Inside the Mysterious Study Room, Rosen was fiddling with the Twilight Battlefield on his desk.
Although the desk didn't appear large, its space had been expanded to the extent that it could accommodate an entire city.
After becoming a True God, the biggest gain he had was a significant increase in the efficiency of refining the Twilight Battlefield.
His confidence swelled a bit—he even felt that he could now go head-to-head with Immortal Gods and Demons.
Even if he couldn't win, at the very least, he should be able to escape, right?
Initially, he wanted to provoke those Immortal Gods and Demons, but the Twilight Battlefield made him change his mind.
As his refinement of the Twilight Battlefield surpassed 30%, the Eighth Calamity Civilizations sealed within it began to awaken.
This was because most of the control over the Twilight Battlefield had been divided among hundreds of sealed civilizations inside it.
For civilizations that had undergone fewer than five calamities, he had already taken control away from them.
The remaining control rights were all in the hands of civilizations that had survived at least five calamities. Refining small portions wasn't enough to awaken these self-sealed civilizations, but as he seized more and more control, it eventually alerted two civilizations from the Eighth Calamity, the ones that held the greatest amount of authority.
The first to awaken were five Great True Gods from these two civilizations.
They tacitly formed an alliance and began using the sealed spaces within the Twilight Battlefield to block Rosen from further refining it.
At the same time, they were looking for ways to awaken other civilizations by bypassing different sealed spaces.
These two Eighth Calamity Civilizations controlled 20% of the Twilight Battlefield. If they managed to awaken enough civilizations to surpass 30% control, they would be able to wrest control from Rosen and might even gradually lift the seals placed on their own civilizations.
This was not the outcome Rosen wanted—because it meant he would struggle to continue seizing control.
If he failed to obtain more than 50% control, then the Twilight Battlefield would fall beyond his grasp. When the sealed civilizations eventually slaughtered each other until only one remained, he would lose the ability to restrain that final civilization using the Twilight Battlefield.
He was still 20% short, and that remaining 20% needed to be fought for.
However, Rosen still had a high chance of winning, because not all civilizations were willing to cooperate with the two Eighth Calamity Civilizations.
The reason was simple: Only one civilization could ultimately emerge victorious from the Twilight Battlefield.
The two Eighth Calamity Civilizations were undoubtedly the most likely to win.
In contrast, civilizations that had endured fewer calamities saw no hope for survival in the Twilight Battlefield.
As long as Rosen could offer them a chance, civilizations weaker than the Seventh Calamity were unlikely to side with the two Eighth Calamity Civilizations. The real threats were the Seventh Calamity Civilizations—they were strong enough to compete but not so dominant that they could dictate the outcome.
To seize the initiative, Rosen immediately entered the Twilight Battlefield and arrived at the sealed space of a Fifth Calamity Civilization—the Cube Civilization.
Although this civilization lacked a Great True God, it had six True Gods—and the entire Cube Civilization itself functioned as an Extraordinary Artifact of Great True God level.
Clearly, any civilization that self-sealed itself within the Twilight Battlefield must have had some trump cards.
Even gathering all the pieces of the Twilight Battlefield in the first place had been an incredibly difficult feat.
Previously, Rosen had avoided entering the Twilight Battlefield, fearing it would provoke the Eighth Calamity Civilizations.
Now that he was finally inside, he confirmed that this was not the internal space of the Twilight Battlefield, which was a True God Miracle Artifact.
After all, a True God Miracle Artifact could never seal so many entire civilizations inside itself.
Instead, the True God-level Twilight Battlefield he had obtained was probably just a key that allowed access to the space where the real Twilight Battlefield existed.
The true Twilight Battlefield must be at least a world of Immortal Gods and Demons level.
It might even be stronger than that, but no matter how powerful it was, it couldn't possibly surpass the level of Immortal Gods and Demons—although it somehow gave him the feeling that it did.
This led him to suspect that the Twilight Battlefield might actually be a fragment of an Eternal-level world.
Using his 30% control, Rosen loosened the Twilight Battlefield's seal on the Cube Civilization.
The Cube Civilization was extremely unique—it had originally been a proper human civilization.
However, after encountering a mechanical civilization, it fully embraced the path of forsaking flesh and ascending through machinery, a road of no return.
They completely abandoned their physical bodies, transferring their souls and spirituality into mechanical cubes. They even simulated collective lifeforms, granting all mechanical cubes the ability to merge and recombine freely. As a result, the entire Cube Civilization had become a massive cube spanning billions of kilometers in diameter.
As the Cube Civilization awakened, countless mechanical cubes began restructuring and transforming.
From simple cubes, they rapidly reshaped into a gigantic humanoid face, seemingly composed of pixelated modules.
At the center of the forehead, six special mechanical cubes formed a vertical pupil, locking onto Rosen.
This was what made the Cube Civilization terrifying—six True God-level mechanical cubes, thousands of mechanical cubes at the level of deities, along with countless demigod and extraordinary mechanical cubes, all merging into a supercube that was even more terrifying than a Great True God.
Upon successfully awakening, the Cube Civilization immediately activated its digitized Magic Eye, continuously scanning Rosen.
It was attempting to analyze Rosen's strength using Magic Eye technology.
His physical body was not inferior to a Great True God.
The total amount of his divine fluctuations was also on par with a Great True God.
However, the quality of his divine fluctuations was still only at True God level.
This meant that Rosen was a monstrous existence—a True God with the power of a Great True God.
Such an entity was even more terrifying than an actual Great True God, because once he truly ascended, he would be even stronger than any of them.
"Are you here to claim control over the Twilight Battlefield?"
The six True Gods, thinking in perfect synchronization, spoke in unison.
Rosen wasn't surprised that the Cube Civilization had immediately seen through his intentions.
After all, the fact that he could awaken them already meant something.
The Cube Civilization had once controlled the Twilight Battlefield. They would naturally understand what his actions implied.
Additionally, since he had awakened a Fifth Calamity Civilization, it wasn't difficult to deduce his strategy.
"That's right. Let's get straight to the terms."
Rosen responded decisively.
The six True Gods of the Cube Civilization continued scanning him, eventually focusing all their Magic Eyes on his left eye.
"Take the Cube Civilization's legacy and grant it a space to survive within the virtual world of your left eye."
The Cube Civilization proposed a condition that completely took Rosen by surprise.
"Who is 'it'?"
Rosen asked, puzzled.
"It is the inheritance of the Cube Civilization..."
The six True Gods responded in unison.
It turned out that after the Cube Civilization abandoned human bodies and transferred all souls and spirituality into mechanical cubes, their thoughts and emotions gradually became more machine-like.
The influence of the human body on their emotions had completely disappeared.
In the beginning, individuals within the Cube Civilization still retained their independent thought processes.
However, individual intelligence had its limits.
As the civilization endured calamity after calamity, further advancement became increasingly difficult.
By the time of their Fifth Calamity, after running countless simulations, they concluded that survival was impossible.
With no other choice, all the Cube Civilization's inhabitants initiated thought synchronization and consciousness synchronization.
They completely opened their memories to one another and shared all knowledge and wisdom.
This triggered a massive technological explosion, allowing them to miraculously survive the Fifth Calamity.
However, the Sixth Calamity required the protection of a Great True God—something their calculations showed was impossible for them to achieve.
Thus, the Cube Civilization sealed itself within the Twilight Battlefield.
However, only their physical forms were sealed—their consciousness was not.
All consciousnesses of the Cube Civilization's lifeforms continued their research in a special, isolated virtual world.
Eventually, they succeeded in creating a highly unique True God-level virtual lifeform.
As long as this True God-level virtual lifeform absorbed the entire Cube Civilization's power, it wouldn't be difficult for it to become a Great True God.
However, even if it reached the level of a Great True God, it would still be trapped within the Twilight Battlefield with no way to leave.
Rosen was their only hope—his left eye had fused with virtual laws, and the entity created by the Cube Civilization also possessed control over virtual laws.
By merging the two, Rosen could bring it out of the Twilight Battlefield.
It had to be this entity because, as long as it never left the virtual world constructed by the Cube Civilization, it was technically unmarked by the Twilight Battlefield.
When the Cube Civilization was sealed, it had not yet been born—it was a special being that came into existence within the Twilight Battlefield itself.
The Cube Civilization chose to send it away because they had already determined that they could never emerge victorious in the Twilight Battlefield.
Since they were destined to perish, they might as well send their civilization's crystallized essence beyond the battlefield.
This also greatly benefited Rosen—he would gain a Great True God-level virtual lifeform under his command.
There was no reason for Rosen to refuse.
He immediately unleashed the Virtual Realm Eye Technique hidden within his left eye, revealing the virtual world inside.
Then, using the Main God's computer network as a medium, he linked to the Super Cube, continuously devouring its power to further enhance his Virtual Realm Eye Technique.
In the end, once it was also absorbed into the Virtual Realm Eye Technique, the Super Cube of the Cube Civilization began collapsing into debris.
Since the Cube Civilization had the ability to convert matter into data, they transformed all of the mechanical cubes' essence into pure data and transmitted it into the Virtual Realm Eye Technique.
With the mechanical cubes completely drained of their essence, they crumbled into lifeless debris, and every sealed lifeform within the Cube Civilization perished along with them.
At that moment, the Flame of Civilization manifested, beginning its final backlash against the Cube Civilization.
The remnants of all mechanical cubes were reduced to ashes by the Flame of Civilization.
Rosen collected the ashes of their civilization.
The Cube Civilization had bestowed upon him such a great gift—if an opportunity arose in the future, he wouldn't mind using the Miracle Flame to rekindle the Flame of Civilization, giving the extinguished Cube Civilization another chance at existence.
Since the entire civilization had self-destructed, the nearly 1% control authority they once held became unclaimed authority.
As the individual holding the most authority, Rosen easily refined the control once possessed by the Cube Civilization.
By the time the refinement process was complete, his Virtual Realm Eye Technique had also fully evolved.
[Virtual Realm Eye Technique → Miracle Eye Technique]
[Level: Great True God]
[Miracle Attribute: Gather information data to generate a virtual world]
[Miracle Traits: Virtual Scan, Virtual Manifestation, Virtual Administrator]
With the Virtual Realm Eye Technique fully integrated into his Eternal Divinity, Rosen completely mastered this newly born miracle ability.
The virtual world it created retained the core capabilities of the Virtual Realm Eye Technique.
Now, this virtual world had become equivalent to a Great True God's divine kingdom.
As for the Miracle Trait: Virtual Scan, it could scan everything in reality and manifest it within the virtual world.
The Miracle Trait: Virtual Manifestation worked in reverse, allowing Rosen to materialize anything from the virtual world into reality.
Lastly, the Miracle Trait: Virtual Administrator referred to the Great True God-level being created by the Cube Civilization.
Within the virtual world, it was equivalent to a Great True God.
However, if it left the virtual world, at most, it could only rival an Immortal Sequence True God.
Even though the Virtual Administrator was a living being, it lacked emotions, possessing only absolute rationality.
Since Rosen controlled the virtual world, he also held complete control over the life and death of the Virtual Administrator.
But he still wasn't satisfied—the Ancient God Shackles entered the virtual world, wrapping tightly around the Virtual Administrator.
Before long, it had already been bound by contract as his pet.
Now, Rosen could share a portion of his power with the Virtual Administrator, and vice versa.
With his shared Root Sequence and Eternal Origin, the Virtual Butler, when executing Virtual Manifestation to descend into reality, retained its full power. The Virtual Butler was born with extraordinarily high intelligence because it had inherited all the knowledge of the Cube Civilization.
However, at this stage the Virtual Butler could not yet offer Rosen much help, because as a being endowed with divine essence, the Virtual Butler's mastery over the Cube Civilization's extraordinary power did not yet align with the requirements of the Potion Extraordinary Sequence; it first needed to convert its own extraordinary power into that sequence. Of course, it was not impossible to force a conversion, but then its strength would suffer a significant discount. If it could not adapt to the changes of the world, then the entire world would have to be changed instead.
The Cube Civilization had progressed unusually smoothly, which gave Rosen confidence for his next moves. In the following days, Rosen contacted a dozen civilizations. Although there were no more inheritors like the Cube Civilization, the majority of the civilizations were willing to relinquish control of the Twilight Battlefield in exchange for some of the assistance he provided. Only a few civilizations showed no intention of surrendering their control.
Rosen saw that he had surpassed 40% control, and that to gain further control he would have to negotiate with the Six-Calamity Civilizations. The Six-Calamity Civilizations were not as strong as the Seven-Calamity ones, but the vast majority had already produced Great True Gods. Securing an additional 10% control from them would certainly not be as easy as with the Five-Calamity Civilizations, and some bloodshed was inevitable before the Six-Calamity Civilizations could be made to compromise; however, as long as he managed to obtain more than 50% control, it would be worth any cost.
Rosen originally thought that the Six-Calamity Civilizations would be difficult to handle, but he was surprised to find that they were even more amenable than the Five-Calamity Civilizations. All of the Six-Calamity Civilizations surrendered their control on very low terms. After deep contemplation, Rosen realized that his True God sequence level had given him an advantage.
Inside the Twilight Battlefield, hundreds of civilizations fought among themselves until only one remained laughing at the end. However, that was not the end; the surviving civilization would still have to face the master of the Twilight Battlefield. If Rosen were a Great True God, those Six-Calamity Civilizations would certainly not be so accommodating. They all aspired to be the final victor—after barely surviving countless battles, whether their final boss was a True God or a Great True God made all the difference. It was obvious that facing a True God was far easier, so the Six-Calamity Civilizations all chose to side with Rosen.
Logically, the two Eighth-Calamity Civilizations should also have allowed him to control the Twilight Battlefield. The only reason they had resisted so strenuously was that, through his efficient refining of the Twilight Battlefield, they realized he was no ordinary True God; they recognized that his danger level was even higher than that of a Great True God. However, Rosen had acted swiftly enough to seize control of the Five- and Six-Calamity Civilizations. With a total of 52% control, Rosen was no longer worried about the two Eighth-Calamity Civilizations causing havoc.
Thus, without delay, Rosen began to awaken the three First-Calamity Civilizations that had been dormant inside. He promised the Five-Calamity and Six-Calamity Civilizations that the order of mutual slaughter within the Twilight Battlefield would proceed from the weakest to the strongest, which would give them the opportunity to grow; only by plundering each other during the bloodshed and acquiring power not inferior to that of the Eighth-Calamity Civilizations would they have a chance to emerge as the ultimate victors.
Hundreds of civilizations began warring one after another within the Twilight Battlefield, and it would take several hundred years before a final victor could be determined. Rosen then sealed the Twilight Battlefield inside the Ancient God True Realm and, sitting at his desk, picked up the Holy Grail King's Fallen Tarot Card.
The embodiment of the Coin True God had once again reverted to being a True God—it was time to start the King's Game. Through data transmission, Rosen sent out three invitation letters. The three True Gods who received the invitations had been well prepared; each of them brought along the necessary aids, activated the royal blood seal stamped by Rosen on their invitations, and data transmission immediately locked onto them, teleporting the three True Gods to a nameless small island in the vast sea where Rosen resided.
"How do we start the King's Game?" Rosen asked, holding the Holy Grail King's Fallen Tarot Card between his fingertips.
The Coin True God and the Sword True God each produced their own King's Fallen Tarot Card and extended their hands until their cards touched. The Wand King hesitated for a moment before also touching his card to the others. Following their example, Rosen did the same, and as the four cards made direct contact, a cluster of white mist appeared out of nowhere.
The white mist immediately spread out, enveloped the four of them as it shrank into a point, and then vanished. When the mist finally dispersed, Rosen found himself in a square, mysterious space. The boundaries of the space initially appeared square, yet the space seemed to extend infinitely outward, like the cosmos filled with countless stars. Some of these stars formed four magnificent and imposing thrones, which together encircled a patch of white mist at the very center of the space.
(End of Chapter)