Castle of Black Iron

Chapter 295: Preparations

Translator: WQL Editor: EbonyFrost

After smoothly passing the test on Yaksha in the sea, being close to the Long Wind Pearl Field, Zhang Tie returned to Hidden Dragon Palace. After eating lunch in the Breaking-Heavens Department, Zhang Tie returned to his own residence before going to the Items Department with money.

Previously, when Zhang Tie came to the Items Department, he was here to submit navy-blue iron ores. This time, he was here to prepare for the first evolution of his ancestral bloodline. He needed to order something here.

It was boisterous in the Items Department. The blast furnace in the department was emitting hot waves. Over 100 people were here. Zhang Tie could hear the sound of knocking iron instruments everywhere. Some of those people were his senior brothers in the Breaking-Heavens Department.

"It’s not that easy to be a craftsman apprentice. Do you think that it’s like girls’ embroidery?" The moment he entered the second gate of the Items Department, he had already heard a loud,rude shout. "Hold the heavy hammer and maintain your strength and rhythm. Have you seen the steam-driven forging hammer? When you can keep outputting a steady level of strength for twelve hours straight like that machine, I will teach you something new. If you cannot even match a machine, how can you dream to be a rune manufacturer..."

Although he didn’t know who was being scolded in the courtyard, hearing the acrid words, Zhang Tie was also frightened as he shrugged his shoulders. "It’s so difficult to be a rune manufacturer, what about being an alchemist then? As is expected, each step towards the top professions is pretty difficult."

After passing the exterior of the Items Department, Zhang Tie directly came to the weapons store in the the core area. It was a 5-floor pavilion. The higher the floor was, the more expensive the items being sold would be. Because Zhang Tie didn’t need very expensive items, he just took a look around the first floor in the weapon store.

When he was in the Iron Blood Camp, Zhang Tie had visited the arsenal of the Iron Horn Army twice, therefore, he knew weapons well. Only after a look around on the 1st floor, Zhang Tie had been surprised as even the common weapons on the 1st floor were obviously better than those lieutenant-level weapons in the arsenal of the Iron Horn Army of the Norman Empire. Each item here was of top quality in the Iron Horn Army.

The 1st floor of the weapons store covered several hundred square meters, which was filled with rows of weapon hangers. On the hangers, there were all sorts of weapons like sabers, spears, swords, halberds, axes, tomahawks, hooks, forks, soft whips, hard (iron) whips , hammers, claws, tangs(a weapon that was composed of a stick handle and a half-moon like head with a pike between the two wings of the half moon), sticks, shuos (a heavy weapon for cavalry, which is the heavy- and elite-type of long spear), maces, iron or wooden crutches and bolas. Zhang Tie didn’t even know some of their names. Perhaps it was a man’s nature, as when Zhang Tie saw the sparkling weapons, he felt his adrenaline surging heavily as his eyes started to shine.

When Zhang Tie stood in front of a 2-m longer weird, horrible battle sword which was hung on a hanger and recalled his "Man’s Certificate", one person had already walked in front of him.

"Junior brother, are you choosing weapons?"

Zhang Tie looked at him and found it was a senior brother in Breaking-Heavens Department, "Yes, I want to buy something here!"

"Hehe, take a look slowly. If you have enough money, you can choose something better on the 2nd floor. Each weapon over there is more than 100 gold coins. Each item on the 3rd floor is worth more than 500 gold coins. Each on the 4th floor is worth more than 3000 gold coins. As all the items on the 5th floor are rune weapons, I don’t suggest you to take a look there, as they are so expensive they’ll make you lose your passion for life..."

Hearing the senior brother’s words, Zhang Tie burst out laughing, "Senior brother, are you also here to be a rune manufacturer?"

"Not that easy..." The youth then forced a bitter smile, "I’m not even a craftsman apprentice now. I’ve just hammered in the ironware processing workshop for half a year. After passing the test, I was dispatched here to be familiar with the quality, duration, material, forging techniques, design ideas and styles of each weapon on the 1st floor. At the same time, I can also look after the store for the manager. Not just being a waste!"

"You are so modest, senior brother. Many people are not even qualified to look after this store even if they wanted to!"

"Oh, junior brother, which weapon do you want? I can provide some suggestions for you!"

"I want to have a look at the long spears or javelins!"

"Thrown weapons? Come here, I will show you these weapons..." The senior brother then led Zhang Tie to another hanger, on which some javelins were displayed. Zhang Tie casually took one and had a try. That familiar sense reappeared. These javelins were definitely of the best quality that Zhang Tie had ever seen. The body of the javelin was designed in terms of aerodynamics. It consisted of several sections, each of which had different thicknesses, giving it an obscure but beautiful look.

"Senior brother, what’s the price of these javelins?"

"The javelins here are all sold by group. Each group contains 9 javelins and is equipped with a backpacked metal container. Each group weighs 116 kg in total. They are very powerful. The price of each group of javelins is 34 gold coins. You can also have a look at this one..." Saying this, the senior brother took out a short javelin. With a casual handshake, the 30-cm javelin instantly became longer than 1 m, "This is the hidden type telescopic javelin. It is more portable. When you don’t use it, you can carry it with you. When you use it, only by shaking the handle, you will see its body. A group contains 42 javelins. They are suitable to fight enemy within short distances!"

Zhang Tie took it and realized this telescopic javelin is really of a delicate structure. Although being very portable, it was not his target here.

After putting that hidden telescopic javelin onto the hanger, Zhang Tie asked, "Senior brother, can I customize javelins here?"

"Of course, the items workshop can produce all the items you require!"

"That’s great. I want to customize a batch of special javelins. Here’s are the requirements..." Zhang Tie took a common javelin and started to talk about the requirements with this senior brother.

The javelins required by Zhang Tie were divided into different groups. Those that were normal size were placed in one group; those that were 1 inch smaller than normal size were placed in one group; those that were 2 inches shorter than normal size were placed in one group; and those that were 3 inches shorter than normal size were placed in one group; Likewise, the size of the javelins gradually reduced by 1 inch one group by another. The last group was only 3-5 inches. To tell truth, these items could not be called javelins any more as they were even much shorter than the head of a javelin.

Hearing Zhang Tie’s requests, the senior brother was really shocked as he had never been met with such a request. However, he didn’t ask why, because everyone in the Breaking-Heavens Department had their own secrets. It was not good to be too curious here.

"Junior brother, as you’ve ordered 40 groups here, it will cost you a lot!"

"Hmm, I know it will cost me a lot. Therefore, I only need 6 javelins for each group. This way it’ll be much cheaper."

"Yes, you can save on one-third of the price this way. Follow me, I will calculate the price of these items for you!"

Zhang Tie and the senior brother came to the counter on the 1st floor. After that, the senior brother took a pen and started to record these items before calculating the price of them on paper.

"Junior brother, if your requests are met, you need to pay 418 gold coins at least!"

Hearing the figure, Zhang Tie also became a bit hesitant as it was truly not a small amount of money for a newbie in the Breaking-Heavens Department. He had to save money. When he was picking up navy-blue iron ores from the sea, he could only make a few silver coins for one day’s hard work. Although he had money now, he knew that he should be frugal in preparation of worse scenario.

"Senior brother, how about a bit cheaper?"

"The javelins need to be made of special alloy. Plus its material expense, processing fee and other necessary cost and profit, this is the lowest price."

"Hmm, my items are just consumable. They don’t need a special alloy. Just use some steel with high endurance. Can they be cheaper then?"

"If so..." The senior brother then started to calculate on the paper once again, "If you use common high-intensity steel, you could truly save a lot. Here it is...you only need to pay 189 gold coins! Are you sure that you only need high-intensity steel? This material could only last a few years!"

A few years, hehe, that’s enough. It will not take me that long to finish my first round of evolution of my ancestral bloodline.

"I’m sure!" Zhang Tie nodded.

"We need to settle the bill here. Have you brought your money junior brother?"

"Yes, I have!" Zhang Tie directly paid the 189 gold coins.

The senior brother then opened an order for him, "You can come back for them in 3 days!"

Zhang Tie hadn’t imagined that he could get these things in only 3 days.

After exiting the Items Department, Zhang Tie returned to the teaching building of the Breaking-Heavens Department and paid for the compulsory courses during the first year

Zhang Tie chose the following courses: "General History of Humanity", "Review on Human Culture on the Continents", "Geography", "The Great Charter of Brilliance", "Clan System" and "National Wealth Theory". All the above courses were Zhang Tie’s shortcomings that he might not have been able to learn about when in Blackhot City.

All the above courses only required gold coin instead of clan contribution points. After submitting the gold coins, Zhang Tie could come to the Breaking Heaven-Department to listen to these courses at any time. Each course would be allocated between 3 teachers in the Breaking-Heavens Department. As the teaching schedules of these teachers were staggered, one could choose the appropriate teacher’s class at their discretion.

As long as one felt that they could pass the test for a course, one could apply for the examination at any time of the year, even if one didn’t attend the class at all. By contrast, if one failed to pass the test, he had to take the course again to be qualified to attend the exam the next year. That meant that one had to pay for the course again. The resources in the Breaking-Heavens Department could never be used for free.

After checking the schedule of these courses and his number for the examination, Zhang Tie finally had the feeling that he had truly started learning in the Breaking-Heavens Department and have become a member of the Department.

After finishing to affairs in the Hidden Dragon Palace, Zhang Tie rushed to the wharf to set free fish as per usual. After that, he returned to the canteen of the Breaking-Heavens Department to have supper. When he went back to his residence in the Songtao Pavilion, Zhang Tie received the first letter from home.

One week prior, Zhang Tie’s elder sister-in-law gave birth to a healthy, fat son for Zhang Tie’s elder brother. It weighed 2.3 kg. The third generation of Zhang Tie’s family finally came into this world. Zhang Tie, although being only 16 years old, had enjoyed the honor of being an uncle. His whole family became so excited that Zhang Tie’s dad named the baby Zhang Cheng’an[1].

"Cheng’an...Cheng’an...can he really be safe?:" When he thought of the holy war between humans and demons, Zhang Tie suddenly felt a heavy burden on himself.

Over the next 3 days, Zhang Tie became more diligent as he was trying to improve his real strength and broaden his horizons each day.

In the morning, as a yaksha in the sea, Zhang Tie had to be in the pearl field 1 hour before those girls arrived at the Long Wind Pearl Field so as to check the situation of the sea near the pearl field and drive away sharks and some other dangerous marine organisms. If he couldn’t drive them away, he had to kill them without letting them bleed.

After clearing up the dangerous creatures in the pearl field, Zhang Tie started to swim in the sea area around the pearl field with the other yakshas and formed several safety lines and flowing sentry posts underwater near the pearl field. It was a very labor-intensive work as yakshas had to stay in water for over 10 hours a day. Besides taking a breath every so often, they even had to rest under water. It became completely impossible for them to eat and drink.

Yakshas couldn’t leave the sea until all the pearl divers and girls in the pearl field had left the water and the safe lamp of the lighthouse, which was built on the top of the castle beside the pearl field, was turned on.

People who were capable of doing this work should have the following qualities: excellent diving skills, good physical strength, and a strong willing with a sense of responsibility.

On the second day after Zhang Tie met and made the appointment with Liuxi for a drink, on the table, Zhang Tie was introduced to some friends of Liu Xi. As they were all of the same age and had no estrangement, they soon became familiar with each other. Knowing that Zhang Tie was a yaksha in the sea, they began to admire Zhang Tie’s diving skills. Through the new friends’ introduction, Zhang Tie knew more about the rules in the Breaking-Heavens Department.

Not until then did Zhang Tie know that there was still a Hidden Dragon List in the Breaking-Heavens Department. There were 4 sub-lists under the Hidden Dragon List: Hidden Dragon Wealth List, Hidden Dragon Fighting Force List, Hidden Dragon Clan Contribution Points and Hidden Dragon Craftsmanship List. People who could rank first on the four sub-lists would be instantly arranged in an important position by the clan and became an outstanding person once he left the Hidden Dragon Palace. People whose names could be seen on the 4 sub-lists were definitely remarkable in the Breaking-Heavens Department. Everyone that cultivated in the Breaking-Heavens Department hoped to see their names on the 4 sub-lists.

Those figures on the 4 sub-lists were all above level 7 and the elites of the Breaking Heaven Department.

"Where can I see the 4 sub-lists?"

"Hehe, as you are new here, you might not be familiar with it. You can see the 4 sub-lists in Qinyun Palace. Qinyun Palace is the place where we trade items and exchange intelligence. "Liu Xi replied.

Zhang Tie then kept the sub-lists and the name of Qinyun Palace in mind and planned to go there to see the excellent figures of the Breaking-Heavens Department.

Speaking of lists, Zhang Tie suddenly recalled the two senior brothers who chased after Deng Tong, the sea monster above water, and killed him on the passenger liner. The two senior brothers had distinctive styles, which greatly impressed Zhang Tie. Zhang Tie speculated that their names might be on the Hidden Dragon Fighting Force List.

...

On the third day, after Zhang Tie finished his work as a yaksha in the sea and set free the fish, he came to the Items Department for his javelins. They were put in 3 big crates...

[1] Cheng’an, 承安, which means to be safe forever.