In the Dwarf Kingdom, Rosen abandoned the idea of relocating the dwarves to the Ancient God's True Realm. After gaining a deeper understanding of the Dwarf Kingdom, he realized its foundations far exceeded his expectations.
First, the dwarves had a high fertility rate. While their innate talent for transcendence was average, their forging-related abilities were exceptional. Additionally, dwarves had few desires beyond their love for drinking and crafting, making them almost free of vices. These traits ensured minimal internal strife and power struggles within their civilization.
After the dwarves separated from the giants, they lacked a True God and couldn't stand among the dominant races of the main world. However, the Earth Dwarf King's strength was enough to protect the Dwarf Kingdom. Even three or five True Gods would have to risk their lives to conquer it. If Rosen hadn't stolen the Kingslayer Forging Hammer, and if the Earth Dwarf King hadn't pursued him outside the kingdom to reclaim the treasure, killing the Earth Dwarf King would have been ten times more difficult.
But there were no "ifs" in reality. The Earth Dwarf King was overconfident in his defense and vitality, believing himself invincible, which ultimately led to his downfall. As a result, the entire Dwarf Kingdom fell into Rosen's hands.
Though the Dwarf Kingdom had been relatively isolated since separating from the giants, it wasn't completely cut off from external interactions. The transcendent artifacts forged by the dwarves were highly sought after by various civilizations outside the World Government. While most True Gods typically possessed only one transcendent artifact, the Earth Dwarf King had six. The kingdom's stockpiled resources could easily forge several more, making the Dwarf Kingdom a veritable golden goose.
The key to the Dwarf Kingdom's immense wealth was its ability to move through the underground world in search of mineral veins. The Ancient God's True Realm couldn't provide endless mineral resources, so relocating there would render the Dwarf Kingdom useless. Maintaining the status quo was the most beneficial decision for Rosen.
The Earth Forge, a transcendent artifact-level furnace, was directly connected to the Dwarf Kingdom's core, allowing it to harness the planet's geothermal heat. Under Rosen's orders, the recently healed Earth Dwarf King began forging once more. Rosen was eager to upgrade his Dragon God's Wrath into a transcendent artifact.
However, even the most skilled craftsman couldn't work without materials. To upgrade Dragon God's Wrath to the transcendent level, the best material would be the remains of a Dragon God. The two Dragon Gods of the Dragon Realm were off-limits, leaving the Holy Light Dragon God as the only viable target.
But hunting the Holy Light Dragon God was no simple task. Rosen had relied on the Ten Directions Annihilation to deal with the Light Angel True God, and his victory over the Earth Dwarf King had involved some trickery. The Holy Light Dragon God, backed by the entire World Government, wouldn't be an easy target. If Rosen failed to eliminate him quickly, he would face pursuit by a group of True Gods—or even a Great True God. Moreover, a single failure would mean no second chance.
Perhaps I don't have to fight alone, Rosen thought.
He considered enlisting the help of the two Dragon Gods. The dragons and the Holy Light Dragon God were mortal enemies, and no one wanted the Holy Light Dragon God dead more than the Dragon Realm's Dragon Gods.
Historically, the two Dragon Gods of the Dragon Realm had attempted to assassinate the Holy Light Dragon God. However, they were always driven back by the True Gods of the World Government who came to the rescue. But this time, with Rosen joining the effort, hunting down the Holy Light Dragon God wouldn't be too difficult. By promising the two Dragon Gods sufficient benefits, it wouldn't be hard to obtain the Holy Light Dragon God's corpse after the battle.
Still, to be safe, Rosen decided to first restore the Dragon-Binding Rope to Sequence 0. Hunting a dragon deity seemed like a waste, so targeting dragon-like creatures was more appropriate. Rosen initially planned to use the Fate Divination Painting to find suitable prey, but the Earth Dwarf King surprised him with valuable information.
In the underground world, there was a place teeming with Sequence 0 dragon-like creatures.
Strictly speaking, the surface of the main world could be divided into three regions. The core region was almost entirely occupied by the World Government. After generations of development by dominant civilizations, the transcendent resources in the core region's surface had become relatively scarce. However, the environment was very safe and ideal for the proliferation of ordinary life. A larger population facilitated the collection of faith and the growth of a civilization's fortune. As for the lack of resources, dominant civilizations throughout history had relied on external plunder.
During the World Government's rule, resources mainly came from the Spirit Realm. As for why they had almost abandoned the underground world, Rosen still couldn't figure out the reason.
Beyond the core region lay the mid-ring region. The environment here was harsh and not very suitable for the proliferation of ordinary life. Resources were slightly better than in the core region but not by much. These limitations prevented the races occupying the mid-ring region from developing their civilizations to a high level.
Finally, there was the outer-ring region. As the main world continued to expand, so did the outer-ring region. Newly formed areas were rich in resources, but the environment was extremely hostile. Even ordinary transcendent lifeforms couldn't survive in the outer-ring region. While humans and other races engaged in constant skirmishes along their borders, these conflicts were mostly small-scale and used for training purposes.
The true battlefield for the main world's civilizations was concentrated in the outer-ring region, where resources were fiercely contested. Before the establishment of the World Government, the underground world had also been a focal point of contention for various civilizations. However, in the last twenty thousand years, for reasons unknown, surface civilizations had almost entirely stopped venturing deep into the underground world, let alone competing for its resources. Only those civilizations that originated in the underground world and couldn't leave it continued to persist there.
The Dwarf Kingdom's ability to amass immense wealth in recent years was partly due to the reduced competition. Because they roamed everywhere in search of mineral veins, the Earth Dwarf King had extensive knowledge of the underground world. In a mineral vein rich with precious resources, the Dwarf Kingdom had once encountered a group of Burrow Demon Dragons. Despite the Dwarf Kingdom's strength, they were ultimately forced to retreat.
Overall, the Dwarf Kingdom was much stronger, but exterminating the Burrow Demon Dragons would have resulted in heavy losses, making it not worth the effort. Moreover, the Burrow Demon Dragons lacked intelligence and couldn't weigh the pros and cons to retreat voluntarily. In the end, the Dwarf Kingdom had no choice but to abandon that mineral vein.
After carefully studying the Burrow Demon Dragons, Rosen might have discovered the reason why various races had abandoned the underground world. These Burrow Demon Dragons bore a striking resemblance to the Dark Sun's minions from the Old World. Although they lacked the Dark Sun's ability to spread corruption, their power to control darkness and devour light was eerily similar.
Rosen suspected that the underground world might also have a dark zone similar to the one near the Sky-Piercing Stone Pillar, linking two realms. Whether this was true or not, finding the Burrow Demon Dragons would provide the answer.
Two months later, Rosen left the Dwarf Kingdom and ventured alone into the underground world where the Burrow Demon Dragons resided. This underground area spanned only a few thousand miles, far too small to naturally give rise to many transcendent lifeforms, let alone sustain so many Burrow Demon Dragons. Even if the Burrow Demon Dragons fed solely on energy, energy couldn't simply appear out of nowhere.
Rosen soon spotted a Burrow Demon Dragon. It resembled an earthworm but was covered in dragon scales. It carried the bloodline of dragons and was likely once a subordinate of a certain dragon race in the main world.
Silently, the Dragon-Binding Rope extended from the darkness, seized a Sequence 1 Burrow Demon Dragon, and dragged it into the shadows, where it disappeared without a trace.
All dragon-related beings possessed inherited bloodline memories. Pure-blooded dragons had dominant and complete bloodline memories, while half-dragons and dragon subordinates had recessive and fragmented ones. Using his mastery of life and flesh laws, as well as the Ancient God Sequence's world gene pool, Rosen quickly extracted the essence of the Burrow Demon Dragon's bloodline and began uncovering the hidden inherited memories within.
These Burrow Demon Dragons were indeed half-dragons. Their ancestors were Earth Demon Dragons, a type of dragon not even recorded in the Dragon Realm's history. The strongest Earth Demon Dragons had once reached the True God level, and these Burrow Demon Dragons were all descendants of their bloodline subordinates. However, the Burrow Demon Dragons hadn't always looked like this.
Rosen continued dissecting and studying the Earth Demon Dragons. With the help of the Source Star Core, which sealed the Light Angel True God's divine spark, and his Sequence 0 doctor transcendent abilities, he soon uncovered all the secrets hidden within the Burrow Demon Dragons.
The Burrow Demon Dragons were indeed connected to the Dark Sun, but the Dark Sun's power within them lacked the ability to corrupt. Strangely, they even had a slight resistance to pure Dark Sun energy. Without much thought, Rosen began to suspect a possibility.
The New World was a world that had grown by parasitizing the corpse of the Old World. However, judging by the size of the two worlds, the New World's foundation was less than half that of the Old World. Yet, most of the remaining Old World had already been corrupted by the Dark Sun. If the New World did nothing, what would happen once the Dark Sun fully corrupted the Old World?
It was obvious—the corruption would spread to the New World. With the Old World's foundation being twice that of the New World, the New World would likely fall to the Dark Sun's corruption as well. Therefore, the New World couldn't just sit idly by. These Burrow Demon Dragons might very well be the result of experiments.
Rosen speculated that the New World might already be attempting to consume the Dark Sun's power from the Old World, and the location of these experiments was likely the underground world. This would explain why the underground world had become so dangerous and why surface civilizations had abandoned it.
Looking through the World Window, Rosen saw more and more Burrow Demon Dragons emerging from the underground space. Among them were hundreds of Sequence 1 Burrow Demon Dragons, over a dozen Sequence 0 Burrow Demon Dragons, and even two True God-level Burrow Demon Dragons. If the Earth Dwarf King had encountered these two True God-level creatures back then, the Dwarf Kingdom would have been doomed.
The Earth Dwarf King, who could easily slay True Gods, had been forced to retreat by a dozen Sequence 0 Burrow Demon Dragons. The reason lay in the Burrow Demon Dragons' overpowered abilities.
Rosen opened the window and aimed the Dragon God's Wrath at a Sequence 0 Burrow Demon Dragon, firing a single shot. The transcendent bullet passed through a micro-wormhole created by the Void Eye and struck the Burrow Demon Dragon. In an instant, the surrounding flesh withered as all life force was drained by the bullet. Yet, in the blink of an eye, the withered flesh restored itself to its original state.
All minor injuries healed instantly, and their vitality was almost on par with the Earth Dwarf King's.
Rosen fired five consecutive transcendent bullets, and the Burrow Demon Dragon's body was severed at the waist.
However, in the next moment, the severed Burrow Demon Dragon grew two halves, forming two independent entities, each at Sequence 0. If Rosen continued to inflict heavy damage on these two, they would split into four after being injured. Back then, the Earth Dwarf King hadn't known this and had nearly been overwhelmed by hundreds of Sequence 0 Burrow Demon Dragons.
To completely eliminate the Burrow Demon Dragons, the only way was to reduce them to ashes, leaving no chance for them to split. Rosen directly activated the Original Painting Sealing Technique through the window. With his mastery of space-time laws, it wasn't difficult for him to perform long-distance sealing. Therefore, he wasn't worried about the two True God-level Burrow Demon Dragons pinpointing the location of his secret study.
In less than two hours, all Burrow Demon Dragons below Sequence 0 had been sealed into card paintings. As the Dragon-Binding Rope continued to devour the Burrow Demon Dragons, their souls were divided and consumed by the ten thousand dragon souls within the rope, strengthening its spiritual essence. Their flesh became material for repairing the rope's body. Through sheer quantity, the Dragon-Binding Rope was restored to Sequence 0.
Rosen switched to using the Dragon-Binding Rope to capture Sequence 0 Burrow Demon Dragons. Once ensnared, the dragons lost all ability to resist. However, before the rope could drag them back to Rosen's divine territory, the other Burrow Demon Dragons would attack their bound kin. The dark beams fired from their trumpet-like mouths were all absorbed by the captured dragon, which then transformed from Sequence 0 directly to True God level.
If Rosen hadn't retracted the Dragon-Binding Rope in time, it might have been snapped by the Burrow Demon Dragon. Now, there were three True God-level Burrow Demon Dragons outside. If he continued using the rope to capture them, a fourth and fifth might appear. This was likely the limit, as the dragons that fired the dark beams became visibly weaker afterward. Clearly, releasing such a beam to strengthen their kin was a significant burden for the Burrow Demon Dragons.
With the Dragon-Binding Rope restored to Sequence 0, it was now sufficient to deal with the Holy Light Dragon God. However, leaving like this felt somewhat unsatisfying. Rosen returned to the medical laboratory he had built inside the Flesh World Fruit and continued studying the dissected Burrow Demon Dragons.
These creatures couldn't possibly have no weaknesses. Their ability to split and regenerate must come at a cost. After further research, Rosen made a new discovery.
The Burrow Demon Dragons' genes possessed the ability to split and replicate, but this wasn't infinite. First, splitting and regenerating consumed life force. However, the dragons' recovery ability was so terrifying that their life force was replenished almost instantly. As for how their life force was restored, it relied on the dark energy within their bodies.
This dark energy was a primordial force that transcended ordinary laws. It was scarce in quantity but terrifying in quality. This energy acted as a conduit, likely absorbing mysterious darkness and converting it into life force. This meant the Burrow Demon Dragons' bodies could theoretically split infinitely.
However, while their bodies could split endlessly, their divine essence couldn't. At most, they could split nine times, with one dragon becoming 256 entities. Moreover, the more they split, the weaker the divine essence within each individual dragon became, leading to delayed control over their bodies. However, destroying their divine essence directly wasn't an option, as it was protected by their bodies. Unless the body was completely destroyed, the divine essence couldn't be harmed.
Rosen estimated that if he continued capturing Sequence 0 Burrow Demon Dragons and forced them to evolve, ending up with five True God-level dragons, each splitting nine times, he would have to face nearly 1,300 True God-level entities simultaneously. Even though these Burrow Demon Dragons relied solely on physical strength, with weak divine essence and clumsy control over their bodies, Rosen still wasn't confident he could survive such an encounter. The Earth Dwarf King had truly been lucky back then.
Without hesitation, Rosen decided to lay low. He didn't believe that the True Gods of various races hadn't discovered these Burrow Demon Dragons. It was likely that this place was a forbidden zone even for Great True Gods. If it weren't for his secret study, he wouldn't have been able to capture all the Sequence 1 Burrow Demon Dragons in the first place.
Directly capturing them by force was out of the question, so he had to wait for the Burrow Demon Dragons to separate. Over time, without any enemies in sight, the dragons wouldn't stay grouped together indefinitely. As long as he waited patiently for a lone Burrow Demon Dragon, capturing a True God-level one might be difficult, but capturing a Sequence 0 dragon would be effortless. Without the help of other dragons to evolve, capturing a single one would be too easy.
This wait lasted half a year before the Burrow Demon Dragons finally dispersed from their clustered state. Rosen followed a Sequence 0 Burrow Demon Dragon, ambushed it, and unleashed the Ancient God Shackles. Enhanced by the shackles, the Dragon-Binding Rope completely sealed the dragon's power. By the time the other dragons arrived, the Ancient God Shackles had already returned to the Flesh World Fruit with the captured prey.
Continuing his dissection and research, Rosen found that Sequence 0 Burrow Demon Dragons were fundamentally different from Sequence 1 dragons. Besides having stronger regenerative abilities, they also wielded that peculiar dark beam.
This dark beam could be used to assist others by transferring their own essence to their kin or as an attack to engulf and assimilate all things into darkness. If the target had divine essence, the Burrow Demon Dragon could use it to strengthen its own divine essence. Additionally, the dragon scales on their bodies could absorb damage and convert it into life force.
After careful consideration, Rosen stripped the Burrow Demon Dragon of its divine essence and began using the miracle skill Flesh Transformation—specifically, the miracle trait Flesh Symbiosis—to merge with the dragon's body, just as he had done with the Great True God's severed palm. Of course, this time it wasn't his main body but a flesh clone that underwent the fusion.
At first, everything went smoothly. The flesh clone inherited the Burrow Demon Dragon's regenerative abilities. However, when the splitting process required more life force and began absorbing dark energy to convert it, the divine essence Rosen had split and infused into the flesh clone quickly lost all intelligence upon contact with the dark energy.
The flesh clone then went out of control, permanently transforming into a Burrow Demon Dragon and losing the ability to revert to human form. The darkness affected intelligence, reminding Rosen of the curse left by the World Tree.
The dark energy within the Burrow Demon Dragons, originating from the Dark Sun, was far too dangerous. It wasn't something he could currently control. Continuing to interact with it would only bring him trouble. If he had known it was this dangerous, he wouldn't have let the Dragon-Binding Rope devour the Burrow Demon Dragons in the first place.
Rosen carefully inspected the Dragon-Binding Rope and found that it had already been subtly corrupted. The ten thousand dragon souls within the rope had all transformed into Burrow Demon Dragons. If the Dream Dragon hadn't been hiding in the dream realm, it would have been assimilated by the mysterious dark energy as well.
Rosen immediately extracted the Dream Dragon, saving its life. However, the Dragon-Binding Rope's abilities had mutated. It could now split into up to ten thousand ropes, though its power weakened with each division. Additionally, the rope could transform into a Sequence 0 Burrow Demon Dragon.
(End of Chapter)