Besides the spoils gained in the capital, the occupation chests from each city fortress were also a significant part of the war loot throughout the conquest. These chests didn't typically contain much gold individually. Apart from the main chests acquired from the major cities of the four territories, most ordinary cities yielded between one million and several million, with only a few larger cities potentially securing up to ten million in gold rewards.
However, the empire had numerous cities, and these amounts added up to a substantial sum. More valuable than these coins were the various blueprints; these blueprints were the most crucial resources for territory development.
Zhang Nu had accumulated a vast collection of blueprints. He believed that with these blueprints, not only could he stabilize the empire's situation, but he could also enhance its long-term strength, turning the imperial citizens into loyal Demon King followers. It was worth noting that the Thunder Empire's population was close to a billion. Even though the war and turmoil had led to a loss or displacement of ten to twenty percent of the population, the remaining populace was still vast and capable of playing a significant role.
After capturing the imperial capital, Zhang Nu acquired two Level 6 special construction blueprints: the "Supreme Imperial Treasury" and the "Supreme Imperial Barracks." These Level 6 buildings were particularly valuable. Zhang Nu first built the "Supreme Imperial Barracks."
This building had a straightforward function: it recruited all troop types from the empire, ranging from elite to overlord level, from Level 1 to 6. From lowly infantry captains to high-ranking Guardian Knights, any troop type that had ever appeared in the empire could be summoned using this supreme barracks. Moreover, the recruitment cap was very high, sufficient to rebuild the empire's lost forces and rapidly restore the empire's strength in a short period.
Additionally, all these newly recruited units were directly under the Demon King's command, further strengthening his control over the empire. Indeed, a Level 6 barracks building was incredibly valuable, even for the Chaos Federation.
Following that, the treasury was constructed. The people of Darkness City felt a powerful tremor as an unusually grand, sturdy, and massive structure rose abruptly from the ground. This building was exceptional. Though grand and majestic, it resembled a mountain sculpted into an artistic creation and had no visible entrances, making it seem less like a conventional building.
The Supreme Imperial Treasury had a straightforward function: it connected with all the subjects of the Demon King, providing storage and retrieval capabilities. Essentially, it functioned like a portable bank and warehouse. The subjects of the empire could directly summon the treasury to store wealth or other important items, making it highly practical. Through this treasury, the Demon King could essentially monitor all his subjects' possessions and even manage their assets on a controlled risk basis, such as providing loans or financing construction.
However, the capacity of the treasury was not unlimited. With an anticipated population of nearly one billion under the Demon King's command, it would be impossible to accommodate everyone's belongings in the treasury, even though it was vast.
Zhang Nu planned to first offer treasury access to the Dark Dragon Chamber of Commerce, public storehouses in various cities, and various wealthy merchants and families. This would not only enhance the efficiency of the trading merchants but also enable control over local elite families using the treasury.
Overall, the two blueprints obtained from the imperial capital were quite beneficial. However, considering the current situation in Darkness City, the immediate boost in power provided by these two blueprints was still quite limited.
After returning to Darkness City, Zhang Nu immediately expanded the scale of his legion, recruiting a large number of Guardian Knights for the empire and supplementing Darkness City with numerous abyssal dragons. Given the current situation in Darkness City, where gold was almost too abundant to spend, Zhang Nu not only increased the strength of the Chaos Federation by recruiting and purchasing horses, but he also accelerated investments in his own power.
Currently, with the soul reserves available to Darkness City, Zhang Nu could ascend to Level 7 at any moment. However, he wished to collect a Godhood, aiming to activate the Chaos Dragon God talent to enter Level 7, thereby fully unleashing his strength and potential.
Despite high rewards offered for a long time, there had been no leads on obtaining a Godhood. Zhang Nu felt it unlikely to acquire information on Godhood through conventional intelligence channels or the Demon King network. The only method he could think of involved assembling a complete Evil God through fragments. Though it was an evil entity, it was still a deity capable of condensing a Godhood.
Currently, Zhang Nu possessed five fragments of Evil Gods: the "Eye of Death", "Eye of Domination", "Eye of Regeneration", "Eye of Time" from the Eight-Eyed Evil God, and the "Source of Corruption" from the Source of Calamity. Both the Eight-Eyed Evil God and the Source of Calamity were extremely powerful deities. However, it was evident that Zhang Nu had a greater chance of assembling the Eight-Eyed Evil God, given that he already possessed half of its fragments.
By finding the remaining four eyes, Zhang Nu could obtain the full capabilities of the Eight-Eyed Evil God. He could then use the deity's divine nature to condense a Godhood, thereby completing the ultimate evolution to become the Chaos Dragon God.
Zhang Nu considered offering high rewards but realized it might not work and was too inefficient. Instead of passively waiting for information, he decided to actively search for the fragments. With half of the Eight-Eyed Evil God already in his possession, Zhang Nu discovered during the integration and use of the fragments that there was a strong resonance between them, especially among those from the same source.
Having four eyes of the Evil God, he could unleash a potent evil presence. Zhang Nu thought he might use the power of these four eyes to induce resonance in the other eyes, thereby pinpointing their locations. By doing so, he would make the search more efficient, saving a great deal of effort. Immediately, Zhang Nu began to experiment. He activated all four Evil God eyes simultaneously, releasing an invisible psychic energy that was extremely subtle and undetectable to others. Though weak, it could project far, scanning like radar for any target that would resonate with it.
Within just one day, Zhang Nu sensed a faint resonance feedback from a very distant direction. It worked! The method was viable! It seemed that having half of the fragments of an Evil God could indeed facilitate the search for the others in this manner.