It also benefited from the terrain. If it was another terrain, the demonized puppets would have greater space to move; if so, the 24 white phosphorous gel bombs would not have such a great impact. However, the most important factor for the triumph of this battle was the overwhelming air domination on Zhang Tie's side that he felt for the first time.
If not on the real battlefield, you would never know the importance of air domination. After this experience, Zhang Tie had a clear recognition of the concept of air domination.
What was air domination? To put it simply, I can beat you; yet you cannot beat me; I will beat you whenever I want. You cannot defend my attack at all. After beating you, I will leave; however, you cannot catch up with me. When you and your enemy were both fighting on the ground, it was a two-dimensional battle; however, when you were in the air and your enemy was on the ground, you would have an air domination.
All the members of the Idiots became excited about such a great triumph. Since they boarded on the airship, they had determined to give a fierce blow to the demons. This battle alone had made every one of them felt it a worthwhile trip. In the words of the first mate, this battle was already fruitful for the battle airship. If it was in a troop, after such a battle, each one of them would be awarded a medal.
Although they were not awarded medals on the Idiots, after this battle, all of them started to believe that the name "Idiots" brought luck to this airship.
If Zhang Tie didn't want to take a look at Oris or determined to join the ground battle, they would not have such a great achievement. Crew members of airship and boatmen were the most superstitious groups; as long as their captain could bring luck and victory to the airship, even though the captain had no idea about command, they could also gain the sincere respect from the crew members and the boatmen.
The human soldiers on the ground were showing their respect to the airship cheerily. Someone sent light signals towards the airship by facing the shiny metal mirrors on their armors towards the sunshine.
"Captain, the ground troop is extending their gratitude to us. They're an infantry brigade being affiliated to the human allied forces against demons in this region. They are inquiring about our designation and want to invite us to their base!" a signal officer soon translated the signals launched from the ground and told Zhang Tie loudly.
"Thanks for their good intention. Tell them, our airship is the private force of Huaiyuan Prefecture, Jinyun Country. We're now heading for Selnes Theater of Operations to give a cool blow to the demons. Good luck to them!" Zhang Tie smiled.
Soon after the light signals were launched downside, another group of signals arrived from the ground.
"They said 'bon voyage'."
"Let's go!"
After the airship made a circle above the battlefield, it left this place for the north. After this battle, Zhang Tie felt that the morale rose across the command module.
"Captain, do you think we can have a good meal as a reward?" the first mate asked Zhang Tie.
"Hmm, tell the cooks to make a good meal for us. Each one could have a cup of fruit wine in the evening. After the dinner is cooked well, you can just eat it. Don't call me unless there's something important. I will cultivate back in my room! When in an emergency, if I don't make any response to you, that means I've closed my senses and could not be bothered. In that case, you can deal with that at your discretion."
"Yes, sir!"
After nodding to them, Zhang Tie left the command module and returned to his exclusive room. On the way back to his own room, all the crew members who met Zhang Tie showed more respect to Zhang Tie.
The captain's room was the most luxurious and spacious one in the airship. The entire room covered more than 30 square meters. Only this room was matched with an independent set of bathing equipment across the battle airship. Only Zhang Tie was qualified to take a bath in the airship. This was one of the captain's privileges.
After entering the room, Zhang Tie locked it from inside. Closely after that, he entered Castle of Black Iron.
After 3 years, too much water was absorbed in the Pool of Chaos in Castle of Black Iron from the subterranean stream. As a result, Heller expanded the territory from less than 1 square km to almost 100 square km. When Zhang Tie entered it, he felt like entering another vast world.
The small tree was still in the center; however, with the help of the increasing number of aura value, many woods around the small tree had been growing very high. Some woods, especially those oaks and parasols crowns were even higher than 10 m or dozens of meters in height. The tidy vineyard, cherry garden and orchards made Zhang Tie pleasant and brought Zhang Tie a sense of achievement.
After remembering the window of basic tributes that he had not checked for a long time, Zhang Tie clicked it casually while a semi-transparent dialogue box appeared in front of his eyes.
Castle of Black Iron:
——Length: 13 krusa
——Width: 13 krusa
——Aura value: 4785189
——Merit value: 793176
——Basic energy storage: 8631473
——Special output:
Animal: No. 1 earthworm, No. 1 bee
Plants: No. 1 potato, No. 1 sand buckthorn, No. 1 grape, No. 1 rice, No. 1 pumpkin, No. 1 wheat.
Microorganism: Essential energy reiki yeast
Zhang Tie felt that he had never been so rich before when he read the dialogue box. Besides the greatly expanded area of Castle of Black Iron and those mutated animals and plants, even the aura value and the basic energy storage of Castle of Black Iron had already reached the millions.
Starting from the essential energy reiki yeast, Zhang Tie named all the mutated living beings in the laziest way. Those living beings would be named according to the times that they had mutated; namely, those being mutated for the first time would be named as No. 1..., those being mutated for the second time would be named as No. 2...; if many sorts of mutation were completed at the same time, the living beings would be named as No. 2.1... or No. 2.2...etc.. Although such as naming method lacked aesthetics, it was very easy and clearly understandable.
In the 3 years during which Zhang Tie fell asleep, the bee, grape, rice, pumpkin and wheat in the Castle of Black Iron had completed one round of mutation. After the mutation, these living beings were very suitable to the environment and more productive. According to Heller, the mutated ones are wholly-new living beings with better traits.
Although these varieties were not available at the present, Zhang Tie always felt that they would play a big role in the future for sure.
After closing the basic attributes panel of Castle of Black Iron, Zhang Tie walked towards the small tree. Among those fruits on the small tree, Zhang Tie indeed caught sight of the trouble-reappearance situation about the latest battle and that fruit of redemption which had been hanging there for a long time——gratitude from sandscale fish.
Zhang Tie put his hand on the fruit and was instantly startled by those words below this fruits.
——Fruit of Redemption——gratitude from sandscale fish. Usage: Pick and directly eat it. Notice: The fruit cannot be taken out of the Castle of Black Iron. After twelve hours of having been picked off the tree, its energy and vitality would gradually decline.
——With this fruit, Castle Lord could improve his cold-resistance by 672% in water and chilly environment and sensitiveness to water flow by 2172%
——This fruit has been well ripe. With it, your cold-resistance and water flow sensitiveness would reach its upper limit by setting free sandscale fish.
——With this fruit, Castle Lord would increase his cold-resistance in water and the chilly environment by 20 times and water flow sensitiveness by 35 times. Some of your DNAs being related to this would be completely activated.
——This time, your body would promote to the preliminary water-proof body.
——The effects of a preliminary water-proof body are as follows:
1. Castle Lord could move freely and have 15% more fighting strength in water; besides, you can dive 20% deeper than before.
2. In the hypoxic environment, Castle Lord could stay 50% longer than before.
3. The gratitude of sandscale fish brings you a nice preliminary water-proof body. As long as you don't attack aquatic living beings below LV 9 on purpose, they would not attack you on purpose in any condition. Besides, aquatic living beings above LV 9 would be less hostile to you.
4. With the preliminary water-proof body, the possibility for you to drive all the aquatic living beings with animal controlling skill would increase by 10%.
Reading this message, Zhang Tie became thrilled. Closely after that, he picked off this fruit and engulfed it quickly. After digesting it in more than 2 hours, Zhang Tie could sense an obvious change in his body.
In such a non-water environment, Zhang Tie became more sensitive to moisture in the air. Even if he closed his eyes, he could still sense the brook being not far from that small tree. What an amazing feeling!
Besides being more sensitive to the moisture in the air, Zhang Tie also became more sensitive to the air flow beside him. After all, water and air were liquid to a certain degree. Besides being different in density, they were similar to each other on many properties. Now that Zhang Tie could have a clear sense of water flow in water, he could also have a sharp sense about airflow, even the latter sense was not more sensitive than the prior one.
This sensitive perception about air flow was what Zhang Tie required the most.
After tasting the effect of the preliminary water-proof body with his eyes closed, Zhang Tie opened his eyes and found that Heller had been standing in front of him.
"Ah, Heller, when did you come here?"
"When you were digesting that fruit of redemption, my lord!"
Zhang Tie then asked Heller, "Can you tell me whether I will still have other fruits of redemption or not if I set free more sandscale fish after eating this fruit?"
"Each species could only provide you a limited number of fruits of redemption, my lord. This upper limit is also the limit of some species on improving your body!" Heller added, "Although you will have no fruit of redemption but if you keep setting free sandscale fish, you could still have merit values. Additionally, the more sandscale fish you set free, the more merit values you will have and less possibility of your water-proof body being attacked by aquatic living beings above LV 9!"
"Why?"
"This fits the mysterious karma. It could be hardly explained. You can think of the reason why humans hate demons. It's because demons have killed too many people and brought too many disasters to humans. Conversely, the more aquarium creatures you save and the more sandscale fish you set free, the more acceptable you will be in the eyes of those aquarium creatures!"
Zhang Tie nodded, "Whether do I need to set free other marine organisms to promote my preliminary water-proof body to medium water-proof body?"
"Yes, you need to set free more senior aquarium organisms to promote to the medium water-proof body. Of course, before you promote to the preliminary water-proof body, you can still gain the fruits of redemption of other living beings. Those fruits of redemption will also bring you some new abilities!"
Zhang Tie nodded. "As my family members would soon leave Huaiyuan Prefecture with Linda, Beverly, Fiona and the other people in Jinwu Castle, I will not consider setting free other marine organisms until they settle down in Eastern Continent. Additionally, I need a chance to explain it to others. If I did it too obviously, it would arouse others' attention. If so, I could not solve the problem with money."
After they settled down in Eastern Continent, according to Zhang Tie's arrangement before leaving Hidden Dragon Island, Zhang Tie wanted Paul to help him set free golden uangs. After losing Seven-Strength Fruits, Zhang Tie had to find a method to improve his strength rapidly. Because strength was the most powerful and effective weapon for a fighter. Many times, the other abilities could only be auxiliary to one's strength. For instance, although this preliminary water-proof body was sharp, Zhang Tie didn't live in water. If he met a powerhouse who was many levels higher than him, he might have no chance to use this talent at all.
Therefore, fighting strength was the most important factor for a fighter.
Zhang Tie really expected to taste the fruit of redemption brought by golden uangs, the king of strength in the kingdom of animals.
"After killing a squad of iron-armored demons last time, besides a trouble-reappearance fruit, I gained nothing else on the small tree." Zhang Tie immediately thought about this when he remembered about the fruit of plunder after killing that shadow demon Abyan.
"Aww, I remember that I killed over 10 iron-armored demons last time. Why didn't I have a fruit of plunder as a reward?" Zhang Tie asked Heller.
"You could only gain the fruit of plunder from shadow demon. It's unique!"
"What kind of fruit can I obtain from killing other demons?"
"Hehe, this question has already surpassed my access. Before the appearance of the fruits, I could not tell you what fruits would be born on the small tree. Because that might lead you onto a very dangerous route only for fruits at any price. We have to follow the natural law. I could only tell you that you will also get a reward by killing other demons; however, the reward has not met the condition of its manifestation!"
"I know!" Zhang Tie nodded as he picked off the trouble-reappearance fruit and ate it. After digesting it rapidly, he left Castle of Black Iron.
...
When Zhang Tie reappeared in his captain's room, nobody in the airship realized that Zhang Tie had improved his ability after just 2 hours.
Cheers faintly drifted from outside the door. This was the first time that Zhang Tie allowed the crew members to drink since they set off. Although each one only had a small cup of drink, the meritorious deed and the grand supper today made everyone excited.
Zhang Tie sat back on his bed with his legs crossed. After that, he activated that trouble-reappearance situation of the fight on the airship and entered it.
...
In the trouble-reappearance situation...
Zhang Tie appeared in the command module of the airship. Looking down from the command module, Zhang Tie found that most of the dense demonized puppets had disappeared, except for a couple of demonized puppets who were watching the airship with a confused look. They wanted to attack the airship; however, they didn't know how; therefore, they could only run here and there after the shadow of the airship.
This trouble-reappearance situation had other meanings for Zhang Tie, Zhang Tie didn't activate all the demonized puppets on the ground. He just activated a couple of them as his prop.
There was nobody in the command module of the trouble-reappearance situation. Zhang Tie came to the position of the helmsman and sat down there. After that, he held the rudder of the airship and forcefully pulled it up. As a result, the huge fury-level airship which was suspending over 400 m high in the sky raised its head and shot up at once.
In a few minutes, when the Idiots reached thousands of meters high, Zhang Tie leveled his rudder and left the command module.
Along the direction of the command module, Zhang Tie came to the glider throwing compartment at the bottom of the airship.
In the glider throwing compartment, a glider whose wingspan was greater than 12 m was standing on the slideway. Its spacious wings and streamlined body were full of aesthetic perception. Its body made of the same material of the airship's air sac protective armor was firm, durable and extremely light. The exterior shape of this glider was very close to the aircraft of humans before the Catastrophe.
After glancing at that glider, Zhang Tie opened the safe buckle of the hatch door of the glider throwing compartment. After that, he checked the connections between the glider and the slideway.
After checking it, Zhang Tie drew in a deep breath and jumped into the cockpit of the glider rapidly. He then put on his goggles, wind-proof hat and gloves. He looked at those operating levers, pedals, buttons and bars in the cockpit as he started to recall the details of the manipulation books about the glider that he had read these couple of days. After that, he rubbed his hands.
"Hopefully, I will not die too miserably on the first attempt!" Zhang Tie muttered as he put down an operating lever on his left hand.
The moment he put down the operating lever did Zhang Tie feel the wild wind. After the hatch door opened, the glider slid off the airship at once...
When the glider slid off the airship, Zhang Tie's heart was suspended for a couple of seconds. Closely after that, he found that the glider didn't keep descending; instead, it opened its wings after leaving the airship for over 20 m...
Zhang Tie exclaimed in the glider, "Wooh!"
Only after ten more minutes, the glider spiraled out of its control and started to dive towards the ground. Zhang Tie quickly undid his safe buckle as he took out a metal mushroom from the cockpit. He then forcefully pressed down a button on the metal mushroom...
Umbrella pieces of the rotachute instantly extended in the air and drew Zhang Tie out of the descending glider...
The first close touch between Zhang Tie, glider and the rotachute came to an end by then...
...
Only after 10 minutes, Zhang Tie had descended in a glider from the throwing compartment of the Idiots once again...
This time, Zhang Tie stood over 30 minutes in the air...
...
Zhang Tie stayed two hours in the air for the 3rd time...
...
In the 4th time, Zhang Tie didn't use his rotachute any longer...
...
In the 5th time, Zhang Tie started to play tricks with his glider in the air...
This indicated the effect of the trouble-reappearance situation. Everything was completely the reappearance of that in the reality. In such a case, Zhang Tie learned how to drive a glider in only half a day.
After constantly audacious attempts at the cost of his life and glider for a few times, Zhang Tie's driving skills improved rapidly...
On the 2nd day, Zhang Tie's driving skills had almost caught up with that of professional drivers...
On the 3rd day, Zhang Tie could already make all sorts of risky movements with his glider within 2 m of the airship.
On the 4th day, Zhang Tie played the hide-and-seek game with a swarm of iron-beak ibises in his glider. As he drove the glider by one hand, he constantly triggered his palm bolts by another hand. With the constant sonic booms, the iron-beak ibises that were chasing after the glider turned into blood mist. It was completely a no-fly zone within 400 m of the glider...
...
On the 6th day, after over one month, the Idiots finally arrived at the Selnes Theater of Operations...