Chapter 13

In a daze, Zhang Tie felt the environment around him seem to waver, as if he had suddenly stepped out of a tunnel on a train. The temperature around him changed, and his body seemed to warm up. At the same time, the air he breathed through his nose seemed different, fresher, like the air in a park after the rain. Zhang Tie then opened his eyes. When he opened his eyes, his mouth gaped in shock for a long time, only closing when his saliva started to drip.

Before Zhang Tie was a vast, square piece of land. He stood in the center of this land, which was many times larger than the entire Black Flame City Seventh National School. Standing in the middle, Zhang Tie estimated that each side of the land was more than 700 meters long, making it extremely spacious. There wasn't much on this land, like a barren wasteland. The only protruding object was a small tree about the height of a person, not far from where Zhang Tie stood. Apart from this, the surroundings were empty.

With a strong sense of curiosity, Zhang Tie examined the small tree.

The small tree was lush and vibrant, with each leaf seemingly flowing with a special light, making it particularly eye-catching. What surprised Zhang Tie was that the leaves of the entire small tree had many different shapes and colors, with no two leaves being the same. This gave a very strange feeling, but looking at these differently shaped leaves hanging on the small tree, it also gave a sense of inexplicable harmony, as if this was the perfect way for it to be. The material of the entire small tree was neither metal nor wood, and it was unclear what it was made of.

In the high sky and around this space, threads of colorful mist constantly twisted and changed into various shapes. Just looking at these changing shapes for a moment made one feel refreshed and calm.

The scene he had seen inside the crystal egg a few hours ago was now completely before his eyes—the strange small tree, the colorful mist...

Was this a dream?

Looking at himself, he was still in his sleeping attire, wearing only a pair of shorts, and even the posture of sitting on the bed hadn't changed. He suddenly appeared in this place. Sitting on the ground, Zhang Tie pinched his little brother hard, confirming that he wasn't dreaming. He then stood up barefoot. The place where he was sitting was not far from the small tree, about ten steps away. Walking to the small tree, which seemed to be flowing with light, he circled it twice. For some reason, Zhang Tie felt a warm, blood-related connection to this strange small tree.

Being related to a strange tree, Zhang Tie felt he was going crazy.

Circling the tree several times, he couldn't figure out what was special about it, only that each leaf seemed different. Zhang Tie decided to explore this place thoroughly. The soil here was fine and soft, with moderate humidity and no impurities. Walking on it felt like walking on soft, damp sand. Zhang Tie, barefoot, ran around this space, which wasn't very large, possibly just a little over 0.5 square kilometers, but was still quite big for an individual. Exploring the surroundings, he could see the colorful mist at the edges of this space. The mist rolled at the edges, with a strange elasticity that prevented Zhang Tie from crossing no matter how hard he tried. About 300 meters from the small tree, Zhang Tie found a black mud pit. The black mud pit covered an area of more than 200 square meters, with the mud as black as ink, bubbling, but with no smell, which was somewhat eerie. After looking around, Zhang Tie found that there was no living thing in this space, not even an ant.

"Is anyone here? What is this place?"

"Can someone tell me, what is this place?"

"Is anyone here?"

Zhang Tie shouted a few times, but no one answered, not even an echo. After another ten minutes of checking, Zhang Tie finally confirmed that, apart from the tree, he was the only living thing here.

In the end, Zhang Tie decided to start by understanding the strange tree.

Circling the tree again, the more he looked, the more familiar it felt. Finally, he couldn't resist and gently touched the small tree, whose leaves seemed to be flowing with light. As he touched it, a semi-transparent light blue dialog box suddenly appeared in front of his eyes, with a line of text inside. Zhang Tie was startled by the sudden appearance of the dialog box.

—Manshusha Yinguo Treasure Tree

—The treasure tree detects that the fusioner's body energy is in a state of leakage. Currently, using this leaked energy can generate a flawless fruit. Do you want to generate it?

—Yes... No

There were two option buttons below. Although Zhang Tie had never seen such a thing before, he understood it at a glance. He was stunned, and when he took his hand off the leaf, the dialog box disappeared. When he touched it again, the dialog box reappeared. After trying this several times, although he didn't know what this thing was, Zhang Tie knew it was something extraordinary...

Although Zhang Tie didn't understand what kind of energy in his body was leaking, it seemed that this choice wouldn't harm him. After a few tries, he reached out and chose "Yes" in the dialog box. The feeling was strange; although there was nothing in front of him, when Zhang Tie's hand pressed down, he felt as if he was touching something—

—Flawless fruit generation in progress. Time to maturity: 168 hours!

—Manshusha Yinguo Treasure Tree space management system template creation in progress!

—Please name this space. Note: Once the name is set, it cannot be changed!

—Space name: ———— (followed by a row of flashing dots)

The old dialog box disappeared, and a new one appeared. Looking at the flashing dots for the space name, Zhang Tie stood there for a while, trying to understand what it meant. After some thought, he finally said four words—Black Iron Fortress!

As soon as he spoke, the flashing dots displayed the words—Black Iron Fortress, which made Zhang Tie stand there in shock again.

—Space name: Black Iron Fortress!

—Confirm... Re-select

Zhang Tie reached out and pressed the confirm button. After pressing the button, the old dialog box disappeared, and a new one appeared.

—How would you like the system to address you?

—Your preferred title: ———— (followed by a row of flashing dots)

With the experience from before, Zhang Tie knew what to do. After some thought, since no one knew, he decided to be a bit arrogant and have this thing call him—Majestic and Handsome Lord of the Fortress!

This should be fine, right? No one knows! Zhang Tie thought weakly as he pressed the confirm button. In the end, he steeled himself and pressed the confirm button with a thick face.

—Black Iron Fortress name confirmed, Black Iron Fortress owner confirmed!

—Black Iron Fortress basic management system template creation complete!

The dialog box disappeared, and the thing in Zhang Tie's eyes changed again. A light blue, semi-transparent icon with a small tree and the words "Black Iron Fortress" below it appeared in the upper left corner of his field of vision and began to flash. Zhang Tie, feeling bolder, touched the icon. The icon instantly enlarged in front of his eyes, and several lines of text appeared on the tree trunk, turning it into a tree-shaped menu with four main options.

—Black Iron Fortress Basic Attributes

—Space and Terrain Creation

—Biological and Species Management

—Manshusha Yinguo Treasure Tree Special Seeds and Fruit Generation

Zhang Tie touched the first option, "Black Iron Fortress Basic Attributes," and a new data window opened.

Black Iron Fortress

—Length: 1 Krosa

—Width: 1 Krosa

—Spiritual Energy Value: 0

—Merit Value: 0

—Basic Energy Reserve: 0

—Special Output: None

Length unit—1 Krosa? What is that? How long is it? Zhang Tie had heard of units like millimeters, centimeters, decimeters, meters, kilometers, even light seconds, but what was a "Krosa"? Was there such a unit? Unable to figure it out, he decided not to think about it. It was just a unit of measurement, and as long as he understood it, it didn't matter much. Zhang Tie looked at the other basic attributes and sighed.

It seemed he was starting from scratch. The data wasn't impressive, but Zhang Tie was excited, feeling a sense of starting from zero. Although he didn't fully understand the content, he closed the dialog box and clicked on the next option, "Space and Terrain Creation." Unexpectedly, a message appeared.

—Due to the three reserve values of Black Iron Fortress being 0, the space and terrain creation function cannot be used!

Clicking on the next option, "Biological and Species Management," a new window opened.

—Carbon-based Biological and Species Management

—Silicon-based Biological and Species Management

—Sulfur-based Biological and Species Management

—Other Biological and Species Management

This time, only the first option, "Carbon-based Biological and Species Management," was active, while the others were grayed out. When Zhang Tie pressed the first button, a log dialog box appeared with two messages.

—By allocating system resources to a specific species or individual, there is a certain chance of causing unexpected mutations and evolution in that species or individual.

—The system has detected the carbon-based microorganisms carried by the Majestic and Handsome Lord of the Fortress upon entering the Black Iron Fortress. The Black Iron Fortress microorganism system is activated.

The dialog box automatically disappeared, revealing three new tabs.

Among the animal, plant, and microorganism branches, only the microorganism tab was active.

Zhang Tie opened the microorganism tab.

On the "Microorganism" tab, Zhang Tie saw the microorganisms he had "carried" into the Black Iron Fortress. These were some bacteria and yeast on his body. Everyone has some bacteria, which can be good or bad, so it wasn't surprising. The yeast, he guessed, came from making rice wine at home. He remembered eating three bowls of rice wine downstairs just before, so he must have unknowingly brought some with him. These microorganisms had entered the Black Iron Fortress with him.

Clicking on the yeast, which looked like a water droplet when enlarged, a new interface appeared.

To the left of the yeast icon was a red cross, and below the icon were three progress bar-like sliders. These sliders corresponded to the three attributes in the basic attributes—spiritual energy value, merit value, and basic energy.

Since it didn't seem too complicated, Zhang Tie quickly understood the meaning. The three sliders represented the system resources he was willing to invest in this organism. As long as he was willing to invest resources, the selected organism or species had a certain chance of evolving or mutating.

Zhang Tie then clicked the red cross next to the yeast icon!

—Does the Majestic and Handsome Lord of the Fortress decide to use the space law to eliminate the existence of this species? Note: Once eliminated, it cannot be revived.

—Yes... Cancel...

Zhang Tie was startled by the cold words and quickly clicked "Cancel," deciding to use this function as little as possible in the future.

It seemed quite interesting. Closing this window, Zhang Tie tried the next option, "Manshusha Yinguo Treasure Tree Special Seeds and Fruit Generation," which was currently inactive.

The Black Iron Fortress seemed to be full of secrets. Just as Zhang Tie was about to study it further, a system prompt appeared in his eyes.

—The system has detected that the Majestic and Handsome Lord of the Fortress's mental and physical energy is approaching depletion, and the body's functions are beginning to decline. Due to the system's spiritual energy value being zero, it cannot provide a good recovery environment. The system suggests that the Majestic and Handsome Lord of the Fortress leave the Black Iron Fortress first and re-enter after the body's energy has recovered.

At the same time, the special "door" in his mind emitted a slight vibration, letting Zhang Tie know that to leave, he just needed to lock onto the "door" with his consciousness and say "return" in his mind...

With this reminder, Zhang Tie suddenly realized how tired he was. After a day of ups and downs, his energy was drained. Yawning widely, Zhang Tie thought about it and resisted the urge to continue exploring. He locked onto the door in his mind and said "return" in his mind. Then, he felt the same sensation of passing through a tunnel, and before he could even open his eyes, he found himself standing on his bed in his small room. The surroundings had completely changed, and everything that had just happened seemed like it had never been there. It felt like the background in a photo studio had been changed by pulling a string.

Too damn amazing!

Before he could think about the incredible events that had just happened, a strong wave of drowsiness hit him, and Zhang Tie fell asleep...