Castle of Black Iron

To be honest, Zhang Tie sometimes felt that he was a lunatic. Like now, although he knew there was nobody home, Zhang Tie still checked his room carefully before he would enter the Castle of Black Iron. He then tightly closed the window in his room and the mouth of the staircase. After all, this was a special experience. Zhang Tie himself also didn’t know if there would be any strange sound or light when he entered the Castle of Black Iron. Besides astonishment and surprise, he also felt stressed about having to keep the secret. Hence, it would always be better to deal with it carefully.

After checking his room, Zhang Tie felt like he had forgotten something. His mind spun before he patted his head and murmured, “How could I forget this!?” Zhang Tie lowered the staircase and went downstairs to the courtyard neighboring the kitchen. On a wall of the courtyard hung two strings of dried corncobs. Zhang Tie took one of the corncobs, and after thinking for a while, he entered the kitchen and found two sprouted potatoes from a bag in the corner of the kitchen. He then returned upstairs, back to his room in the attic. Moving to the utility room, he found the two halves of the common pyrite that had been thrown aside. He also found an abandoned steel bar that was longer than a meter. Finally, he found the dagger which was given to him as a present by his elder brother from the drawer at the head of the bed. By either holding onto these articles or by hanging them onto his clothes, Zhang Tie kept his eyes closed in the room and started to touch the arched door in his consciousness.

It might have been because he had already experienced the Castle of Black Iron twice, but he was able to touch the door much faster this time. Within approximately twenty seconds after Zhang Tie had closed his eyes and slowed his breathing, the door had already appeared in his mind.

“Enter!” Zhang Tie thought to himself. He felt the surrounding rays of light slightly sway, and by the time he opened his eyes, he was already in that weird space.

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

Once again, a familiar systematic dialog box appeared in front of Zhang Tie and disappeared in several seconds.

“Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord”, “Welcome”. “Those are some really mother!@#$ing good words!” Zhang Tie thought to himself pleasantly. He then hurriedly checked his “equipment”.

With a steel bar in his right hand, a dagger buckled to his waist, potatoes and corn cobs in his left hand, and two halves of a common pyrite in his pocket, if someone had seen Zhang Tie’s weird appearance, they would definitely mistake him for a lunatic. They would never believe that Zhang Tie was thrilled at this moment

Zhang Tie sprung up from the ground and yelled with increasing excitement, “Great! I can actually bring things in.” Suppose he had not discovered the other functionalities of the Castle of Black Iron, this function alone would have already made Zhang Tie thrilled for a long time. This function meant that Zhang Tie could hide things in this secret warehouse and would definitely be useful in the future.

“I’m rich, I’m rich…” with his excitement rising, Zhang Tie spun many times on the ground before recovering his composure. Now that the first function of the Castle of Black Iron has been confirmed, it was the right time to look for its other functions. Thinking of this, Zhang Tie let go of the steel bar and potatoes that were held in his hands and pulled out the two pieces of common pyrite and the dagger that was buckled on his waist before throwing it all on the ground. After this, Zhang Tie squatted. Holding onto the dried corncob, he began to peel off the kernels. There were more than two hundred niblets on the corncob, which occupied almost half the space of the pockets on his trousers. After the niblets were removed, he threw away the bald corncob. Zhang Tie then held onto the steel bar, stood up, and began to look around.

The space was exactly the same as it was yesterday — the colorful fog swirled above the space, and the weird small tree and the black mire at the center of the space remained unchanged.

After circling the extremely spacious land, Zhang Tie finally selected a place and brutally inserted the sharp end of the steel bar into the mud.

Puh, 20cm of the steel bar was fully submerged into the mud.

“Oh, it’s a little bit deep. I remember that teacher said 10cm was enough,” Zhang Tie scratched his head bashfully and pulled the steel bar out of the mud. Given the quality of the mud, the moisture of the soil under this land was ideal, so Zhang Tie became more confident.

Puh, he inserted that end of the steel bar into the soil once more. Its depth this time was almost half of the previous attempt. “It’s ready,” Zhang Tie thought to himself. He then pulled out the steel bar, and a shallow hole appeared in the mud. He pulled out a dried niblet and placed it inside the hole before covering the hole with soil. In this manner, he sowed his first niblet; this was the simplest method to plant corn. Zhang Tie was filled with excitement. After he did it for the first time, the following attempts would be easier. Zhang Tie imitated what he had done the first time: steel bar in, make a hole, niblet in, and cover it with soil with 50 cm distance between the two holes.

Puh, a niblet in, bury it...

Puh, a niblet in, bury it...

Puh, a niblet in, bury it...

Puh, a niblet in, bury it...

Only after more than 10 minutes did Zhang Tie finally finish sowing all the niblets. He irregularly sowed them in seven or eight rows. After that, Zhang Tie ran back to the pile of articles he had left. He pulled out the dagger and sliced the two sprouted potatoes into five or six pieces. He returned to where he had sown the niblets and dug several pits in a row beside them with the dagger before he buried the potato pieces one by one. After all this work, Zhang Tie patted his dirty hands with satisfaction and smirked for a while. He then inserted the steel bar between the area with the niblets and the area with the potatoes as a marker.

The niblets were on the left side of the steel bar, while the potatoes were on the right. Whether or not they would grow up, only God would know.

Zhang Tie felt pretty happy when he had finished the second task in the Castle of Black Iron. Sorting through the articles, Zhang Tie walked towards the mire with black bubbles. He had already thought it through and came to the conclusion that everything in this space would be useful, including the black mire.

This time, Zhang Tie moved closer to the mire until he was at the edge. Naturally, Zhang Tie was no fool. He didn’t directly touch it, as this place gave him the feeling that it was extremely dangerous and that people should stay far away from it. Zhang Tie knew that if he touched it with his hands, the result would be extremely miserable.

After circling the edge of the mire twice, Zhang Tie could still not figure out what it was used for. Finally, his eyes turned bright as an idea came to mind. He needed to verify his idea, thus he went back to the two halves of common pyrite, took them into his hands, and ran back to the mire. About ten meters away from the mire, he waved his hands and threw one of the halves of the common pyrite into the black mire. The moment the common pyrite was cast into the black mire, Zhang Tie hurriedly opened the management panel of the Castle of Black Iron and clicked the Basic Attributes of Castle of Black Iron on the menu:

——Castle of Black Iron

——Length: 1 Krosa

——Width: 1 Krosa

——Aura Value: 0

——Merit Value: 1

——Basic Energy Storage: 0

——Special Output: Void

“The Merit Value has increased to 1. That’s strange, where did it come from?” Zhang Tie was slightly confused. However, all of a sudden, the value of “Basic Energy Storage” changed from 0 to 0.1. At the same time, the font of the option also became brilliant and alive, changing from a gray font to a raised blue font.

——Basic Energy Storage: 0.1 (blue)

The raised item reminded Zhang Tie of the “Enter” button in the system, thus Zhang Tie attempted to press the item “Basic Energy Storage”. As a result, a semi-transparent log window appeared in front of Zhang Tie. There were two tips on the dialog box. The first tip was at the top center of the dialog box and read:

——Everything in the universe is a manifestation of energy. Matter is a form of condensed low-frequency energy, and space is a form of sublime high-frequency energy. Therefore, all matter and space can be reverted to its original energy.

——At 20:38, May 13th, 889th year of the Black Iron Calendar, a common pyrite was converted by the Pool of Chaos. As a result, the Castle of Black Iron has gained 0.1 unit of basic energy storage!

“The strange black pool is called the Pool of Chaos. It’s somewhat useful; I can throw objects inside and convert them into the most basic energy. Isn’t it similar to the garbage disposal incinerator in Blackhot City? Garbage was burned in the incinerator, while the heat generated from it can be used to provide central heating for the residents in Blackhot City. By contrast, the Pool of Chaos seems much greater!” Zhang Tie’s excitement rose when he solved the problem and knew the function of the strange black mire. As for the first tip on the log, Zhang Tie blurrily felt that it was important, but he could not understand it at all. Hence, he ignored it.

“Energy? Matter? Space? What the !@#$!” Zhang Tie became irritated as he could not understand it. “It’s just a mother!@#$ing pool, a garbage treatment plant. What the !@#$?”

Closing the dialog window, Zhang Tie touched the “Merit Value” option. He clearly remembered the value of “Merit Value” was 0 last time. How could it have become 1 today? Additionally, the font color and state of the two words, “Merit Value”, were evidently the same as that of the “Basic Energy Storage”. He opened it without any hesitation.

Similar to the previous dialog window, there were two tips in the dialog that popped out.

——

Do good deeds and eliminate evil — the largest mercy in the Human World;.

Worship the gods and love the people — the nearest stairway to heaven;

Lucky people, please show the mercy of the creator to the secular world, so that the Gods can understand you;

Please receive the most sincere pleasures and appreciation presented to you by the hundreds of millions of living beings;

Please end the evil souls and the endless darkness to become the light, and when you are the light, you are definitely walking on the light and a magnificent road will be prepared for you.

The first tip on the log brought Zhang Tie a huge impact. Reading it, Zhang Tie’s eyes inadvertently became wet. When he read the second tip, his tears kept flowing down.

——On the evening of May 13, 889th year of the Black Iron Calendar, Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord ate together with his family members. You took initiative and washed the bowls after supper, cleaned the kitchen, and kept your house clean, which made your parents appreciative. Therefore, you gained 1 Merit Value.

It turned out that dad and mom were so easily happy!

Although the problem of “Aura Value” has not been solved yet, he had already gained a lot. In a complex mood, Zhang Tie left the Castle of Black Iron. All of a sudden, he returned and stood for a period of time before rushing out of his room madly.

Three hours later, when Zhang Tie’s dad and mom opened the door, they found that the house was clean, including the floors, walls, table, and chairs, as if they were new. Everywhere was well cleaned, even the places and corners piled with sundries. Being startled, the dad and mom stood there for quite a while.

“What happened? We were just out for two hours, did we open the wrong door?” Zhang Tie’s dad felt it was strange.

Opening her mouth, Zhang Tie’s mom doubted that there was something wrong with her eyes. Right then, lifting a barrel of water in one hand and a map in the other hand, Zhang Tie walked upstairs. At this moment, they understood.

“Son, did you do this?” the dad stared at Zhang Tie with a weird look.

“Yea!” Zhang Tie smiled, wiping the sweat from his forehead.

“Son, what’s wrong? Don’t scare me!” the mother stretched out a hand to touch Zhang Tie’s head nervously. Usually, Zhang Tie had never been that enthusiastic and diligent, although he had also taken initiative to help with some housework in the past.

Hearing this, Zhang Tie became moved and bashful. “Dad, mom, I’m ok. Whatever, I’m free anyway, so here’s a surprise! How about it? Are you happy?”

A surprise from their son? Zhang Tie’s dad and mom looked at each other. Heaving a deep sigh, they showed a smile, nodded, and replied, “Happy!” in unison.

Zhang Tie also smiled, feeling endlessly satisfied...

Lying on the bed, Zhang Tie entered the Castle of Black Iron once again and threw the remaining half of the common pyrite into the Pool of Chaos so as to eliminate the last evidence of the Castle of Black Iron in this world. He opened the Basic Attributes Panel of the Castle of Black Iron:

——Castle of Black Iron

——Length: 1 Krosa

——Width: 1 Krosa

——Aura Value: 0

——Merit Value: 2

——Basic Energy Storage: 0.2

——Special Output: Void

As expected, “0.1” was added to the Basic Energy Storage. Opening the dialog box of the Merit Value, Zhang Tie saw a new log:

On the evening of May 13, 889th year of the Black Iron Calendar, Handsome and Magnificent Castle Lord took the initiative and cleaned his home and made his parents happy. As a reward, you have gained 1 more Merit Value.

With a satisfactory smile, Zhang Tie fell asleep……