Going to the Source of Knowledge with Asha and Lila, Maximus quickly reunited with his family.
"You're back? How did the experiment go? Did it succeed?"
Seeing Maximus return, they were a bit surprised. Knowing his nature, he usually wouldn't stop until he completed whatever he set his mind to.
"Yes, it's done. The Production Machine for the Ring of Origin is finished."
"That's great! Now you don't have to work so hard anymore!"
"It's been tough on you, Father. You finally created an alternative."
Hearing of Maximus's success, his family sighed in relief.
Watching Maximus generate countless Rings of Origin like a numb machine deeply worried them.
How difficult it must have been to repeat the same task, over and over again, for hundreds of thousands of years without rest.
Unlike them, who were merging with Seeds of Path into the Source of Knowledge, Maximus wasn't gaining any insight or advancement from the work.
He was simply grinding, endlessly, like a machine.
"Don't worry. Now that I've built the Production Machine, I don't have to push myself so hard anymore." Seeing their concern, Maximus smiled gently.
"What about you all? Have you taken to heart what I said before?"
"How could we forget? We've been taking vacations every thousand years, without missing a single cycle."
"That's right, Father! We even created a rotation system, so we could take turns resting without decreasing the efficiency. Right now, it's Asha and Lila's turn."
"You're thoughtful. I thought Asha and Lila had just run off," Maximus joked, raising an eyebrow as the two girls pouted.
"How could we slack off like that? Father is mean..."
"Hmph! I don't like Grandfather anymore!"
Seeing the two act so playfully, Maximus' smile widened.
"Alright, alright. Now that I'm finally free, how about we all take a vacation together?"
With his family in tow, Maximus felt lighter and happier.
Thinking about how his family had grown to dozens—wives, children, grandchildren, in-laws, he felt blessed.
"Great! A family vacation sounds perfect!"
Although traveling alone had its moments, nothing beat being with everyone.
Agreeing with Maximus's plan, they started to prepare, stabilizing the Seeds of Path they had been merging before departure.
After merging the Seed of the Absolute of Chaos, they were now merging the Absolute of Immortality.
Not only could it increase the attacking power of the path of knowledge, they could also take the opportunity to merge another source to the source of knowledge.
Thanks to Iris rebuilding her foundation with the Derived Origin Manual, the process had become much smoother.
Now, after just tens of thousands of years, they were already halfway through.
Meanwhile, as the rest of the family stabilized their Seeds of Law, Maximus called over his two sons, Neo and Lux.
"Neo, how's the progress on using the Rule Stones to form an array in the Dark Void Domain?"
"Nothing yet. I still haven't figured out how to start," Neo sighed.
It wasn't that he was slacking; it was just the sheer difficulty of the task.
Unlike the stable void, the Dark Void Plane was extremely chaotic. Combined with the corruptive influence of dark energy, even after racking his brain, Neo couldn't find a solution.
"Don't worry. Take your time. The creation of the Rule Stone Array isn't urgent," Maximus said with a reassuring smile.
Even the Overlords took billions of epochs to construct the pseudo-level array outside the Aeon Plane. How could Neo create one so quickly?
Maximus would already be satisfied if Neo could develop a rough blueprint within a million years.
"What about you, Lux? What did you want to talk to me about?"
"First, let me report on the progress of the Virtual Realm."
"Right now, there are already tens of millions of new Dimensions connected to the Virtual System."
"Because of that, our material acquisition has become much broader and more efficient. It's also solved some of our material shortages, which is great."
"Finally, I had the Virtual Realm managers optimize the system by adding new interactive interfaces—forums, direct messaging, maps, talent testing, identification features, and more."
Listening to Lux's report, Maximus couldn't help but nod in satisfaction.
It seemed Lux had been diligent over the past hundred thousand years.
"And the other thing?" Based on his tone, Maximus sensed Lux was facing a problem.
"Is it possible to integrate direct teleportation into the Virtual System?"
With just one sentence, Maximus already understood what Lux was aiming for.
Integrating instant teleportation into the Virtual Systems, an outrageous but revolutionary idea.
If each Virtual System acted as a teleportation hub, they could instantly unify and access resources across the Aeon Plane from materials, talent, information—everything.
But then Maximus frowned. They didn't own the Virtual Realm. They were merely borrowing it.
"It isn't possible?" Lux asked in disappointment.
"It's not that it's impossible. It's just not worth it."
"Let me ask you. Do you have full confidence that you can control the Virtual Realm?"
He had been too blinded by his recent success. He forgot that the Virtual Realm wasn't theirs.
Spending resources to optimize the virtual system was fine. Enhancing and upgrading the user interface would only increase efficiency.
But embedding instant teleportation? That was like building a cannon aimed at themselves.
It would give the Virtual Realm, something they didn't control, an enormous strategic power over them.
Even if it helped in the fight against the Dark Disaster, the risk far outweighed the gain.
"It seems you understand now. The Virtual Realm is not something we can control. Even if I suppress Elvian's strength in the future, it won't change that."
In truth, Maximus had already explored the possibility of stealing an item, architecture, or treasure built from a Fruit of Origin.
He had even used his plane-level ability, True Path, to investigate further.
But the answer was clear: unless he enslaved the person who bore it, it was impossible to contain another's Fruit of Origin.
A Fruit of Origin was the essence of an Overlord, formed when their core of origin broke past conventional levels.
To control their fruit, one had to control the person first.
"It's a pity…" Lux muttered, finally grasping the danger.
"Don't worry. There are plenty of alternatives..."