spiritual crystal to you. If you refuse the deal, I will have no choice but to stay here and torture you indefinitely."

"........."

"what do you want to trade?"

After a long while, the bronze dragon asked through gritted teeth.

"I don't mind your dragon blood, your dragon horns, your dragon scales, your dragon teeth."

To the Bronze Dragon, Rosen's voice sounded even more terrifying than the Sequence 0 demons he had encountered before.

However, at this point, the Bronze Dragon couldn't bring himself to refuse the trade.

After a heated and heated argument that broke their morale, the Bronze Dragon finally reached an agreement with Rosen on the terms of the deal.

The bronze dragon placed a ball of dragon blood in the designated spot, and an invisible suction force immediately drew the dragon blood away.

Upon seeing the vanished dragon blood, a ferocious smile appeared on the bronze dragon's lips.

He couldn't find the alternate dimension where the human was hiding, but the human coveted his dragon blood. He had already fused some divinity into the dragon blood, and could transform the dragon blood into a dragon blood clone at any time. At that time, relying on the dragon blood clone to locate him, it wouldn't be difficult to catch that human rat.

However, a moment later, the bronze dragon's smile vanished, leaving only despair.

Rosen held the Dragon Blood Bottle, watching a mini bronze dragon struggle inside. He wouldn't have made a deal with the bronze dragon if it weren't for the Dragon Blood Bottle. The Mysterious Study could withstand almost all external damage, but it was completely undefended inside.

Now that we have the Bronze Dragon's blood, all we need to do is find an opportunity to escape the Spirit Realm.

(End of this chapter)