25 yearster...


    After years of traveling through the Silent Void Expanse, passing through dangerous situations, various outposts, and strongholds, they finally arrived at the Soul Pollution Lode Pool.


    "Is this the soul pool?"


    Outside was a massive ck ocean, boiling with various illusions of death and corruption.


    Around them, a mist filled with concentrated soul pollution, that could kill any tier 10 being who approached it.


    Within the system, the collection of corrupted causality points steadily increased into the thousands each second.


    [+1010... +1015... +1011...]


    "Don''t get out yet, the soul pollution is too dense," Maximus reminded, seeing them about to disembark.


    "Hmm, we''ll wait then..."


    Calming down, they looked outside, seeing various mutated monsters roaming the ce.


    "The soul monsters here are too many," they gasped.


    A soul monster is a creature that hade here but couldn''t withstand the soul pollution.


    With their souls corroding, their consciousness and origin would be destroyed, turning them into maniacal creatures that attacked anything in sight.


    Looking outside, the lowest tier soul monsters were at the Tier 10 realm, and there were also several Tier 11 monsters.


    "Can we handle this ce?"


    Even though they trusted the power of their husband, the monsters outside were no small threat.


    "Don''t worry, Wanderer is enough to clear out most of them. Leave the Tier 11 soul monsters to me," Maximus reassured them.


    Though these creatures possessed massive strength, without control, they were just empty shells.


    Soon after, Wanderer began cleaning up the Tier 10 monsters around them.


    [100,023+… 100,203+… 100,004+…"


    "A hundred thousand each tier 10 soul monster not bad…"


    Maximus estimated that there were hundreds of thousands of tier-10 monsters here.


    With a rough calction, he could probably get about tens of billion corrupted causality points.


    Coupled with the system absorbing thousands of causality points every second, Maximus felt excited.


    It seemed he would get tens of billions of corrupted causality points in one go.


    After a few months of absorption, the soul pollution around them began to diminish.


    After tireless killing, the tier 10 monster was also cleaned, providing him with over 30 billion causality points, as expected.


    Getting outside the ship, Maximus looked at the hundreds of tier 11 monsters in the area.


    "This is a feast," Maximus licked his lips.


    Each Tier 10 soul monster produced hundreds of thousands of corrupted causality points.


    The Tier 11 soul monsters could probably produce tens or even hundreds of millions of corrupted causality points.


    Taking on a tier 11 soul monster, Maximus attacked using his full power.


    Thud!


    Sending the monster flying, Maximus estimated its power.


    "About a trillion magnitudes of power? It''s much weaker than expected."


    With just his bare strength without any amplification, he could demolish these monsters by himself.


    Following another barrage of concentrated attacks, a tier 11 soul monster was crushed into smithereens.


    However, after killing a Tier 11 monster, Maximus frowned as the system didn''t notify him of any points.


    Instead, a shard of crystal dropped.


    "The system can''t absorb this?" Maximus mused.


    The system''s absorption limit seemed to be around at million points.


    The system absorbs corrupted causality points at clusters.


    If the energy density surpasses its limit, the system would try to divide it into manageable portions.


    However, like the soul barrier and even the soul pool he just tried, once the binding power within these clusters of energy reached a certain level, the system could do nothing to absorb them.


    Picking up the shard, Maximus carefully put it out for study.


    The solution to the systems problem was easy to solve.


    Since it can''t divide the energy by itself, he would just divide it himself.


    Using arrays, treasure, and even his own power, Maximus was confident to drain the soul pool before they left this ce.


    Different from the soul barrier, where he couldn''t even get close, the soul pool was easily essible.


    Turning his attention to the tier 11 soul monster charging at him, Maximus began a round of ughter.


    Without wasting time, he killed with mechanical precision, killing each and every tier 11 monster within a few attacks.


    Soon, the battlefield was emptied, and even the remaining Tier 10 soul monsters that Wanderer missed were killed.


    "You can get out now," Maximus reminded.


    "Finally! We can finally stretch our legs! Staying in that tiny ship was torture." Rose muttered.


    "Why not go inside the World Tree? No one was forcing you to stay on the ship." Isabe rolled her eyes.


    "What do you know? Without Maximus, it would feel lonely inside!"


    Hearing this, Maximus just shook his head.


    Inside the World Tree, the system couldn''t absorb the corrupted causality of soul; Naturally, Maximus remained on the ship.


    "Alright, now that we''ve found the soul pool, we can begin building a stronghold."


    "Building a stronghold? Haha, we can finally settle down in this world!"


    ording to Maximus, it would take about 2-3 thousand years before they could leave this ce.


    Spending such a long time without a proper base would leave them adrift like headless flies.


    Soon, Maximus began assigning tasks.


    With him setting up the overall array, his wives split up and started constructing the stronghold''s architecture.


    This included living areas, training grounds, defense systems, resource processing, researchboratories, seclusion chambers, and more.


    The void ants Maximus brought along also began their work, ttening thend, transforming the terrain, and filling in gaps.


    Void ants were resistant to soul pollution. Even a Tier 1 void ant could move freely, treating the soul pollution as mere air.


    Other creatures, however, would be instantly corroded unless they were at the Tier 10 realm.


    Seeing everything going ording to n, Maximus measured the soul pool and prepared to install a soul controlling array.


    The soul pool regrly emitted mist-like soul pollution, but without control, it was often too dense or generated too slowly.


    That''s where the Soul Controlling Array came in.


    Under the guidance of the system and the River of Knowledge, Maximus began deducing the Tier 12 Soul Controlling Array.


    …


    Thirty yearster, Maximuspletedying the Tier 12 Soul Controlling Array.


    "Done," Maximus muttered.


    This array could not only regte the release of soul pollution, but also attack, defend, and perform various auxiliary functions.


    Maximus even attempted to integrate a teleportation array, but the nature of this ce made it impossible.


    Opening a portal in a ce filled with corrupted causality, was equivalent to suicide.


    To battle such corrupted causality, a true tier 12 array capable of manipting the causality of power was needed.


    The tier 12 array he set up was barely an imitation, being at a high tier solely because of the materials.


    To create a true tier 12 array, he first had to control the causality of power.


    Maximus didn''t even have control of the river ofw; how could he dream that big?


    If not for the seal of truth forceful correction, He, a tier 11 array master, would have no way of creating this rough tier 12 array.


    Looking around, the ce had taken on a renewed vigor.


    From buildings, roads, and warehouses, tondscaping, everything was in ce.


    With the Tier 12 Soul Controlling Array, Maximus could easily block the soul pollution and iste the stronghold.


    Without soul pollution, even mortals could probably live here, much less thendscaping nts.


    "Good job, the ce looks nice," Maximus praised.


    "We may have gone a bit overboard, but hearing you say that makes it seem just right." Hazel smiled.


    "We''ll be living here for a long time. A little extravagance is nothing."


    Even Maximus used Tier 12 materials just to create the array, so what was spending some Tier 10 or 11 materials?


    Beforeing to the Silent Void Expanse, Maximus had spent trillions on materials.


    Building such an extravagant stronghold? He could even build a hundred of them.


    "Let''s go to our residence and see how it works."


    The residence was Maximus'' masterpiece.


    In the center of the soul pool stood a floating structure, taking up the core of the array.


    Entering it, they felt their souls refreshed and lightened.


    Although there was a slight illusion caused by the soul pollution, it wasn''t as corrupted.


    "Huh? Why is the soul pollution here different? It seems slightly purified."


    "How is it? I didn''t spend 25 years wandering in the Silent Void Expanse for nothing."


    While the Shadow was en route to the soul pool, Maximus wasn''t idle.


    He had been reconfiguring the purification device he had found, figuring out how to use it in the Silent Void Expanse.


    After years of tireless research and spending hundreds of millions of causality points, Maximus sessfully deduced a Tier 12 self-repairing purification device.


    Although it could still be corroded by the corrupted causality, it could repair itself with enough energy.


    And the energy? Strands of causality itself.


    A thousand strands were enough to power the purification device for a day.


    Running constantly, all soul pollutioning toward their castle would be slightly purified, making it safe to absorb without much harm.


    Training in such a ce would double their progress with less effort.


    "Time to cultivate…"