Back to the Etherium Realm, Maximus's smile didn't fade.
Paying 10 quadrillion to have a Tier 11 Master of the Ocean of Law at his beck and call? Maximus couldn't ask for more.
"Could you hurry up? Don't dawdle; you have a lot of work to do," Maximus ordered, glancing at the listless Akuji.
"Tsk," Akuji muttered under his breath but obediently followed Maximus toward the castle.
The power of the Absolute of law was not something he could defy.
Any thought of disobedience toward Maximus would bring severe, incomprehensible pain.
Self-destruction didn't work either; if he tried to harm Maximus at the cost of his life, the Absolute of Oath would crush him first.
Facing a thousand years of servitude, Akuji felt his life had turned dark.
Fortunately, the 10 quadrillion origin coins compensation went straight into his pocket.
After paying off his remaining debt to the Interdimensional Council, he still had a decent surplus.
Soon, they arrived at the castle, where Maximus prepared a room for Akuji.
"You'll stay here for the coming thousand years. You only need to work and do nothing else."
"What work do I need to do?" Akuji asked nonchalantly.
Whatever it was, it couldn't be worse than the punishments he'd endured previously.
Were it not for the humiliation, he'd gladly accept even a quadrillion to work for Maximus.
"Just purify these into strands of causality." Maximus handed Akuji a storage container filled with a quintillion origin coins.
"This..."
Looking at the endless spread of origin coins, Akuji couldn't help but gulp.
If not for the Absolute of Oath's power binding him, he would have already run away to become a wandering Devourer.
A quintillion origin coins? This was the profit of a top sect for tens of millions of years.
But as he considered the work he was about to do, his face darkened.
"C-convert all of these into strands of causality?"
Converting origin coins to strands of causality wasn't just tedious; it was also a burden on the path of law.
With his large supply of causality points, Maximus thought of a tempting incentive for those old, stubborn scholars.
After all, who could resist strands of causality?
Leaving Akuji to his work, Maximus opened a void portal to the Source of Knowledge.
Flying toward the nearest seeker of knowledge, he was met by one of the most stubborn people he knew.
"This old man greets the Pioneer," Vratos said respectfully.
"Vratos, I'm here for—"
"If it's the same request as before, I'm sorry, but I couldn't bring myself to do such a mindless thing," Vratos interrupted hastily.
If Maximus wanted to create an exquisite, unique piece of treasure, Vratos would gladly join him in the creation.
But crafting a mass-produced treasure without challenge or the chance for improvement bored him to death.
"Don't be in such a hurry to refuse,"
"Oh? Does the Pioneer have some extraordinary knowledge to share?!" Vratos asked eagerly.
If Maximus held some insight that wasn't accessible or had just been deduced by the River of Knowledge, Vratos would be willing to do almost anything.
"No, I'm offering strands of causality. For each device you create, I'll pay a million strands of causality," Maximus proposed.
"A million strands?!" Vratos perked up.
A million strands were enough to accelerate his comprehension thousands of times over hundreds of years.
Hearing the offer, Vratos couldn't help but feel tempted.
Although it would take tens of years to craft a single device based on Maximus's blueprint, the payment made it worthwhile.
"Well? Are you willing?" Maximus asked with a smile.
Though this would nearly double the cost of each Ether Purifier device, it was a fair exchange.
With the 5 billion strands of causality produced by Akuji each year, he could afford 5,000 devices annually—50 times what he could have produced on his own.
"Dear Pioneer, this old man is willing to use his fragile bones and sweat to create a treasure worthy of your name."
"Just follow the instructions, and I'll be satisfied."
After persuading Vratos, Maximus continued to tour the Source of Knowledge, recruiting all the scholars who mastered a stream of knowledge.