In the Arena of the Gods, Rosen sat among numerous divine projection clones, watching the battles unfold.
There weren't many True Gods in the New World—at least on the surface, only a few dozen.
Even counting those hidden in the shadows, at most, there were only about a hundred.
However, the number of ordinary deities easily exceeded ten thousand, yet among every thousand deities, it was rare for even one to ascend to True Godhood.
So when these deities reached their limits, they had only two choices left.
Either accept their fate and enjoy life, or seize every opportunity to fight for more.
Most deities chose to fight. After all, becoming a deity took centuries, if not millennia, and they had already experienced all there was to enjoy. Those who indulged in pleasure endlessly would eventually be eliminated.
However, despite their will to struggle, opportunities for deities to advance were extremely limited.
The Arena of the Gods was one of the easiest opportunities to access.
If a deity accumulated ten thousand more victories than defeats, the fragments of divine essence they reaped from their fallen opponents would be more than enough—even for the most untalented deity—to ascend to True Godhood.
Over the past twenty thousand years, three deities had successfully become True Gods through this arena.
Even for those who saw no hope of reaching True Godhood, the Arena of the Gods still provided benefits.
Each race's True Gods had contributed various resources as additional rewards for the arena.
Thanks to the existence of the Arena of the Gods, large-scale wars between different races had become increasingly rare over the past twenty thousand years. The likelihood of deities perishing had drastically decreased, as most conflicts were now resolved through arena battles. As a result, the Arena of the Gods had become more lively than ever.
Since only two deities could battle at a time, over ten thousand deities had to queue up for their turn.
But even while waiting, they would send projection clones—significantly weaker than their divine avatars—to watch from the audience stands.
After all, understanding their opponents gave them an advantage when their turn came.
As Rosen sat among the spectators, watching the matches, he had already begun discreetly using his Soul Thief Sequence abilities to steal control of the Arena of the Gods. He needed to carefully sever it from the Pantheon.
The process was both simple and complex—he had to completely enshroud the arena with the Law of Theft.
For the God of Thieves, stealing the Arena of the Gods wasn't difficult. The real challenge was surviving the pursuit of the True Gods from various races afterward. That was the very reason the God of Thieves never dared to attempt it.
But Rosen had no such concerns. Finding him was no easy feat.
In the past, the Will of the World could track him because nearly every law in existence served as its eyes.
But now, that was no longer the case.
All the laws Rosen controlled had already fused into the Law of Origin. If laws were akin to a vast network, and the Transcendents wielding law authorities were like computers, then Rosen had effectively hidden his IP address, giving the Will of the World no chance to pinpoint him.
His only remaining vulnerability was data transmission. The Will of the World could use it to roughly determine his location.
But as for precise tracking? That was out of the question.
Day by day, the Law of Theft silently infiltrated and engulfed the entire Arena of the Gods.
Then, on a certain day, after a battle concluded, the arena's internal combat space—damaged from the intense fight—began its automatic repair process.
Rosen seized this moment, utilizing Void Theft through the Soul Thief Sequence.
With the Law of Theft, he dragged the entire Arena of the Gods into an alternate dimension.
The Ancient God's True Realm, having been fully prepared, forcefully suppressed the Arena of the Gods, instantly obliterating all divine projection clones in the audience—none of them stronger than Sequence 3. As for the few deities whose true bodies were engaged in ranked battles within the arena, Rosen swiftly silenced them with a few swings of his Soul Reaper blade.
At the same time, the Golden Divine Bull used Conceptual Transaction, compelling the True God of Slaughter to publicly declare the sale of the Pantheon Gladiator Arena.
That alone was enough to satisfy the Greedy Wallet's Greedy Payment ability. Once the Golden Divine Bull forcibly acquired it for zero cost, he immediately left via data transmission.
The last task was handled by the Yinglong clone, who effortlessly seized the Beast King's Colosseum from Beast King City.
Once all the loot had been taken and transported away, Rosen began cleansing the spiritual imprints left by others on the three Miracle Artifacts.
After quickly finishing the purification, he moved on to forcibly refining the Dusk Battlefield.
However, this step proved to be quite difficult. Inside the Dusk Battlefield, over a hundred civilizations were sealed away. The most powerful had reached the level of an Eight Tribulation Civilization, while the weakest was merely at the level of a One Tribulation Civilization. An Eight Tribulation Civilization would undoubtedly have produced at least one Great True God, and before these civilizations sealed themselves away, they had all once controlled the Dusk Battlefield.
Thus, the battlefield's control had long been fragmented and divided among these civilizations.
For Rosen, refining the Dusk Battlefield was essentially an act of seizing control from over a hundred civilizations.
Since these civilizations had already sealed themselves away, their resistance was not too strong—especially the One Tribulation Civilizations, whose control over the battlefield could be stripped away in due time. However, the control held by the Eight Tribulation Civilizations was much harder to shake.
Rosen relied on the compatibility and plundering power of the Root Sequence to slowly refine the Dusk Battlefield.
Even with a thousandfold time acceleration, fully refining the battlefield would still take an incredibly long time.
So he left the refinement process in the hands of his Bronze Dragon clone, while his true body prepared to search for other treasures.
The complete set of Resurrection Crosses, the full collection of Holy Vessels—he now had the means to obtain them all.
Opening his Main God Computer, a struggling, resisting cross appeared on the screen.
It was the Death Cross, which had been sealed by the Main God Computer long ago. The Resurrection Crosses seemed to have been created specifically to suppress this artifact.
The Death Cross and the nine Resurrection Crosses were very likely part of the same set of Miracle Artifacts.
And anything that came as a set of Miracle Artifacts always held extraordinary value.
Rosen used the Miracle Sequence to upgrade his Miracle Pouch to Sequence 0 and transferred the Fate Coin ability from the Apocalypse Treasure Map to the Miracle Pouch. Then, he activated the Equivalent Exchange trait to enhance his treasure-hunting capabilities.
By combining this treasure-hunting ability with the Fate Coin, he could now generate treasure maps pointing directly to specific artifacts.
Since the Miracle Pouch already had the ability to locate other Miracle Artifacts of the same origin, he simply enhanced and solidified this ability, embedding it into the Apocalypse Treasure Map. Now, the Fate Coin could generate Miracle Treasure Maps.
He created a total of seven treasure maps—one for each Resurrection Cross.
Five of them were ownerless and scattered across different corners of the New World.
These didn't require his personal intervention; he could simply send his clones to retrieve them.
However, the remaining two required his true body to act, as they were located in extremely dangerous places.
When the Apocalypse Treasure Map's Fate Coin locked onto the coordinates, Rosen saw through the Apocalypse Devil's Eye—one of the crosses was hidden in the Chaos City, guarded by an indescribable evil god.
In the Chaotic Sea, Rosen used data transmission to arrive directly outside the Disorder Lighthouse.
Once again, he entered the Disorder Catacombs through the lighthouse and soon reached the lowest level—Chaos City.
Nothing had changed. The city remained in its perpetual state of disorder and chaos.
The evil god lurking behind the city had once been the strongest human True God of the World Government. However, after absorbing the Source of an Evil God—which contained the Law of Disorder—he had sealed himself away.
Rosen simulated the Ghostly Infiltration ability of the Soul Thief Sequence, moving like a specter through the city until he reached the Chaos Shop.
Seeing the Chaos Cashbox again, he no longer felt the slightest reverence for it.
However, he had underestimated the artifact. It wasn't merely a Sequence 0 item—it was a True God-level Miracle Artifact.
Leaving the shop, he manifested the Void Sketchbook in his hand, which then mimicked the Script of Fate.
He simultaneously simulated three Transcendent Sequences—Director, Playwright, and Novelist—from the Root Sequence. Only then did he open the Script of Fate and begin writing.
He arrived in Chaos City, but its disorder failed to satisfy him…
He sowed the seeds of destiny, making every inhabitant of Chaos City a supporting character in his script. Under the director's control, they became mere puppets, acting out their roles as written. Everything that happened would be woven into a novel—one that would repeat endlessly…
As Rosen's words appeared on the pages of the Script of Fate, the entire Chaos City fell silent, its inhabitants becoming motionless like puppets.
But just moments later, everyone in the city began to wail and howl in eerie, discordant songs, dancing like lunatics. Their bodies were completely out of their control, yet their minds remained fully conscious, forcing them to watch in terror as their own limbs moved like marionettes on invisible strings.
Countless Chaos Coins materialized out of thin air, but as time passed, their numbers dwindled.
Soon, the residents of Chaos City turned on each other—not strangers, but family and friends slaughtering one another. And worse still, death was not an escape. Those who perished were resurrected, only to endure a fate even crueler than mere killing—endless, brutal torment.
The entire city became a living hell, where neither life nor death offered relief.
[You have obtained enough Chaos Coins. You have drawn the instinctive gaze of the Evil God…]
Rosen paused his writing in the Script of Fate, turned, and re-entered the Chaos Shop, tossing a single Chaos Coin into the Chaos Cashbox.
"How many Chaos Coins do I need to obtain the two Resurrection Crosses in Chaos City?" he asked directly.
The Chaos Cashbox immediately spat out a slip of paper: The answer to this question costs one hundred million Chaos Coins.
Rosen quickly counted out exactly one hundred million Chaos Coins.
The Chaos Cashbox responded with a single, chilling instruction:
[Kill the Chaos Evil God.]
Rosen let out a helpless sigh. Looks like I won't be able to take the crosses easily after all.
Since he had to fight anyway, he might as well start by taking care of the Chaos Cashbox.
With a flick of his left hand, the Miracle Pouch appeared. With his right, he grabbed the Chaos Cashbox and forcibly stuffed it inside.
Despite its bizarre abilities, the Chaos Cashbox had no real means of self-defense.
Against Rosen's forceful sealing, its struggles posed no threat whatsoever.
The moment the Chaos Cashbox vanished, every inhabitant of Chaos City suddenly felt the shackles binding them disappear.
One person immediately bolted toward the Disorder Catacombs, and the rest quickly followed suit.
While Chaos City had always allowed people to survive by sowing chaos, it was still a confined prison.
Many had long dreamed of leaving, and now that they finally had the chance, the majority seized it without hesitation.
Rosen's forceful confiscation of the Chaos Cashbox instantly alerted the Chaos Evil God.
The entity, which had spent eons in slumber, acting purely on instinct, was now fully awakened by the disturbance.
Suddenly, time, space, and every other fundamental law within the Disorder Catacombs twisted into pure chaos.
Apart from Rosen, all other living beings were instantly transformed into the Evil God's followers. Their bodies twisted unnaturally, their limbs coiling like rope, while their internal organs surfaced and wrapped grotesquely around their bodies.
With suicidal fervor, they all charged at Rosen, determined to buy time for their master's awakening.
Above Rosen, the True Creator's Canvas manifested into the form of the Golden Crow Starship.
In an instant, he activated its Miracle Trait: Sun Dominance.
A golden sun ignited, unleashing an infinite blaze of Solar Divine Fire, engulfing the entire Disorder Catacombs in flames.
When the Golden Crow Starship disappeared, every single Evil God follower had been reduced to ash.
From the inferno ahead, the flames twisted and parted, revealing a figure emerging from the depths of the fire.
A middle-aged gentleman stepped forward, impeccably dressed in a neatly pressed suit, polished leather shoes, and gold-rimmed spectacles. His hair was slicked back to a perfect shine, his every feature exuding an unsettling harmony—so flawless that it seemed unnatural.
"I must thank you for waking me," the Chaos Evil God said sincerely.
Rosen frowned. "The Evil God of Wisdom."
"I could have awakened long ago," the Evil God sighed. "But certain individuals did not want me to…"
"As gratitude for rousing me from my slumber," he continued, "I shall grant you the most excruciating death imaginable. You will become my greatest follower and serve me for eternity. I sincerely hope you resist with all your might… The more you struggle, the more thrilling it will be for me."
"You really don't know when to quit."
Without hesitation, Rosen raised Dragon God's Wrath and fired hundreds of Holy Light Bullets in rapid succession.
The Chaos Evil God stood completely still, unshaken.
The bullets approached, yet before they could strike, every single one veered off course, narrowly grazing past him.
At the same moment, Rosen's left hand vanished into thin air.
Then, a second later, his hand reappeared from the depths of the void, clutching two Resurrection Crosses.
Data Transmission—Activate.
Rosen vanished without a trace.
Originally, Rosen had intended to eliminate the Chaos Evil God, but the moment they clashed, he realized—it was impossible.
The Chaos Evil God was the most powerful True God he had ever encountered, nearly on par with a Great True God.
Rosen had no doubt that, sooner or later, the Chaos Evil God would ascend to the level of a Great True God.
In a way, the Chaos Evil God was the protagonist of the New World's version update.
The strength of a law was not fixed; as a world changed—from a sea of fire to an age of ice—the law of fire would weaken, while the law of ice would grow stronger. Chaos was no exception. The more chaotic the New World became, the more powerful Chaos Law would be.
At present, the New World had yet to reach its peak level of chaos. Order still persisted.
But once true disorder consumed the world, it would not be difficult for the Chaos Evil God to rise to the rank of a Great True God with the support of World Will.
While Rosen could deal with the Chaos Evil God, defeating him quickly was another matter entirely.
With his awakening, the True Gods of the World Government—along with the Great True Gods behind them—had already noticed something was wrong. Even if Rosen managed to injure the Chaos Evil God, it would only drain his own strength while allowing the World Government to swoop in and reap the benefits.
Thus, after using Void Theft to steal the Resurrection Crosses, Rosen chose to step back and watch the battle unfold.
Sure enough, before long, the World Government's True Gods descended.
The entire Sea of Chaos became a battleground of destruction as True Gods clashed, devastating the region. In the end, they barely managed to seal away the Chaos Evil God.
By the time he inevitably broke free, the New World would already have descended into utter chaos.
While waiting for his clones to retrieve the remaining Resurrection Crosses, Rosen began fusing them one by one.
When all nine Resurrection Crosses merged into a single entity, it had already reached True God level.
Finally, Rosen released the Death Cross, which had been sealed within the Main God Computer.
The Resurrection Cross and the Death Cross fused together.
Their combined power surpassed True God level, reaching the rank of a Great True God—only then did the fusion complete.
[God's Cross – Miracle Artifact]
[Rank: Great True God]
[Miracle Attribute: Indestructible Will, Immortal Life]
[Miracle Traits: God's True Blood, One and Only, Eternal Immortality]
The cross in Rosen's hand appeared to be a silver-white execution rack.
Wrapped around it were countless black Thorns of Death, binding a lifeless corpse.
At the center of the corpse's chest, a single drop of golden blood gleamed.
This was the Miracle Trait of the God's Cross: God's True Blood.
Prior to the fusion, Rosen had already refined all nine Resurrection Crosses and the Death Cross.
Thus, when they merged, he naturally gained full control over the God's Cross.
The Miracle Attribute was straightforward: As long as one believes they will not die, they will not truly perish.
To kill the wielder of the God's Cross, one would have to strip them of the will to live.
As for the Miracle Trait: God's True Blood, it bore some resemblance to Eldritch God's True Blood.
Upon further study, Rosen discovered that while the God's Cross had reached Great True God level, the corpse bound to it was not a Great True God—it was an Immortal God-Demon.
This artifact had completely drained the Immortal God-Demon, ultimately refining a single drop of Eternal-Rank God's True Blood.
By absorbing this blood, one could either attain the God Sequence or make a Great True God-rank omnipotent wish.
Rosen chose to absorb the blood directly—he had a feeling it would benefit his Eternal Divinity.
His intuition proved correct.
Once the Eternal Divinity absorbed the God's True Blood, a shocking transformation took place.
[Eternal Origin: Root (Omniscience, Mimicry, Compatibility, Plunder, Evolution)]
His Root gained a fifth ability: Omniscience.
As a side effect, even the Apocalypse Mystic Eye evolved into the Omniscient Mystic Eye.
Originally, his Apocalypse Mystic Eye allowed him to analyze whatever he saw.
Now, his Omniscient Mystic Eye allowed him to fully comprehend everything he beheld.
Each Eternal Origin signified a form of Eternal Life.
Aside from Eldritch Gods, World Trees, and Dark Suns, the original sources of Omniscience and Mimicry remained unknown.
But they had to exist.
Perhaps Apocalypse the Immortal God-Demon had once obtained the Omniscience Eternal Origin.
Or maybe the creator of the God's Cross had acquired Omniscience in the past.
It was precisely because the two originated from the same source that their accumulation reached the minimum threshold for Root Fusion.
The Omniscient Mystic Eye far surpassed the Apocalypse Mystic Eye.
Rosen immediately used it to spy on the Arcane Emperor.
Although he still couldn't fully see through the Arcane Emperor's information, he could now sense traces of Apocalypse's Power within him.
As expected, the Arcane Emperor possessed a Relic of Apocalypse.
Turning his gaze toward the Great True Gods backing the World Government, he found that several of them also bore the same Apocalypse Energy.
Clearly, these Great True Gods had obtained Apocalypse's Legacy—which explained how they had been able to deceive the Apocalypse Mystic Eye with false information.
Although his Omniscient Mystic Eye was still unable to bypass their information shielding, at least now, he would no longer be deceived by fake intel.
Moreover, his observation of the Arcane Emperor had gone completely unnoticed.
And this was just the beginning of his Omniscient Mystic Eye's abilities.
With Root now wielding Omniscience, Rosen felt an overwhelming surge in his intelligence and learning capabilities.
If he were to simulate other Extraordinary Sequences now, he would undoubtedly be able to unleash even greater power.
(Chapter End.)