A few days later…
After flirting with his wives and Lilith, Maximus turned his attention to the unexpected visitors.
A few days of feasting and merriment seemed to have whittled their patience.
Bidding farewell to his wives, telling them to prepare for their honeymoon, Maximus meet them out.
“These gentlemen, shall we continue in the conference room?” he invited.
“Hmm, that would be appropriate,” Goldfiend Vanderbilt, the group’s representative, agreed.
As for Fealan, he had already returned to the Arcane Continent after offering his congratulations.
Being the most influential and having the most interaction with Maximus, Goldfiend was chosen as their representative.
…
In the conference room…
Observing the solemn atmosphere, Maximus spoke directly.
“What is it that you want?”
He didn’t have time for wordplays; his schedule was already packed, and he didn’t want to add any more.
“We are here to initiate another transaction and also to invite you to the Etherium Alliance formally.” Goldfiend started.
“The Etherium Alliance? The one like in the abyss?”
“Yes, quite so. Though the Etherium Alliance is somewhat different.”
“The Etherium Alliance is selective, allowing only Apex Sovereigns to join,”
“But I am not yet an Apex Sovereign. Moreover, what benefits would I get from joining such an alliance?”
“Indeed, you are not yet an Apex Sovereign, but you possess the power of one.”
“As for the benefits, you will naturally learn upon joining.”
“Oh, could I disagree?” Maximus asked in amusement.
He cared little for the so-called alliance; merely hearing about it sounded troublesome.
“Hahaha, interesting,” Goldfiend chuckled upon hearing his response.
Without asking anything, Maximus just disagreed directly.
‘It seemed that this kid was hiding more than I thought.’
“What’s so amusing?”
“You see, we are not asking you; we are informing you.”
“We were merely being respectful in extending the invitation.”
“As for disagreeing, that is impossible.”
“It is not us who are asking you to join, but the World Origin.”
“The World Origin? Has the Etherium World Origin gained consciousness to form a group of its own?” Maximus asked in amazement.
Though he knew it had some degree of consciousness to interact with the world directly.
Maximus didn’t expect the World Origin to advance to this extent.
What had Valoros done to imbued this dimension’s World Origin with such intelligence?
From aiding in the creation of virtual worlds, bestowing rewards, condensing crystal merits, to now forming its group— it was much more capable than he had anticipated.
“Despite lacking a physical form, it is capable of everything an individual can do.”
“Just what is this World Origin…” Maximus frowned and fell into deep thought.
“Aren’t you worried that it would directly attack us?”
“If it had that capability, it would have already wiped out the world’s population.”
“Why go through all the trouble?” Goldfiend said helplessly.
After wiping out all of the population, the Etherium Realm would surely advance to tier 11 dimension.
By then, a mere abyss threatening it would be nothing but a side dish.
It could then repopulate the world in just thousands of epochs.
The capability of the World Origin is truly endless, rendering them helpless.
“Then why can’t it attack us?”
“It should be due to dimensional restrictions.”
“The World Origin can’t harm any of its aborigines, much like a human who can’t directly kill a virus in its body.”
“So that’s it,” Maximus nodded in understanding.
Although the World Origin can do everything and more, it couldn’t harm its own body.
The only thing it could do was to strengthen itself, utilizing all kinds of tricks.
“So, how do I join this so-called alliance?”
“You should have already been marked.”
“Marked? Where?”
“In your body. Where could it be?” Goldfiend said, looking for the mark on Maximus’ body.
They already unanimously agreed that Maximus is capable enough to join the Etherium Alliance.
After officially inviting Maximus, there should be a mark in his arms.
“I don’t have it. If I had it, I would have noticed.”
“Huh? You don’t have it? Could it be that you have some special treasure?” Goldfiend muttered in surprise.
If Maximus really had it, he would want to buy one.
After all, no one wants the World Origin to spy on them constantly.
“Yes, it seems that the treasure worked…” Maximus said softly.
However, in reality, there was no such treasure.
How could he guard against something if he didn’t even know about it?
It should be his ultimate physique.
In the past, when Fealan took them to the core of the world, the World Origin also couldn’t do anything against him and Skye.
“You really have it?! Could I buy one?”
“Uh, let me see if there’s still some.”
Maximus didn’t know if there was a treasure like that in the Myriad World Mall, so he didn’t immediately answer.
“Anyway, now how do I join?”
“Just deactivate your treasure for a second, and the World Origin should contact you.”
“Hmm.”
Feeling his physique, Maximus tried to lower its presence.
After upgrading it to rank 10, Maximus’s control over his physique also got stronger, speeding his regeneration from milliseconds to nanoseconds.
Lowering the barrier of his ultimate physique just meant lowering its mana generation.
Soon, Maximus felt some origin energy gathering in his body.
Feeling it only latch in his physical flesh, Maximus didn’t worry.
He could cut off his head and still live, much less an arm.
This should also be why those Apex Sovereigns didn’t worry about the threat of the World Origin.
If this energy directly merged with his soul, then he would really worry.
[Binding…]
[Welcome to the Etherium Alliance, Maximus Shadowcrest!!!]
A panel appeared in front of him.
“Tsk, this World Origin can also keep up with time.”
“After learning for an endless amount of time, the World Origin is proficient in everything.”
“It can be said that it’s a tier 9 mechanic, alchemist, formation master, forging master, rune master, etc.”
“Any knowledge spread in the world, the World Origin knows and masters.”
“What a monster,” Maximus muttered in amazement.
Fortunately, it seemed that the World Origin couldn’t peer through him; otherwise, it would also know all of his secrets.
Soon after a bit of buffering, a complete system panel appeared.
[Etherium Alliance:
Etherium Forum…
Merit Hall…
Mission Hall…
Merits: 1,003,602,910,121,927,092,678]
“Merits?” Maximus muttered in puzzlement, seeing over 1 septillion merits in his panel.
Furthermore, every second, the number jumped millions of points.
“Merits are rewards for the contributions you made to the world.”
“For better comparison, every merit is equivalent to a crystal merit in the abyss.”
“Of course, Etherium Merits are much more useful, does higher the exchange rate.”
“Hmm,” Maximus nodded, but thoughts couldn’t help but churn in his mind.
He somewhat understood what merits were.
Like if someone planted trees, it could strengthen the roots of the earth.
Or educate a large number of people, contributing to the overall strength of its being.
What puzzled him was why his merits were increasing so much.
He understood that what he was doing for the Curse Continent was worthy of merit.
However, to have jumped millions of points every second, there must be something wrong.
“By the way, how many merits do you receive for the development of your territory?”
“Oh? It seems that your merit points are abnormal,” Goldfiend joked.
In the beginning, after setting up the Etherium Stock Market, his points jumped so much that he thought it was the end of the world.
As the Emperor of the Curse Continent and seeing the development of the Moonlight Empire, Maximus’s points should be insane.
“Yes, I don’t quite have a grasp yet on how these points were generated.”
“Oh, then let me give you an example.”
“An average apex sovereign ruling a domain in the arcane continent, with a population of a few hundred quintillion, could earn about a few hundred million every day.”
“Of course, if they are as ambitious as you, expanding the population at every turn, they could earn a few hundred billion to trillion every day.”
“This… is just right…” Maximus paused, careful not to reveal the anomaly of his system.
While others only have hundreds of millions of merit points every day, he could earn hundreds of billions every day.
Based on his estimate, even if the empire’s population doubled every day, this would not be possible.
Suddenly, he thought of his physique, the Dimensional Source.
The energy he absorbed shouldn’t directly go to him.
From void energy, it travels to the Etherium Realm, then to him.
In this process, the World Origin had plenty of time to absorb the excess energy.
Furthermore, with everyone in the empire churning up his unlimited mana, the amount intercepted by the World Origin is immense.
Using the system points as a basis, the Etherium Realm should be able to absorb at least a millionth of the energy that his physique produces.
The Etherium Realm should be urging him to develop by giving him some merits as temptation.
After all, the energy it has given wouldn’t disappear, but the energy it absorbs from Maximus is permanent.
After concluding the ins and outs of the merits points, Maximus heaved a sigh of relief.
As for the use of merits, it should be the Merits Hall.
“Merit Hall…”
