The functionality of the Void Temple was not limited to expanding space and defense. It also had a very important feature: job advancement. It could transform humans, orcs, elves, and several other common races with units of Level 3 or above into Void Mages or Void Warriors, who are mages or warriors with spatial abilities. The highest tier it could create was a Level 6 overlord unit.
However, unlike other job advancement towers that only required gold, the Void Temple's transformation required the consumption of space gems, meaning the cost was much higher. Nevertheless, the special functions and overall value of the Void Temple could significantly enhance the overall strength of Darkness City and the Chaos Federation.
After Zhang Nu constructed the Void Temple, he took out three Level 5 special building upgrade scrolls. He then upgraded the Resurrection Altar, the Spirit Sanctum, and the Soul Altar. Although upgrading from Level 5 to Level 6 special buildings was costly, the value these facilities could provide made the expense seem trivial.
The function of the Resurrection Altar needed no elaboration. Once upgraded to Level 6, it meant that even if a Level 6 unit died in battle, as long as there was sufficient gold and materials to cover the costs, it could be resurrected with all its power intact. This was of great value to Zhang Nu, Han Kexin, Nancilia, and Shuilan, so it was prioritized as a core facility.
As for the Spirit Sanctum and the Soul Altar, they were also top priority. Once the Spirit Sanctum was upgraded from Level 5 to Level 6, it could support far more powerful features, and its capacity for simultaneous spiritual connections jumped from 10 million units to 200 million units. The Spirit Sanctum was set to create astonishing direct and additional value in the future, and it could also become a spiritual paradise for all members and citizens of the Chaos Federation.
The Soul Altar was also crucial. At this stage, Zhang Nu's business of trading Level 5 souls in the Demon King Market was no longer as profitable as before, mainly because more and more demon lords had obtained facilities or methods to synthesize Level 5 souls.
If Zhang Nu wanted to continue scalping profits from soul trading, he needed to offer something more powerful than his competitors, and upgrading the Soul Altar was aimed at this. A Level 6 Soul Altar could synthesize Level 6 souls. At this stage, other demon lords did not possess this production capability. Thus, Zhang Nu could not only continue to trade Level 5 souls but also sell Level 6 souls at a high markup, thereby achieving greater gains.
After upgrading three facilities, Zhang Nu still had many upgrade scrolls left. However, he was not in a hurry. He planned to slow down the development of his territory for a while and instead spent a large amount of gold to continue recruiting Abyssal Dragons.
Ordinary Abyssal Dragons were not expensive. Each cost only 4 million gold plus a Level 5 soul. With plenty of gold and souls at hand, Zhang Nu recruited five hundred Abyssal Dragons at once and upgraded twenty of them to Abyssal Dragon Elders.
The Abyssal Dragons nesting in Darkness City were about to break through to a thousand. A thousand might not seem like a large number, but these were dragons! Even the weakest Abyssal Dragon possessed the power of a top-tier Level 5 overlord, capable of summoning thunder, unleashing dragon fear, and breathing dragon fire.
The combat power of a thousand ordinary Abyssal Dragons was comparable to the once-pride of the empire, the Guardian Knights. Moreover, not all the dragons in the Darkness City's Dragon Legions were ordinary Abyssal Dragons; there were also many Dragon Elders and several Dragon Kings.
With the current dragon army, given the scale of Darkness City's elite forces, even in a direct confrontation, they could pose a threat to the empire, capable of breaking through any duchy and penetrating into the heart of the empire.
Of course, Zhang Nu considered that since the empire had a prophet with precognitive abilities stationed, he could not deploy his entire Dragon Legion openly. Instead, he temporarily moved them to the space within the Abyssal Realm. The isolation of the Abyssal Realm could shield their connections with the main world. By doing this, even if Primo, the prophet, could foresee events, he would have a hard time discerning the details of this force, failing to grasp the terrifying power of this troop and thus misjudging the military strength of Darkness City.
Just then, Li Si teleported to Zhang Nu's side. "My lord, we have intercepted the latest news: the Thunder Empire has completely abandoned the southern territories and is currently withdrawing all troops and resources from there," he reported.
Hearing this, Zhang Nu was not surprised. He nodded and said, "The empire seems to be quite aware of its situation. The southern territories and the Bachor Duchy are definitely lost; their current actions might indeed minimize the losses and casualties for the empire."
Li Si asked, "Should we pursue them?"
Zhang Nu shook his head and said, "There's no need to chase them down. Instead of pursuing them relentlessly, it's better to take the time to secure Bachor Duchy, to fully control the southern territories, and to reassure the local population."
Li Si nodded and replied, "I will heed your commands, my master. Long Yi is already assembling the troops. We can depart within the next two days to officially begin the attack and occupation of Bachor Duchy!"
The Chaos Federation's attack efficiency is quite impressive. Zhang Nu realized that up to now, apart from Bachor Duchy, most of the southern territory of the empire had already fallen or was about to fall into Darkness City's influence, being annexed as part of the federation.
At this point, only Bachor Duchy remained. And with the empire giving up on defending Bachor Duchy, the difficulty of conquering it had greatly decreased. Zhang Nu decided to act swiftly: on one hand, occupying Bachor City would surely bring high rewards, and on the other hand, Bachor Duchy was already in chaos. If order was not restored quickly, future management and operations would be challenging.
He asked, "How many days will it take to capture Bachor City?" Li Si replied, "It's predicted to take about seven days. The Bachor Duchy has very strong defenses and fortresses guarding each checkpoint, and our army will need to expend some effort and time to break through these obstacles."
"Too slow!" Zhang Nu exclaimed. "I want Bachor's main city taken down within three days."
Hearing this, Li Si was stunned, "Three days? That timeline is quite tight, especially considering the distance..."
Zhang Nu chuckled, "Distance? That's not an issue! I plan to activate the Stellar Gateway, and this time, I'm personally joining the fray!"
The conquest of Bachor's main city was an unimaginable feat in the past. How could he not witness such a historic moment with his own eyes?
The spatial facility of Darkness City, Stellar Gateway, originally could only teleport over short distances. Since it was upgraded from Level 5 to Level 6, the capabilities of the Stellar Gateway had significantly improved. Now, the teleportation range of the Stellar Gateway was unimaginable before, it could completely bypass the border defenses of Bachor Duchy and appear directly near the main city.
As for personally taking action, whether this would be discovered by the empire was no longer a concern for Zhang Nu. On one hand, Zhang Nu no longer needed to hide; his current abilities had already matured, giving him the capability to protect himself fully. On the other hand, while the Prophet of Doom, Primo had likely noticed Zhang Nu during his predictions of Bachor City's fall and the imperial army's total defeat, there was a gap in their powers. Primo would find it difficult to completely see through Zhang Nu across time.
Since the formation of the Chaos Federation, the development of the Chaos Forest had accelerated rapidly. The young Elven Empress felt that she should also contribute.
Nancilia immediately asked, "Can we also help? We want to see for ourselves what the greatest city in the human empire's south is like."
Zhang Nu thought briefly before giving an affirmative reply, "No problem, your power is quite remarkable, and it can definitely provide us some assistance."
"Thank you, Your Majesty the Demon King!" Nancilia was visibly delighted and immediately began preparations.
It took only half a day to make the necessary arrangements. When Zhang Nu arrived at the portal, he saw an orderly array of troops, including over two hundred dragons alone. In addition, the Demon King's Royal Guards and various aerial legions starting from at least Level 3 totaled around sixty thousand, with other various troops collectively numbering over five hundred thousand. In fact, given the current strength of the Bachor Duchy, the Demon King didn't need to dispatch so many troops. The main reason Zhang Nu deployed so many was due to the large area and numerous cities of Bachor Duchy, considering the issue of efficiency.
It wasn't long before Nancilia arrived with thousands of elves. Zhang Nu glanced over and said, "Since the preparations are almost complete, let's hurry and depart. We'll take down Bachor's main city within two days, and capture the entire Bachor Duchy within a week to complete the integration of the empire's southern territories!"
"Understood!" the Demon King's subordinates replied without delay.
Zhang Nu personally activated the portal. A surge of intense magical fluctuations erupted, gathering a massive amount of spatial energy within the Stellar Gateway, ultimately forming a huge portal. On the other side of the portal was a plain, and directly opposite the portal's exit, about several dozen miles away, was a magnificent city in a discernible field. That was indeed the main city of Bachor Duchy, the long standing headquarters guarded by generations of the Bachor Dukes.
Without the Stellar Gateway's powerful long-range troop deployment capability, it would normally take five to six days just to reach Bachor City. But now, using the power of the Stellar Gateway, it only took a moment to arrive.
Zhang Nu commanded, "Begin the march!"
Dragon One, Zhang San, Li Si, and other leaders of various races, like Jin Kui, were at the forefront, being the first to pass through the portal. Victory of this battle was never a question."