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Chapter 18: This Is My World
Translator: WQL Editor: Geoffrey
Fascinated by the "Aura Value" option, Zhang Tie couldn't wait to open it. Being similar to the two other options opened yesterday, there was a message at the top of the log about the "Aura Value" of the Castle of Black Iron. Compared to "Merit Value" and "Basic Energy Storage", "Aura Value" gave Zhang Tie a better understanding of this world.
——Plants perform as the bridge between matter and living beings. Aura originates from the life energy produced from the combination of plants and matter. It is the basis that all living beings rely on to survive and evolve in which the universe and mother nature can coexist in harmony. The more aura value, the faster the plants will grow. With aura value, other living beings can become more energetic and further evolve.
Similar to the logs of the two previous options, the description of aura value shocked Zhang Tie once again. Zhang Tie read it more than ten times repetitively and finally understood why everybody liked the color green. Green was the color of plants, and plants represented the existence of aura, food, water sources, and all other living beings. A greener place meant more plants and more living beings. Try to imagine which would be a better place for humans to survive and reproduce: an unsettled desert or a lush mountain forest. Naturally, the latter option was more proper, as it contained more living resources and aura or life energy.
A tiny seed buried in the soil could grow into a towering tree in several years. When you think about it, isn't that spectacular? It was still a seed without soil; however, it's a life form that changes greatly in the soil. The change is due to the release of life energy when the two combined. Plants convert matter and energy that could not be directly absorbed and utilized by people and animals into visible food, fresh air, and invisible aura which would nourish all living beings and built a bridge between matter and living beings. As far as Zhang Tie was concerned, the rule of the harmonious coexistence between the universe and mother nature was a benign interaction between matter, plants, and all living beings. Plants could constantly provide aura for all living beings, while the living beings should ensure that the process of aura provision was not destroyed as well as creating proper environments for plants. A teacher once taught him that the reason the human world deteriorated and broke down before the Catastrophe was essentially due to human beings constantly destroying mother nature and violating the rules of the universe. At that time, human beings were extremely arrogant. They treated everything provided by mother nature and the universe as resources and objects that could be willingly plundered and destroyed rather than their homeland and co-inhabitants which they could rely on. Instead of giving gratitude and repayment, people were constantly demanding more and more. As a result, a series of problems occurred. This explained why the orthodox school education system treated the arrival of the Catastrophe and the Star of God as the disaster of human beings, while many extreme sects considered them as the rebirth of human beings. In the eyes of the extreme sects, the Catastrophe and the Star of God represented the end of the wrong behavior of human beings and the beginning of the new behavior for human beings.
Finishing reading the first message, Zhang Tie thought for a while before moving his eyes onto the next message that automatically appeared:
——On the evening of May 13, 889th year of the Black Iron Calendar (Friday), some potato seeds have begun to sprout in the Castle of Black Iron. The aura in the Castle of Black Iron has been slowly increasing. Attention, Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord. The aura in the Castle of Black Iron grows directly proportional to the quantity and the variety of plants within the space. The more high-end plants that could form different levels of life energy required by the Complete Ecological System, the more aura would be provided for the space within the unit time.
After reading the second message on "Aura Value", Zhang Tie was very happy, as he had figured out another secret about this mystical space. He learned that several sprouted potatoes could provide 0.3 unit of aura value for the Castle of Black Iron overnight. What about other plants? Take those purple-leaf parasol trees on both sides of the street neighboring his home for example. Although Zhang Tie had not learned too much about the classification of plants, he could still instinctively feel that a tree could provide more aura to the space than several potatoes. As for how much aura would be provided by the tree, Zhang Tie could not answer it for the time being; however, this didn't matter. Zhang Tie glanced over the spacious space and thought to himself, "Whatever it is, if only it could grow up." Other unlikely and weird ideas came to Zhang Tie's mind. As he was in the Castle of Black Iron currently and there were many more secrets to be discovered, Zhang Tie had to put down the unlikely and weird ideas for the time being.
Closing the basic attributes of the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie touched another branch on the menu and opened the "Space and Topographic Creation" option. When he selected this function last time, the system tip stated, "As each of the three storage values of the Castle of Black Iron is 0, the 'Space and Topographic Creation' function is unavailable!" Zhang Tie really wanted to see what the surprise was when none of the three storage values were 0.
When he opened the "Space and Topographic Creation" option, there was truly a surprise — a menu of three lower-class items appeared as follows:
——Surface Layer
——Crypt Layer
——Underwater Layer
The options of "Crypt Layer" and "Underwater Layer" were both gray. According to his experiences, Zhang Tie knew that they were currently not available, thus he pressed the option "Surface Layer". Once it was opened, a three-dimensional image of about 0.09 m2 appeared in front of Zhang Tie. After careful inspection, Zhang Tie found that this three-dimensional image was a miniature map of the entire space of the Castle of Black Iron. The entire image was so intricate that even the steel bar that Zhang Tie used to mark the ground was displayed. Feeling like the image in front of him should be able to rotate for convenient observation, Zhang Tie attempted to rotate the virtual three-dimensional image. Unexpectedly, it truly rotated along the direction of Zhang Tie's force and presented the original appearance of the Castle of Black Iron from a different point of view. Zhang Tie's excitement rose as he continued to rotate the image by 360 degrees and viewed his Castle of Black Iron from all possible angles. Besides the function of rotation, Zhang Tie also found that any part of this three-dimensional image could be enlarged or shrunken. When he moved his two hands to opposite directions on the map in a manner that was akin to drawing open the door curtain, the map would enlarge. Similarly, when he put his two hands on the map and drew them close to one another in a manner that was akin to closing a window, the map would shrink. When he moved one hand towards a direction, the angle of the view on the map also changed. He could observe each detail on the map in a more intricate manner through a casual change of size and view angle.
Really interesting! Zhang Tie played with the three-dimensional map as if he was playing with a magic square or a toy. He made drawings in the air to enlarge or shrink the entire three-dimensional map. He kept playing with it for more than ten minutes before he carefully studied other details. Even now, it was named "Space and Topographic Creation". It was never just that simple.
He found no other functional options on the entire three-dimensional map. The moment he felt curious and wanted to do some "creation", a line appeared before his eyes.
—— Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, all creations are in line with the concepts of "Visualized Creation". Namely, once any topographic image in your mind is cast onto the map, the Castle of Black Iron could create it for you.
What the !@#$! So easy! Zhang Tie was determined to give it a try. Adjusting the map so that he was directly looking down on it, Zhang Tie gazed at a location on the upper left area of the map and imagined a pond of more than ten square meters. Gradually, a pale blue shadow of more than ten square meters appeared in that region. Although it was blurry, its outline was generally consistent with what he had in mind. Visualization was really energy consuming. With Zhang Tie's present capabilities, he could not completely imagine all the details of the pond; therefore, the pale blue shadow of the pond was unclear on the map. He was unable to present it clearly no matter how much he concentrated on the pond in his mind. At this moment, another message appeared:
——Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, the completeness of the details of your created topography is lower than 5%. Do you want the system to use the Optional Nature Creation Law to compensate for the lacking details? After the Nature Creation Law is used to complete the establishment, the Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord can adjust it manually!
——Yes … No
Naturally, he chose "Yes". The moment he pressed the "Yes" option, the blurry, pale blue pond became clear. As imagined by Zhang Tie, a more natural and life-like pond appeared in the upper left corner of the map. Staring at the virtual scene, Zhang Tie heaved a deep sigh. Although somewhat losing face, he had to admit that the system did it better than himself. After the past few days of practicing Mental Arithmetic by Abacus, the only thing he could visualize was an abacus. For his current self, it was difficult to even visualize an abacus, let alone a pond.
After the general topographic creation, the alleged "manual" adjustments became much easier. Namely, the general topographic creation adjusted the "size" and "outline" of the pale blue virtual scene, and its "location" on the map was made by making hand gestures as if one were kneading dough. As for other more detailed aspects, he could not create them with his hand. However, the "Space and Topographic Creation" function was a dozen times more interesting and convenient than Zhang Tie had anticipated. With this function, Zhang Tie saw the entire Castle of Black Iron as a very big, interesting toy — really mother!@#$ing interesting!
Zhang Tie was very thrilled and almost sprang up. However, as he was grinning, a line of words appeared on top of the pale blue pond and instantly shocked Zhang Tie:
——This Topographic Creation Requires the Following Resources:
Basic Energy Storage——56879;
Aura Value——6878;
Merit Value——912
Do you want to create it?
——Yes … No
Create crap! Staring at those items and the data behind them on the Basic Attributes column, Zhang Tie almost cried. According to the present schedule, even if he did all the housework, including sweeping the floor and washing clothes, he could only gain 3 merit values a day. It meant that he would have to do housework for at least two years to accumulate 912 points of merit value. As for aura value, he could see a beacon of hope from the sprouted potatoes. It could be easily achieved by planting more on the land. Once the plants were alive, the aura value would grow constantly. However, the basic energy storage made Zhang Tie really desperate. It required 56879 units of basic energy storage. The common pyrite that weighed almost 1 kg could only be traded for 0.2 units of basic energy storage when thrown into the Pool of Chaos. Did it mean that the 56879 units of basic energy storage required at least 140,000 kg (or 280 tons) of common pyrite?
Zhang Tie finally realized that he could not afford the huge toy known as "Space and Topographic Creation". It seemed that this system complied with the strict law of "equivalent exchange", implying that without sufficient resources being listed, the system would ignore you. Everything inside this space required the consumption of various materials and large amounts of efforts. No pie dropped from the sky even though the "Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord" spent efforts for the achievements. That's why not everybody could afford this huge toy!
Zhang Tie had no other choice but to check the other functions to find one that was affordable.
He then closed the "Space and Topographic Creation" option and opened the "Living Beings and Species Management" option...
Chapter 19: New Target
Translator: WQL Editor: Geoffrey
Touching the "Living Beings and Species Management" option, Zhang Tie did not see a dialog box like he did previously. Instead, he saw a miniature icon. He presumed that the dialog box appears only when it was tapped for the first time, which would not have appeared automatically had he not taken the initiative to look it up in the past. What appeared in front of Zhang Tie now was the following lower-level function tree of "Living Beings and Species Management":
——Carbon-Based Living Beings and Species Management (Green, Activated)
——Silicon-Based Living Beings and Species Management (Gray, Not Activated)
——Sulphur-Based Living Beings and Species Management (Gray, Not Activated)
——Other Living Beings and Species Management (Gray, Not Activated)
Zhang Tie then directly touched the "Carbon-Based Living Beings and Species Management" option, as he found the other items to be difficult to be understood. He remembered that Miss Daina had taught them that carbon-based living beings had already been identified by human beings before the Catastrophe. Cells of the carbon-based living beings definitely contained the carbon element, as they were the basis of the organism. It seemed that all living beings in this world was carbon-based, including plants, microorganisms, and even magical beasts, let alone human beings and animals. As for silicon-based or sulphur-based living beings, Zhang Tie had never heard of them at all. They were totally foreign to Zhang Tie, thus he ignored them.
After opening "Carbon-Based Living Beings and Species Management", Zhang Tie saw the following three sub items again:
——Microorganism Management
——Plant Management
——Animal Management
The option "Animal Management" turned gray, indicating that it was unavailable. Since Zhang Tie tried the "Microorganism Management" option last time, he touched the "Plant Management" option this time.
Then, a message appeared in front of Zhang Tie:
————On the evening of May 13, 889th year of the Black Iron Calendar, the system has detected that the Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord has entered the Castle of Black Iron with plant seeds; therefore, the Plant Management System of Castle of Black Iron has been activated.
The message disappeared two seconds later, and a new window that only contained a three-dimensional icon of a 360-degree rotating potato appeared. Zhang Tie touched it lightly and opened it. He then saw the same scene as the one when he had opened the "Microorganism Management" option.
There was still a red cross beside the potato icon, and there were three sliders that could be moved to the right. The three sliders represented aura value, merit value, and basic energy storage.
Looking at the number 3 on the merit value icon for a while, Zhang Tie slid it to the right slightly. As a result, the number 2 appeared precisely on the right of the slider, and the number 3 that appeared under the merit value label turned to 1.
Then, Zhang Tie pressed "Enter".
Another message appeared:
——Please choose your target to inject the resource into!
Followed by three options:
——The entire population of this species in the space of the Castle of Black Iron!
——The population of this species in specific areas or spaces of the Castle of Black Iron!
——One or multiple individuals of this species in the Castle of Black Iron!
Zhang Tie chose the third option, and a three-dimensional map that similar to what he had just seen appeared in front of him. Each potato pit was marked on the map with red sparkling numbers. Zhang Tie touched "No.1 Pit" on the map, which was the one nearest to the steel bar. The sparkling number of "No.1 Pit" changed from red to green and no longer sparkled. Zhang Tie then touched the option "Enter".
Due to the limited merit values, he couldn't be certain of its effects even if he injected it into just a single potato seed, let alone more.
——On May 14, 889th year of the Black Iron Calendar, Handsome and magnificent Castle Lord injected two merit value points into a potato seed to stimulate its mutation and evolution.
——Mutation and evolution is expected to be finished in 56 days. Please wait patiently, Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord.
The two messages appeared for two seconds and disappeared automatically.
Zhang Tie also had no way to ascertain whether his input was effective or not. After all, it was only two points of merit value and nothing else, not even aura value or basic energy. It would be a surprise if it was a success, and if he failed, he would just see it as an interesting thing. No matter what, he was still in the process of exploring the Castle of Black Iron.
Closing "Living Beings and Species Management", Zhang Tie opened the last item, "Production of Seeds and Fruits of Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree", on the systematic function tree, which was related to the small tree. Before opening it, Zhang Tie had already instinctively known that the small tree was the core of the Castle of Black Iron. Although the previous options were also great, they were just affiliated attributes when compared with the small tree, just like the green leaves on it.
He opened it and the following message appeared:
——Is the universe a friendly place? This is the largest problem that all living beings face and the ultimate pursuit of living beings. From then on, you can loudly answer, yes!
The message disappeared in two seconds. Zhang Tie didn't even comprehend it before an image appeared in front of him. As a result, Zhang Tie's attention was instantly attracted as he stared at the dense introduction on the image and was stunned.
One minute later, Zhang Tie started to drool...
Two minutes later, Zhang Tie's pupil enlarged and sparkled...
Three minutes later, Zhang Tie started to sweat all over...
Four minutes later, Zhang Tie started to gasp...
Five minutes later, Zhang Tie's face turned red with hands shivering...
Six minutes later, Zhang Tie felt breathless...
Seven minutes later, Zhang Tie's heart began to pound...
Eight minutes later, Zhang Tie's eyes turned white. He covered his chest with his hands as he fell down on the ground directly with his mouth opened and passed out.
Try to imagine a person who kept begging for food in the streets for fifteen years and was always mocked by others. One day, he was suddenly captured by a troop of soldiers and was taken to a place that was as magnificent as a paradise — a place that he had never seen even in his dreams. Then, a group of tender and sexy beauties with plump breasts would help him take a bath and put luxurious clothing on him. They would provide him with dainties of every kind. After going to the washroom three times, he was taken to a palace and was pushed to the only gold seat in the palace. A multitude of people would begin to kowtow in front of him and called him "Your Majesty". The beggar must have been scared to death as he asked, "Why?". It turned out that the old emperor had died a couple of years ago, and the successive heirs ranked from No.1 to No.800 fought and died for the throne, leaving no survivors. Thus, the imperial bloodline was completely destroyed and the grand emperor lost his legitimate heir. The chancellors were really anxious, so they racked their brains to find a solution. Finally, they found that the old emperor had raped a girl who was selling matches when he was thirsty for sex while he was privately traveling outside the imperial palace. After being pregnant for ten months, the girl gave birth to the kid before passing away. That kid then became an orphan. Naturally, he failed to learn how to sell matches, and neither did he know that his dad was the bastard emperor. However, should he be invited to be an emperor, what would the beggar do?
Looking at Zhang Tie, who was twitching and foaming at the mouth, he was that beggar now.
Is that true? Zhang Tie asked himself before he passed out...
Probably… maybe… perhaps… somewhat… true! Zhang Tie replied to himself without confidence.
He then lost consciousness in darkness and happiness...
Passing out was actually a self-protection mechanism. When a person's spirit or body reached their limit, this protection mechanism would be activated. As a result, you would be able to face all difficulties. Sad people would become firm and brave, weak people would recover their physique and vitality, while the happy people would become calm.
Once you woke up and dared to face it bravely, you would find that it was just so so!
Half an hour later, Zhang Tie woke up. Lying on the ground of the Castle of Black Iron, he opened his eyes. Looking at the ever changing color of the clouds that were swirling in the sky of the Castle of Black Iron, he finally calmed down and became rational.
He was not a beggar, and there was no throne waiting for him. Zhang Tie was just a 15-year-old commoner in Blackhot City. A miserable teenager who fell in love with Miss Daina secretly and dared not to look her in the eyes. Luckily, he picked up a special common pyrite from the roadside, thus he owned more possibilities later in his life. He really wanted to know which passing-by God or Buddha was happy that day and pointed a bright future for him.
Not every fortune could definitely be converted into power nor make your dreams come true. On the road from fortune to power and dreams, you have to work harder, harder, and harder! God only helps those who help themselves! This was the only rule for all commoners in the Age of Black Iron. Besides, all those lucky commoners should bear one tip in mind: before you are able to safeguard this fortune, you should never let others know that you are a lucky man.
Chapter 20: Ambitions of the Youth
Translator: WQL Editor: Geoffrey
For Zhang Tie, the two-day holiday passed by quickly. As his dad had to work on Saturday, Zhang Tie would always spend the day making rice brew with his mom. Their rice brew store could sell five to six mugs of rice brew each week. Although it was a small income, it could still improve the family's standard of living to a degree.
Rice brew was a traditional food for Chinese clan and was easy to make. Its raw material was mainly rice. The processing method was also simple — First, wash the rice and then put the rice into a pot and boil until it is almost fully cooked. Remove the rice from the pot and dry them. Seal it tightly in clay pots with sugar, honey, and yeast solution to naturally ferment them. In a month, you could open the clay pots and eat it. Well-made rice brew remained fragrant, sweet, and soft and had the glutinous texture of rice. Being rich in nutrition, it tasted sweet and could fill people's stomach. Besides, it smelt like an intoxicating wine, which made people cool down, decrease the chance of heat stroke, and made the intestines and stomach hydrated. Zhang Tie and Zhang Yang grew up eating their mom's rice brew.
Although the process was simple, each step needed to be meticulously done. The reputation of the Zhang family's rice brew among the neighboring blocks and frequent customers has been gradually accumulating over the past dozen years.
Zhang Tie and his mom made seven jars of rice brew after a day's work on Saturday. They made the rice brew and moved them into the warehouse behind the courtyard. Then Zhang Tie rode a modified three-wheeler to purchase rice and 2kg of sugar. Whenever they finished making rice brew on the weekends, their rice bag would be almost empty; therefore, each weekend, Zhang Tie would purchase rice at the rice store and 2kg of sugar on his way back. Curiously, Zhang Tie found that the price of rice rose a bit that day from 4 silver and 45 copper coins per 25 kg of rice from last weekend to 4 silver and 58 coins per 25 kg of rice this weekend. It was almost an increase of 3% within one week.
Zhang Tie was startled. He was extremely sensitive to the changing prices of living necessities. Zhang Tie remembered that the price of rice in Blackhot City has remained unchanged since he was in middle school three years ago. How could it rise so sharply within a week?
"Alas, Zhang Tie, we have no choice either. It rose when we purchased it two days ago. We have to live!" The boss of the rice store started to complain to him, "70 percent of the rice in Blackhot City is brought from outside. Those farming villages and planting areas surrounding Blackhot City can never ensure that there's enough food to supply the city. We have no solution since the price of rice is determined by the big business groups. Besides rice, the price of wheat flour has also risen in the past couple of days. You can check it out in other stores, some of them even sell rice at a higher price…"
As Zhang Tie had been acquainted with the owner of the rice store for many years, he knew that the diligent and shrewd Chinese boss didn't tell a lie. Additionally, rice prices in Blackhot City were almost the same in each store with only one to three coppers difference at most for a bag of rice in different stores. If any store sold a bag of rice five copper coins higher than the other stores, it would have no guest.
Zhang Tie bought three bags of rice for the price of 4 silver and 58 copper coins each. He loaded the 75 kg of rice onto his small three-wheeler that was a modified secondhand bike with the addition of a bag and a wheel. Besides its ugly look, it could only carry limited loads. Three bags of rice plus the weight of Zhang Tie was already its limit. Before loading the rice bags, Zhang Tie carefully inspected the seams and thread ends on the bags to ensure that there were no traces of leakage or being sewn a second time. He then became reassured. Zhang Tie knew there were some bad rice store owners and grains businessmen that would always lessen the real weight of the grains through the usage of tricks like replacing good-quality grains with bad-quality grains or filling the bag with sand. He came to this conclusion through his years of experience in purchasing rice. As the old saying went, "Kids in poor families grew up faster!"
After purchasing rice, he bought 2kg of sugar at a grocery store that was close to the rice store. He then rode the three-wheeler back home. As expected, after the price of rice rose by 3%, the price of sugar also rose even more sharply. Last week, the price of raw sugar was 91 copper coins per kilogram. This week, it has risen to 1 silver coin per kilogram. It was the same in the surround stores, thus he bought 2kg of sugar and put them in the cloth bag of holding that hung on one handle of the vehicle. He then rode the ugly-looking, modified, second-hand three-wheeler and returned home unsteadily.
Returning home, he explained the situation of the rising prices of rice and sugar to his mom and gave the remaining coins back to her. Thinking for a while, the mom gave 10 copper coins to Zhang Tie as spare money. In response to this, Zhang Tie grinned, "Thank you, mom! You're much more generous today. You usually give 5 copper coins at most."
Mom heaved a deep sigh and frowned, "Now that the price of both rice and sugar have increased, we have to increase the price of our rice brew since our profit was already thin. If we don't increase the price, we will not be able to continue our business any longer; however, if we do that, we may lose some of our frequent customers! Alas…"
Seeing his mom frowning, Zhang Tie was moved, "Mom, trust me. I will let you and dad live well in the future. I have already changed!"
"Mom knows our small Guoguo has already grown up, totally different now!" smiling, his mom stretched out her hand to touch Zhang Tie's head.
Getting another meaning of the two words "grown up", Zhang Tie became bashful again, "It's not what you're expecting mom. I mean, I …"
"Well, well. Mom knows our Guoguo has already grown up. You're an obedient and good kid. Oh! Hurry up and send this rice soup to Grandma Teresa. You won't be able to arrive there today if you leave too late."
Zhang Tie was interrupted by his mom and then loaded the remaining three jars of rice soup onto the ugly pedal tricycle and hurried towards a direction. Being impulsive, he almost poured out the secret of the Castle of Black Iron; therefore, he blamed himself in his mind. If his parents knew of this secret, they would be worried about him. Besides, their family would have to assume unpredictable risks. Riding the tricycle, Zhang Tie made the decision to keep this a secret deep in his heart. He considered that if he was capable enough to keep this secret, he could directly bring benefits to the family, and they would never need to worry about him. He stuck to the idea that the fewer people that knew about this secret, the more beneficial it would be to his family.
As an emerging industrial city, Blackhot City had no deep historical background. At the beginning of its development, convenient urban traffic was one of its focal points. Hence, it had many broad roads, arterial roads, sidewalks, bicycle lanes, and road for vehicles. The road was even clearly divided for the bicycle lane and the normal road for vehicles. Zhang Tie rode the modified, second-hand tricycle on the bicycle lane, ringing the bell. He admired the buses that drove on the road. It was always his dream to own a bus, so as to enjoy a ride around the city with his family members or a beauty like Miss Daina.
Steam engines have already been eliminated for almost a hundred years prior to the Catastrophe. It was said that human beings had already invented various advanced machinery equipment and technologies before the Catastrophe, some of which were like myths for Zhang Tie. For example, various aircraft flying in the sky, ships that could still be started without fuel after hundreds of years, vehicles that could carry human beings to the stars, equipment that could easily realize communication between two people more than one million kilometers apart, horrible weapons that could destroy a city, perhaps even a country, when it blew up, and so on. His teachers would always sigh when they mentioned them. As a listener, Zhang Tie was always dazzled by it. Human society before the Catastrophe was really unimaginable. However, after the Catastrophe, human beings lost everything magnificent. Being frustrated, they fetched steam engines from historical washlands and revitalized them from the simplest condensing-type steam vacuum suction pump to the most sophisticated high-pressure steam turbine. They made humans gradually powerful in this age that was utterly different from any age before. As a result, human society developed quickly, much like the minibuses with small delicate two-level steam engines that moved forward and backward in a straight line as it sped through the city.
In Blackhot City, commoners used their feet or the urban public traffic system to get to their destination, while some blue collar workers might own a personal bicycle. For instance, Zhang Tie's family modified such a weird two-hand tricycle for the sake for delivery. However, rich men always owned a bus that was worth more than a thousand gold coins. For those people, a bus was not just a tool used for travel, it was also a symbol of social status and power. So many years have passed, and yet the number of privately owned buses in Blackhot City was no more than a thousand. People who could sit inside these privately owned buses were either rich or nobles. At least in the middle school that Zhang Tie attended, he had not found a single student whose parents or teachers owned such a vehicle. Even Captain Kerlin, the most terrifying one-eyed man, would have to go to work for fifty consecutive years without eating or drinking in order to be able to afford a bus.
Almost everything that Zhang Tie had learned at school in regards to machinery and tools was related to various steam engines. As a man born with the desire to be free, the 15-year-old boy possessed two dreams: marrying Miss Daina and owning a beautiful private car. He had always dreamt of driving Miss Daina to a peaceful and beautiful place and making piston movements with her like a moving steam engine. Incidentally, he would also like to check the quake-resistance of the tires and the seats.
Immersing in his "wild ambition", the youth rode the tricycle quickly in the city. Half an hour later, he arrived at Grandma Teresa's orphanage before 6:00pm...
Chapter 21: Orphanage
Translator: WQL Editor: Geoffrey
Teresa's Orphanage was located in the civilian settlement close to the west city wall of Blackhot City. Standing outside the gate of the orphanage, Zhang Tie noticed the 30m odd city wall and the military buildings within it. The city wall made the people in Blackhot City feel confident and safe. Although people also felt depressed in front of the high city walls, none of them would complain that it was too high. As the city wall could bring enough sense of safety to the people, the prices of all the houses within the walls were soaring.
"I wonder if elder brother is standing on the city wall?" staring at the city wall, Zhang Tie thought to himself. As soldiers of the City Guard Army of Blackhot City, they had to defend the city walls. Since Zhang Tie didn't know the daily arrangements and shifts of the City Guard Army, he naturally had no idea where his elder brother was and what he was doing at the moment. Zhang Tie also didn't feel like asking for that information. Strictly speaking, all information on the fortifications of the City Guard Army and military actions were classified. When people casually talked, they would always expose something; however, if someone was excessively curious, they might bring numerous troubles and disasters upon themselves, and perhaps even to their family. As a commoner, Zhang Tie was always cautious and was not overtlythat curious. Nevertheless, considering the news of the Red-scarf Burglars, Zhang Tie paid special attention to the top of the city wall. No matter what, he felt that there were more soldiers patrolling on the city wall than usual and the atmosphere was more serious than before.
When he recovered his composure, he found Grandma Teresa standing outside the gate of the orphanage. As usual, she would wait here at this moment every week for the arrival of Zhang Tie.
As a pious disciple of the Grepis School, Grandma Teresa always wore a green nun's robe that had some white decorative patterns of olive twigs on it, which symbolized the spirit of the Grepis School. The slightly pudgy grandma in green robes looked very kind, like a neighborhood grandma.
Green and white were the favorite colors of Grepis disciples, which also symbolized their religious doctrine. The combination of colors was always kind and delightful.
Seeing Zhang Tie riding over, Grandma Teresa smiled and raised her voice, "Children, your favorite food is coming…"
When Zhang Tie arrived at the gate of the orphanage, he stopped his tricycle. Five or six nine-year-old children had already run out from the orphanage. In pairs, they started to help Zhang Tie unload the food from the vehicle before Zhang Tie had even asked them for help.
"Ho… ho… be careful. If you can't do it, I'll help you!" saying this, Zhang Tie helped them remove the big clay pots from the vehicle. The children hurriedly brought the clay pots into the orphanage happily. Cheers reverberated from the orphanage as more children ran out. The children with a little bit of strength had already rushed out to help them, while the younger ones stood on the roadside. With eyes widely opened and dripping saliva, they heavily sniffed and gazed at the clay pots that contained rice soup inside. For the children growing up in the orphanage, the rice soup that was as white as snow was already exquisite.
At this moment, Grandma Teresa would always look at those orphans with a kind smile.
Every week, Zhang Tie's family would always have a lot of rice soup left over when boiling rice to make rice brew. This rice soup was extremely precious; it was something which Zhang Tie and his elder brother couldn't grow up without. Their neighbors always fetched some rice soup to feed their babies when the mothers had no milk to feed them, or if they couldn't afford milk.
Rice soup tasted good and was highly nutritious. It was the essence of rice. However, it could not be preserved over long periods of time. Basically, it would spoil in two days. His mom said it was a sin to waste food; therefore, she always kept two days of rice soup for their family and gave the rest to others. Some may look down on the bit of rice soup; however, these half-starved orphans might feel like this was the best food they have ever had. The Zhang family delivered the rice soup to the orphanage every week, which could feed the children for two days. As Grandma Teresa always said, this was the best gift from God.
At first, it was Zhang Tie's dad who delivered the rice soup. Later on, it was Zhang Tie's older brother, Zhang Yang. And now, it was Zhang Tie's turn. The Zhang family's business has been based on rice brew for many years. They brought the rice soup here every year, and this had become the tradition of the Zhang Family.
Guiding the children to bring in the clay pots containing the rice soup into the orphanage, Grandma Teresa walked towards Zhang Tie and slightly embraced him. She then gave Zhang Tie a slight kiss on his forehead as a blessing,
"Child, God will protect every kind-hearted man. People who give kindness to others will definitely be blessed by God, and they will witness miracles in their lives…"
Grandma Teresa had said this line many times before, but it sounded different this time. Zhang Tie was slightly moved.
"Thank you, Grandma. I also trust that God will bless kind-hearted men!"
Zhang Tie's face slightly blushed. Grandma Teresa's body was plump and soft. He felt nothing when being embraced by her before; however, as he had grown up and had known that men and women should not be that intimate, he felt somewhat uneasy. Although he was not that obscene, he felt somewhat embarrassed.
After carrying the six clay pots inside, the children took them out after a short while. Each clay pot held more than 10 kg of rice soup. In total, they could hold 60 or 70kg of rice soup. This little bit of rice soup was already considered a "generous" gift to the orphanage that was short on food.
"Oh, I forgot. Grandma Teresa, when I went to the rice store, I found that the prices of many grains have risen!"
When the children loaded the clean, empty clay pots onto the tricycle, Zhang Tie mentioned that the prices of many grains had already risen. This was not good news for the orphanage.
After asking about the details, Grandma Teresa looked somewhat depressed. Looking into the distance, she stayed silent and heaved a deep sigh.
Seeing her dejected air and the smiles on the children's faces, Zhang Tie was moved. He stretched his hand into the trouser pocket and pulled out 10 copper coins — the 10 copper coins he received from his mom. He placed them into Grandma's Teresa's hand as he said, "Grandma, here's all the money I have. I'll donate it all to the children. I hope it can help them!"
It was the first time for Zhang Tie to donate to the orphanage. In the past, he was penniless, but now he had some spare money from his mom and felt it was much easier now, as he owned the Castle of Black Iron these days. However, the moment the grandma received the money, Zhang Tie was slightly regretful. He felt that 5 copper coins would have been enough. And now, he was poor again. Nevertheless, he found it too shameful to regret, thus he pretended to be a good boy and grinned bashfully.
Being gifted with 10 copper coins, Grandma Teresa blanked out. She then took a deep look at Zhang Tie and touched his head, "Good child, your kindness will be rewarded!"
Hearing about being "rewarded", Zhang Tie suddenly thought of something. He told Grandma Teresa bashfully, "Grandma, I heard you have many plant seeds. Could you give me some? A classmate of mine moved his home to a new place, which includes a huge courtyard. I'd like to give him some seeds as a present!"
"God, forgive me. I have told a lie to your disciple." Zhang Tie felt a little bit shameful and blushed. When Grandma Teresa mentioned "reward", Zhang Tie suddenly thought that he might "need" something. However, she saw Zhang Tie's uneasy air as the innocence of a "kid".
The Grepis School was also called the School of the Guardian God. The doctrine of which was symbolized by the two colors on their clothes. They used green to safeguard the land and used white to eliminate evil. This school didn't worship any idol or god. Instead, it worshiped the land that everyone stepped on. The land was called Gaia, the Mother of the Land, by the disciples of the Grepis School. The school believed that all living beings on the land were the descendants of Gaia, the Mother of the Land, and all green things on the land were the gifts and guardians given by Gaia to all living beings.
Zhang Tie didn't know whether the Grepis School was accepted in other places, but he knew that the School of the Guardian God was not well accepted in Blackhot City and the Andaman City-States Alliance, which was full of the commercial atmosphere and worshiped gold coins as God. This could be seen from the way the orphanage and Grandma Teresa were treated. In Blackhot City, religions, even with little power, would own magnificent churches or temples, while the School of the Guardian God didn't have a room for praying besides this orphanage. In the eyes of many people in Blackhot City, this school seemed to be nothing special aside from advocating for people to plant trees each year and adopt orphans. On the second Sunday of each March, the "Blessed Day" of Gaia, the Mother of the Land, the school would always present free plant seeds to the citizens in Blackhot City and collect donations for the school. As a bit of time has passed since the "Blessed Day" this year, Grandma Teresa should have some seeds left over. Thinking of the spacious land and the poor aura value in the Castle of Black Iron that only had several potatoes and some niblets sewn, Zhang Tie felt that he might be able to ask for some seeds from her. Whatever they were, if only they could sprout, they would be able to provide sufficient aura value.
Hearing that Zhang Tie wanted some seeds, the grandma showed a big smile. She looked happier than Zhang Tie. "Wait a moment, " she said to Zhang Tie. Several minutes later, Grandma Teresa gave a 0.5 kg cloth big that was filled with seeds to him. Zhang Tie didn't open it. After thanking her, Zhang Tie rode his tricycle and rushed home with rising excitement.
Chapter 22: Land Reclamation
Translator: WQL Editor: Geoffrey
After two or three hours of riding, when he returned home, dusk had already fallen. On his way back, Zhang Tie's legs already felt a bit weak. He slowed down, thus it took him longer to arrive home. To put it straightforwardly, Zhang Tie was happy to help others. He was really satisfied at the sight of the innocent smiles on the poor children. Although the rice soup he sent over was not valuable, and some may not even think highly of it, Zhang Tie's family never thought of it as a great or holy task. In regards to that, it was a waste to just pour it out.
Blackhot City owned a rich night life. When dusk fell, some places would become bustling; however, this had nothing to do with Zhang Tie, who whistled and rode back home.
By the time Zhang Tie returned home, the rice brew store had already been closed. The gate of their house was also locked up. Zhang Tie opened it and pushed his tricycle into the courtyard. The tricycle was modified by his dad, and although it looked ugly, the wheel added in the back and the basket in the middle were foldable and could be easily taken apart. This way, it would not occupy too much space in the courtyard. Zhang Tie guessed that his dad and mom were at their friend's place playing cards or at a church, as these were their only hobbies.
Parking the vehicle, Zhang Tie washed his hands and took the bag of seeds into the kitchen. Smelling the rich beef aroma, Zhang Tie's stomach started to make a series of "gulugulu" sounds, while saliva started to flow out of his mouth.
The supper was still steaming in the pot. The main dish was braised potatoes with beef.
Zhang Tie treasured the remaining can of beef and didn't want to eat it alone. He preferred to eat it together with mom and dad, like they did at yesterday's supper. Unexpectedly, his mom braised potatoes with the remaining beef. As a result, the small can of beef became a big bowl of delicacy.
Seeing the bowl of "braised potatoes with beef" and counting the number of slices inside, Zhang Tie knew that his dad and mom didn't even eat a little bit of the remaining beef from last night. They only drunk a little bit of the soup and ate some potatoes, leaving all the remaining beef for Zhang Tie.
Being somewhat moved, Zhang Tie wolfed down the entire bowl of the dish. Even Zhang Tie himself had not noticed that his appetite has been gradually growing recently.
After supper, he cleaned the house. He estimated that there were at least two or three hours before dad and mom returned at night. Thinking of the empty land, the niblets, and the potatoes he sowed in the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie quickly took action.
Zhang Tie felt that he was somewhat a lunatic. When he returned, although he clearly remembered that he had locked the door from the inside, he persuaded himself to check again. Zhang Tie mocked himself, "Could this be the feeling of a trivial figure who hit the lottery and is always scared that the place where he hid his money would be found by others?"
"Then, just be a trivial figure. No matter what, I am a real trivial figure and should not fear being mocked by others."
After making the decision, Zhang Tie moved faster and faster. He fetched two metal barrels and ran towards the well. After a while, he filled the two barrels and quickly moved back to the narrow washing room in the backyard.
The washing room inside Zhang Tie's home was only more slightly more than two or three square meters and was usually well cleaned. As the first gift given by his elder brother to his dad and mom after receiving his salary and subsidiary, the bath tub occupied more than half of the washing room. As tall as half a person, the bathtub was not delicate, but very firm. Being painted with lacquer, it was heavy and smooth. Splash. Zhang Tie poured out the two barrels of water into the bath tub. The water level in the wooden barrel was as high as Zhang Tie's ankle. He took two more barrels of water, rushed into the washing room, and poured them into the bath tub again.
It took Zhang Tie about ten minutes of repeating this series of actions eight to nine times before he filled the bathtub. If mom were home, she would definitely have prepared hot water for Zhang Tie to take a bath, but whenever Zhang Tie wanted to take a cold bath like his elder brother, his mother would scold him. However, he was not really planning to take a bath. Zhang Tie put the last two barrels of water beside the bathtub and took the small bag of seeds back to the washing room. As he had just finished supper, the violent movements made Zhang Tie's stomach and intestines slightly uncomfortable, though he had no time to care about that.
Back in the washingroom, Zhang Tie closed the door from the inside. With a small bag of seeds under his right armpit, Zhang Tie lifted the two barrels filled with water and stood steadily. He then took in a deep breath to recover his composure and kept his eyes closed in order to look for the mysterious "arched door"...
This process seemed much easier. After his attempts in the past couple of days, Zhang Tie found that he could clearly "see" the "arched door", only if he concentrated his consciousness between his eyebrows and the "arched door" that was the gate of the Castle of Black Iron.
Zhang Tie couldn't figure it at all, "Whatever, nobody would spend time on it…"
See——Lock——Enter——
Lifting the two barrels of water, Zhang Tie, who held onto the small bag of seeds, disappeared in the narrow washing room.
Feeling that everything in his surroundings had changed, Zhang Tie opened his eyes and found himself already in the Castle of Black Iron.
He was facing the empty land and the "Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree" in the middle of the land. Naturally, the following line made Zhang Tie's humble ego expand.
——Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, Welcome to the Castle of Black Iron!
Seeing this line, Zhang Tie suddenly felt his spirit rise. His didn't feel pain in his stomach anymore, and neither did his intestines convulse nor did his legs shiver anymore.
"I am the motherfucking lord here… Ahhh..." sensing the expanding ego, the miserable youth exclaimed like a horny beast. If he was outside, his noise would definitely have attracted the nearby magistrates. However, in the Castle of Black Iron, he couldn't even hear any echoes.
He had never shouted like this when he was outside in the real world. However, after he released what was buried in his heart, he suddenly felt cool. It was a strange feeling as if he suddenly became more comfortable after that.
Then, Zhang Tie decided to yell again…
"I am the motherfucking lord of this world… Ahhh…"
More comfortable now, one more time…
"I want dad and mom to have beef to eat everyday… Ahhh…"
More comfortable…
"I love you, Miss Daina... Ahhh..."
One more time…
"I want to be a rich man... Ahhh..."
One more time...
"All beauties with plump butts and breasts, your Mr. Perfect is me... Ahhh..."
After a space of growl, Zhang Tie felt much better and cool. He didn't know if anyone else had tried it, but he found it to be a really nice means to release his own tensions.
After that, Zhang Tie threw the bag of seeds that was under his armpit onto the land. With the two barrels of water in hand, he moved towards the patch of land where he had sown niblets and potatoes. Although he felt that the soil in the Castle of Black Iron was suitable for growing plants, he was still worried about them if he didn't water the seeds. It seemed that it doesn't rain in the Castle of Black Iron, thus Zhang Tie feared that the seeds would go bad without water.
Arriving at where he had sown the niblets and potatoes, Zhang Tie put down one barrel on the ground and spread the water from the other barrel onto the niblets that had not sprouted yet. With the water from one of the barrels, he only finished watering less than a quarter of the niblet's land. He then spread the water of the other barrel, which only covered half of the niblet's land. He then held the two empty barrels. Keeping his eyes closed, Zhang Tie concentrated his consciousness between his brows…
See——Lock——Exit
…
The next moment, Zhang Tie appeared in the narrow washingroom again, even though his feet didn't move. Turning on the faucet at the bottom of the bathtub, Zhang Tie filled the two wooden barrels and kept his eyes closed.
See——Lock——Enter——
…
He entered and left the Caste of Black Iron in this matter for five consecutive times. Looking at the two patches of land where he had sown niblets and potatoes, Zhang Tie stood in front of the marked steel bar. Taking in a deep breath, he was very satisfied. However, he suddenly felt his brain ache. It felt like his brain was blank. Previously, he had not noticed it when he was busy watering the seeds. He tried to focus between the eyebrows and saw the marvelous "arched door" soon. However, being different from the several instances before, this time, the arched door became very unstable and gloomy. When Zhang Tie seized the door consciously and ordered "Exit", an unexpected event happened.
Abruptly, Zhang Tie suddenly felt lightheaded and dizzy, as if he was dropping from high altitude into a bottomless dark tunnel. All of a sudden, he lost his balance and sat on the ground, before passing out. After quite a while, he woke up with a pale face…
"What happened? How could this happen?" Zhang Tie became frustrated.
The sudden following tip provided him with the answer.
——It was detected that you, the Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, had been excessively spiritually exhausted. It is suggested that for you, the Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord, to have a rest inside the Castle of Black Iron before you leave. Caution: Frequent entering and leaving within a short period of time will consume a lot of your spiritual energy. While you lack spiritual energy, please do not frequently enter and leave the Castle of Black Iron, so as to prevent damage to your spiritual energy...
Chapter 23: The Poor Lord
Translator: WQL Editor: Geoffrey
"It turns out that I have to pay a price to access the Castle of Black Iron!" cried Zhang Tie while sitting on the ground. The feeling of his brain suddenly going blank and the feeling of falling into a dark tunnel was really horrific. Moments before, Zhang Tie even thought that he would kick the bucket in this manner. If this was how excessive consumption of spiritual energy felt, Zhang Tie would never try it again.
He recovered at this moment and noticed that his body, within a few minutes, was covered with cold sweat. He became weaker. "It seems that excessive consumption of spiritual energy is serious," he sharply shook his head and felt that the buzzing sense of being engulfed by darkness in his mind was not fully eliminated yet.
There must be something wrong!
Although there was some discomfort in his mind, Zhang Tie could still think about some things.
He realized that his behavior towards the Castle of Black Iron was really stupid. Obviously, the Castle of Black Iron was immortal. Even now, the increase of "spiritual energy" required the "potential life energy" from plants. Zhang Tie had to solve the lack of a water source problem. The Castle of Black Iron would never let the lord of the Castle of Black Iron water the plants here in such a foolish fashion. Even though the soil here was fertilized and didn't need to be irrigated, what about the "Basic Energy Storage" and the "Pool of Chaos"? Didn't the rubbish disposal plant need something inside to convert matter into basic energy? Would it require Zhang Tie to access the Castle of Black Iron to gain the "Basic Energy Storage"? Did he have to move things inside?
When he thought of the huge amount of basic energy storage that needed to be consumed to realize some functions inside the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie became irritated. Motherfucker, it shouldn't be like that. What a motherf*cking castle lord he was! He was just a porter in the railway station! He had to access the Castle of Black Iron five to six times a day for thirty to fifty years to expand to 666 square meters of land. What the hell!
No way! It's not like this! There must be something wrong or he hadn't yet discovered some mysterious function in the space. The Castle of Black Iron looked like a very senior system. How could it make such a low level mistake!? It would be like the tycoons in Blackhot City heading for Black Gold Hotel, only to take off their clothes, grow vegetables, prepare coal, and cook food for themselves.
Thinking for quite a while, Zhang Tie still couldn't find the answer. Feeling like he was insulted, Zhang Tie cursed inwardly and decided to leave it alone. "Motherfucker. Whatever, just be a porter! So what? Others are unqualified to even be a porter. It's more perfect now with the defect. The Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord will be a poor hardworking porter in the future! The Castle of Black Iron is finally perfect now! Is there anything better?"
This was Zhang Tie's temperament. He was sometimes a lunatic and always became pessimistic when encountering frustration. Sometimes, he was simple and would do that once he made the decision. He would then find numerous reasons to comfort himself and strive to reach his goal. Previously, he regarded Miss Daina as his beloved, but moments later, he felt that a man who had a multitude of concubines is successful. He believed that the love he had never experienced should be great and dreamed about sexy younger sisters, beauties, and mature ladies with sexy figures…
Human beings — perhaps just be a contradictory group.
When he left the problem alone, another urgent and unavoidable problem also appeared in front of Zhang Tie. Namely, how does he recover his spiritual energy? How long will it take to recover? If it took too long, and dad and mom found nobody home while the door to the washing room was locked from the inside, and they shouted but got no response, then it would be a big problem. How would he explain it then? Otherwise, what if he abruptly appeared in front of dad and mom who had already returned home?
This problem couldn't be solved by Zhang Tie. Whatever, if this happened, he could tell them a little bit of the truth. The worst case scenario would be beaten by slabs fiercely. However, he had always been beaten by slabs before. Though, they would never beat him to death!
Once he thought it through, he felt that it was nothing terrible. Zhang Tie then patted his butt and stood up. He walked a few steps, and then returned. Lifting the two empty barrels, he moved towards the small tree. The small bag of seeds, which Zhang Tie had not opened yet, given by Grandma Teresa still laid there. It was the perfect moment to open it.
Moving to one side of the tree, Zhang Tie put down the barrels in hands, squatting on the ground, he picked up that cloth bag of seeds. He undid it and poured all the seeds inside out.
Moving to one side of the tree, Zhang Tie put down the barrels that he held in his hands. Squatting on the ground, he picked up the cloth bag of seeds. He undid the bag and poured out all the seeds.
It could be said that Grandma Teresa was a caring person. The cloth bag was composed of eight small paper bags, and on each bag was the name of the seed.
"Hygrophila polysperma" was written on the smallest bag, while the names on the bigger paper bags were: "Morning glory", "Olive", "Ligustrum obtusifolium", "Photinia fraseri", "Honey pear", and "Radish". Seeing the word "radish", Zhang Tie scratched his head gloomily. He doubted that Grandma Teresa made a mistake. Why would she give me radish? "Olive" was understandable because it was the symbol of the Grepis School. "Honey pear" was edible and could bloom into nice flowers. Why radish? Including "olive" and "honey pear", three of the seven seeds were edible. With one more, half of them could be eaten.
What does it mean? Zhang Tie scratched his head. Was Grandma Teresa using these "seeds" to give thanks for the soup given by the Zhang family all these years? It seemed a little bit weird.
Seeing the biggest paper bag, that laid on the ground, was filled with something, Zhang Tie ignored the name and directly opened it. Several walnuts rolled towards Zhang TIe's feet, which made Zhang Tie utterly started. Another edible.
What the fuck. Whatever, once they grow, they could provide spiritual energy to this space. Whatever seeds they were, it was better if they were edible! No matter what, he had to sow something in such a huge piece of land; however, he would have to sow the seeds in separate pieces of land. These seeds could also be natural landmarks. When they grew, Zhang Tie might be able to distinguish the four directions in the Castle of Black Iron.
With the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree at the center, according to the preset view of Zhang Tie when he opened the map of the Castle of Black Iron, the upper part of the map was north, where he would plant the olive trees. The lower part of the map was south, where he would plant the photinia fraseri. In the west, he would plant honey pears, and in the east, he would plant walnuts. Other seeds like the hygrophila polysperma, morning glory, and ligustrum obtusifolium would be scattered in each direction, which would not be planned. Though, edible vegetables like radish could be planted beside the potatoes and niblets for the sake of collective management.
Once he made the decision, Zhang Tie acted on it. First, he opened the bags of hygrophila polysperma, morning glory, and ligustrum obtusifolium, which were easily sown. He gather them together and casually poured them out. Zhang Tie was not good at planting these seeds. Instinctively, he felt that those plants were seen everywhere in the wild. They grew naturally and wildly, thus he didn't want to waste time on them, treating them as they would in the wild.
More than twenty meters away from the small tree, Zhang Tie trotted one circle and spread the seeds casually. In less than three minutes, he had finished sowing the three bags of seeds.
After finishing the first three bags, Zhang Tie became much more serious. He made a row of pits by the steel bar about 50m away from the small tree in the north, then he buried the olive seeds. He did almost the same thing in the south, east, and west. As he found the walnuts to be large, he dug holes that was especially deeper than those of other seeds. Zhang Tie didn't know if this was correct or not. The rest is up to God.
As walnuts were very expensive, Zhang Tie had rarely eaten them since he was young. As a result, when he was burying the walnuts, he couldn't help but eat one. In the end, there were only seven walnuts left.
After he finished sowing the walnuts, he ran towards one side of the "vegetables" land and found a piece of land beside the niblets to sow the radish. He inserted the steel bar into the soil and clapped his hands in satisfaction.
For Zhang Tie, this was the most he could achieve today. As for whether to water them or not, Zhang Tie planned to make the decision in a month. One month later, if the seeds didn't sprout by then, he would learn from this experience and water the new seeds.
After these tasks, Zhang Tie opened the basic attributes panel of the Castle of Black Iron. With his mouth gaping, Zhang Tie was startled by the huge changes.
Chapter 24: Merit Value
Translator: WQL Editor: Geoffrey
——Castle of Black Iron
——Length: 1 Krosa
——Width: 1 Krosa
——Spiritual Energy:0.7
——Merit Value: 35
——Basic Energy Storage:0.2
——Special Output: Void
Zhang Tie was not startled by the growth of spiritual energy, as the sprouted potatoes could grow day by day, which would result in them providing more and more spiritual energy. The peak of the growth of spiritual energy would come when all the seeds sprouted later on. There was no change to the other attributes except for merit value. He remembered that the number of merit value was 3 this morning; therefore, he tried to input two merit value points into the mutation and evolution of potatoes. As a result, only 1 merit value point was left by then. How could it increase by so much within only half a day? To answer this question, Zhang Tie opened the log for merit value.
——On the afternoon of February 14th, 889th year of the Black Iron Calendar, Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord helped his mom make rice brew, which lessened his mom's load and made her comfortable. As a result, merit value was increased by 1.
——On the evening of February 14th, 889th year of the Black Iron Calendar, Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord sent rice soup to the orphanage and donated 10 copper coins. As a result, many people benefitted from you. As a result, merit value has been increased by 32.
——On the evening of February 14th, 889th year of the Black Iron Calendar, when Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord returned home, he took the initiative to clean his house, wash bowls, and sweep the floor, which made his family members pleased.
Seeing the sharp increase in merit value, Zhang Tie thought for a while and moved his eyes to the words to the beginning of the log:
"Do good deeds and destroyed evils——the largest mercy in the human world; worship the gods and love people——the nearest staircase to the heaven; lucky people, please show the mercy of the creator to the secular world so that those gods could understand you; please receive the most sincere pleasure and thanks presented to you by hundreds of millions of people; please end those evil souls and endless darkness to make yourself a light and when You are a light, you are definitely walking on the light and a magnificent road are paved on your foot!"
Although he was confused at some parts, reading the paragraph and peering at the sharply increased merit value made Zhang Tie greatly inspired. He now had a deeper understanding of how to gain merit value. Although he was not able to eliminate evil, he could still do something good, whether it was small or big. He could gain merit value points by making others happy, more or less. "Haha, Nice! I love you too much…."
Remembering the numerous "fruits" that grew behind the small tree, Zhang Tie laughed out loudly. If the Castle of Black Iron turned into a woman and appeared in front of him, he would definitely kiss her for a long time…
After sowing the seeds, he checked the basic attributes of the Castle of Black Iron. He then ran towards the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree and circled the small tree a few times. Being stunned, he gazed at a twig on the strange tree.
He remembered that there was nothing on that twig. However, a light blue grape-sized fruit was now hanging on it. The moment he wanted to touch it with his hand, a line appeared in front of him.
——Leakless fruit is in production and is currently inedible. Once the unripe leakless fruit leaves the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree, it would directly turn to gas and disappear. 124 hours left before it becomes ripe…
After reading the line, Zhang Tie instantly pulled back his hand. He recalled that when he found the Castle of Black Iron for the first time, the manjusaka tree asked him to choose whether to use his leaked energy to produce the leakless fruit or not. Is this that leakless fruit?
It took 168 hours to produce a leakless fruit, which was a week. This meant that by next Friday, the small fruit would be ripe. At this moment, although couldn't wait to eat the fruit to test its effects. He also knew that a watched pot would never boil; he had to control his desires. He circled the tree a few times and even touched the various strange leaves before sitting down on the nearby soil. With his hands supporting his jaw, he became absent-minded. After more than an hour's work, looking at the barren land, he felt that it was really boring, although it was honestly strange at the start. Now, he could only slowly wait until he recovered a little bit of his spiritual energy. In here, it was a nice place to do exercise and run; however, he was truly tired today and didn't feel like running at all. He didn't know if dad and mom had returned or not. They should not have returned this early since it was a Saturday and his dad would take a rest on Sunday. If it was like usual, they would come back late.
What should he do then? Just sit here and do nothing while waiting for his spiritual energy to recover? Otherwise... meditate? Zhang Tie burst into laughter at his thoughts. Hahaha… no kidding, how could a commoner of Blackhot City know how to enter meditation, a senior technique and skill? There might be someone in Blackhot City who knew how to increase spiritual energy through meditation, but it was monopolized by a few people and was something that commoners could never touch. Captain Kerlin said that the minorities who knew how to increase spiritual energy through meditation had various backgrounds. Even Captain Kerlin himself didn't know about it, let alone others.
It would be impossible to light the burning points in the Shrine. Thinking for a while, he suddenly patted his head, "How could I forget this? I got the book . No matter what, I have some time to practice it now. Why not test it out now?"
Zhang Tie instantly moved. He quickly recalled the relevant content that he had recited more than ten times over the past few days from . He could fully understand it. Zhang Tie sat down with his legs crossed and hands naturally on his legs. He kept his eyes slightly closed. After a short while, he recovered his composure. He didn't know why, but he calmed down faster than before.
After calming down, Zhang Tie started to form an abacus in this mind according to the skills he learned from . This was the most important step and was the foundation of . After forming the abacus in his mind, he could make quick mental calculations. If you had to ask for a single line to explain the principle of , it would be the following: Replace your hands with your consciousness, use the abacus in your mind. That was all.
What made Zhang Tie puzzled was that the book required him to form a golden abacus in his mind. It should be brilliant. However, the reason for it was not mentioned. Zhang Tie couldn't figure it out and neither did he feel like exploring it. He just felt like it was just the way it was supposed to be.
According to , Zhang Tie should imagine the abacus from outlines to details and from simple to complex. He should firstly imagine a rectangular abacus frame, then a horizontal beam within the frame, and then three vertical beams, which represented the addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division operations within three-digits. When the entire image is stabilized, he started to imagine the upper bead between the first vertical beam and the farthest left frame, then the four lower beads between the first vertical beam and the farthest left frame. After that was the upper beads between the second vertical beam and the first vertical beam. Next was the lower beads between the second vertical beam and the first vertical beam, followed by the upper beads between the third vertical beam and the second bead. And then the lower beads between the third vertical beam and the second vertical beam...
The first time, the moment he imagined the upper beads between the first vertical beam and the farthest left frame, the entire image in his mind broke apart...
The second time, the same thing happened...
The third time, he finished imagining the first lower bead between the vertical beam and the farthest left frame...
The fourth time, he finished the second lower beam between the first vertical beam and the farthest left frame...
...
Even Zhang Tie didn't know how many times he had failed. After another four attempts, the poor abacus with three vertical beams was finally imagined successfully and seemed stable. What's 125 plus 579? Spinning his brain, he moved the beads to the right places on the abacus in his mind, and it turned into a readable number — 704.
What's 18 multiplied by 39? He recited the formula and moved the beads to the correct places… 702!
What's 987 minus 789? He recited the formula and moved the beads to the correct places... 198!
Zhang Tie laughed out loudly. He was happy and tested it a few more times. As a result, he could calculate in his mind on the abacus faster than before. How about 56 multiplied by 29? He recited the formula and moved the beads to the correct places. The golden abacus shook and suddenly disappeared in his mind.
Zhang Tie opened his eyes. As the last calculation result surpassed the domain between the three vertical beams on the abacus, the image exploded like a steam boiler that couldn't handle the high pressure.
"The book was really valuable," Zhang Tie reconfirmed its value. He never thought that he could gain such a treasure.
"Alas, what time is now? If dad and mom returned, it would be bad!" abruptly remembering it, Zhang Tie quickly stood up. He made no preparation, and neither confirmed whether his spiritual energy had recovered. With eyes closed, he locked onto the door between his brows with his consciousness and said to himself, "Exit" ...
The next moment, Zhang Tie appeared in the washroom room of his courtyard. Along the light of the oil lamp, he saw that the door of the washroom was still locked. He heaved a deep sigh. If his parents came back and found him not there, and yet the washroom was locked from the inside, they would shout from outside the door. If they got no response, the door would have long been kicked open. He opened the door of the washroom and slid out to look around. It was only 11 pm, the gate of the house was still locked from the inside. Thankfully, they hadn't returned.
Standing in the pitch black courtyard alone, Zhang Tie stared at the stars in the sky. He patted his chest and comforted himself, "I'd better be more careful when I access the Castle of Black Iron. If this happened again, my secret might be found by others. I'd better learn to save my spiritual energy." Zhang Tie reflected, but then suddenly became still. "How could my spiritual energy recover so fast?"
Chapter 25: Belief
Translator: WQL Editor: Geoffrey
"Alas, dad and mom, leave me alone. Look, there's such nice weather today! Why not take a stroll at the downtown park or at the reservoir in the suburb? There must be many people over there. Since I trained really hard today, I'd rather stay back and watch the store for you today!"
After lunch, Zhang Tie diligently cleaned the house and then pushed his dad and mom out. His dad worked six days a week in the mill, which meant that he often had poor air quality. His mom was even more miserable. She had to stay in the rice brew store six days a week. Thus, at each weekend, in order to make his dad and mom live a better life, he would always persuade them to take a walk, so as to breathe fresh air outdoors. As for himself, he would help them look after the rice brew store.
Seeing their son being obedient and sensible, his dad and mom were naturally happy. However, when they left, his mom still muttered to Zhang Tie, "Remember not to increase the price of the rice brew. When frequent customers come, tell them about the increasing price of rice and grains. Tell them that if the purchasing prices are still that high next week, then we'll have to increase the price a little bit in response. Since they are frequent customers, don't make them feel like we're greedy!"
"I know, mom. You've mentioned it more than thirty times. I've grown up already!" explained Zhang Tie. "I'm already fifteen, you don't need to tell me like you would a small kid or a slow-witted guy. It really hurts my self-esteem!"
"I haven't said it thirty times, five times at most!" His mom pretended to glare at Zhang Tie furiously. At the same time, she also pretended to twist Zhang TIe's ears. In response, Zhang Tie hurriedly slid backward and grimaced at his mom. He then ran into the brew store and yelled loudly, "Zhang family's fresh rice brew. Fragrant, sweet, and delicious. Men will grow stronger with it, and women will be more beautiful with it. Hey, you passersby, six copper coins for a bowl. More sales, less profit…"
"This kid..." Dad shook his head with a smile.
...
Seeing his dad and mom disappearing at the end of the street hand in hand, Zhang Tie touched his fuzzy jaw with one hand. He stared at them for a long time before moving his gaze to their shadows. As his dad and mom have been married for dozens of years, each time they walked outdoors hand in hand, it served as a reminder to Zhang Tie that they were not simply just a couple who had married for many years, but rather a couple of youths who are still passionately in love with each other. This gave Zhang Tie an indescribable feeling.
"Is this love?" Zhang Tie wondered. To be honest, he was not experienced enough to have feelings about it; however, seeing how his mom and dad treated each other, he felt a sense of happiness inside.
After they left, Zhang Tie sat in the rice brew store boringly. He took a fly whisk to drive away the flies. Since rice brew gave off a sweet scent, it naturally attracted flies, even more so on hot days.. Summer would arrive in a couple of months. When it arrives, the door of the rice brew had to be fitted with a bamboo curtain to prevent the flies from entering. However, the delicate exhibitions on the counter would also be covered by the bamboo curtain. As a result, business in the store would decrease. This happened every year in this manner without exception.
It was right in the afternoon when the sun was still hanging in the sky. All the birds were silent as they perched on the parasol trees. After a cold winter, they were finally emerging from their nests, jumping and singing happily as the mottled spots and shadows of the trees were cast onto the streets.
A board had been hung outside the door of the rice brew store: "Sorry, due to the rising prices of grains and other raw materials, it's expected that the price of our rice brew will rise…"
"Lovely dad, if it were Donder, he would definitely have increased the sales price of the rice brew as soon as the price of rice increased," Zhang Tie admired.
After sitting in the rice brew store for half an hour, Zhang Tie sold seven or eight bowls of rice brew. He put the scattered copper coins into a drawer and soaked the empty rice brew bowls and spoons left by the customers into the bowl washing barrel. Watching the rising sun, the hand flicking the whisk became more and more powerless. Zhang Tie felt bored. Surprisingly, as an adolescent, he stayed in here to drive away the flies while other boys his age were playing outside! However, the more bored he was, the more he admired his mom, as she stuck to this for twenty years.
People would always do something when they felt bored, Zhang Tie was no exception. At this time, he practiced the Mental Arithmetic by Abacus, which included many states. The lowest state was what Zhang Tie had reached last night. Before he is able to use the abacus within his mind, he had to close his eyes and think quite a while to form the abacus in his mind. In the second state, one didn't need to close their eyes. Within a few blinks, one could form the abacus in their mind and use it. After all, this was a mental arithmetic skill, which meant it was a practical skill. Naturally, it would be useless if you had to spend hours to form it within the mind with eyes closed.
In the third state, in order to reach the essence of Mental Arithmetic by Abacus, one would have to form an imaginary abacus in their mind and be able to get the answer instantly when they saw any mathematical question. At this stage, one should be able to create an abacus with two to eleven vertical beams, or perhaps even more in mind. Finally, one would be able to form several abacuses in their mind simultaneously and would be able to get the answer within a single blink. This was the sublime state of Mental Arithmetic by Abacus. Once one got to this stage, they would be a super human-sized calculator.
Zhang Tie actually doubted whether it was possible or not for humans to achieve the sublime state. However, when he remembered the blurry words, "Recommended after-class reading for preliminary school students", Zhang Tie heaved a deep sigh. No comparison, no anger. "What are these preliminary school students? They must be really motherf*cking smart." Finally, Zhang Tie even began to think that this book might really have been fetched from the ruins of the Catastrophe. Since the age before the Catastrophe was lustrous and dazzling, things from the ruins were strange and diverse. Expensive crystals used to practice cultivation in this age were just decorations in that age, a time where many people even looked down on it. What if this strange book was truly an ordinary after-class reading material for preliminary school students?
"Whatever, I will practice it and check its effects. It seems that I can recover spiritual energy by practicing in accordance to Mental Arithmetic by Abacus." Zhang Tie intended to confirm it; however, when he thought of the word "whatever", Zhang Tie became absent-minded and the abacus with two vertical beams in his mind instantly collapsed.
Naturally, he needed to treat it seriously…
He found this really hard to accept.
Zhang Tie tried it many times and lowered the time needed to form an abacus with three vertical beams in his mind from ten minutes to approximately five minutes. Unexpectedly, two people suddenly appeared in front of Zhang Tie.
Fatty Barley and Doug were on a bicycle. Doug awkwardly rode the bicycle with difficulty but with happiness as sweat covered his entire forehead. Barley was sitting behind the bicycle cunningly. The moment Zhang Tie noticed them, Fatty Barley, who was glancing over the two sides of the street, also found Zhang Tie.
"Right here, stop!" Fatty Barley shouted and deftly jumped off the back seat of the bicycle and stood on the ground. Hearing this, Doug, who was riding happily, was frightened and shouted, "Argh, brake, brake, how do I brake? Argh... help..."
Bang...
"Bastard, this is a new bicycle dad bought for me!" Barley screamed bitterly.
With his hands on his forehead, Zhang Tie became speechless and closed his eyes…
Two minutes later, Barley and Doug, who were gritting their teeth and rubbing their butts, appeared in front of the Zhang Family's rice brew store. Seeing Doug, who was taking in deep breaths of the aroma of the rice brew and swallowing his saliva, and the obscene smile covering Barley's face, Zhang Tie cursed inwardly. He took out two sets of bowls and spoons and opened one clay pot. He scooped a bowl of rice brew for each of them using a huge spoon and pushed it in front of them. Their eyebrows instantly danced. Without even a word of courtesy, they held the bowls, wolfed down its contents, and cleaned the bowls with their tongues instantly. "Can you be more disgusting?" Zhang Tie complained. The bowls had to be sterilized with boiling water.
Seeing the insinuating smiles over their faces, Zhang Tie instantly collected their bowls and spoons and became serious. "That was my treat just now. Now, it's six copper coins a bowl, do you want more?"
Doug instantly cast his sight towards Barley. Fatty Barley slapped his waist and put a handsome amount of copper coins onto the desk. "Delicious! Two more bowls!"
Zhang Tie also felt it was natural to put their money into the drawer and scooped another two bowls of rice brew for them. Soon after, they finished it. Under the fascinated gaze of Doug, Zhang Tie put their bowls and spoons into the water basin. When Doug moved his sight onto Barley, Barley automatically ignored him and started to talk to Zhang Tie.
"Well… well… what was that? Rice brew?"
"Yes, rice brew! What's up?"
"Heh, heh, home visits are a good tradition of our Hit-Plane Brotherhood!" Barley laughed.
"Well, let's get to the point since time is money"
"Have you heard of the Red-scarf Burglars?"
Hearing the words "Red-scarf Burglars", Zhang Tie was surprised. "Yea, what happened?"
Barley looked around before lowering his voice and repeating the news that Zhang Tie had heard from his brother, "I heard about it last night. That's why I came here to tell all of you today. It's estimated that only a few people know about this news. Whatever, these days, you have to watch out and stay home at night. Do not go out of the city casually. Those Red-scarf Burglars are all cold-blooded butchers. Isn't there a proverb in your Chinese clan that a fire on the city gate brings disaster to the fish in the moats? I hope my brothers won't be those unfortunate fish!"
"You came here today to tell me this?"
"Of course, you think Doug and I like to come out to be burned by the sunlight? After warning you, I still have to warn Sharwin and Hista. Well, I won't disturb your business…"
Seeing the fatty's face, Zhang Tie was slightly moved. "Thank you, brother!"
"Another free bowl for us?" Barley smiled obscenely.
Zhang Tie stretched out his hands and rubbed his fingers. Everyone knew the meaning.
"Ha… ha… see you. We still have other brothers to warn!" Barley slapped the seat of the bicycle and urged Doug to get on immediately. Doug pushed the bicycle a few steps forward before turning around and looking at Zhang Tie as he murmured, "Barley said... men should learn how to ride a bike for the sake of girls!��
"Trust me, I won't tell the others about it. You are really good at riding!" Zhang Tie raised his thumb.
Doug was satisfied. He nodded and awkwardly got on the bike and took Barley away…
It was really unexpected that the news of the Red-scarf Burglars would spread so fast. People in Blackhot City has already become worried about them within two days…
"Never mind, I will keep practicing Mental Arithmetic by Abacus earnestly. Is there any relationship between the Red-scarf Burglars and a trivial person like me?" A self-deprecating smile appeared on Zhang Tie's face.
In the evening, Zhang Tie's dad and mom came home with news. The city defense of Blackhot City has become strict. Identification was required to access Blackhot City in the evening.
After supper, Gregory, the magistrate of this area, knocked at the gate of the Zhang family with a barn lantern in hand. He was sending a notice door by door and told them not to keep strangers at home in the evening. Besides that, they should instantly report any suspicious individual. Additionally, from midnight onwards, night meals in Blackhot City were forbidden…
Half a day after the fatty left, the news of the Red-scarf Burglars had completely spread throughout Blackhot City. An uneasy atmosphere covered the entire city.
However, this had nothing to do with Zhang Tie. After supper, when the magistrate left, Zhang Tie brushed his teeth, washed his feet, and then entered his small room. He then entered the Castle of Black Iron and threw a bag of garbage into the Pool of Chaos. After that, he patted his hands and opened the Basic Attributes Panel of the Castle of Black Iron, staring at the latest attributes of the Castle of Black Iron ——
——Castle of Black Iron
——Length: 1 Krosa
——Width: 1 Krosa
——Spiritual Energy: 1.8
——Merit Value: 43
——Basic Energy Storage: 0.5
——Special Output: Void
...
5 merit value for watching the rice brew store for dad and mom for one day, 3 merit value for doing housework, 8 merit value in total; 1.1 spiritual energy for sprouting potatoes; 0.3 basic energy storage for a bag of rubbish. That was all I gained today...
He took a look at the Manjusaka Karma Fruit Tree again.
103 hours before the first leakless fruit becomes ripe...
Being unable to sleep, Zhang Tie took out the crystal that had been dried under the sunlight for a day. With his legs crossed in the Castle of Black Iron, he started to practice igniting the Shrine burning point. Through a few days of experience in the Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie found that he could calm down and easily enter the state to practice cultivation by staring at the colorful mist that swirled in the Castle of Black Iron.
He soon entered the state to practice igniting his burning point in the Castle of Black Iron. Even though it was the first time, he took several breaths and the Shrine burning point soon radiated with indigo colored flames.
Only by making yourself powerful could you survive in this age. There was no shortcut, except for diligent work — this was the belief that Zhang Tie held for the past fifteen years.
It was the same even in the Castle of Black Iron...