Castle of Black Iron Vol 2 Chapter 5

CoBI, B2 Chapter 5: Merits

Cuppa: Hey guys. The story is supposed to be 889 AC, 2nd Month, not 5th month as stated in earlier chapters, I have checked the future raws and they continue as 2nd month. The author made a mistake with the calendar.

Castle of Black Iron

Length: 1 Krosa Width: 1 Krosa Spirit Energy: 0.7 Merit: 35 Basic Energy Stored: 0.2 Specialties Produced: None

 

Zhang Tie is not surprised at the increase in Spirit Energy, as the potato sprouts grow bigger by the day, the spirit energy they produce will also increase. Since this morning, half a day has pa.s.sed, it would have been weird if there is no increase in Spirit Energy instead.

In the later part when all the plants have germinated and sprout, a peak in Spirit Energy will be expected, this is just the start.

As the other attributes have no changes, Zhang Tie’s shock naturally came from the Merit attribute. He remembers leaving the Castle with one Merit point, a result after experimenting and investing two Merit points into a potato plant that also caused a mutation.

To understand how it could have increased so much in half a day, Zhang Tie open the Merit’s Log to get more information.

 

Black Iron Calendar, 889 AC, 2nd Month, 14th Day, Afternoon. The Handsome and Stalwart Castle Lord a.s.sisted his mother to brew rice wine, reducing the burden placed on his mother and made her feel pleased. Increase 1 Merit point. Black Iron Calendar, 889 AC, 2nd Month, 14th Day, Dusk. The Handsome and Stalwart Castle Lord delivered rice soup to the orphanage and donated 10 copper coins, this charitable act has helped and made many people happy. Increase 32 Merit points. Black Iron Calendar, 889 AC, 2nd Month, 14th Day, Night. The Handsome and Stalwart Castle Lord initiated was.h.i.+ng the dishes and cleaning the kitchen, his family will feel happy that he has kept the house clean. Increase 1 Merit point.

 

As he looked at the huge increase in Merit points, it got Zhang Tie thinking and he checked the first entry of the log, the information introducing the Merit Attribute:

 

Removing Evil and Supporting the Good, is the most benevolent act that creation has bestowed on the mortal world; Respecting the Heavens and Loving the People, is the closest step mortals can use to return to the heavens; Oh lucky one, on your journey to the heavens, please spread the benevolence of creation to the world. Let the G.o.ds understand your heart, please receive the sincerest joy and most heartfelt grat.i.tude from the billions of creatures, please end the evil spirit and the boundless darkness. Let yourself be light, you will discover, that when you have become the light, you will walk the path of light, a glorious and brilliant road has begun to form under your feet!

 

Although there are still a lot of areas he does not understand but as he looked at this paragraph and looked at the increased Merit points, Zhang Tie is greatly encouraged, he has obtained a better understanding on how to earn Merit points.

Even if he currently does not possess the ability to remove evil but “Supporting the Good”, which he translates as doing good to the best of your abilities, no matter how big or small the deed is, if it helps people, allowing them to feel happy, to feel joy, it will earn him some merit points.

Haha, not bad, I love it……

As he suddenly remembers the various “fruits” that the small tree can produce in the future, Zhang Tie release a great laugh, if the Castle of Black Iron transforms into a person and stands in front of him at this moment, he will give her* a big wet kiss……
(Cuppa: Female AI… a boy’s dream…)

After planting the seeds and checked the Castle’s attributes. The spirited Zhang Tie ran to the treasure tree and observed it closely. After a while, a slight surprise was shown on his face as Zhang Tie focus his sights on a branch of the small tree.

Last night, Zhang Tie remembered that the branches of the small tree are empty and bare, but now, one of the branches has a teal colored fruit the size of a grape hanging on it.

As Zhang Tie stretched his hand wanting to touch the fruit. A row of words appeared in front of him before he could reach it.

 

Leak Prevention Fruit is still growing and unable to be consumed. An unripe Leak Prevention Fruit will dissipate into the air if it is plucked from the Thousand Karma Fruit Treasure Tree of Lycorisradiata. Time to Leak Prevention Fruit maturity: 144 hours……

 

The row of words caused Zhang Tie to quickly pull back his hand, as he thought back, when he first entered the Castle, the treasure tree seems to have a.s.sisted him to make this choice, using the leaked energy from his body to grow the Leak Prevention Fruit, is the fruit this grape size thing?

The Leak Prevention Fruit requires 168 hours to mature, which is exactly 7 days or a week, therefore the fruit should mature by next Friday. Although Zhang Tie is yearning to eat it and experience the effects of the Leak Prevention Fruit but he understands the virtue of patience and suppressed his desires.

Zhang Tie continue circling the small tree, only after touching every single one of its odd leaves and weird parts on it did he place his b.u.t.t on the ground, he used both his hands to support his chin and stared blankly in front in a boring manner.

He has been busy for over an hour inside this s.p.a.ce, although initially it was interesting when he saw this barren piece of land but after some time, it is frankly getting boring. Yet now, he still needs to slowly recover his mental energy before he can leave.

Although this is quite a suitable place to train his running but today has been a tiring day and he has no more energy to run.

As it is Sat.u.r.day today and tomorrow will be his father’s off day. Based on his parent’s past routines, they should be staying out longer than usual, it is safe to say that they have not returned home yet.

What to do for the remaining time? Just daydream here and wait for his mental energy to recover? Or… meditation! Zhang Tie laughed at his idea, ha… what a joke, meditation is a high level technique and skill, how can it be learnt in a common school of Black Flame City.

A meditation skill that can increase mental energy might exist in Black Flame City but this knowledge is only held by a handful of people, commoners like him are not fated to acquire them.

Even Captain Colin said before, among the soldiers within the Black Flame City Army, those that possess meditation skills that increases mental energy are few and rare, these people come from all sorts of backgrounds. Even the terrifying one-eye dragon that reached the rank of Captain do not possess one, the others can forget about it.

Without mental energy, training the Divine Palace Light Point is also impossible. After Zhang Tie daydreamed for a while, he suddenly gave his head a heavy pat.

How can I forget about it, I have that < G.o.dly="" abacus="" mental="" arithmetic="">>, since I have time, rather than wasting it on daydreaming, might as well use it to familiarize with the technique inside.

With thought comes action, his brain began to quickly recollect the contents of the book that took him two days to memorize.

Zhang Tie crossed his legs and placed his hands naturally on his legs, with his eyes half closed, he calms his mind within a few short moments, he is not sure why but he entered a peaceful state of mind exceptionally fast today.

As he enters the state, Zhang Tie begin to follow the formulas and instructions within the book and visualize an abacus in his mind, this is the most crucial and important step of < G.o.dly="" abacus="" mental="" arithmetic="">>, every mental arithmetic done is built on the foundation of this abacus that he visualized in his mind.

After the abacus is visualized and stable, the person can began performing rapid mental arithmetic, to better explain < G.o.dly="" abacus="" mental="" arithmetic="">> the logic behind this method in one sentence: It is to use the conscious instead of the hand to move the abacus beads*. Just that simple.
(Cuppa: It is the same logic as pressing the b.u.t.tons on the calculator with your mind instead of with your hands)

The only thing that Zhang Tie did not understand, is that the book requires the abacus formed in his mind to be gold in color, the abacus must also emit a feeling of brilliant radiance.

Why such a request is stated inside, the book did not explain, Zhang Tie also did not understand and did not bother to try finding out, he feels that this is just how things are supposed to be.

Following the instructions in the book, from the big to small, the simple to difficult requests stated. Zhang Tie visualize the rectangular abacus frame, after that he visualize the horizontal divider on it, followed by three vertical files – with three vertical files, it meant he can perform calculations that produces an answer of up to three digits. This is also the lowest requirement of < G.o.dly="" abacus="" mental="" arithmetic="">>.*
(Cuppa: It is something like this but with only three columns of beads, http://www.sin.o.buy.cn/Upload_picture/upload/12032_L.jpg, the picture is reversed, when using an abacus the row with lesser beads should be on top. The one Zhang Tie imagined only has one bead on top instead of two btw.)

After creating three vertical files and stabilizing the image, next is to visualize moving the upper bead on the first file up, followed by moving the four lower beads of the first file to the top, next the upper bead on the second file, then the four lower beads of the same file and so and so for…

On his first attempt, the image dissipates after Zhang Tie moved the first file’s upper bead……

The second time, it is the same……

The third time, he succeeded in moving the first lower bead of the first file…

The fourth time, he managed to move the second lower bead of the first file…

……

Zhang Tie lost count of how many times he has failed before that pitiful three file abacus finally stabilizes in his mind.

What is 125 plus 579, with a thought of his mind, his conscious will move the beads on the abacus by using the formula thought in the book and within moments, presented him with the answer – 704.

18 multiply by 39? After a moment… 702!

987 minus 789? After a moment… 198!

Zhang Tie let out a laugh, although it is tiring but he continued a few more times, performing another round of addition, subtraction, multiplication and division.

The beads on the abacus began to move quickly, after a while – 56 multiply by 29? The golden abacus trembled before shattering into pieces in Zhang Tie’s mind.

Zhang Tie opened his eyes, the answer for the last calculation has exceeded the capacity of three digits, causing the abacus to explode like a steam engine containing too much pressure.

That four silver coins are well spent, after verifying, Zhang Tie did not expect that he can obtain such a big harvest from that spending.

Oh s.h.i.+t, what time is it now. It will be bad if his parents discover he isn’t home, they will surely be anxious!

Zhang Tie stood up immediately, without even stopping to check that state of his mental energy, he quickly closed his eyes, he locked his will onto the arch door – Exit…

The next second, Zhang Tie is back in the bathroom. Using the light from the oil lamp inside, he noticed the bathroom door is still locked and released a sigh of relief. If his parents were to find him missing, they will surely break down the locked door if no one answered them when they discover it is locked.

Zhang Tie opened the bathroom door and sneaked out for a look. When he saw that it is only 11pm, his heart felt relieved, the house is still locked and his parents have yet to return home, what a relief.

As he stood alone on the dark courtyard, looking at the starry sky, Zhang Tie pats his chest and reminded himself that he needs to be careful when entering and leaving the Castle. If this situation was to repeat itself, it is likely that his secret will exposed, better to use his mental energy sparingly in the future, when suddenly, Zhang Tie stood stunned and thought of a question: Something’s not right, how come my mental energy recovered so fast?