In a daze, Zhang Tie felt the world around him blur for a moment, as if he had just ridden a train out of a tunnel. The temperature shifted slightly, and he seemed to grow warmer. The air he breathed through his nose felt different, too—fresher, like the scent of a park after rain. Zhang Tie opened his eyes, and his jaw dropped in astonishment. It stayed that way until he started drooling, which finally snapped him out of it.
Before him stretched a vast, flat, square expanse of land. Zhang Tie stood in its center. The area was many times larger than the entire Black Flame City Seventh National School. Standing in the middle, he estimated that each side was over seven hundred meters long. The place seemed incredibly empty. There was little to see, as if it were barren land. The only thing rising from it was a small tree, about as tall as a person, growing near the center, not far from Zhang Tie. Apart from that, the surroundings were completely bare.
Filled with curiosity, Zhang Tie took a closer look at the little tree.
It grew thick with branches and leaves, each leaf seeming to shimmer with a unique glow that made it stand out. What astonished Zhang Tie was that the leaves came in all kinds of shapes and colors. Almost no two were alike, giving the tree an extraordinarily strange appearance. Yet, as strange as it looked, seeing all those differently shaped leaves hanging from its branches gave him an inexplicable sense of harmony, as if this was how it had to be to be perfect. The tree itself seemed to be made of neither metal nor wood; he couldn't tell what it was made of.
High above and all around this space, strands of multicolored mist twisted and shifted, changing into all sorts of shapes. Watching them change for even a moment filled him with a sense of clarity, calm, and serenity.
The scene he had seen inside the Crystal Egg a few hours ago was now right before his eyes—the strange little tree, the multicolored mist...
Was this a dream?
He looked down at himself. He was still dressed as he had been when he went to bed, wearing nothing but a pair of underwear. He was even sitting in the same position he had been on his bed, yet he had suddenly appeared in this place. Sitting on the ground, Zhang Tie pinched his little brother hard. Convinced he wasn't dreaming, he got up barefoot. He had been sitting not far from the little tree, perhaps ten steps away. He walked over to the tree, which seemed to shimmer all over, and circled it twice. For some reason, he felt a warm, blood-deep connection to the strange little tree.
Being related to a strange tree—Zhang Tie felt like he was going crazy.
After circling the tree several times, he still couldn't make heads or tails of it. He only knew that it was strange to see a tree whose leaves all seemed different. Zhang Tie decided to explore the place properly. The soil here was fine and soft, with just the right amount of moisture and not a trace of impurity. It felt like walking on soft, damp sand, so he simply went barefoot and took off at a run, exploring the surroundings of this space. It wasn't especially large—perhaps a little over half a square kilometer—but it was still plenty big for one person. At the edges, he could see the multicolored mist from far away. It churned along the boundary, pressing against him with a strange springiness. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn't get past it. Less than three hundred meters from the little tree, Zhang Tie found a black, muddy pit. It covered more than two hundred square meters, and the mud inside was as black as ink. Bubbles churned constantly on its surface, yet it had no smell at all. It gave him the creeps. After looking around, Zhang Tie realized that apart from himself, there wasn't a single living thing in this space—not even an ant.
"Is anyone here? What is this place?"...
"Can someone tell me what this place is?"...
"Is anyone here?"...
Zhang Tie bellowed at the top of his lungs several times. No one answered—not even an echo. After spending another ten minutes checking the whole space, Zhang Tie finally confirmed that apart from the tree, he really was the only living thing here.
In the end, Zhang Tie decided to start by figuring out the tree and learning more about this strange place.
He circled the tree twice again. The more he looked at it, the more familiar it felt. At last, Zhang Tie couldn't resist reaching out and gently touching the little tree, whose leaves all seemed to shimmer with flowing light. As soon as he touched it, a translucent, pale-blue dialogue box appeared before his eyes, with a line of text inside. The sudden appearance of something before him startled Zhang Tie.
--Manjusaka Karma Myriad Fruit Tree --The treasure tree has sensed that the fusion user's bodily energy is currently dissipating and leaking. It can use this dissipating energy to produce Flawless Fruit. Produce one? --Yes... No
Two option buttons appeared below. Zhang Tie had never encountered anything like this before, but he understood what to do at a glance. His eyes widened in shock. When he took his hand away from the leaf, the dialogue box vanished. The moment he touched it again, the box reappeared. He tried several times, and it happened the same way every time. He had no idea what this thing was, but he knew it was definitely extraordinary...
Although Zhang Tie couldn't figure out what energy in his body might be dissipating and leaking, this choice didn't seem likely to harm him. After trying a few times, he reached out and selected "Yes" in the dialogue box. It was a strange sensation. There was nothing in front of him, yet when he pressed his hand against it, he really felt as though he had touched something—
--Flawless Fruit generating. Time until maturity: 168 hours! --Creating the Manjusaka Karma Myriad Fruit Tree Space Management System Template! --Please name this space. Please note: once the name is confirmed, it cannot be changed! --Space name: -------- (followed by a row of blinking dots)
The old dialogue box vanished, and a new one appeared. Zhang Tie stared at the row of blinking dots beside the space name for a long while before finally figuring out what it meant. After some thought, he said four words: "Castle of Black Iron!"
As soon as the words left his mouth, four characters appeared among the blinking dots: Castle of Black Iron. This left Zhang Tie stunned all over again.
--Space name: Castle of Black Iron! --Confirm... Choose again
Zhang Tie reached out and pressed the confirm button. As soon as he did, the old dialogue box disappeared and a new one appeared.
--How would you like the system to address you? --Your preferred form of address: -------- (followed by a row of blinking dots)
With the experience he'd just had, Zhang Tie already knew what to do. He thought it over. No one would know, so there was no harm in being a little boastful. He didn't have to worry about anyone thinking he was disgusting. So Zhang Tie decided to have the thing address him as—"the handsome and imposing Fortress Master!"
That shouldn't be a problem, right? No one would know, anyway! Zhang Tie thought somewhat sheepishly as he pressed the confirm button. In the end, he steeled himself and pressed it anyway.
--Castle of Black Iron name confirmed. Owner of Castle of Black Iron confirmed! --Castle of Black Iron Primary Management System Template created!
The dialogue box vanished, and Zhang Tie's view changed once more. A translucent, pale-blue icon appeared in the upper-left corner of his field of vision. It showed a little tree with the words "Castle of Black Iron" beneath it, and it began to flash. Growing bolder, Zhang Tie tapped the icon with his hand. It instantly enlarged before his eyes. Several lines of text appeared on the tree's trunk, turning it into a tree-shaped menu. It had four main options.
--Castle of Black Iron Basic Attributes --Space and Terrain Creation --Biology and Species Management --Manjusaka Karma Myriad Fruit Tree Special Seed and Fruit Production
Zhang Tie tapped the first option, "Castle of Black Iron Basic Attributes," at the base and trunk of the function tree. At once, a new data window opened.
Castle of Black Iron --Length: 1 Krosha --Width: 1 Krosha --Spirit Qi Value: 0 --Merit Value: 0 --Basic Energy Reserve: 0 --Special Output: None
A unit of length—one Krosha? What was that? How long was it? Zhang Tie had heard of millimeters, centimeters, decimeters, meters, kilometers, and even sound-seconds and light-seconds, but what was a "Krosha"? Was there really such a unit of length? He couldn't figure it out, so he simply stopped trying. It was just a unit of measurement; he only needed to keep track of it. It probably wasn't all that important. Zhang Tie looked at the other basic attributes, then let out a long breath.
So it was completely empty! The numbers didn't look good, but Zhang Tie was still eager, with the feeling that everything was starting from zero. Though he couldn't quite understand all these details, he closed the dialogue box and tapped the next option, "Space and Terrain Creation." To his surprise, this was what appeared before him:
--The three reserve values of Castle of Black Iron are all 0. Space and Terrain Creation is unavailable!
He tapped the next option, "Biology and Species Management," and another window opened.
--Carbon-based Biology and Species Management --Silicon-based Biology and Species Management --Sulfur-based Biology and Species Management --Other Biology and Species Management
This time, only the first option, "Carbon-based Biology and Species Management," was available. The others were all grayed out. When Zhang Tie pressed the first button, a log window popped up with two messages.
--Allocating system resources to a particular species or organism has a certain chance of producing unexpected mutations and evolution. --The system detected carbon-based microorganisms carried by the handsome and imposing Fortress Master upon his entry into Castle of Black Iron. The Castle of Black Iron Microorganism System has been activated.
Once the dialogue box vanished automatically, three new tabs appeared.
Of the three branches—animals, plants, and microorganisms—only the microorganism tab was currently active.
Zhang Tie opened the microorganism tab.
Under "Microorganisms," Zhang Tie saw the microorganisms he had "brought" into Castle of Black Iron: some bacteria and yeast from his body. Everyone carried more or less some bacteria. They could be good or bad, so that wasn't strange. As for the yeast, he guessed he had picked it up while his family was brewing rice wine. He remembered having eaten three bowls of rice wine downstairs just before, so he must have gotten some on himself without noticing. Then those things had come into Castle of Black Iron with him.
He opened the yeast icon, which looked like a drop of water when enlarged, and another screen appeared.
To the left of the yeast icon was a red X. Beneath the icon, the system provided three slider-like controls. They corresponded to the three attributes in the basic attributes menu: Spirit Qi Value, Merit Value, and Basic Energy.
Since it didn't seem too complicated, Zhang Tie only gave it a quick glance before roughly understanding how it worked. The three sliders seemed to represent the system resources he was willing to invest in this organism. As long as he was willing to invest resources, there was a certain chance that the selected organism or species would evolve or mutate.
Zhang Tie then tapped the red X beside the yeast icon!
--Has the handsome and imposing Fortress Master decided to use the laws of space to annihilate this species? Please note: once annihilated, it cannot be revived. --Yes... Cancel...
The cold words startled Zhang Tie, and he hurriedly pressed Cancel. He decided he had better use this function as little as possible from now on.
It seemed pretty interesting. After closing the window, Zhang Tie tried the last option, "Manjusaka Karma Myriad Fruit Tree Special Seed and Fruit Production," but it was currently inactive.
Castle of Black Iron seemed to be full of countless secrets. Just as Zhang Tie was about to investigate further, a system prompt appeared before his eyes.
--The system has detected that the handsome and imposing Fortress Master's mental and physical strength are nearly depleted, and that his bodily functions are beginning to enter a negative state. Since the system's Spirit Qi Value is zero and it cannot provide a suitable recovery environment, the system recommends that the handsome and imposing Fortress Master leave Castle of Black Iron for now. He may enter again once his bodily energy has recovered.
At the same time, the special "door" in his Sea of Consciousness gave a slight pulse. Zhang Tie understood that if he wanted to leave, he only had to lock onto the "door" with his mind and say "go back" in his heart...
The reminder made Zhang Tie suddenly realize how tired he was. After a whole day of ups and downs, with his emotions swinging between shock and delight, he had used up a lot of energy. He gave a huge yawn. After thinking it over, Zhang Tie forced himself to resist the urge to keep exploring. He locked onto the door in his mind, then silently said, "Go back." Then came that sensation of passing through a tunnel in an instant. Even with his eyes wide open, Zhang Tie couldn't tell how he had gotten out. He only felt the arched door in his mind shudder, and then he was standing on the bed in his little room. Everything around him had changed in an instant. It was as if none of what had just happened had ever occurred. He had returned to where he had come from. It felt like being in a photo studio, where the photographer pulled a cord behind the backdrop and changed the scenery while taking a family portrait.
This was fucking incredible!
Before Zhang Tie could even think about the utterly unbelievable things that had just happened to him, a deep wave of fatigue swept over him. He fell straight into bed and slept...