After three years of visiting the three continents, Maximus and his wives returned to the Moonlight Empire.
In the days he was absent, the Moonlight Empire didn’t cease its activity.
Cities after cities were still being built, people continued to give birth, and the Moonlight Empire system kept adding new applications.
Furthermore, in the three years since the empire opened, more and more individuals and organizations settled in the empire.
Individuals came to the empire to experience various entertainments and unique scenes.
Although it’s not comparable to the top attractions in the Arcane Continent, it’s affordable enough.
Furthermore, some unique, inexpensive resources in the land were also popular, attracting many business organizations.
Although the Empire still didn’t allow outside market import, exports were still permitted.
By exporting cheap items from the Moonlight Empire to the Arcane Continent, they could earn a lot.
Many also found jobs with high remuneration, attracting mercenaries from the Arcane Continent to settle.
If not for the low density of mana, many would want to stay in the Moonlight Empire forever.
Upon returning to the Empire, Maximus resumed his busy work.
After checking all the changes in the empire and seeing no major problems occur, he heaved a sigh of relief.
“It seems that the empire can finally run without me again.”
After conquering the whole Curse Continent, the Empire faced a shortage of manpower.
Maximus had to handle every little thing, keeping him incredibly busy.
Now Maximus could slow down and let the Empire develop itself.
He just needed to set the direction and provide some funds, and he could have all the time he wanted.
Thinking of one major problem of the Moonlight Empire, he opened the Merit Halls of the Etherium Alliance.
Over three years, with his cooperation with various Apex Sovereigns, coupled with the infusion of his unlimited energy into The Etherium realm.
His merits returned to over a sextillion before he bought those infinitely expanding treasures.
That meant in just 3 years, he earned over a hundred quintillion merit.
Such a staggering profit rate made him excited for the future.
Calming down, he navigated the Merits hall and opened the selection of Magic Crystal Veins.
One major problem of the Moonlight Empire is the lack of mana.
If Maximus didn’t solve this fundamental problem, the Empire would remain barren as it is.
[Tier 9 Magic Crystal Vein – Price 100 Quadrillion Merits.
Note: It can only exist for an epoch]
Seeing the price, he quickly spent 100 quintillion and bought a thousand tier 9 magic crystal veins.
It should be enough for the Empire to sustain for a while.
Besides Elysienne, who was mostly in the Divine Continent, the highest-tier individuals in his empire were still at tier 8.
A single tier 9 magic crystal vein can support millions of tier 8 individuals.
For tier 7 individuals, it could support trillions.
As for Tier 6 individuals, no matter how numerous, cannot out-consume the regeneration of a Tier 9 magic crystal vein.
Having a thousand tier 9 magic crystal veins is already somewhat excessive.
The Curse Continent is like a desert where an abundance of mana is greatly needed.
Furthermore, he also planned to relocate the Shadow Hunter Guild to his empire.
To not disrupt their training, a dense mana environment is necessary.
After selecting the amount and paying, a new prompt appeared before him, revealing the map of the Curse Continent.
[Choose a place to plot the tier 9 magic crystal vein.]
“This is quite convenient,” Maximus praised.
He thought he still needed to manually plot the magic crystal vein.
It seemed that the World’s Will was quite meticulous in its work.
Choosing the major nodes in the Curse Continent, the World’s Will began plotting the magic crystal vein.
..
Soon, a world-shaking earthquake spread throughout the Moonlight Empire.
Surges of mana also spread, affecting all things.
From plants to animals, it seemed that everything experienced a second awakening.
Mountains and trees also grew bigger and taller, overshadowing the sky.
Inside the cities, people started to panic, looking around.
Fortunately, with a strong foundation, the huge changes didn’t affect the cities.
Calming down, they observed the changes happening.
“Huh, what happened?”
“Why did the mana skyrocket all of a sudden?”
“Is this the doing of the Emperor?”
“Yes, look at the announcement in the Moonlight Forum!”
Before Maximus set up the magic crystal vein, he informed Doran.
Reading the announcement, instead of calming down, the people went into a frenzy.
“Tier 9 Magic crystal vein?!”
Although they only had superficial knowledge about magic crystal veins.
Learning that a thousand tier 9 magic crystal veins were deployed all over the empire, they couldn’t contain their excitement.
Some cities in the empire only had tier 5-6 magic crystal veins, yet they were already sought after.
Now, with a thousand tier 9 magic crystal veins directly deployed all over the empire, it was insane.
“The Moonlight Empire is about to enter a new era!”
…
Not caring about the commotion outside, he silently felt the changes in the empire.
Besides the good changes, he also felt the corrosive abyss aura around the empire intensify.
Even the tier 9 Empire array in the empire was nearly on the verge of breaking just to expel and purify this corrosive energy.
The Abyss Aura thrived in places with higher mana density.
Not only could it quickly regenerate, but it would also become more powerful.
This is also why the damage of Abyss aura was more prevalent in the chaotic sea.
With high mana density and no supervision, it could multiply and advance until it could corrode the Etherium realm.
Assessing the situation, Maximus concluded the Empire’s array could only last about a hundred years before it collapsed under the corrosion of the Abyss Aura.
Seeing this, Maximus shook his head in distress.
Although he was not the one who built the tier 9 array, he knew how hard and expensive it was to build.
Maximus was already lucky that he inherited such an array from Valoros.
Now, under his carelessness, millions of years of work would be gone in just a hundred years.
Thinking of a solution, he thought of the Etherium Alliance Forum.
Years ago, when he had nothing to do, he looked through this section.
Initially, Maximus thought that the forum was a mere communication page of the Apex Sovereigns.
Upon closer inspection, he was greatly mistaken.
Aside from various information and internal trading, it was also a mission board.
However, instead of the World’s Will issuing missions, it was the Apex Sovereigns issuing them.
Depending on the reward, one could even hire hundreds of Apex Sovereigns.
As long as it’s not fighting and killing, some Apex Sovereigns would do any work with enough merits.
They had an eternal life and didn’t worry about wasting some time.
Sifting through the forum, Maximus thought of issuing a mission to upgrade and modify the Moonlight Empire’s Array.
Letting his people do this job was too slow, and doing it himself was impossible.
[Mission: Upgrade and modify a wide-range tier 9 array.
Reward: Up for discussion.
Commissioner: Maximus Shadowcrest.]
After posting an announcement, Maximus began to receive various messages.
[Hui (Beast Continent): Maximus Shadowcrest? Are you the rich man who was conning us?]
[Koppo (Arcane Continent): Is it the Array in your Empire? Sure, I would do your job for…]
[Alfonso (Arcane Continent): I’m a tier 9 formation Master. Tell me your price, I can consider doing it for you.]
[Levertto (Divine Continent): I’m cheap labor. Please hire me…]
[Nathaly (Beast Continent): Sir, my fox clan has a soft body. Please pity us…]
Seeing such a dirty message, Maximus nearly gave in.
This is an Apex sovereign seducing him.
Thinking of his wives, he quickly held himself back.
After various considerations, Maximus finally hired Alfonso.
Alfonso promised that as long as Maximus provided the materials, he would finish modifying and upgrading the array in just 50 years.
Although it’s more expensive than the rest, the quality and efficiency are the best.
For others, even if it’s a few times cheaper, they would need thousands of years minimum, and the outcome couldn’t be guaranteed.
Paying an expensive price, Maximus got what he wanted.
Hiring Alfonso, instead of calming down, the apex sovereigns in the forum became more active.
Learning that Maximus used 300 quintillion to hire Alfonso for a few decades of work, how could they not be tempted?
This is a rich man who is willing to spend.
At the same time, they also cursed themselves for not learning enough professions.
Although they knew every profession in the world, their proficiency varied.
Most of them were only tier 8 formation masters.
If only they were competent enough, hundreds of quintillions would be in their pocket.
Seeing Maximus so generous, they quickly asked if he had another job.
They even lowered their payment rate, giving Maximus various discounts.
Unfortunately, Maximus is also poor.
He still needed to save money for everything he needed in the Merit Hall.
If not for the importance of the empire array, he wouldn’t even hire someone.
