Castle of Black Iron

August 9, 889th year of Black Iron Calendar...

As usual, Zhang Tie was woken up from deep sleep a bit after 6:00 am by his biological clock. The moment he opened his eyes, he felt his physical strength and spirit surging like early sunrise. That was a marvelous feeling.

This was the third day since Zhang Tie had registered in the Iron-Blood Camp.

Unexpectedly, when he put on his pants, he found that the thing which had not erected for six days had finally become grim again. At the beginning, Zhang Tie didn’t realize what it meant, however, the moment he put on his pants, he understood that it was not painful anymore.

’Has the wound recovered?’

Zhang Tie then immediately took off his pants and undid the gauze over his dick. He carefully checked it and found it was truly recovered as a narrow scar now marked it, leaving fresh flesh!

”Hahahaha...”

Zhang Tie burst out laughing as he took off all of his clothes and rushed into the washroom. With the sound of ’Huala huala’, he turned on the hot water and took a long-welcomed bath. After that, he watched that wholly new thing, which was not as ugly as it had been in the past few days.

During these couple days, Zhang Tie had already won a nickname - Mummy!

Although many guys in the Iron-Blood Camp had nicknames, Zhang Tie’s was absolutely the loudest. After learning the reason for this nickname, all the other guys would laugh out loudly...

Nevertheless, Zhang Tie didn’t care about it as he felt it was nothing shameful at all. Since they were all tough men, there was no need to care about that. No matter what, he would not lose even a hair.

The benefit brought by that nickname was that in a few days everybody in the Iron-Blood Camp knew the fresh new guy - Second Lieutenant Mummy! Of course, many people were still calling him boy toy behind his back.

But Zhang Tie didn’t care what they called him. Like what Zerom had said, if other people called him this, he could only take it as their jealousy for his handsome looks and excellent personality. It was definitely a jealousy, an undisguised one at that. Those guys were jealous about him being more handsome than them in military uniforms.

Hahahaha...

There was another thing to deal with today. It was the day of his duel with Sodor.

Zhang Tie knew that it was time to show his prowess. He was too low key in the past few days, so now it was time for him to show his real strength to those bastards.

In the past two days here, Zhang Tie’s biggest achievement was that he had learned how to drive a car. He could already drive a car to fly around the camp, which made his days way less boring than they would’ve been otherwise.

Zhang Tie found it very interesting to drive a car. Like running, anything that could bring him a sense of freedom akin to that of the wind would catch his heart.

Previously, Zhang Tie thought about going out in an average vest and pants, however, after thinking about the duel, he directly put on the lieutenant’s combat suit of the Norman Empire.

Compared to informal dress and ceremonial dress, Norman Empire’s combat suit was more close-fitting, compact, and more flexible. The main material on the outside was leather with reinforced yarn cloth, which had a strong sense of texture, spun in a stone-mill.

Additionally, the suit had defensive capabilities up to a certain degree. It was said that there was a layer of fine wire-working close to the heart and abdomen within the inner layer, which could effectively resist the harm brought by arrows.

The treatment of the Norman Empire’s soldiers could also be seen by this combat suit.

Although this combat suit could not match real armor, Zhang Tie could wear it in his fight with Sodor without having to worry about being harmed.

For a weak person like Sodor, of course Zhang Tie didn’t need to wear any armor.

He put on his combat suit, a pair of high, leather combat boots, and a pair of combat gloves and looked at himself in the mirror. The whole set included two colors, red and black, which matched well with each other and made him more valiant.

”Zhang Tie, you look really handsome!” Zhang Tie mumbled before the mirror before revealing a smile.

He then took up that terrifying, huge battle sword of 358 kg hung on the weapons rack and easily hefted it on his shoulder before walking out of the dorm.

When he left, the morning horn of the Iron-Blood Camp had just been blown.

It was hard to say whether it was because he had well recovered or had greatly improved his strength after eating the two fruits from the small tree, but after only one week, Zhang Tie already felt that the heavy sword was a bit lighter than before, and he could move it much more easily.

When Zhang Tie went downstairs, he met another second lieutenant who had just gotten up. At the sight of the over two meter long heavy sword on Zhang Tie’s shoulder, that second lieutenant was so surprised that his mouth open wide enough to hold a chicken egg.

”Morning, Second Lieutenant Goethe!” Zhang Tie enthusiastically greeted the second lieutenant of the second company of the Iron-Blood Camp who lived on floor three.

”Is the big thing on your shoulder... is it painted wood?”

The second lieutenant stared at Zhang Tie with disbelief. When Zhang Tie greeted him, he could easily and steadily hold it by only one hand. His performance formed a sharp contrast between his average figure and that huge thing on his shoulder which arouse second lieutenant’s suspicion.

Zhang Tie just gave him a smile. Second lieutenant Goethe then walked over and flicked at the blade of the huge sword with his finger. Hearing no sound at all due to its heavy weight, Second Lieutenant Goethe’s face immediately twitched. He forcefully swallowed his saliva and stared at Zhang Tie with surprise.

”How heavy it is?”

”358 kg!”

”Is this your main battle weapon?”

”Yes, when adviser Vessie took me to select my weapons in the arsenal, I felt that this heavy sword was convenient, so I chose it!” Zhang Tie answered in an innocent way.

’What the f*ck is this thing?’

At the sight of the huge saw teeth on the other side of the huge battle sword, Second Lieutenant Goethe felt cold sweat go down his neck. ’Dear god! Why not strike me with that lightning bolt? I also want to get a Post-Lightning Stroke Savant Syndrome!’

Zhang Tie then went downstairs together with Goethe. The latter was really scared. When they parted at the entrance of the dorm building, Zhang Tie came directly to the place where Third Platoon was doing its morning drill.

He then forcefully stuck the blade of the heavy sword into the ground, leaving it leaning there. Zhang Tie himself then waited for those guys of Third Platoon to come out.

Five minutes after the morning horn was blown, fifty tough men of Fifth Company’s Third Platoon of the Iron-Blood Camp quickly collected in the place of assemblage. Of course, everybody noticed Zhang Tie in his combat suit and that terrifying battle sword before him. Not only them, even half of the people on the training ground had taken notice of it.

As a platoon leader, Zhang Tie’s mission was to lead these guys to complete the two hours’ basic training in the morning. Besides that, he could also formulate training content.

”This morning, we will carry out strength training. Have you noticed this sword? If you want to show me you’re real men, go pull out of this sword from the ground and insert it back into the ground like how you f*ck women. If you can’t even do these simple movements, from today on, you should better not say that you’re men in front of me...”

With a smile on his face, Zhang Tie said words as venomous as snake’s bite which stimulated those guys’ pitiful self-esteem of male animals.

Similar to Second Lieutenant Goethe, at the sight of this sword, some of the men also thought that it was just a mischievous trick of Second Lieutenant Mummy—painting a wooden sword to cheat others.

Many people were exchanging glances.

”Who’d like to try and prove that they’re a man?”

”I would!”

Beckham, who was roughly two meters in height, walked out of the group and stopped before Zhang Tie. Stretching out his two hands, Beckham took hold of the sword’s handle. The moment he did so, his face immediately changed as his sense of touch told him that the sword was not made of wood.

”Arghh!”

Beckham growled like a beast. He then made a Ma Bu [1]. Muscles and veins popped out all over him, face turned completely red as he tried to pull the huge sword out of the ground.

After the 358 kgs’ huge sword was thrust into the ground, one needed much more than that the force of that weight to pull it out. Likewise, it was not difficult for one to punch out 358 kgs’ force, but it was much more difficult for one to pick up a 358 kgs’ item.

Finally, when Beckham’s forehead oozed out sweat, he could pull it out less than 10 cm.

After growling like a beast for three minutes, Beckham finally felt soft on his feet, like becoming exhausted all at once, and threw himself onto the ground. After clumsily standing up, shame was written all over his face.

”Who’s next!”

Everybody then stared at each other.

”You don’t even have courage to prove yourself?” Zhang Tie mocked.

”How will you prove us that you’ve inserted it into the ground yourself? How will you prove us that you’re a real man?” a trouble-maker in the platoon rebutted in a weird tone.

”That’s very simple!”

Zhang Tie smiled as he started to use his Qi. Then, he merely used one hand to pull that huge sword out of the ground. After that, he inserted it back in front of everybody; it entered two feet into the ground. He then pulled it out once again and inserted it back.

Seeing Zhang Tie do that twice in a row, everybody became silent, even the trouble-makers shut their mouths...

With his hands crossed behind his back, Zhang Tie looked like a highly skilled fighter. However, his muscles and veins on the hand that he had used to pull out the sword had already started to quiver. Zhang Tie then held it using his another hand.

Although he looked calm in others’ eyes, he felt that he had already used up his most of his energy. Only after two-three slashes, the muscles on his right hand had begun to shake like strings of a harp, sending out a protest to Zhang Tie.

A though flashed across Zhang Tie’s mind, ’If I could’ve killed a pile of huge wolves and eaten several Huge Wolf Seven-Strength Fruits, it would be much easier for me to do this.’

After seeing the demonstration done twice, everybody started to queue up so as to try whether they could pull it out of the ground and insert it back. Everybody wanted to see how powerful Zhang Tie was.

After all the 50 plus guys tried it, their eyes started to fill with awe towards Zhang Tie. Seeing such a great power in front of them, nobody wanted to speak ill of him anymore.

In the end, not only the soldiers of Third Platoon, even other soldiers and military officers of the Iron-Blood Camp had queued up to have a try. They all wanted to test ’whether they were men or not’...

In the end, the soldiers of the Iron-Blood Camp formulated a ranking.

Those who could not move the sword at all were women; those who could pull part of it out of the ground were half-women; those who could completely pull it out of the ground, yet failed to insert it in were half-men; those who could pull it out and reluctantly insert into the ground, yet couldn’t ensure that it stood steadily were impotent men. Only those who could pull it out of the ground and ferociously insert it in, letting it stand steady were real men.

What is a real man? A real man can pull it out and insert it back in!

The entire morning, groups of soldiers and military officers of the Iron-Blood Camp were drawn in by Zhang Tie to growl all over the training ground. Tough guys competed with each other with sweat pouring down their shoulders to gain the reputation of a real man. Those who called Zhang Tie a boy toy immediately found that they could not even match a boy toy. Therefore, they all felt very shameful.

When it was close to lunch time, even Colonel Reinhardt was attracted.

Under the adoring gazes of a pile of animals, the heavy sword was easily pulled out of the ground by Colonel Reinhardt. After several leisurely waves, he slashed with it downwards. At the same time, an invincible strength surged forward from his sword like a lightning bolt and directly plowed a gap in the ground which was one foot in depth and ten meters in length.

Everybody was shocked by such a lightning bolt, including Zhang Tie.

”Hahahaha, this sword feels really great. I’ll get one to play with one day...” Colonel Reinhardt burst out laughing loudly. ”Let all the bastards have a try today. All those called women are forbidden to eat today. From now on, I’d like one competition like this every week, with those who end up called women not allowed to eat on that day. Half-women can only eat one meal. Those who make progress will enjoy an extra meal. As to those real men, this father will award them with a pack of cigars...”

Saying this, Colonel Reinhardt pulled out a pack of cigars and threw it to Zhang Tie. At the sight of it the pile of animals all drooled.

After reaching his goal, Zhang Tie scratched his head. ”Colonel, I’ll need to use this sword in the afternoon. There might not be enough time for everybody to have a try. If so, I’m afraid that it could not come to an end until night!”

”What are you using the sword for in the afternoon?”

”Someone wants to duel me, I have to be there!” Zhang Tie honestly replied.

After saying that, Zhang Tie found that it had suddenly become quiet around. Soon after, including Reinhardt, everybody became infuriated.

”What?! Which bastard dared to call for a duel with a military officer of us, the Iron-Blood Camp?”

Like a lion instigated by an insect, Reinhardt’s angry voice was so loud that it shocked the entire Iron-Blood Camp.

”F*ck him, f*ck him...”

”Call the brothers of the Armored Vehicle Camp to start the war chariots...”

”Get your weapons!”

Everybody then became highly spirited, especially Zhang Tie’s men of Third Platoon who had been conquered by him. They were so excited that they ran around jumping like madmen.

’Why are they so excited? It’s just a duel. No need to make a fuss.’

Zhang Tie felt muddled-headed...

[1] Ma Bu is a basic skill for Kungfu learners. When practicing Ma Bu, they have to steadily stand on the ground with their knees bent like how a horse stands on the ground. After they pass the Ma Bu pass, they could steadily stand on the ground instead of falling down when they fight others.