With a clear mind and an unyielding spirit, Maximus continued to the next trial.
Trial after trial, no matter what the entity of the supreme law threw at him, Maximus remained calm.
His mind seemed tempered to such an extreme that no challenge, difficulty, or concept of impossibility entered his thoughts.
His game with the Supreme Law of Knowledge not only greatly benefited him in terms of wisdom, but it also calmed his impatience.
His once-young mind, less than a hundred thousand years old, was tempered to the age of thousands of epochs.
For the first time, he was fully awake, savoring each passing second as he pondered everything he had experienced.
It made him realize that he had achieved enough; there was no longer a need to rush every second, hour, and day of his life.
Upon completing the Supreme Law of Reality, he saw that he was no longer the same as in the past; he had grown.
Subsequently, each new trial before him only made him stronger and stronger.
Instead of wallowing in impatience and suffering, he now felt excitement at what the origin of the law might throw that would make him stronger.
A few days passed; Maximus reached the 161,800th trial.
Due to the time-acceleration ratio of each top supreme law trial—1 second to an epoch—it took him less than a minute to complete each trial.
"Four more..."
[Generating the 161,800th Trial: The Supreme Law of Virtuality...]
As he looked at the newly formed arena, Maximus seemed to guess what the trial would be.
"I am the entity of Virtuality. Nice to meet you, Maximus Shadowcrest," a childlike entity greeted him with a smile, though a hint of resentment gleamed in its eyes.
"Did I do something wrong?" Maximus asked doubtfully.
He didn't recall offending this supreme law.
"Hmph! You've exhausted me to death, don't you know that? If not for the support of the other supreme laws, I would've been broken already!"
"How is that so?"
"You're too much! Don't you realize how much energy I expend to create a virtual world with complete laws and a time acceleration ratio of 1 second to an epoch?"
"Is that so?"
The trials he endured indeed felt like a real world. If not for the various restrictions, he might even have been able to cultivate within them.
Maximus frowned, taking in the reality of facing a copy with every ounce of his power—his ultimate mastery of nearly all origins of law, his ultimate physique, his solid foundation, and even his unique path of law.
Fortunately, it seemed the replica didn't have access to his Ether Device.
The device remained safely hidden within his storage dimension, reserved as his trump card.
If he'd used it here, Maximus could only imagine the devastation it would unleash.
As a hail of attacks descended upon him, Maximus began to channel every fiber of his strength.
From thousands-fold amplification to ten thousand-fold, then a hundred thousand-fold... pushing even further with an Origin Explosion, his power surged a million times over.
Seeing his replica mimic this power, Maximus smirked.
"You are only a reflection, after all," he said. "How could you withstand the full force of my power?"
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The clone's attempt at an Origin Explosion backfired almost immediately.
It cracked, then imploded, unable to hold such intensity for even a moment.
Boom!
As a massive explosion filled the arena, Maximus was left standing battered and cracked from his overexertion, with a smile on his lips.
"How wonderful..."
A million-fold Origin Explosion—at his current magnitude of power, Maximus himself could hardly withstand it for more than a few seconds.
There was no way a mere replica could handle it.
"My origin is unique," he declared. "No replica, no copy, no rival can defeat me—not even myself..."
"Don't get too narcissistic, you cheating bastard!" the Supreme Law of Virtuality yelled in frustration.
It had expected an impressive, drawn-out battle, yet all it saw was Maximus flaunting his uniqueness.
"But I passed the trial, didn't I?" Maximus replied, grinning.
"Hmph! The next three trials still await. Let's see if you can cheat your way through those."
"Are they different?"
"The next three are the Governor of Law—the Controller, the Giver, and the Source. Good luck to you."