Castle of Black Iron

“Bighead, do you need me to send you a bowl of fish soup at noon?” The next morning, seeing that Zhang Tie was preparing to leave the tree base and walk to the mines, Barley looked at Zhang Tie with a look full of desire, causing goosebumps to form all over Zhang Tie’s body.

“No need. At noon, I will just casually eat a bit when I’m out,” Zhang Tie replied as he hurriedly put the mining basket on his back.

“How about I go mining for you? All of my achievements will belong to you. I swear that the amount will not be less than one ton of ores a day...” Bagdad patted his chest, causing “Pa Pa” sounds.

“Really, there’s no need! Mining is my hobby. For the time being, I still find it to be interesting!” Zhang Tie had also refused Bagdad. Seeing their pitiful looks, Zhang Tie felt that he needed to show them a bit of hope. For them to be only able to read it for an hour, this was the most painful thing to them. “If I can eat boar meat tonight, my mood might be better!”

“Brothers, did you hear that? Boar meat—we need to catch a boar today! If we get lucky today, then we can carry one back by noon...” Doug shouted out loudly.

“Fine. Hurry up, guys! If we fail to capture one with our existing traps, then we will dig another one today...”

Leaving one person to keep watch of the tree base, all the other horny students moved on and became a hundred times more active than Zhang Tie. At the sight of these guys, who were acting kind in front of him earlier, leaving him alone, Zhang Tie shook his head and inwardly heaved a deep sigh. It seems the power of the book was truly unparalleled.

As Zhang Tie and the other members of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood had never learned a high-level fighting skill or a cultivation technique like the , they had definitely taken the contents within the book as the greatest fighting skill that they had ever encountered. After every one of them read it for an hour last night, they were all attracted by this book and had difficulties parting with it. Every member of the Hit-Plane Brotherhood knew that this was a rare opportunity, one which could not be easily obtained, thus they all treasured this opportunity. Although they didn’t say it out loud, within their hearts, they all felt a deep gratitude towards Zhang Tie. They felt that Zhang Tie was a righteous individual and was truly qualified to be their brother, especially since he was even willing to share secret knowledge with them.

Seeing them disappear before him with an extremely quick speed, Zhang Tie smiled. Afterwards, he suddenly had a weird premonition. It seems that the Castle of Black Iron would bring him a surprise today.

……

Half an hour later, with a burning torch in hand, Zhang Tie entered that tunnel where he used to dig in the mine. First, he set up a small trap at the mouth of the tunnel that would warn him if someone entered the tunnel. Afterwards, Zhang Tie removed his mining basket and inserted the torch into a gap between two rocks. Walking into the shadow of another tunnel where the light did not reach, he took in a deep breath and closed his eyes. There appeared the arched door in his mind—lock on… enter!

——

“Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!”

As it was “sunny and brilliant” in the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie narrowed his eyes, and after a short while, he gradually began to adapt to the sunlight. All the light here radiated from the colorful fog that flowed around the surrounding space. The light was soft; it was as if the light had shone through a rainbow or the rays of the sun before shining down, giving Zhang Tie a comfortable feeling. Zhang Tie once wondered whether there were night and day in the Castle of Black Iron and whether it remained the same even after he left; however, he soon gave up this thought.

Upon stepping on the firm land in the Castle of Black Iron once again, complicated feelings burst forth in Zhang Tie. Due to the attack from the seven wild wolves that almost took his life and had almost forced him to bid farewell to the world forever, Zhang Tie felt as if he had been reborn.

Through this crisis, Zhang Tie felt again that strength was very important in this age.

After taking in a deep breath of fresh, aura-filled air, Zhang Tie leisurely opened the basic attributes panel of the Castle of Black Iron.

——Castle of Black Iron

——Length: Krosa

——Width: 1 Krosa

——Aura value: 3968

——Merit value: 2117

——Basic energy storage: 4285

——Special output: void

With the increasing number of plants within the Castle of Black Iron, the aura value had presently skyrocketed over the past two weeks. At the sight of the quickly increasing numbers, Zhang Tie became very excited.

The moment he closed the basic attributes panel, a dialogue jumped out automatically.

——The liquid yeast has completed its mutation and evolution for the first time. Please view the changes!

Soon after the dialogue disappeared, Zhang Tie recalled that he had used several points of basic energy storage on the liquid yeast before the start of the survival training, which would complete its mutation and evolution after 15 days. Therefore, Zhang Tie hurriedly opened the “Microorganisms” management panel in “Carbon-based Living Beings and Species Management” under the “Living Beings and Population Management” to check the results of the mutation and evolution.

Two messages instantly popped out——

——No new liquid yeast variant was formed through the mutation and evolution, thus the mutation and evolution has failed!

——If you wish to attempt to mutate and evolve the liquid yeast again, the system suggests you to increase the amount of basic energy storage points!

Thinking of how he had inputted 0.1 basic energy storage points into the liquid yeast last time, Zhang Tie felt embarrassed. After thinking for a while, Zhang Tie attempted for a second time to mutate and evolve the liquid yeast. This time, Zhang Tie decided that he will definitely succeed. Aside from using the maximum amount of basic energy storage possible, Zhang Tie also increased the amount of merit value points by ten-fold and doubled the amount of aura value points.

After a series of steps, two dialogues popped out again——

———On June 13rd, 889th year of the Black Iron Calendar, Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord had inputted 600 points of aura value, 50 points of merit value, and 340 points of basic energy storage into the mutation and evolution of a bottle of liquid yeast.

——It is estimated that the mutation and evolution will take 360 hours. Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, please wait patiently!

Since the surprise didn’t come from the mutation and evolution of the bottle of liquid yeast, then it could only come from the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree.

Moving towards the small tree, before he had even been able to stand before it, he had already smelt an unforgettable fragrance; the fragrance was a mix of the Leakless Fruit and a fragrance that contained both the smell of sandalwood and fruits. However, this time, the fragrance coming from the Leakless Fruit contained something special.

As expected, the tree brought Zhang Tie a huge surprise——

On the twig where the first Leakless Fruit had once grown were two Leakless Fruits. Judging from its color, one of the two fruits had already become ripe, while the other one would ripen soon. At the sight of the two hanging Leakless Fruits, Zhang Tie finally recovered his composure. Previously, whether a ripe Leakless Fruit would fall off the tree or whether it would delay the growth of the next Leakless Fruit had always been a concern of Zhang Tie’s. However, at the sight of the two Leakless Fruit hanging closely, Zhang Tie felt at ease.

——This Leakless Fruit has become ripe. Usage: Pick and direct eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.

——31 hours left before this Leakless Fruit becomes ripe!

Zhang Tie read the above two warnings regarding the two hanging Leakless Fruits.

Looking at the two Leakless Fruits, Zhang Tie felt really happy. Beside the Leakless Fruit, Zhang Tie found the Iron Body Fruit, though it looked different than last time. He then checked its progress bar; upon finding that it was three-quarters ripe, Zhang Tie burst into laughter. At the sight of the progress bar, Zhang Tie remembered his tumbles within the deep hole dug by the Gold-Eating Boas. Never would he have that the collisions and friction from the tumbles would have such a marvelous effect. It was almost the same as him being beaten! It seemed that he didn’t necessarily need to find people to beat him. As long as he received damage to his body, it would stimulate the growth of the Iron-Body Fruit. With this, this gave Zhang Tie many new ideas, causing the road before him to become much broader than before.

However, the biggest surprise was neither the Leakless Fruits nor the Iron Body Fruit; instead, it was the strange fruit that hung on the other side of the tree. Ever since his last encounter with Huck and Snade, Zhang Tie realized that this small tree could produce fruits even without his consent. With external stimulation, the tree would be able to produce fruits. Since that incident, Zhang Tie had made it a habit to circle around the small tree to check whether new fruits were hanging somewhere.

There really was a strange, hexagonal pitch-black fruit that was the size of a plum.

Stretching out his hand, Zhang Tie instantly got its information.

——The Trouble-Reappearance Fruit has already become ripe. Usage: Pick and direct eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality will gradually decline.

The moment the above words disappeared, another paragraph of words appeared.

……

——This is the fruit of killing. The laws of the universe continue to circulate between life and death. Among all deaths, deaths through fights between different species are both the most common as well as the most frightening. Let’s be brave and face the inevitable killings and deaths in this virtual space. Let’s be brave and attempt various challenges inside this virtual space. After experience the same killings and deaths again and again, you will lose your fear towards death and killing. You will gain freedom from killing and death, moving onto the top of the chain of evolution! Keep in mind that the body is the container for the soul, and the soul and spirit experience the same sensation as the body. Everything in the virtual space, including every strand of grass or wood, is a reflection of the physical world. With the exception that you will not die inside this virtual space, everything else is the same as that in the physical world outside. The existence of everything inside this virtual space makes the universe treats your well!

Reading the above words, Zhang Tie came up with a thought, “I’m really rich now! The Trouble-Reappearance Fruit looks really powerful.”

Continually rubbing his palms, he was truly excited...

……