With a flash of light, the Demon King's hall in Darkness City welcomed the arrival of the Succubus Queen, Han Kexin. The grand and magnificent hall, well-lit and spacious, provided a stark contrast to the oppressive atmosphere of the Abyssal Trench, lifting Han Kexin's spirits. However, what truly delighted her was not just the change in environment but the tremendous success achieved in this adventure. Although Queen Han played a supporting role for the Dragon Demon King, she managed to reap significant benefits. For the Gloom City, these gains were anything but trivial!
"Potato seller, check out the chest reward!" Han Kexin urged.
Zhang Nu opened the treasure chest, obtained the item information, copied it all, and sent it to Han Kexin.
[You opened the Diamond Treasure Chest. You've gained "Gold" x 90 million, "Blueprint: Rift Tower" x1, "Blueprint: Stellar Gateway" x1, "Level 5 Building Upgrade Scroll" x1, "Heart of the Ocean" x1, "Scepter of Myriad Stars" x1, "Water Gem" x30,000, "Dark Gem" x15,000, "Spirit Gem" x8,000, "Soul Gem" x5,000!]
With 90 million gold, two sets of Level 5 special blueprints, two pieces of epic equipment, a Level 5 building upgrade scroll, and nearly 60,000 gems, the reward this time is incredible!
"This is amazing! The yield from this trip is unexpectedly huge!" exclaimed Han Kexin. She had no idea that the challenge this time was several levels higher than the Mountains of Madness, as Morton the Formless possessed the power of a mythic entity.
Zhang Nu replied, "Let's assess the value of the items, and according to our agreement, you can take thirty percent. You can choose first this time."
Without a doubt, even with only thirty percent, the earnings from this adventure far exceeded those from the Mountains of Madness. Han Kexin examined the two sets of Level 5 special building blueprints they had obtained.
The first one was the "Rift Tower". Such a special building already existed in Gloom City and served as the medium to enter dungeons. Different dungeons yielded different rewards, and Han Kexin had used her Rift Tower to obtain multiple teleportation tower blueprints. Aside from selling two sets to Zhang Nu and keeping one set for herself, she had recently obtained two more blueprints, which she was planning to sell at a good price.
As for the Rift Tower obtained this time, the specific type of dungeon it led to was still unknown. It had to be constructed to reveal the connected dungeon type, but it was certain that the dungeons from the Rift Tower obtained in the Abyssal Trench would definitely be much higher level than the one in Gloom City.
The second blueprint, "Stellar Gateway", was also an extremely rare and valuable Level 5 special building. It was a spatial functional structure that, if constructed in Darkness City, could summon a stable spatial gate within a radius of thirty thousand kilometers.
What did this mean? It meant that the Darkness City's army gained the ability to quickly reach any location within a radius of thirty thousand kilometers for combat. Although both were spatial teleportation-type functional buildings, the advantages of the Stellar Gateway differed significantly from the Teleportation Tower.
In comparison, the advantages of the Teleportation Tower included the ability to teleport a single entity, relatively low cost, and the ability to ignore distance for fixed-point teleportation, making it especially suitable for civilian use. However, its disadvantages were apparent: low teleportation efficiency, the need for a Teleportation Tower as a fixed point for long-distance teleportation, which could be easily destroyed, making it unsuitable for military use.
The Stellar Gateway's advantage lay in its ability to quickly transfer large quantities of troops to any designated location, rapidly forming combat power, and having extremely high military value. Its downside was the opposite: each time the Stellar Gateway was activated, it required a significant amount of gold and the consumption of spatial gems. Consequently, the cost per activation was very high. While it was suitable for transferring tens of thousands of troops at once, small-scale transfers would incur substantial losses.
Additionally, the Stellar Gateway had limitations on its teleportation range. The Level 5 Stellar Gateway could cover a radius of thirty thousand kilometers, which was already quite extensive. It was sufficient to cover the entire Chaos Forest, as well as a considerable portion of the territories of the Azure Water Federation, Thunder Empire, and Sunset Empire. However, this distance was still not far enough to travel the entire world. At least it was not possible to transport to Gloom City from Darkness City.
Han Kexin was well aware of the value of these two blueprints, but she knew even more that she did not deserve to take them. Although Han Kexin had a cunning and venomous personality, she was, in fact, a very thoughtful person. She understood that cooperating with someone like Zhang Nu required careful consideration. She needed to strive for what was rightfully hers, but she should not even think about taking what did not belong to her. Since Darkness City did not have its own rift dungeon yet, and the value of the Stellar Gate to resist the assault of the Thunder Empire was more valuable than a million troops, Han Kexin decided to give up without hesitation.
"I won't take these two blueprints," Han Kexin said. "But I hope I can get some entry quotas for exploring the rift dungeon."
Similar to the Trial Tower, the Rift Tower had a maximum number of uses per day or week. If this limit was exceeded, it would become unusable. Although Han Kexin could not take the Rift Tower for herself, she could try to secure some entry tickets for exploring the dungeon. However, since the construction cost of the Rift Tower was extremely high, Han Kexin would need to share the yieldings she would obtain from the rift dungeon with Darkness CIty. Overall, it was not a bad deal for the Darkness City. The level of this dungeon would undoubtedly be very high, and there would not be many people in the Darkness City who could easily overcome it.
Considering all this, Zhang Nu agreed. Han Kexin got the two epic-grade equipment pieces instead.
[Heart of the Ocean] Orange quality medium grade item. Restores 200 HP and 100 MP per second. Maximum MP +15%. Grants super immunity to water attributed attacks, and automatically acquires the ability to cast dozens of water attributed spells.
[Scepter of Myriad Stars] Orange quality high grade item. Casting speed +200%, the power of psychic and soul spells and abilities +50%. Gains the ability to summon celestial creatures of various levels.
Additionally, she asked for a bit more gold as compensation.
Zhang Nu did not expect the Succubus Queen to be so sensible. Her portion of the total value might not even reach 30%. This made Zhang Nu very satisfied. Despite her constant teasing, she did not touch what she should not. In any case, the financial strength of Darkness City was already formidable. Thus, Zhang Nu happily handed out 60 million gold from the total of 90 million, and as for the gemstones, they were divided according to a 7:3 ratio.
What a windfall! Han Kexin could not suppress her excitement! With this money, Gloom City would surely be able to expand massively. She probably could activate the remaining two Level 5 talents sooner, becoming a Level 6 Super Demon King!
Zhang Nu's actions were meant to support the development of Gloom City. Despite its considerable strength, financial development was challenging due to regional environmental constraints. The underworld was worth exploring. With Han Kexin being a bit stronger, she would be more useful to him in the future. Of course, apart from that, an agreement is an agreement. If it was agreed to give her a third, then a third it would be. Although Zhang Nu could be stingy at times, as a man, he still had some basic principles. Moreover, for the current Zhang Nu, the total amount was not really that much.
After the two of them made the distribution, Han Kexin returned to her Gloom City with a substantial amount of gold. Relying on this gold from the chest and the income gained from slaying all those monsters within this trip, she had acquired a considerable fortune. With such a large sum of gold, she definitely needed to plan carefully on how to spend it all efficiently.
After the Succubus Queen left, Zhang Nu brought the Azure Water Empress to the Resurrection Altar. He said to her, "This is my Resurrection Altar. Not even I have used it yet. It's your lucky day. Go ahead!"
The Azure Water Empress felt somewhat incredulous. She could sense the value of several buildings in the Demon King's Hall, whether it was the Demon King Altar, the Spirit Sanctum, or this Resurrection Altar---all exuded a powerful aura that she had never encountered before.
Darkness City---what kind of force was this? Who exactly was this master of this Darkness City? Attempting to resurrect a legendary empress was by no means an easy task. Not to mention the tremendous difficulty, even if they truly found a method, the cost would be enormous! Even for an empire-level force, it would likely be challenging to bear.
Azure Water Empress questioned, "Are you sure you only need me for ten years?"
Zhang Nu remained calm and said, "Ten years is enough. After the agreed period, if you want to stay, you can stay. If you don't want to remain in Darkness City, I won't stop you from leaving."
The empress could not fully comprehend his intentions, but she nodded nonetheless. She walked into the blood pool within the altar.
[Detected an intact soul at the Resurrection Altar.]
[Do you want to resurrect the Level 6 legendary unit "Azure Water Empress"?]
[The resurrection costs "Gold" × 180 million, "Life Gems" × 10,000, "Soul Gems" × 8,000, "Spirit Gems" × 8,000, "Level 5 Souls" × 15!]
[Note: Due to the excessively powerful nature of the target, this altar can only restore a portion of her strength and talents.]
That expensive? Zhang Nu raised an eyebrow. The cost was exorbitantly high.
However, upon further consideration, this was no ordinary empress---it was a Level 6 legendary figure. How could the resurrection of such a being be easy? If resurrecting a Level 5 monarch might cost around twenty million gold, resurrecting someone of Shui Lan's caliber would undoubtedly require a much higher expenditure.
But still, it was really expensive!
If he had known, he would have signed a hundred-year contract with her. Of course, Zhang Nu was just expressing his discontent. For him, ten years and a hundred years made no difference. He believed that by that time, the Azure Water Federation would have become part of the Chaos Federation. Given the Azure Water Empress's personality, she would never leave willingly. With her as the founder and foundation of the Azure Water Federation, the future task of subduing it would be significantly easier. In comparison to the potential benefits, the expenses were negligible.
"Resurrect!" Zhang Nu, feeling the pain, paid the cost.
In an instant, a radiant light burst forth, and an overwhelmingly powerful aura, like a colossal tsunami, swept through the hall. A slender and graceful figure emerged from the blood pool of the Resurrection Altar. She was completely unclothed, every inch of her skin carved as if from white jade. Cascading blue-white hair fell down, giving her an elusive appearance and adding a touch of charm.
Zhang Nu took a glance. Shui Lan's information had changed.
[Legendary Empress: Shui Lan] Level 5 mythic unit...
Skills: Azure Water Sanctum (Talent), Bloodline of the Sea Tribe Empress (Talent), Holy Maiden of the Sea (Talent), Dominator of the Sea (Talent), Chosen One of the Sea God (Talent), Divine Soul (Incomplete Talent), etc.
Introduction: Founder of the Azure Water Federation, the only legitimate emperor of the Azure Water Federation, a legendary empress who left her mark on the world six thousand years ago, possessing the ability to rule the vast sea and billions of sea creatures... Although successfully resurrected, the long passage of time has depleted her divinity, and her strength is far from what it used to be.
Not bad! Zhang Nu was already quite satisfied. The Resurrection Altar could not bring back the Empress's peak strength. Moreover, the divinity of her soul had greatly diminished, with serious loss of strength. Having the capabilities of a Level 5 mythic was already impressive. When Shui Lan joined the Darkness City, her strength would not be inferior to Nancilia, a Level 6 Elven King and a pseudo-mythic unit.
Shui Lan excitedly touched her face and then her pristine body, "I... I really came back to life! It's unbelievable!"
Though resurrection methods existed in this world, they were extremely difficult, costly, and often came with side effects even if successful. A perfect resurrection was nearly unheard of. Azure Water Empress realized that not only had she been resurrected, but her age, body condition, everything had been restored to its peak. Although her strength had regressed significantly, maintaining her current level was already astonishing. This could be considered an almost perfect resurrection!
Shui Lan approached respectfully, bowing and expressing her gratitude, "Thank you, mighty Lord of the Darkness City. I lost my sensory perception for six thousand years, never expecting that a day of recovery would ever come."
Azure Water Empress was well aware of the astronomical resources and costs required to resurrect someone like her. The deal of working for ten years seemed unbelievable, but she decided to fulfill the agreement. She would work for the agreed-upon ten years and then decide the future course of action. Zhang Nu was not afraid of her reneging on the deal. On one hand, Azure Water Empress was currently no match for him in strength. On the other hand, her soul, after resurrection at the Resurrection Altar, automatically formed a contract with the altar. It was impossible for her to break free from the control of Darkness City. With such a special subordinate, Zhang Nu had many more possibilities for the future.
Shui Lan asked, "May I ask what I can do for you?"
Zhang Nu thought for a moment and said, "Mmm, there's no rush yet. Put on some clothes first!"