The following day, Marilyn returned to the main city. Formerly the city lord of Silver Spring, she now held the esteemed positions of vice city lord in Giantree City and grand elder of the Chaos Forest's Elven Elder Council, ranking only second to the young Elven King among the elves in terms of authority.
In stark contrast to the young Elven King's lack of leadership qualities, Marilyn was an exceptional leader. Her actions were swift and decisive, and she was an absolute fanatic when it came to martial arts training.
Despite her busy schedule, she managed to find time to visit. Marilyn's plan was to challenge the Trial Tower first and then dedicate time to learning magic or martial arts at the Elven Sanctuary. Her philosophy was to make progress every day, knowing that it would ultimately lead her to obtain formidable power.
Her diligence was driven not only by the desire to become stronger but also by a sense of vigilance. The Chaos Forest had been in a state of chaos and division for countless years until it was finally unified under the will of His Majesty. This brought an end to the endless bloodshed and internal strife.
However, with the emergence of the Chaos Federation, it posed a threat to the interests of the Thunder Empire, the Sunset Empire, and the Azure Federation. The three factions would undoubtedly suppress the federation.
The real danger and true challenge were just about to begin. Marilyn could not allow His Majesty to bear this burden alone as the federation was a home to everyone. Marilyn had hoped to make a difference. The once skeptical elven chieftain who did not recognize the Demon King now became one of his staunchest and loyal followers, filled with a strong sense of belonging and identity towards the federation.
At this moment, spatial distortions appeared in front of her, and the figure of the Demon King walked up to her.
"Your Majesty, why have you come?" Marilyn asked.
"City Lord Marilyn, you've arrived just in time," the Demon King replied. "I need your help with something."
Marilyn immediately responded seriously, "Your Majesty, if there's a task, please order me. I will do my best and never decline!"
"No need to be so formal; it's not anything important. I just want you to help with a test," the Demon King said.
Without waiting for more questions, spatial energy wrapped around Marilyn like a giant hand. Before she could react, her surroundings instantly changed, and she found herself in an open space outside the city. This surprised her greatly.
Such terrifying spatial abilities! His Majesty's control over space is fearsome! Marilyn had rarely seen the Demon King use this power before. She could only sense that the Demon King's depths were unfathomable, and she felt like an ant before him.
Not far away stood a Warmonger Royal Guard emitting a strong aura of a magical creature.
"This is my Royal Guard Captain, Wei Yi. Test your strength against him and see how big the gap is," the Demon King said.
Even though the Demon King's Royal Guard Captain was powerful, he was only Level 4. Why would he want her, a Level 5 powerhouse, to test against a Level 4 unit?
The Demon King noticed Marilyn's confusion and said, "Don't underestimate Wei Yi. He has been specially enhanced. If you defeat him, there will be a reward."
"Really?" Marilyn exclaimed joyfully. "Then let's do it!"
With her hands confidently on her hips, Marilyn had no intention of making the first move. Zhang Nu nodded to Wei Yi. Immediately, the latter burst forth with a powerful Qi and slashed out.
"Huh?!"
"Level 5! Why is he so powerful?!"
Marilyn was taken aback and quickly dodged. The ground where she stood just now was deeply gouged by the force of the attack. This Wei Yi was undoubtedly Level 5, and even among the Level 5 powerhouses, he stood out as exceptional!
"Alright!"
"He's got some skills!"
"I have to be serious now."
Marilyn was about to draw her weapon when Wei Yi's scales suddenly squirmed, and countless tiny tentacles emerged, all coiling around his right shoulder. They gathered into a large eyeball, blooming and taking shape.
"What on earth is that?!'' Marilyn exclaimed, she had never seen such an eerie sight.
In a moment's hesitation, a dazzling and powerful beam shot out from this eyeball which was larger than a fist. Marilyn was not able to dodge the beam and immediately used her Qi to block the attack, but she was forced back several steps.
The power was terrifying; even a Level 5 would likely be seriously injured if directly hit by this strike.
"Why does this look somewhat like a beholder?"
"How could one of His Majesty's guards grow a beholder?"
"This guy is indeed peculiar, but relying on just one beholder won't be enough to deal with me!"
Before she could finish speaking, Wei Yi's body erupted with tentacles. The tentacles merged into each other, and one large eyeball after another condensed from various parts of his body. Each one was filled with sinister energy and tremendous power.
One, two, three...nine, ten! This guy had grown ten large eyes from his body! This scene was simply horrifying! Marilyn was stunned by the spectacle!
Wei Yi was the experimental product of the Evil God Cultivator. Zhang Nu used all ten Greater Beholder Lords that he possessed as fusion materials, granting the Warmonger Royal Guard the power of ten beholders. At this moment, the once ordinary royal guard was now approaching the strength of a Level 5 overlord! This filled Zhang Nu with great delight!
After being unable to upgrade the basic units at the Demon Lord's Altar, Zhang Nu finally found a path to create super units! From a cost perspective, ten Level 4 Greater Beholder Lords amounted to only two million gold. Adding the one million synthesis fee, the total cost was merely three million!
Just three million could create a pseudo overlord-level unit. It was an incredibly cost-effective investment, considering that a single Level 4 Hellish Beholder Overlord alone required five million. This beholder overlord was already an expensive choice among units of the same level.
However, Zhang Nu discovered through experimentation that after synthesizing ten beholder lords, further fusion of more beholders had no effect. This indicated that the Evil God Cultivator had its limitations in modification, and the potential that could be extracted from each material was also limited.
Wei Yi remained clear-headed, knowing that dealing with Marilyn would not be easy. He immediately activated all his abilities and launched a series of attacks.
Beholder Beam!
Slow Ray!
Weakness Ray!
Curse Ray!
...
Caught off guard by her own complacency, Marilyn could only hurriedly respond to each successive attack. She quickly realized that each of these beams had different effects, leaving her in a rather sorry state.
It was unbelievable; she was being suppressed by a Warmonger Royal Guard!
She had tried to escape using stealth, but the beholders could see through invisibility. She had even attempted a quick attack from behind using teleportation, but the royal guard's melee strength was formidable enough to block her, and with eyes covering his entire body, there were no blind spots in his field of vision. Moreover, his flying advantage made it challenging to get close for an attack.
This was too tricky!
The Infernal Warmonger Royal Guard, now with the assistance of beholders, had greatly increased his attack power and ranged capabilities. The weaknesses of the beholders - poor maneuverability and vulnerability in close combat were no longer relevant. It was a perfect combination!
"Damn it!"
"I refuse to believe it!"
Marilyn finally found an opening and swiftly conjured a massive energy arrow with her bow. This was her strongest attack she could muster at the moment.
Wei Yi sensed that he was locked on by Marilyn, and there was no way to evade this attack. With his MP already depleted significantly, he could only go all-in for a desperate struggle.
Ten beholder eyes decomposed into a large number of tentacles once again. At this moment, the majority of the draconian's body was covered in these eerie tentacles. However, they rapidly converged around his heart area, forming a giant eyeball the size of a washbasin. The ten eyes merged into one. This eyeball was no less powerful than the Hellish Beholder Overlord.
Wei Yi released his energy all at once, turning it into a massive beam of light that clashed with the incoming energy arrow. In an instant, the battlefield was filled with flying sand and rocks, and the colors of the sky and earth changed drastically. The two overwhelmingly powerful attacks caused a significant commotion. The energy arrow and the energy beam were locked in a stalemate for several seconds, but in the end, the energy arrow prevailed, breaking through the fierce beam of light. With a muffled groan, Wei Yi was pushed back several meters. Although he lost to Marilyn, this attack had reached its limits. With the robust defense of the draconian's physique, he sustained minimal damage.
"Not bad!"
Both sides were relatively uninjured, but Wei Yi had nearly exhausted his MP, while Marilyn still had about half remaining.
The outcome was already clear.
Though Wei Yi did not manage to defeat Marilyn, Zhang Nu was quite satisfied with his performance. Wei Yi was currently a Level 5 lord unit, with one foot stepping into the overlord level. Yet his displayed strength was comparable to an overlord.
After all, among Level 5 overlords, Marilyn was at least in the upper middle tier. Wei Yi's ability to hold his own against her indicated that he could handle some weaker Level 5 overlords with his current strength.
Marilyn asked curiously, "Your Majesty, what method did you use to make this draconian guard so powerful? Can I give it a try too?"
Zhang Nu quickly poured cold water on her enthusiasm. "Don't even think about it. This method doesn't suit you."
Indeed, the Evil God Cultivator had an eerie ability to create powerful creatures by fusing different species, but it came at a cost. When different species fused together, they would eventually create an entirely new species, destroying the original talent and physique.
The royal guards had risen from ordinary draconian soldiers and had mediocre aptitude, their evolution had already reached its limit. However, in Marilyn's case, her talent and potential were outstanding, and her limits as a Level 5 overlord extended far beyond that. There was no need to take shortcuts and sacrifice her innate advantages.
Moreover, she was a beautiful elven lady; Zhang Nu did not want to see her turned into some bizarre form.
Seeing her disappointed face, Zhang Nu reassured, "While this method may not be suitable for you, I have another, better way to make you stronger just as quickly."
During their conversation, he activated his spatial powers and returned them both to the interior of the Shadowy City. Before them stood a massive tower. Marilyn felt the surging energy and asked, "Your Majesty, what is this tower? Why haven't I seen it before?"
The Demon King replied, "This is the recently constructed Training Tower. Its effect is quite simple. It can accelerate training speed by at least a hundred times."
Indeed, not long ago, Zhang Nu had completed the creation of the Demon King's Training Tower. Its effect was straightforward - it could significantly speed up cultivation. One day of training inside the tower equated to over a hundred days outside.
Unlike the Trial Tower, which had limitations and only worked for Level 5 units or below, the Training Tower had no such restrictions. It could enhance the training of anyone, regardless of their level, and its capacity was vast. This made it an invaluable treasure and a product worthy of the super treasure chest label.
The benefits it brought to the territory were profound.
Marilyn was astonished, "A hundred times acceleration in training? That's... amazing!"
However, the Demon King clarified, "I said at least a hundred times. The Training Tower has five layers, and each layer increases the effect by 20%!"
In other words, if the first layer provided 100 times acceleration, the second layer would be 120 times, the third layer 150 times, the fourth layer 187 times, and the fifth layer 224 times.
The Demon King continued, "After constructing the tower, it has yet to be put into use. As a reward for defeating Wei Yi, I allow you to train on the fifth layer and experience its effects firsthand."
Marilyn turned into a blur and rushed inside, leaving behind her gratitude in the wind, "Thank you, Your Majesty!"
Zhang Nu could not help but be amazed. Marilyn was usually very composed, but now she seemed like a completely different person. Nevertheless, this was beneficial, with her diligence, just half a month of training in the Training Tower would bring her to the top of Level 5s. At that point, she would likely encounter a bottleneck, and with one or two more Demon King Baptisms, Marilyn could become a Level 6 unit.
The appearance of the Demon King's Training Tower benefited not only Marilyn but also all the talented subordinates. It provided a stable place for them to improve their strength. While the Evil God Cultivator could enhance the upper limits of his soldiers, the Training Tower could boost the strength of his high-level subordinates. With these two structures, the Demon King's army and team would be rapidly reinforced.
In the long run, the value of the Training Tower would surpass even that of the Trial Tower.