Seven years later, Maximus successfully found another soul pool.
Far from their previous base, Maximus quickly set up the soul-controlling array.
Still injured, he didn't bother creating a proper stronghold and immediately began training.
At the same time, he started deducing a movable tier 12 array.
He had a feeling that the Interdimensional Council would find them soon.
Living the life of a fugitive, Maximus had to prepare for various circumstances.
Sure enough, just after ten years, the Seal of Truth warned him that danger was imminent.
"Pack up quickly! Let's leave this place!" Maximus muttered as he dismantled the base.
"Escape again?!" They muttered, looking at their new home.
Although Maximus had told them not to bother building an elaborate base, his wives still insisted and beautified the place.
Looking reluctant, they dismantled the base as they thought of how they would pay the Interdimensional Council in the future.
"How could we be found? Isn't our soul signature disguised?" Freya asked in puzzlement.
"Though our soul signature is disguised, its essence still comes from our actual soul. As long as they're close enough, they could detect us," Maximus explained.
In front of the Ocean of Soul, their disguise was a mere joke.
Unfortunately, Maximus was still too weak to perfectly conceal their essence of soul from the Ocean of Law.
After packing up, they quickly departed the place, destroying the soul pool and eliminating their traces.
A while later, an interdimensional ship arrived.
"They're not here? Tsk, they escaped like rabbits!" Kares clicked his tongue in frustration.
For years, Kares had been seething with anger, unable to capture Maximus and his companions.
No matter how high the bounty he set, it was pointless if no one could locate them.
"Hmph! I'll see how long you can keep this up!"
Soon, Maximus's life turned into a constant escape.
Spending most of their time aboard their void ship, their training was cut to a third.
The first few hundred years were miserable, moving from one soul pool to another, traveling outside Dimensional Alliance territory to the Devourer's side.
In each new place, they had to fight tooth and nail for every soul pool they find.
However, as time passed, they began to adapt to—and even enjoy—such a life.
Creating a modulized base and array, they could quickly settle down or escape.
Their Ship, Shadow also had new weapons, he salvaged and created from all their fights.
Having easier and leisure time, they began to concentrate on their goals.
Traveling through the void became their rest time, solidifying their skills and comprehending various knowledge.
Whenever they found a soul pool, they would transform into cultivation fanatics, using every moment to temper their souls.
Driving out enemies became their entertainment, a test of skills, and a way to vent their frustration.
Soon, 1,300 years passed.
Opening his status panel, Maximus felt that all the suffering over the years had been worth it.
[Family and Power System:
Host: Maximus Shadowcrest
Physique: Dimensional Source (Origin Grade: 0/Unknown) (Rank 11: 918.2 Billion/10 Trillion)
Magnitude of Power: 2.1 → 3.5 Trillion
Magnitude of Soul: 130 Billion 1.7 Trillion
Magnitude of Spirit: 110 Billion → 1.4 Trillion
Magnitude of Will: 110 Billion → 1.2 Trillion
Magnitude of Comprehension: 110 Billion → 1.03 Trillion
River of Knowledge: 10% → 30%
Causality Points: 53 Billion
Causality Points (Corrupted): 21.3 Trillion]
After over a thousand years of life on the run, Maximus finally reached a magnitude over a trillion in soul, spirit, will, and comprehension, filling the gaps in his foundation.
He had also amassed the over 20 trillion Corrupted Causality Points more than enough to upgrade his physique to rank 12.
Feeling satisfied, he turned to his wives.
"Do you want to get out of here?"
"Hmm, leave? Are you sure?!" they asked excitedly.
Though they had grown used to this life, they had longed to leave such a desolate place.
Hearing that they could finally leave, they could hardly believe their ears.
"Hmm, but before we go, there's still something we need to do…"
Aboard a roaming interdimensional ship, Kares was checking documents while keeping an eye on his River of Soul Light, hoping it would detect Maximus.
"Heh, I wonder if that brat's still sane!" Kares laughed evilly.
Harassing Maximus nearly every decade had become his form of entertainment.
No matter when or where, as long as he detected a trace of Maximus, he would drop everything to pursue him.
Looking at his virtual origin body, still without physical vessel even after over a thousand years, anger flared in his eyes.
Unbeknownst to Kares, an invisible, inconspicuous tiny ship silently infiltrated the Interdimensional Ship.
"Huh? What's this?" Kares suddenly felt a strange sensation and looked around.
Scanning the ship, he found everything normal.
"Could it be a Devourers ambush?" he muttered solemnly.
As each second passed by, his warning sense grew stronger, like a knife about to dig his heart.
"Check if there's an ambush ahead! Activate defensive mode! Contact the headquarters!" he ordered urgently.
As the ship's barrier activated, Kares felt safer.
Learning from the previous battle, the interdimensional council reinforced the interior of the ship making it stronger inside.
There was also a separate space for the ship captains, that had stronger defensive barrier.
Inside the ship core, no matter who the enemy is, Kares could react in time.
Unfortunately, before the barrier activated, Shadow had gotten inside.
Putting down the ship in his core, Maximus emerged from the shadows, amplifying his power a hundred thousandfold, and attacked Kares from behind.
With a concentrated beam of light, Kares didn't even have time to mobilize the River of Soul Light before the attack annihilated him.
In such an enclose area, no matter how Kares dodge, he was doomed.
"Huh~ Rest in peace…" Maximus muttered with a smile.
Though the massive origin explosion severely damaged his origin, Maximus couldn't help but smile at finally defeating his enemy.
Looking around, aside from the destroyed core room, the entire interdimensional ship remained intact.
Even the personnel on board were alive and unharmed by the attack.
"It seems the internal defense of this interdimensional ship was greater than last time."
Though Maximus had concentrated most of his attack on Kares, the radiation range was still strong enough to melt ordinary tier 12 materials.
"It seemed the Interdimensional Council learned its lesson."
Thinking of this, his excitement grew.
"This ship? Can I keep it?!"
Deducing a powerful enemy was on the way, Maximus quickly wrapped the interdimensional ship in his consciousness and stored it within his dimensional space.
As for the personnel on board, Maximus simply expelled them, sending them out into the void.
He was not bloodthirsty; unless they attacked him or were beyond his control, he wouldn't intentionally harm anyone.
Boarding his ship, his wives looked at him with excitement.
"How is it? Did you kill the enemy?"
"Hmm." Maximus nodded.
"Huh~ Served him right! How dare he harass us all these years!" Lydia muttered hatefully.
"If I had the strength, I would torture that bastard myself!" Skye clenched his fist.
"What about the loot, husband? What did you get?" Lilith asked excitedly.
After years of battles, they had learned the value of keeping spoils from their enemies.
While sometimes meager, they occasionally earned materials worth hundreds of billions, even trillions of origin coins.
"I took the entire interdimensional ship!"
"What, the whole ship?! Was it damaged?"
"No, aside from a few scratches, it's fully intact!"
An intact interdimensional ship?!
Being the primary mode of travel and defense of the Interdimensional Council, it was far from simple.
"Come, let's look inside the World Tree!"
Inside the World Tree, Maximus took out a ship of a size spanning thousands of trillions of kilometers.
Up close, the massive interdimensional ship shattered their expectations.
The ship was made almost entirely of tier-12 materials.
At a glance, it was worth quadrillions of origin coins, at least 2-3 times more valuable than Shadow.
With various tier 12 technologies unavailable to the masses, this ship alone compensated their thousand-year struggle.
Going inside, they counted a variety of materials and treasures stored within.
"500 trillion worth of materials! Not as much as I'd expected." Denice pouted.
"Be satisfied; this is already enough for us to train without worry for a while." Jane scolded.
In total, they had harvested spoils worth around 3 quadrillion origin coins, more than their harvest in all their lives combined.
"Hahaha, with such a haul, we can return to the Etherium Realm in glory!"
Deducing their route out of the Silent Void Expanse, Shadow quickly accelerated toward the horizon.
"It's time to go home…"
Meanwhile, in the empty void, the Lord of Souls, Akuji, was seething with rage.
Kares's origin signature had fully faded, signifying his absolute death.
Now even an Overlord couldn't resurrect him using causality of power or any means.
For a master of the River of Law to die within his jurisdiction was a massive loss.
Furthermore, losing two interdimensional ships in just over a thousand years, even Akuji would be heavily punished.
Furious, he collected every trace of Maximus, merging them to create a clearer soul signature.
Sending the soul signature to the Interdimensional Council's headquarters, listing Maximus as one of the Dimensional Alliance's most wanted.
"Magnus! Don't let me learn your true identity, or I'll hunt you down myself!"