A few years later, the ship carrying their harvest from the dark beast waves arrived.
"The materials are here, Master," Eternal Voyager reported.
"You're right on time," Maximus said with a smile.
"Come on, Father, let's see what we got."
For years, they'd been itching to know what the Crimson Phenomenon had brought them. The curiosity had kept them up at night.
Now that it was here, they couldn't wait to see what they got.
"All right, unload it into the ship's compartment."
After Maximus gave the order, they headed straight to the ship's cargo.
Once there, they saw the bodies of dark beasts neatly stacked together, immediately drawing their attention.
"There must be over a thousand dark beasts here, huh?"
"That's right. A total of 1,350 Tier 12 dark beasts," Eternal Voyager confirmed.
"It's a pity, father's attack had disintegrated the other dark beast."
Initially, there were over twenty thousand tier 12 dark beasts. Unfortunately, most of them were destroyed by the dark plane blaster's combined power.
Because of the chaos, they weren't able to convert them into special merits in time.
As a result, it could only be recycled by the dark energy, turning it into more but weaker dark beasts.
"Should we convert them into merits, husband?" she asked.
Such a massive haul could push Maximus's path of law forward by at least 20%.
"No need. I have a better use for these carcasses. And I'm not in a rush to advance," Maximus said, shaking his head.
Even if he reached the peak of the Absolute Realm, he wouldn't dare take the next step without completing the Trial of Origin.
How could he compromise his foundation just for speed?
Besides, instead of taking shortcuts, why not merge a few more Seeds of Absolute of Law or a few more ultimate treasures to the source of knowledge?
"A use? What do you need them for?"
"Are you planning to convert them into materials?"
They asked, assuming Maximus would convert these into materials for the ether devices.
"No, it's for something else. Anyway, let's check out what we got from the Crimson Phenomenon."
Compared to the beast corpses, Maximus was more interested in what materials the crimson phenomenon had drawn into the Aeon Plane.
According to Mira, such a blessed phenomenon had even helped some Tier 12 planes evolve to higher tiers.
Maximus wasn't hoping for that level of fortune. A few Tier 13 materials or treasures would be enough.
So far, he hadn't even seen materials of that level.
"Eternal Voyager, where is it? Show us."
"It's already out, Master. Right in front."
Staring at the three items in front of the mountain of carcasses, they couldn't help but squint their eyes.
They expected it to be a massive material. But this?
It was only two fist-sized rocks and a blade of grass.
Staring at these materials, their expression was full of disbelief.
"Mira, do you know what this is?" Maximus asked, just as clueless about the materials.
Without rigorous testing, he couldn't determine their exact properties.
But one thing was certain: these materials were indeed Tier 13 treasures.
"I don't recognize those two rocks," Mira said, shaking her head. "But the blade of grass—It's Chaos Grass."
Still missing parts of her memory, she couldn't identify the other two.
"Chaos Grass? What's that?"
Curious, everyone turned their attention to her.
"Chaos Grass is a rare plant from the Planar Chaos Region. It's usually only found in peak Tier 13 planes governed by an Archon."
"As for its function, just like the name implies, it's a grass that can absorb and purify chaos energy."
"What?! It can absorb chaos energy?"
Chaos was said to be the source of all creation, but it was far too volatile to absorb.
Even an Archon could barely manipulate it, let alone absorb it.
Yet this blade of grass could do it innately. What's more amazing is that it could purify it!
"If it's that amazing, why hasn't it spread everywhere? Why is it only found in some planes?"
"Something this useful should be enough to fight back against the Dark Disaster!"
A plant that could purify chaos energy would be a huge boon to any plane's development.
"Each species of chaos grass was unique, it's a treasure that can only be bound to a plane," Mira explained.
"Once it absorbs the unique laws of a plane, it can only grow there. It can't thrive anywhere else."
"Unless the plane it first grew in is completely destroyed, the Chaos Grass won't take root elsewhere."
If it could, it would've already spread across the Planar Chaos Region.
Converting chaos to plane energy, wouldn't those archons already use those weaker planes as a farm?
"Wait... does that mean if an Archon finds out we have this, they might destroy our plane just to get it?"
"Exactly. Why else would only peak Tier 13 planes possess it?"
"Hiss... This is a cursed treasure!"
"We're already fighting dark beasts and the Black Sigil... now this?"
They couldn't help but feel like every danger in existence was converging on them.
"Don't worry too much," Maximus said with a calm smile, unfazed by the pressure.
"If we have such a treasure, it means we're blessed."
If others coveted it, that only proved its worth. Why fear what proves its value?
As Maximus quietly observed the blade of grass absorbing ambient chaos energy, something else caught his eye.
"Huh? It's absorbing dark energy too?"
The others were stunned. Even Mira looked surprised.
"So that's it... this grass can absorb dark energy too," Mira muttered, a look of realization dawning on her face.
Thinking back to the past, why she'd been rejected again and again while trying to unite the Archons against the Dark Disaster, Mira finally understood why.
It wasn't that the Archons were ignorant of the danger. They simply didn't see it as a threat.
With Chaos Grass capable of absorbing dark energy, the most dangerous aspect of the Dark Disaster could be neutralized.
Without the corruptive power of dark energy, weren't the dark beasts basically walking treasure chests?