Following is the search pattern:
Step 1 - Search dependency in local repository, if not found, move to step 2 else if found then do the further processing.
Step 2 - Search dependency in central repository, if not found and remote repository/repositories is/are mentioned then move to step 4 else if found, then it is downloaded to local repository for future reference.
Step 3 - If a remote repository has not been mentioned, Maven simply stops the processing and throws error (Unable to find dependency).
Step 4 - Search dependency in remote repository or repositories, if found then it is downloaded to local repository for future reference otherwise Maven as expected stop processing and throws error (Unable to find dependency).