12 Rushing Thunder Chop

Li Siwen had observed the location of the lumber mill long ago. Therefore, even after a storm, he easily found that beaten trail in the weeds.

However, he did not sprint the entire day and instead took a break each time after running for a while. This was because the weeds on this side of the stream were the height of his knees. Other than wild wolves, something else might just jump out.

Fortunately, it was a smooth journey. Around 6 PM, sparse forestry and a logging hut came into sight.

Yes, though lumberjacks and farmers were all commoners of the same level, the logging location of the lumberjacks was two to three km away from the territory and was an area where wild animals were easy encounters.

Therefore, they would usually have two or four militiamen on patrol duty. At the same time, the construction of a sturdy logging hut was necessary to ensure that they could hide inside and await rescue when encountering attacks by wild animals.

The nature of their work was entirely different.

For example, with today's storm, the four lumberjacks weren't affected, while the farmers who'd lost their farmers hut were almost entirely wiped out.

Actually, when he saw the logging hut, Li Siwen had felt slightly hesitant. He was afraid that after killing those two farmers, the red name effect would immediately act on him. By right, all average village building orders have such a function, but that statue village building order was indeed odd. Alright, he was making it sound as if he'd seen a normal village building order before.

"It's all or nothing!"

Li Siwen started running, doing his best to make himself appear very miserable. As a matter of fact, he was already very miserable.

Swiftly, four lumberjacks and one militiaman discovered him. The good news was that even the militiaman who was on guard did not become fierce and murderous after spotting him. He only stood in his spot and waited for the distance between them to be closed to ten meters before he asked with a frown, "Fool, why are you running?"

As he questioned Li Siwen, this militiaman didn't even look at him, completely disregarding him as a threat.

Upon noticing this detail, Li Siwen was greatly relieved. He shouted with breathlessness and fear right away, "Wolves, there are wolves! Ate everyone, I, I escaped!"

Hearing Li Siwen's words, the militiaman was instantly on the alert.

"How many?"

"Four, no, five, gray ones, like big dogs!"

"These damn beasts!"

The militiaman cursed, then no longer paid any attention to Li Siwen, moving to call for the other lumberjacks to pack up their belongings and gather. However, Li Siwen noticed that this militiaman kept gazing anxiously towards the depths of the southern forest. Clearly, he was waiting for the Feudal Lord to return. Otherwise, with five wolves, he won't be able to deal with them alone.

At this thought, Li Siwen stuttered, "It flooded, the waters were so strong. All the wheat fields are flooded."

"Hmm? The wheat fields are all flooded?"

The militiaman immediately faltered for a moment, seeming to be in thought. As expected, a thought soon struck him. "Doesn't that mean that even the territory has been flooded?"

Li Siwen did not reply this time. He was a farmer. How would he know about these profound things?

The militiaman evidently grew more restless. It was difficult for him too, having to worry about whether the Feudal Lord could return in time, then also having to worry about the territory being flooded, virtually fretting a person to death.

Only, regardless of how fretful he was, he feared death too. Especially now that the dark clouds were closing in again. He did not even dare to go get information at the wheat field.

"We'll wait here, perhaps the Feudal Lord will return very soon. You——"

The militiaman finally came to a decision. Then he pointed at Li Siwen, seeming to be pondering over the arrangements for him?

Li Siwen immediately revealed a look where he appeared to be so terrified he was about to burst into tears. "I——I'm willing to fell trees, don't, don't chase me away!"

With such a show of cowardliness, even the four lumberjacks were laughing. The militiaman spat a mouthful and mocked, "Then you can go fell trees. Look at your chicken-leg like arms, virtually a waste of food."

Li Siwen was deeply grateful. At present, a lumberjack even tossed a rusted axe from the hut to him. Although they looked down on Li Siwen's thin arms, if they could have someone help to fell trees; what was there against it?

And Li Siwen who had gotten the rusted axe was equally delighted at heart. It really hadn't been easy. He had been coveting such sharp tools for several days. He actually wanted to know if there was a difference in the Vitality Points gained from weeding and feeling.

Though the current sky was dusky, the visibility in the forest remained rather high. The four lumberjacks sat beside the logging hut and chatted while the militiaman continued looking into the depths of the forest. Due to the terrain, this area was free from the flood and these people had been hiding in the logging hut the whole time, hence their understanding of this storm was far less deep than that of Li Siwen. They still had great hopes that the Feudal Lord could return today.

Li Siwen found a big tree as thick as a bucket by himself. He first studied the marks of the other lumberjacks' felling, then started swinging the axe, chopping wildly for a while. He had eaten his fill earlier, so his stamina was able to restore continuously. Even right now, it was at ten points, hence, he was very confident.

Only, once he began with this chop, it lasted until half an hour later. Li Siwen was so exhausted that he was panting hard, covered in sweat. Six points of his Stamina were expended and he'd barely just managed to put this tree down.

The only matter for rejoicing was that this big tree provided him with 0.5 points of Vitality.

But despite so, it was totally not worthwhile.

Because if he was weeding, he only needed nine Stamina points, together with some stamina consumed by the high temperatures, he would be able to save up some Vitality Points in just one morning.

Right now, with felling trees, it meant that he needed to use more than 12 points of stamina before he could earn some Vitality Points. The gains and output were completely disproportionate.

"So is this the difference between these two occupations? But it's not quite right either. Those four lumberjacks may not have as many Stamina Points as I do but the amount of trees they fell every day is a considerable number."

Li Siwen pondered, before the boorish Feudal Lord had burned his boats and created trouble, every noon and afternoon, there would be six militiamen who helped to transport the wood back. Counting the wood that the lumberjacks themselves bring back each day, as well as the wood that they specially spend the whole day transporting back every other four days, every lumberjack could fell at least a dozen big trees every day. Given that bit of Stamina they have, and rations that were like pig feed, how were they able to do that?

Just as Li Siwen settled on the tree trunk and deliberated about the key in this, a brawny lumberjack walked over and grinned at him. "Hey, farming rascal, stop pushing yourself. Your strength can't make it, you won't be able to fell trees. Look!"

While he spoke, this lumberjack wielded his own axe. With a whoosh breaking through the air, that axe landed on the big tree with a bang. The heavy force even made the big tree shake for a moment.

And this one strike was about equivalent to seven or eight of Li Siwen's wild chops.

In other words, Li Siwen needed to expend six points of Stamina to fell a tree, but these professional lumberjacks only needed to expend one point of Stamina or even less of that.

"It's Strength!"

Li Siwen was suddenly enlightened!

"The stronger one's strength, the less the stamina consumed? This principle was probably correct, but it wasn't comprehensive. At the least it has to distinguish between the tasks, for example, embroidery would not be true with this principle. Furthermore, like hoeing, the difference between five points and eight points of strength isn't too great. This is because the upper limit of the strength required for hoeing was highly likely just three points. Hence, what decides the effect is stamina, the higher a person's stamina, the larger the area of weeds hoed."

"Of course, if the difference in strength is too great, for example using a dozen points of strength to hoe weeds, together with excellent tools, that would be playing cheat."

"Similarly, if a person was felling trees, the upper limit of the strength required was likely to be eight, or even ten points. So, when I use five Strength Points to fell a tree, I was obliged to expend more stamina to balance it out. And if I have 10 Strength Points, perhaps the stamina expended to chop down a tree would be about one to two points."

"By this analogy, for the boorish Feudal Lord, Overseer Sun Tieshi, and those soldiers to fulfill the conditions for combat and killing, their Strength attributes, Stamina attributes, and Health attributes all needed to have relatively higher values. Whereas for hunters, Agility attributes and Stamina attributes would have to be extremely high."

"No wonder farmers are the lowest class, it's because they are eliminated from the other occupations. Even lumberjacks, I reckon, would have at least eight or more Strength Points, Stamina Points at about 12. Otherwise, there's no way to explain how they're so capable. Perhaps my 15 points of stamina that I was conceited about is really nothing."

Once the principle worked, for one thing, it works for a hundred other things, that was it.

Li Siwen nodded compliantly, feeling very grateful for this lumberjack's points. So, what he really ought to add to next was actually Strength Points.

"Don't waste your effort, we're most likely going to go hungry tonight. Let's return."

The lumberjack pulled out his axe and informed him. At present, due to the gray clouds gathering above, it was already very dark in the forest. The militiaman and the other lumberjacks were already taking cover inside the logging hut. It seemed like they'd finally become aware of the severity of the situation.

Li Siwen held the rusted axe and followed behind. He appeared to be cautious on the surface but he was repeatedly replaying that extremely strong strike at heart.

Violent, effortless, swift, steady, accurate, it deserved to be called a Rushing Thunder Chop.