After mastering 10% of the River of Law, they could separate a stream of specialization.
Instead of mastering the entire river of knowledge, they could focus on a stream of specialization.
Not only was it faster to master, but because of its infancy, one could dictate its growth and potential.
The only problem was that, in its infancy, it was weak compared to those who mastered an entire river from the start.
It was also resource-intensive to turn a stream into a full river, which was another major downside.
Finally, those who controlled the source of these streams, while unable to directly control their life and death, could directly influence their path of advancement.
Cutting off the source of the stream or even tampering with it could be fatal.
Fortunately, once Maximus mastered the River of Knowledge, these problems would be insignificant.
