Castle of Black Iron

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.

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