Time continued to slip by.
Following their agreement, the top forces within the Dimensional Alliance began delivering set after set of ultimate treasures.
With the crucial resources needed to consolidate their foundation, each member of his family went into seclusion.
They were preparing to raid the Virtual Tower of Trial; thus, the stronger they became, the better their chances.
This time, their plan wasn't just to gain meager benefits; they aimed to each have an ultimate treasure.
Such a grand ambition—even if they had just come back from the source of knowledge or were on a rare vacation—they couldn't procrastinate.
Instead, they began their training in earnest.
Meanwhile, having already absorbed a set of tier-10 ultimate treasures, Maximus continued to monitor the Library while working to deduce the Tier-11 Origin Manual.
Year after year, the Dimensional Origin Library achieved one milestone after another.
From quadrillions, Maximus's balance reached quintillions of origin coins.
In just a few years since the Library's opening, Maximus's wealth had caught up to those of the top families.
With so much wealth and nothing immediate to spend it on, Maximus felt compelled to quickly convert it into strands of causality.
Maximus could no longer trouble Iris to handle the conversion for him.
Iris had already entered seclusion, preparing for the moment when he accumulated enough Ether Forge.
Aiming to reach the Absolute of Law in a single attempt, she couldn't afford any distractions.
Another way to obtain strands of causality was by purchasing them directly.
However, after inquiring about the price, Maximus could only back away.
Whereas Iris could exchange 1,000 origin coins per strand of causality, others charged between 3 and 10 million.
The Ashura Sect, Elfalhn Family, and Fritz Family could only lower their prices to about 1.5 million per strand.
It wasn't that they were being stingy, but the sheer quantity Maximus required would deplete their foundations.
Without something equivalent to fill that gap, they couldn't exchange a significant amount.
With no other options to rely on, Maximus turned to creating ether refiners.
Though each refiner could only produce ten strands of causality per day, at the cost of a million origin fragments, they were more reliable and consistent.
Using the materials collected by the Immortal Palace Realm, Maximus created over five hundred ether refiners.
Each refiner, the size of a world, quietly circulated in his system space, connected directly to the River of Knowledge.
Thanks to this direct connection, the River of Knowledge could use the devices to refine strands of causality in real-time.
Over five hundred devices produced only 5,000 strands of causality every day.
Unfortunately, no matter how much he pushed and worked, he could only create a maximum of 100 devices per year.
This was already with the use of his infinitely expanding domain, which acted as his hands.
Yet, due to certain high-level technicalities, the speed at which he created each device remained severely limited.
"I can only rely on others…" Looking at the Seekers of Knowledge busily comprehending the River of Knowledge, he couldn't help but smile.
Thanks to the endless resources and comprehension enhancements of the Library, most of them had already reached 1% mastery.
Once they reached 10% and could separate their own streams of law, they could finally assist him.
As for Atlas, the promising son of the Aeon Plane, he had already reached 7% mastery.
His compatibility with the River of Knowledge seemed far greater than with the River of Pain.
In just a few short years, he was nearing his first milestone on the path of knowledge.
As for his two future daughters-in-law, with the guidance of his sons, they had already reached 3% mastery.
Unfortunately, despite their progress, their relationships remained stalled.
Particularly with Valentine and Sam, the two were like cat and mouse; if they weren't fighting, they were on the verge of one.
If not for the mediation of their siblings, the two would have already unleashed a hailstorm of chaos.
Then there were Nora and Luke. Maximus had thought these two were a perfect match, destined to grow closer within a few months.
Who knew they would turn out to be a pair of highly rationalized nerds?
Aside from discussing alchemy and mechanics, the two never talked about anything else.
They seemed to treat each other as peers and rivals, honing their skills rather than forming a romantic connection.
When it came to relationships, judging by their interactions, even if they were naked in the same bed, absolutely nothing would happen.
Praying for his sons' steady relationships, Maximus launched into another creation spree.
Meanwhile, in the Interdimensional Council Headquarters, Akuji, the Lord of Souls, was deducing the soul signature of 'Magnus.'
After his massive defeat in the Silent Void Expanse, Akuji was sent back to headquarters to face severe punishment.
Not only was he fined for the loss of two Dimensional Void Ships, but he was also held responsible for the death of a Master of the River of Law, Kares.
Enduring tens of thousands of years of punishment and with his assets drained by all the compensations, Akuji swore revenge.
Holding onto Magnus's soul signature from their last encounter, he begins comparing it against all individuals named Magnus within the Virtual Realm.
After countless failed searches, he recently stumbled upon a new lead: Magnus, the owner of the Dimensional Origin Library.
Initially, this 'Magnus' wasn't one of his prime suspects, as other individuals named Magnus possessed far greater strength.
However, with the rise of the Dimensional Origin Library and learning that the true identity of this Magnus was Maximus Shadowcrest—one of the Primordial Candidates—his intuition was triggered.
Securing a copy of Maximus's soul signature as registered in the Virtual Realm, Akuji started comparing it to the soul signature of 'Magnus' from the Silent Void Expanse.
At first glance, there was no similarity.
But trusting his intuition as a Master of the Ocean of Soul, he began to rearrange Magnus's soul signature, attempting to match it with Maximus'.
After billions and trillions of trials and failures, the light in Akuji's eyes grew brighter and brighter.
The previously incomparable soul signatures were becoming more and more similar.
Finally, after a sudden spark of inspiration, with a click, the two soul signatures became a perfect match.
"It's you! It's you! I finally found you!"