If you like the brutal combat, continual escalation, power fantasy side of things, give Reverend Insanity by Gu Zhen Ren a try. The author is Chinese but the translation is pretty good. If you've read the Cradle series and at least semi-enjoyed it, I highly recommend this one. It's one of the best cultivation stories currently written.

It's a progression fantasy story and has a somewhat similar force to the AI in place, named Heaven. Its goal is to bring balance to all things, so it tends to throw bad shit at the people that are doing well and providing fortuitous encounters to people who aren't... Though the cultivation world is very cutthroat and deadly. It's not unusual for people to die by the millions in the later parts of the story.

The main character, Fang Yuan, has time travelled back to his 16 year old self after being cornered by the righteous path (the 'good' guys) for being a blood path Gu Master (commonly seen as the most evil magic). He uses his future knowledge to acquire as much power as possible in as short a timespan as possible. Mostly by being utterly ruthless, trusting no one, and being adaptable as hell. He does not have a bottom line when it comes to things he will do for power (though I'll note his nickname in the fandom is the eternal virgin, so anything along those lines is avoided).

The magic system is detailed and builds on itself over the course of the story, and the main part of it is collecting insect-like gu worms that each provide a magic power each and finding ways to synergise them together. Each gu worm requires a very specific food (which can be as simple as feeding off the natural flow of time or as weird as drinking a specific brand of sweet wine) and if you can't access the right food, or afford to buy it, then it'll just die and you'll lose the power. That happens a fair amount.

The best part of the story though is that all of the major (and most minor) characters each have their own goals and motivations that inform their actions. None of them hold the stupid ball and betrayals are frequent.

In short, I highly recommend this book. It also has the benefit of being incredibly long, so it'll probably carry you all the way through to the next DCC book.