Castle of Black Iron

Biodata

Feature	Value
Name	Castle of Black Iron
Original Name	黑铁之堡
Alias(es)	Portable space
Affiliation	Zhang Tie, its confirmed owner and “Fortress Master”
Occupation/Role	Independent spatial world, sanctuary, cultivation ground, storage space, and managed settlement
Status	Active; later incorporates the Mountain Ruins of the Sky-Piercing Realm 2005 2033
First Appearance	13

Power Progression

Stage / Realm / Level	Chapter	Notes
Initial activation	13	Zhang Tie confirms the Castle’s name and ownership. Its initial management system contains Basic Attributes, Space and Terrain Creation, Biology and Species Management, and Manjusaka Karma Myriad Fruit Tree functions.
Resource conversion	16	The Pool of Chaos converts matter into Basic Energy Reserve; Zhang Tie gains Merit Value through actions that bring happiness to others.
First constructed facilities	205	Two single-story cabins and a two-story cabin are installed, creating a grain warehouse and biological laboratory. Origin Energy Spiritual Aura Yeast begins a second mutation and evolution.
Intelligent administration	263 265	Heller manifests as the Castle’s intelligent spirit and proposes self-sufficient agriculture, greening, a freshwater lake and wetland, and a proper castle. Spatial storage also permits items to be transferred without Zhang Tie entering.
Sanctuary and settlement	599 621	Zhang Tie transfers rescued human captives inside. The Pool of Chaos becomes the River of Chaos around Divine Mountain, while a human settlement begins forming on the surrounding plain.
Major terrain transformation	689 690	The space gains dramatically expanded land and sea, a Sacred Mountain exceeding 10,000 meters, lakes, rivers, fertile land, forests, and weather under the Fortress Master’s control.
Elemental Passage	1193 1253	After the Pool of Chaos advances into an Element Abyss, it establishes a channel to the Elemental Realm and continuously converts absorbed elemental energy into Basic Energy Reserve.
Continental-scale expansion	1194 1253	The Castle reaches 4,000 square kilometers before gaining over 180,000 square kilometers of land and water, including a 2,000-square-kilometer training ground and an ocean exceeding 20,000 square kilometers.
Self-sustaining resources	1493	Its plant life generates enough Spirit Qi to match or exceed the Element Abyss’s energy intake; Zhang Tie’s victory in his wager with Sagus also enables continual automatic Merit Value generation.
Mountain Ruins integration	2005	The Castle fuses with the Sky-Piercing Realm’s spatial orb and devours the entire Mountain Ruins.
Vast independent world	2033	Its land spans several hundred million square kilometers, surrounded by oceans and islands; floating mountains fill an expanded sky, with the remnant core of Incomplete Mountain at its highest point.

Background / History

Zhang Tie first enters the Castle as a barren, square space bounded by seven-colored mist. After choosing the title “Handsome and Magnanimous Lord of the Castle,” he becomes its recognized owner and gains access to its management interface. Its original terrain consists chiefly of fine soil, a small tree, and a black bubbling pool later identified as the Pool of Chaos. 13 16

Initially, Zhang Tie develops the Castle through manual labor, imported seeds and supplies, merit earned through good deeds, and energy created by feeding matter to the Pool of Chaos. His early projects include crops, buildings, food storage, a laboratory, and mutated biological resources. 16 187 205

The Castle’s development accelerates after Heller appears as its intelligent spirit. Under Heller’s administration, it becomes a self-sufficient estate with cultivated land, wetlands, lakes, buildings, servants, and a growing human settlement. Rescued captives become its first permanent residents, many of whom eventually regard Zhang Tie as their god and creator. 265 599 621 690 895

After the Pool of Chaos evolves into the Element Abyss, the Castle gains a continual source of elemental energy for large-scale expansion. Its final documented transformation follows its fusion with the spatial orb of the Sky-Piercing Realm, which absorbs the Mountain Ruins and turns the Castle into a world of immense land, ocean, islands, and floating mountains. 1193 1253 2005 2033

Appearance

The Castle’s appearance changes radically with each terrain transformation. It begins as a desolate square tract of land, but grows into a populated world centered on Divine Mountain and the Palace Tree. 13 621 2033

• Initial landscape — flat, soft, moist soil; a small tree; a black bubbling Pool of Chaos; and impassable seven-colored mist at the boundaries. 13
• Divine Mountain — a sacred central mountain surrounded by the River of Chaos, with broad natural golden stairs descending from its summit. 621
• Climate — multicolored clouds and mist fill its skies; its weather, including rainfall, can be controlled by the Fortress Master. 689
• Later geography — fertile land, forests, rivers, lakes, an ocean, settlements, mineral deposits, and specialized ecological environments. 690 1195 1253
• Post–Mountain Ruins form — several hundred million square kilometers of land, oceans dotted with islands, and floating mountains suspended across an enlarged sky. 2033

Abilities & Functions

Interdimensional Entry and Storage

The Castle is linked to a mysterious archway in Zhang Tie’s sea of consciousness. He may enter through focused thought and return to the outside world by willing himself back. 13 16

• It can transfer objects in and out without Zhang Tie physically entering; he tests this by sending and retrieving soap and water. 265
• Zhang Tie can move people, corpses, equipment, and captured enemies into the Castle. 599 659 1019
• It serves as his safest refuge and allows his true body to remain protected while he controls external incarnations. 626
• Access is not absolute: in the Sky-Piercing Realm, Zhang Tie can use it only around the new moon or full moon. 1686

Pool of Chaos and Element Abyss

The Pool of Chaos reduces matter into Basic Energy Reserve, the resource that supports spatial and terrain creation. 16 1193

• A piece of Fool’s Gold produces 0.1 units of Basic Energy Reserve when converted. 16
• The pool later becomes the River of Chaos surrounding Divine Mountain, then advances into the Element Abyss. 621 1193
• After merging with a Star of God fragment, the Element Abyss draws elemental energy from the Elemental Realm continuously. 1193 1253
• The River of Chaos functions as a defensive barrier; even a powerful outsider crossing its bridge would fall in under the Castle’s spatial laws. 621

Resource Management

The management system tracks Spirit Qi Value, Merit Value, Basic Energy Reserve, and special outputs. 13

• Merit Value is earned through actions that positively affect others, such as helping Zhang Tie’s parents with household work. 16
• Merit later generates automatically because Sagus’s Demon God Blood Oath spares large numbers of people from altered fates each day. 1493
• Spirit Qi Value is generated by life within the Castle and can accelerate plant growth and biological evolution. 34 349
• Basic Energy Reserve finances new terrain, subterranean environments, land, water, and mineral formation. 349 1195
• Mineral deposits require appropriate templates supplied from outside; their grade and appearance remain partly random. 1195

Space and Terrain Creation

The Castle can construct and reshape its surface, subterranean, and underwater layers through its management system. 13 349

• It creates terrain almost instantaneously after Zhang Tie exits and re-enters the space. 128
• It can form freshwater springs, lakes, wetlands, rivers, forests, caves, oceans, and specialized habitats. 128 265 406 690
• It can generate underground environments suitable for silicon-based plants such as Blazing Red Lotus. 349
• The Fortress Master can alter land thickness to exchange depth for a larger habitable surface area. 689
• A 2,000-square-kilometer private training ground is created to prevent Zhang Tie’s combat practice from damaging inhabited lands. 1253

Biological and Fruit Generation

The Castle’s biology system manages animals, plants, and microorganisms introduced into the space. 13

• Its first active category is microorganisms carried in by Zhang Tie, including bacteria and yeast. 13
• Zhang Tie can invest resources into mutation and evolution, including for crops and Origin Energy Spiritual Aura Yeast. 19 205
• The Manjusaka Karma Myriad Fruit Tree function supports special seed and fruit generation. 13
• The Castle eventually contains nearly every plant species from the outside world after Zhang Tie imports extensive seed banks. 1493

Cultivation, Recovery, and Confinement

The Castle provides an unusually secure environment for recovery, training, and detention. 621 1024

• Time inside is synchronized with the outside world. 304 419
• Zhang Tie recuperates from severe injuries there; within a month, his shattered leg is seventy to eighty percent healed. 621
• It supports long-term cultivation and intensive combat practice. 684 982 1253
• Captured Devil Race knights can be imprisoned in its dungeon and restrained by devices made by Edward. 1024
• Its isolation makes it central to Zhang Tie’s use of the Soul-Entrusting Beast-Taming Art and external incarnations. 626

Intelligence and Administration

• Heller — the Castle’s intelligent spirit and steward, appearing as a formally dressed butler. He is achievement-oriented, designs development plans, manages resources, and advises Zhang Tie on the Castle’s capabilities. 263 265
• Agan — servant skilled in agriculture and construction; assists with fieldwork and building projects. 419 621
• Edward — servant noted for cooking, construction, equipment work, and producing restraints for prisoners. 621 1024
• Aziz — servant skilled in agriculture who also assists with the care and handling of prisoners. 621 973
• Castle residents — rescued humans and later settlers who treat the Castle as their homeland and Zhang Tie as its creator. 621 690 895

Story Role / Major Arcs

• Zhang Tie’s secret advantage — the Castle becomes his primary hidden resource shortly after he discovers it, allowing him to cultivate, produce supplies, and conceal his growth. 13 71
• Preparation for war — Zhang Tie begins storing food, supplies, laboratories, and housing in anticipation of widespread chaos. 187 205
• Refuge for captives — he uses it to rescue human prisoners from beneath Mist Moon Forest, transforming the empty space into a settlement. 599 621
• Knight-era sanctuary — it enables Zhang Tie to recover, cultivate, hide his true body, and conduct operations behind enemy lines through external incarnations. 626 789
• Earth Knight trump card — by combining the Castle with a temple core crystal ball, Zhang Tie gains environmental control that lets him contain and train against a Devil Race Earth Knight. 968 973
• World-scale refuge — continued expansion, autonomous resources, and the absorption of Mountain Ruins turn the Castle into a potential sanctuary on the scale of a small subcontinent or greater. 1493 1771 2005 2033