Castle of Black Iron

Men usually took baths very fast. Only a bit over ten minutes later, Zhang Tie already stood in front of Second Lieutenant Vessie in a set of fresh new clothes and shiny sheepskin boots. At the sight of him, everybody was stunned. Not only them, even Zhang Tie himself could never believe that the handsome youth in the mirror was him.

That youth in the mirror had white and smooth skin, tender yet distinct features. The black and silky hair indicated his abundant nutrition and great vitality. Although he was not tall not too tough looking, he was very balanced. All the lines and proportions of his body displayed the special adolescence and perfection of the young. But despite that youthful look, there was a certain air of maturity about him.

To tell the truth, since the start of the survival training, Zhang Tie had not used a mirror. So he had no idea that he was absolutely different from that poor youth from several months ago after eating a pile of Leakless Fruits, Iron-body Fruits, Trouble-Reappearance Fruits, and Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruits.

He looked very reserved now. Besides that, he was distant and noble. And those qualities seemed as if they had been with him since he was born.

It was especially made to look so by that set of dark red informal dress of the Norman Empire’s lieutenant, as well as the pair of boots. The former was made of a good material, while the latter was something that Zhang Tie had never worn before, and the two together made him shine as brilliant as a polished jewel.

Honestly, when he caught sight of that image in the mirror, the first thought that came to his mind was not delight, but jealousy. After realizing that he was envying himself, his heart then filled to the brim with a sense of excitement.

Zhang Tie turned round and round before the mirror for at least two minutes before finally confirming that the guy with a pretty nice look in the mirror was truly him. He then grimaced to himself in the mirror and left the bathroom.

The moment Zhang Tie came out, he attracted all the other soldiers’ attention, who were were also wearing dark red military uniforms of the Norman Empire.

When he stopped before adviser Vessie, Calvin, and that military officer of the Logistics Base, the three guys who were smoking and chatting immediately popped out their eyes with mouths wide-open. At the same time, adviser Vessie’s tobacco fell to the ground. Neither of them had imagined that the previous dirty person would turn into a handsome youth that now stood in front of them.

”You’re... Zhang Tie?” adviser Vessie asked to confirm it.

”I also realize that I’m very handsome in military uniforms, this set looks like it was specially customized to suit me! No envy!” Zhang Tie spoke in a witty way like before.

Adviser Vessie’s eyes glittered, and it was hard to say what he was thinking about.

Calvin ran to Zhang Tie and buckled everything to his uniform: the collar insignia, epaulets, and chest badges. He then helped Zhang Tie put on his military cap that was specially designed for second lieutenants and buckled his cap badge before fastening the waistband around Zhang Tie’s waist.

When he was done, Zhang Tie was like a brilliant person that had walked out of a painting.

Calvin burst out laughing and said, ”Brat, since I’ve begun doing this earlier, I could sense that this would end in a great achievement!”

”Colonel Leibniz really has special vision!” After watching Zhang Tie for awhile, the military officer of the Logistics Base also praised with his eyes on adviser Vessie, ”This man is born to wear military uniforms! I’ve never seen anyone so suited to them...”

Previously, this military officer was just taking Zhang Tie’s affair as a public affair, therefore, he treated him solemnly; however, now, he treated Zhang Tie much more enthusiastically. Perhaps, as Calvin had said, it could truly bring a sense of achievement to a person when he saw a poor youth becoming brilliant right in front of him.

”Have you chosen your weapon?” that military officer asked Zhang Tie.

”No!”

”Then, let’s go to the arsenal to select a proper weapon for you!”

Soon after, the four people entered the arsenal of the Logistics Base.

A lieutenant of the Norman Empire could own three weapons: a uniformed dagger, an imperial long sword, and one another. The long sword was a ceremonial requirement for attending special occasions for every military officer.

Besides the two aforementioned weapons, the last one was determined by the troop the lieutenant was in and his concrete position. The third weapon was called the main battle weapon. For instance, besides the two previous weapons, a commander of a pike matrix would always own a customized long pike as his main battle weapon; the military officers of the Iron-Horn Cavalries would choose a heavy saber or a long pike; while soldiers and military officers who were carrying out special tasks would even choose machine bows or common bows.

The types of dagger and long sword were singular, but when selecting his next one, Zhang Tie became dumbfounded.

The arsenal of No. 39 Division widely broadened his vision since besides crates of uniformed weapons, there were also various long and short cold weapons that Zhang Tie had never seen before. They dazzled him.

Unexpectedly, when he scanned over the weapons, he just passed by the light weapons without even giving them a second look, he instead became obsessed with the heavy and large ones. Looking at Zhang Tie’s figure, the other three people started to doubt whether he could even move them or not.

Finally, after circling half of the colossal arsenal, Zhang Tie saw an item on the shelf. Eyes turning shiny, he hurriedly walked towards it.

It was a set of lances, similar to the ones he’d used in the survival training, placed in a cylinder which was longer than one meter. However, the first difference was that this set of javelins were completely made of metal, instead of being composed of a wooden handle and steel head. The second difference was that the heads of the lances that he used in survival training were as sharp as needles, but the heads of these ones were triangular and much larger.

Zhang Tie pulled one out and weighed it. He felt that it was at least 13 kg and was roughly 10 cm longer than the ones he’d used before. It felt much more suitable.

To him, the previous lances were akin to straws. Those light sticks did not match his present strength or help him exert his maximal fighting force anymore.

These javelins’ bodies were composed of different sections, each section of different width due to the principles of aerodynamics. The sections with different widths felt much more coherent. Holding the lance, Zhang Tie even sensed a fighting spirit from it. Besides, he could feel the delicate anti-slippery patterns on its body.

All in all, if the previous lances were regarded as the previous Zhang Tie, these lances were like the present him; the latter version was much better than the earlier one.

”Do these items belong to one set?” Zhang Tie pointed at the cylinder and asked.

Whether looking at the modeling, the workmanship, or the texture, this cylinder used to contain the lances was dozens of times better than the one he’d used during the survival training.

”Yes, these items belong to one set, but...”

”Can’t I select them?” Zhang Tie immediately asked.

”No, precisely, these items were not made for individuals but for the Iron-Horn cavalry. Several years ago, the imperial weapons manufacturing department produced these items, planning to use them to arm the Iron-Horn cavalry. They wanted to see the power of the Iron-Horn cavalry when it had the help of these javelins. However, after giving them out to the troop, the end result was really poor...”

”How could that be? I feel that they’re great!”

”The Iron-Horn cavalry felt that these items were too heavy. If they were equipped on the Iron-Horn beasts, it would slow the speed and weaken the endurance of the animal as well as the agility of the whole troop.

”In addition, if these javelins were to display their true power, they would have to be thrown with a great power, yet could not reach too far. This would pose extremely high requirements to the personal strength of the cavalrymen.

”If only a few of them could do that, they could hardly threaten their opponents. Additionally, it was much more difficult for them to throw javelins as precisely as shooting arrows from a common or machine bow.

”If throwing weapons were needed, most of the Iron-Horn Cavalry would prefer axes instead of javelins. Therefore, several days later, as the troop didn’t have a high evaluation of these javelins, the plan to equip the Iron-Horn beasts with javelins was aborted. The remainder was left here several years ago!” the military officer of the Logistics Base patiently explained to Zhang Tie.

”Fine, I’ll take it!”

Saying this, Zhang Tie took the cylinder which contained nine identical javelins. He didn’t know that such as simple move stimulated the eyelids of the other people beside him to jump crazily.

There was a total of nine javelins inside the container, each of which weighted 12.6 kg. That, added with the weight of the container which was made of aluminum alloy, steel wire, and leather, weighed roughly 120 kg in total. Many people would hardly even lift it using two hands, while this youth took them with only one hand. That was really an amazing strength he possessed.

Zhang Tie didn’t realize that after eating nine Wild Wolf Seven-Strength Fruits, he had gained nine wild wolves’ strengths in his body. That meant that the total weight of this equipment was shared by nine wild wolves, over 10 kg for each. And for a wild wolf, was this a heavy weight?

Additionally, Zhang Tie was already a LV 4 warrior. Although the container felt a bit heavy in his hand, it was not too difficult for him to hold it.

After exchanging glances with each other, both adviser Vessie and that military officer of the Logistics Base saw great amazement in the others’ eyes.

Recruited by Colonel Leibniz, the youngest lieutenant in the entire division, part of the Iron-Blood Camp, having extremely great strength, excellent looks, elusive fighting force—when all these conditions were combined into one person, Zhang Tie, that military officer of the Logistics Base immediately realized that this youth before him might be a successful and worthy investment.

”Strictly, these lances are like arrows and easily worn away, so they’re not main battle weapons. I can present them to you if you like...” The military officer’s of the Logistics Base eyes became warmer. ”You seem to have a great strength, perhaps you can try a special lieutenant-level item that others could not use...”

Zhang Tie’s curiosity was immediately piqued.