Zhang Nu arrived in the city of Kolo. He was dressed discreetly in a magical disguise cloak. The troops stationed in Kolo did not recognize the Demon King. Zhang Nu had only brought a few human companions with him, including Peiti, the Holy Knight Bai Jin, and the Grand Archmage Bai Jie, to avoid drawing unnecessary attention.
Kolo City was relatively sturdy. Zhang Nu inspected the main city of the region. The total population of Kolo City was around six hundred thousand, which had decreased due to a recent war but was still quite prosperous. In the chaotic wilderness of the Chaos Federation, it was challenging for cities other than rapidly expanding ones like the Darkness City, Giantree City, and Berserk Beast City to exceed a population of five hundred thousand in a short time.
Due to the vast expanse of the Thunder Empire, like many imperial states in this world, the empire faced difficulties in governance, resulting in low administrative efficiency. This led to the necessity of granting a certain degree of autonomy to the local regions, which gave rise to hereditary nobility scattered throughout the empire.
The Kolo family had ruled over the Kolo Province for more than three hundred years. This length of time was significant for ordinary humans, spanning at least five to six generations. It was quite a long period. However, for the people of Kolo, who lived on the imperial border, the influence of the empire was already weak and diminished. The empire was merely a distant concept to them.
In this world, transportation was inconvenient, and traveling far from home was extremely dangerous. Consequently, the vast majority of Kolo's population had never left the southern region and some of them had never even left Kolo Province. For them, the empire was a distant concept compared to the local Count and the Kolo family, who were the real authorities. As long as control over the Kolo family could be established, causing them to betray the empire, leveraging the Kolo family's influence would effectively control the entire region.
Draconian laborers and craftsmen were being transported in batches to the area. The human knight and mage units from the Darkness City would also be gradually transported in the coming days, significantly bolstering the defense of Kolo City. However, it was clear that this would not be enough.
Kolo City was not situated in rugged terrain and was not a formidable military fortress. Trying to stop the empire with just this city was nearly an impossible task. Zhang Nu believed it was necessary to select a strategic bottleneck location in the Kolo region and mobilize tens of thousands, or even more draconians to quickly construct a military stronghold.
Furthermore, the Kolo region's economy was not thriving. Its core industry in the past had been slave trading, with tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of people from the Chaos Forest region flowing through Kolo every year. The major tribes of the Chaos Forest, especially those living in the northern part, harbored deep hatred for the slave traders in the Kolo region.
Now that Kolo had become the territory of the Demon King, this business was certainly no longer viable. The next most significant business in Kolo, after slave trading, was the trade of raw materials. The Chaos Forest was rich in resources, producing large quantities of materials every year. This trade was more stable than the slave trade.
The Kolo family was the largest material merchant in the Chaos Forest. They purchased vast amounts of raw materials every year, conducted simple processing and refinement, and then sold them to various major cities in the southern territory through the empire's trade caravans. In return, they procured essential supplies, medicines, and food from these cities.
However, due to the Demon King's conquest of Kolo, trade routes between Kolo and other cities in the southern territory of the empire were now severed. This not only impacted the economy of Kolo City but also resulted in shortages of food and medicine, posing a direct threat to the livelihoods of nearly two million people.
Nevertheless, this was not an insurmountable problem. The Chaos Forest had an abundance of food and medicinal herbs. In the future, the people of Kolo could purchase essential supplies through the federation's channels. As for the economy, losing the two main pillars of slave trading and material trading would undoubtedly have a short-term impact.
The terrain in the Kolo region was mostly flat, consisting of hills and plains. With a relatively dense population, it was suitable for establishing factories to produce essential goods for the Chaos Federation. As for the material trade, it could also continue. If the north was no longer viable, they could expand westward.
The western Sunset Empire was about the same size as the Thunder Empire. However, the culture there was extremely conservative, and they were highly exclusive of non-human races. Only those of human lineage could operate in that region.
To further improve Kolo, the Demon King took out several blueprints for construction, including the blueprint for "Warhorse Ranch."
[You've constructed the Warhorse Ranch!]
[You've unlocked the ability to summon warhorse units!]
[You've gained monthly renewable beast summonings: Purebred Warhorse x 5000, Black Iron Warhorse x 2000, Silver Winged Pegasus x 1000, Golden Winged Pegasus x 500!]
It was only then that Zhang Nu realized that this Warhorse Ranch was quite unique. Unlike traditional barracks-type buildings that limited the total number of summons, the Warhorse Ranch did not have a cap on the total summons; it only limited the monthly summoning limit.
Although it seemed like there were not many units available for summons each month, these were all reset monthly. In theory, as long as there was enough time and resources, the Warhorse Ranch could cultivate tens of thousands, or even more, warhorses!
Zhang Nu looked at the price list:
[Purebred Warhorse] Level 1 normal, costs 15 gold.
[Black Iron Warhorse] Level 1 elite, costs 80 gold.
[Silver-Winged Pegasus] Level 2 elite, costs 700 gold.
[Golden-Winged Pegasus] Level 3 elite, costs 5,000 gold.
Zhang Nu was immediately intrigued. The prices of these horses were not high; in fact, they were very affordable. If he upgraded the ranch and expanded the scale of warhorse breeding, this single ranch could easily support Kolo's economy.
Zhang Nu entrusted the management of the Warhorse Ranch to Peiti and the Kolo family. When Peiti saw the enormous horse breeding farm materialize seemingly out of thin air, she was completely taken aback. How was this even possible? In this world, could such a magical pasture exist? It could autonomously attract and summon fully-grown, healthy, high-quality warhorses. According to the Demon King, it could produce at least eight thousand each month, including pegasi. These were incredibly valuable horses!
A single Silver-Winged Pegasus could easily fetch tens of thousands of standard gold coins on the market, and because of their difficulty to domesticate, they were always in high demand. With a facility like this, Kolo's regional economy was assured, wasn't it? The western Sunset Empire was renowned for being a land of knights with a huge demand for high-quality warhorses. If they could open up a trade route to the Sunset Empire, the warhorse farm alone would generate considerable value.
As per the Demon King's promise, the people of Kolo were responsible for protecting and tending to the horses. The profit generated would be split between Kolo, the Darkness City, with Kolo receiving thirty percent. Even with only a thirty percent share, for the current Kolo, this was substantial income, enough to quickly revitalize the region.
"Thank you, Your Majesty!" Peiti understood the value of this horse farm to Kolo. "I will ensure vigilant care and maintenance of this magical breeding farm."
Zhang Nu nodded in satisfaction. Kolo could give up its former slave trade business. From now on, they would be in the horse-rearing business for the Demon King. This could turn out to be a wise mid-term strategy for prosperity. In the future, as the territory of the Chaos Federation expanded northward, humans could provide even greater value. In addition to the horse breeding farm, Zhang Nu also constructed several buildings in Kolo. However, these were all ordinary structures related to surveillance, shields, and defense, designed to enhance the Demon King's monitoring of the region and strengthen Kolo's defensive capabilities.
After completing his inspection, Zhang Nu left the Kolo region and began searching for the ruins he planned to explore. These ruins were located in the northern part of the Kolo region, near the desolate Barrenfire Stone Plains, perched atop a steep and massive cliff.
Accompanying the Demon King were two newly recruited followers: the Holy Knight Bai Jin and the Grand Archmage Bai Jie. Bai Jin rode a majestic and unrivaled golden-winged alicorn, and he felt a bit puzzled by the desolation of the area. He inquired, "Your Majesty, is there really an ancient ruin in this place? Why does it seem so barren?"
Bai Jie cast a reconnaissance spell to scan the wide surroundings, which appeared to be entirely covered in barren rocky terrain, devoid of any signs of advanced civilization or historical activity.
In response, Zhang Nu explained, "This ruin is somewhat unique. It's within the massive cliff right ahead. According to the adventurer Hubert's information, it's a relic from an ancient magitek civilization."
Hearing this, both Bai Jin and Bai Jie were slightly surprised. Bai Jin was a human Grand Archmage. However, the term "Archmage" here had a different meaning. It referred to a mage who was a master of magic, a guide, and an instructor for other mages. The title of "Archmage" was not necessarily related to one's power level but rather to their noble character, profound knowledge, and extensive expertise in various fields of knowledge.
Magitek, magical technology, within the context of the magical civilization, was a field that combined various disciplines such as arcane mathematics, formation theory, and mechanical engineering. The gnome magitek cannons in the Thousand Fangs City were created using this knowledge. Nowadays, magitek had become quite rare, with only the gnome race and a few human nations showing interest.
However, in ancient times, magitek had once flourished. It had served as the foundation for several magical empires and magic-supreme dynasties, profoundly influencing the world's structure and the development of civilization. Later on, for reasons unknown, perhaps due to excessive reliance on technology without personal growth, the era of magitek had quickly declined.
To this day, many ruins and artifacts from that time still remained, including floating magitek airships built during the heyday of these great empires. When excavated and repaired, they could still be functional. These powerful relics were a testament to the past glory of magical technology.
Zhang Nu held a strong interest in magitek because, in this world, technology could significantly enhance production, increase efficiency, and bolster one's power. While technology could not become mainstream in a world dominated by magic, it still held substantial value.
For these reasons, when he learned from Hurbert's legacy that there was a vast magical technology civilization site near the Barrenfire Stone Plains, Zhang Nu immediately became intrigued. With some recent free time, why not explore this ancient ruin and perhaps even unlock some new secrets?
This new dungeon was unlike any Zhang Nu had encountered before. It offered the opportunity not only for the Demon King to gain a deeper understanding of the world but also the potential for unique rewards. Soon, using his ability to perceive hidden information, Zhang Nu located the entrance to this intriguing ruin. The entrance appeared to be a seemingly ordinary cave on the surface of a desolate thousand-foot cliff. However, Zhang Nu's special ability revealed more information:
[Citadel of Eternity] Level 6 overlord area.
Description: A massive magical citadel constructed during the peak of an ancient magic-supreme empire. Its primary research focus was on achieving "Perfect Immortality." To accomplish this goal, ancient researchers conducted countless inhumane experiments here
... Extremely high exploration value!
This information both surprised and intrigued Zhang Nu. According to Hubert's information, he had expected this place to be, at most, a Level 5 overlord area. It was quite unexpected to find that it was actually a Level 6 overlord area, which presented a much greater challenge than he had anticipated.
Zhang Nu had initially approached this dungeon with a relaxed mindset, but now he realized he needed to be more cautious. Even for him, a Level 6 overlord area posed a significant challenge. The information gathered from Hubert was correct; this was indeed an ancient magical ruin. The heavily fortified citadel had been used for a series of insane projects, all in pursuit of unlocking the secrets of perfect immortality. Unfortunately, these endeavors had ended in failure. This place was aptly named the "Citadel of Eternity."