The Kingdom of Chess is one of the most unique kingdoms on the continent of kings.
This was the final kingdom Rosen had set his sights on. Once it was destroyed, both the Miracle Tarot Card and the Eternal Flame would undergo their final transformation. However, relying on the Time Script alone wasn't enough to bring down the Kingdom of Chess.
In the Kingdom of Chess, only the Chess King possessed a complete divine self-awareness.
All others—whether royal family members or nobles—were no different from ordinary citizens. From the moment they were born, their sense of self was erased. Based on their innate talent, they were assigned different roles and implanted with different memories, turning every person into a living chess piece.
The eldest son of a duke was not an heir. He lived under the same conditions as a miner's son.
If he had top-tier talent, he might become a new duke. If not, even the duke's legitimate son would be sent to the mines. Conversely, a miner's son with sufficient talent could become the next heir to a duchy.
What determined status wasn't birth or bloodline, but talent and the strength developed during one's growth.
The entire Kingdom of Chess functioned like a cold, lifeless chessboard—a mechanical kingdom in name only.
If the Kingdom of Chess existed in the New World, it would inevitably head toward destruction.
Because without self-awareness, there would be no creativity and no faith.
Without faith, no gods could be born. A civilization like this had no future.
However, on the Continent of Kings, where monsters could be slain to level up, becoming a god didn't require faith—only experience gained through battle. In this context, the Kingdom of Chess had become a terrifying war machine.
Even more frightening was the fact that the Chess King had left behind a chessboard—an artifact at the level of a Great True God's miracle treasure.
With this chessboard, he could control the fate of everyone in the kingdom like chess pieces.
Even with the unified willpower strengthening the Time Script, it still couldn't shake the fate of these chess pieces.
Not even the Corruptive Pollution of the Fallen Scholar had any effect—because without a self, a piece could never produce positive or negative emotions. It was impossible for corruption to take root on the level of personal humanity.
Logically, Rosen should have found a way to bypass the Kingdom of Chess.
With 108 kingdoms in total, surely it was easier to pick the soft targets than to gnaw on this hard bone.
But after learning more about it, Rosen still chose to go after the Kingdom of Chess.
He not only wanted that chessboard-type miracle treasure, but also the dominion of the Chess King—he wanted to turn all the Chess King's pieces into his own. Because he feared that one day, he would come face-to-face with the source of Eternal Corruption.
And when that time came, these pieces might become vital assets.
Since his goal was to conquer the pieces and not destroy them, he couldn't afford to annihilate the Kingdom of Chess to weaken the king.
He had to go for a decapitation strategy—to directly face the Chess King at his peak.
Viewed from above, the Chess King's capital looked like a massive chessboard.
At the center of that board sat the grand and resplendent Chess King's Palace.
All structures in the Kingdom of Chess prioritized functionality, with not a shred of artistic or extravagant excess.
The only exception was the Chess King's Palace—by far the grandest and most luxurious palace Rosen had ever seen.
Clearly, while the Chess King forbade his subjects from having a self, he personally indulged in luxury and excess.
Under the carpet-bombing scans of the All-Knowing Eye, Rosen finally located where the Chess King slept.
Not in the palace or castle, but in the head of the statue standing in the palace's central square.
The moment the Chess King awakened, he could immediately overlook the entire capital through the ten-thousand-meter-tall statue.
Inside the Mysterious Study Room, Rosen dismissed all furnishings with a single thought.
The Realm-Crossing Gate cautiously adjusted its position, eventually bypassing layers of seals and barriers within the statue and entering its core.
The Chess King had become a statue-piece with a rounded base, forming a complete unity with the giant statue and the entire capital city. Whether someone wanted to harm the Chess King or take him away, they'd have to destroy the entire Chess Capital and the statue first.
Even in sealed slumber, these kings had prepared every possible safety measure.
For anyone else, this might have been an unsolvable situation.
However, Rosen was different. He began to gradually simulate the divine origin of the Chess King.
The Chess King's slumber was forced, but the seal was self-imposed for protection.
Once he awakened, the seal would no longer serve any purpose.
In fact, if the seal was too difficult to break, it could trap him even after awakening.
So, although the seal appeared incredibly strong, its removal was not particularly difficult.
Ideally, it should be able to be undone instantly. The seals around the Chess King could be unlocked fastest by using the divine origin as the key. At this moment, Rosen's simulated divine origin detached from the World Window and instantly removed the seals.
All the seals collapsed at once. Rosen's Ancient God Shackles, launched from the World Window, bound the Chess King.
Before the Chess King could fully awaken, he had already been dragged into the Mysterious Study Room by the shackles.
The moment the Chess King fully awakened, he immediately broke the Ancient God Shackles.
Then, he threw a punch at the World Window, but it only caused the window to tremble slightly.
The Mysterious Study Room wasn't just an immortal world—it was also a miracle world, one that had been extremely compressed and refined. In the past, without a complete world origin, it was still possible for a Great True God to destroy it. But now that it had fused with the world origin and become whole again, it was completely indestructible by any Great True God.
Even an immortal god or demon couldn't destroy the Mysterious Study Room in a short time.
Because the space inside the Mysterious Study Room was very limited and lacked any deep void to absorb impact—
The shockwave from the Chess King's full-force punch, after colliding with the wall, began to bounce around the room. Rosen seized the opportunity, and with Dragon God's Wrath in hand, locked onto the Chess King and launched a Dragon God Roar Bomb.
In Rosen's right hand, the Royal Sword of Authority flashed, clashing repeatedly with the Chess King's fist, which was condensed with the kingdom's fate.
As for Dragon God's Wrath, it hid in a corner of the room, continuously firing Dragon God Roar Bombs.
With both sides going all out, the Chess King quickly fell into an absolute disadvantage.
Due to the limited space of the Mysterious Study Room, the divine energy released by both sides during the battle only continued to accumulate. The room became like a sealed high-pressure cooker, and the divine energy released by both parties became an increasing amount of high-pressure steam.
If the Mysterious Study Room wasn't blown apart, both Rosen and the Chess King would face increasing pressure.
Eventually, the Chess King would definitely be the one to fall—because his divine body couldn't possibly surpass Rosen's.
Moreover, the Mysterious Study Room severed the Chess King's connection to his kingdom, and there was no energy inside for him to absorb or replenish. Not even a single law existed that he could use to draw external strength. As a result, he couldn't maintain his Great True God-level combat power for long.
Less than half an hour into the battle, the Chess King had already been decapitated by Rosen.
After sealing and imprisoning the defeated Chess King, Rosen wasted no time in leaving the Mysterious Study Room. He then transformed into the Chess King himself and smoothly took over the rule of the entire Chess Kingdom—before packing up the whole kingdom and taking it with him.
It was during this process that he finally realized why the Chess King hadn't used that Great True God-level miracle artifact.
It was because the entire Chess Kingdom was actually situated on top of the chessboard.
If Rosen hadn't deceived the seal and dragged the Chess King into the Mysterious Study Room, and had instead fought the King directly within the Chess Kingdom—he likely wouldn't have won. This showed the value of knowing your enemy and launching a well-planned ambush.
Soon, the entire Chess Kingdom shrank to the size of a palm and fell into Rosen's hand. He began cleansing it of the Chess King's divine origin.
After the cleansing, Rosen didn't refine it himself—instead, he handed it over to the Miracle Golem.
[Chessboard of War: Miracle World]
[Level: Great True God]
[Miracle Attribute: Unfolding the War Chessboard assimilates everything within its range into the board]
[Miracle Traits: Chess Assimilation, Chess Mind, Chess Rules]
After purifying it of Eternal Immortality and the sole heaven-and-earth laws using Eternal Holy Radiance, Rosen gave it to the Miracle Golem to refine and master.
Chess Assimilation could convert all beings—ally or enemy—into chess pieces. Chess Mind could erase divine self-awareness. Chess Rules allowed the user to create rules for playing the chess game. With this War Chessboard, the Miracle Golem finally possessed true Great True God-level combat power.
While the Miracle Golem was busy with that, Rosen had already begun executing the Chess King on the King's Continent.
At the moment of his fall, the Holy Grail King's Miracle Tarot began undergoing a qualitative transformation.
The Eternal Spark derived from the Miracle Spark was now beginning to transform into the Source of Eternal Spark.
[Holy Grail Emperor: Miracle Tarot Card]
[Level: Great True God]
[Miracle Attribute: The Holy Grail King can create and control all Minor Arcana cards]
[Miracle Traits: Grail Crown, Emperor's Sacred Sword, Source Grail, Grail Empire]
The King became an Emperor, and the Kingdom became an Empire. The Law of Kingship sublimated into the Law of Emperorship.
Rosen could clearly feel that the King Sequence he had mastered was beginning to transform into the Emperor Sequence, and the power boost brought by the Emperor Sequence had already elevated his divine essence from the True God level to the Great True God level.
If you added the dual enhancement from the Ancient God Sacrificial Artifact, his divine essence had already been strengthened to the limit of 182 points.
This had already surpassed the boundary of Great True Gods and had firmly stepped into the level of Immortal Godfiends.
Although this was only in terms of divine essence, and his overall abilities hadn't yet reached that level…
At the level of Great True Gods, the terrifying power brought by 182 points of divine essence was already enough to defeat all Taboo Godfiends.
And that still wasn't Rosen's limit, because the Source of Eternal Spark was already merging into the Eternal Root Source.
As the tenth Eternal Source became compatible, the Eternal Root Source began to develop its own unique trait.
At the moment when the Eternal Root Source underwent its qualitative transformation, Rosen's divine consciousness unexpectedly detached from the King's Game, and even went further—detaching from the old and new worlds shaped by the Ancient Gods. In that instant, he saw the true face of the universe beyond both old and new worlds for the first time.
The universe outside the new world wasn't made up of countless stars as he had imagined…
It was a boundless void filled with infinite origins, and in the instant his divine consciousness made contact with those origins, he realized that these were the purest World Origins. Although not high in level—only at the True God stage—they were endless in number.
The energy that the Little World Tree had absorbed from outside the new world in the past must have been these endless World Origins.
However, because of the separation of the new world, the most refined portion of these World Origins had been intercepted by the new world. The Little World Tree only consumed the leftovers that the new world had already devoured.
In a universe void filled with infinite World Origins, even a pig could become a True God as long as it didn't die.
No wonder those Great True Gods and Immortal Godfiends were so desperate to transcend the new world.
If Rosen could allow his divine consciousness to break through the new world and make contact with the void when his Eternal Root Source transformed, then beings like Apocalypse-level Immortal Godfiends definitely could as well. That's why they firmly believed that transcending the new world would grant them true freedom.
While Rosen's divine consciousness continued to traverse the cosmic void, he suddenly witnessed a terrifying scene.
Surrounding the new world in the cosmic void were countless cosmic behemoths.
Even the weakest of these creatures were Taboo Godfiends, and the stronger ones were Immortal Godfiends. These cosmic beasts surrounded the new world layer upon layer. Even if a Great True God could escape the new world, what awaited them would likely be the threat brought by these monsters.
Rosen didn't know how long his divine consciousness wandered through the cosmic void.
It felt like he experienced an eternity, and yet also like only a moment had passed.
Eventually, his divine consciousness reached the source of the cosmic void—no longer just World Origins of True God level, but now Eternal-level, purely attribute-less Eternal Sources. These endless Eternal Sources began to refine and uplift his Eternal Root Source through his divine consciousness.
In just the blink of an eye, Rosen's divine consciousness returned to the Eternal Godhood.
Everything he had just experienced had happened in merely an instant of reality.
However, the Eternal Root Source—previously unstable due to compatibility with ten Eternal Sources—had completely transformed into a true Eternal Origin, developing its own unique trait, and many of the previously compatible ten Eternal Sources had now entirely disappeared.
Each Eternal Source had its own distinct trait.
The strongest known was the Eternal Evolution Source, and Dark Sun's source originated from this.
Rosen's Eternal Root Source was divided into Root and Source.
First was the Source, which could return all things to their origin and revert them to their initial state.
Then came the Root, which could allow all things to take root, sprout, blossom, and bear fruit.Rosen carefully sensed the Eternal Divinity. The four types of Eternal Origins—Assimilation, Plunder, Evolution, and Mimicry—had completely disappeared.
Those four Eternal Origins had all become nourishment for the Eternal Root.
Everything has a beginning, and the beginning of Eternal Origins is the Eternal Origin Seed.
Only by mastering the Eternal Origin Seed can one fully control a type of Eternal Origin.
Otherwise, even if one holds part of an Eternal Origin, they could have it taken away at any time if they encounter the Origin Seed.
The four Eternal Origins Rosen lost each had a master of their corresponding Origin Seeds.
To continue holding on to those four Eternal Origins would only mean being restrained by others in the future.
As for the remaining six—Corruption, Game, Kindling Flame, Miracle, Dark Sun, and Omniscience—they hadn't been devoured by the Root's seed. That was because the Origin Seeds of these six were still unclaimed. As long as he could find the seeds, he could completely master these six Eternal Origins.
Rosen activated the power of the Eternal Root's Origin Seed, attempting to return the six Eternal Origins to their source.
He immediately sensed that the Origin Seeds of Corruption and Game were within the King's Game.
But as for the exact location, he couldn't sense it yet.
Then came the Origin Seeds of Kindling Flame and Miracle. The Origin Seed of Kindling Flame was actually the Miracle Flame, though this seed seemed to have been heavily damaged. As for the Miracle's Origin Seed—it was inside him. The Miracle Sequence itself was the Origin Seed, though it had also been gravely wounded, just like the Kindling Flame's.
He only needed to continuously strengthen the Eternal Kindling Flame, and keep raising the Miracle Sequence. Sooner or later, he would be able to fully master these two Origin Seeds.
Rosen continued sensing for Dark Sun and Omniscience. Judging by the direction, the Dark Sun's Origin Seed should be in the Old World.
As for the Omniscience Origin Seed—it was already shattered. One fragment had fused into the Omniscient Magic Eye, another had merged into the Omniscient Bookshelf in the Mysterious Study Room, and the remaining parts were scattered throughout the New World, held by various entities.
Now that Rosen knew the rough locations of all the Origin Seeds, acquiring them became much easier.
But on second thought, Rosen felt a heavy sense of burden.
The unclaimed seeds were manageable, but the four that already had masters were the real threat.
The Assimilation Origin Seed was definitely with the World Tree.The Plunder Origin Seed was certainly under the control of the Old Gods.
But as for Evolution and Mimicry, Rosen wasn't so sure.
As he sensed the Eternal Divinity, Rosen couldn't help but feel troubled.
Without Eternal Mimicry, his Root Sequence and Limited Omnipotence and Omniscience were almost completely crippled.
"Almost" meant there was still room for salvage.
Rosen had previously mimicked various sequences, and the prerequisite for Mimicry was to have a certain degree of understanding of a sequence.
And how to gain understanding? Naturally, through Extraordinary Essence, through Divinity, through contact.
Rosen extracted a bit of Eternal Root from within the Origin Seed, and poured all his knowledge of the Painter Sequence into it.The Eternal Root absorbed everything he knew about the Painter Sequence, and immediately began to take root, sprout, blossom, and bear fruit.
Eventually, a Root Fruit of the Painter Sequence grew and merged completely with the Origin Seed of the Eternal Root, becoming indistinguishable.
Through the Eternal Root's Origin Seed, Rosen could use all the abilities of the Painter Sequence's Root Fruit.
Soon after, Root Fruits for the Noble and Hunter sequences also sprouted and matured.
By accelerating time a thousandfold, Rosen toiled for several years, finally converting every extraordinary sequence he knew into Root Fruits of the Origin Seed and fusing them into the Eternal Root Seed.From now on, he wouldn't need Mimicry to use these extraordinary sequences' abilities—he could directly wield them.
Thanks to the Eternal Root, it was as if Rosen simultaneously mastered all these extraordinary sequences.
If he wanted, he could even revert some inferior extraordinary sequences to their origin, turning them into nourishment for others, allowing stronger Root Fruits to grow.This was vastly superior to his old Mimicry method.
Now that the Eternal Root's Origin Seed had fused with extraordinary sequences, Rosen began merging in Laws.
He discovered that all the Laws he had mastered in the New World originated from the Old Gods' Eternal Origin Seeds.
Now that they had returned to their origin and taken root, blossomed, and borne fruit, the source of the Laws he held had become the Eternal Root's Origin Seed.He could even secretly use the Eternal Root to destroy various Laws and let new ones, derived from his own Origin Seed, take their place.
If he could really replace all the Laws in the New World, perhaps he might even harm the Old Gods while they slept.
(End of this chapter)