Dante, who was standing nearby, seemed to notice my distress and smiled as he comforted me.

"Sir, you're not used to using the stone axe yet. It's like this at first. Once you get used to it and your hands develop a thick layer of skin, it won't be so uncomfortable."

I know perfectly well what Dante meant by thick skin. It is true that this can wear down calluses on your hands in the shortest amount of time, protecting your palms from damage.

But the beginning of this process is also the most painful. Getting blisters on your hands on the first day is almost inevitable.

If you don't pop the blister, it will keep swelling and hurting. But if you pop the blister, it will heal faster, but for a while the wound will feel like it has been mixed with chili peppers and alcohol.

That pungent, piercing pain can torment you so much that you can't even fall asleep. The next day, when you touch a tool while working, it feels like you're holding a red-hot branding iron.

Seeing that I was having a hard time chopping, Dante came over and demonstrated how to use the stone axe to chop into the tree more efficiently.

Dante told me that before chopping, I must first hold my breath in my chest, and at the moment of swinging the stone axe, use a hidden force to pass that held breath through my waist and hips to chop the tree at the same time.

This method of chopping, one stroke at a time, not only saves energy but also makes the process more efficient.

As he spoke, Dante gathered his strength and chopped down on a tree about the thickness of a calf. At that moment, I noticed that the depth of Dante's chop was significantly greater than the depth of my own.

I was as excited as a student who had discovered a new continent. It turned out that the stone axe was not powerless; it was just that, like the ancient techniques of starting fire by friction, it required some skill to master.

I adjusted my angle and the way I held the stone axe, and began to feel the changes that came with holding my breath and stabilizing my chest, just as Dante had described.

I stared intently at the tree in front of me, then steadied myself and swiftly chopped down with the axe.

This time it didn't reach Dante's level, but it was deeper than the knife marks I made from my previous haphazard swings.

"Yes! That's it, sir. If you just keep chopping like this, you'll soon be able to chop as fast as us."

Dante hadn't expected me to be so perceptive, and he immediately expressed his heartfelt feelings.

The second axe fell, landing precisely on the previous mark, this time making the mark even deeper.

The third axe blow, the fourth axe blow...

I swung the stone axe with all my might, and although sweat was pouring down my forehead, I didn't care at all. I continued to chop at the tree with all my might.

It took me about twenty minutes to cut deep around the tree, which was about the thickness of a calf, and it became shaky and precarious.

I chopped for another two minutes or so, then kicked the tree. With a crack, the whole tree fell to the side.

I watched this scene in disbelief. Back in my hometown, it used to take me half an hour to cut down a tree like this, but now it only took about twenty minutes. Technique really is important.

Dante was pleased to see that I had mastered the skill to cut down a tree on my own. He smiled and said to me,

"Go for it, sir. The spirits of the mountains will surely protect you and bestow upon you unparalleled divine power."

I wiped the sweat from my forehead and smiled and nodded at Dante.

"The mountain god will protect us all, and we will surely defeat those enemies."

"Um!"

Dante looked at me and nodded emphatically, then, without further hesitation, began to swing his axe at the trees.

Trees fell one by one under the chopping of stone axes, and the atmosphere in the mountains was somewhat oppressive, lacking the usual cheerful laughter.

Everyone focused all their attention on their stone axes, and with each swing, the trees would tremble under the force of the axes' power.

No one is supervising them here, but everyone is training very hard because they can feel the crisis approaching them. Only by becoming stronger can they survive this survival challenge.

This work continued until around 1 p.m., when we ate some dried meat to fill our stomachs. After resting for another half hour, the physical training resumed.

We need to use two sharpened wooden stakes as carrying poles, carrying a full load of firewood, and walk back to the tribe until all the firewood is transported back.

These freshly cut trees have a high water content because they grew in the rainforest. Each end is estimated to weigh around 60 pounds, and a load of firewood would weigh at least 120 pounds.

We were six miles away from the tribe's location. This six miles wasn't a main road, but just a narrow animal trail that could only accommodate one person at a time.

Moreover, the path was blocked by thorns and weeds on both sides, and carrying a load of firewood on such a road was definitely a test of physical fitness.

Despite my best efforts today, I still couldn't chop twenty bundles of firewood before one o'clock; I only managed to chop fifteen bundles in total.

Dante smiled and told me not to worry, and to keep trying tomorrow.

Su Su smiled and pointed to the firewood she had chopped. The trees she chopped were thinner, but even as a woman, she still managed to chop fourteen bundles of firewood.

Su Su is trying to comfort me by saying she didn't chop as many as I did. But I know I'd be really pathetic if I were to actually compete with a woman in terms of physical strength.

I wiped the sweat from my forehead and jokingly said to Dante with a smile,

"Maybe I'll be able to get more than twenty bundles tomorrow."

"Yes, Dante believes you can do it, sir." Dante replied with a smile.

I know that to cut these twenty bundles of firewood, it seems like I'm only five bundles short, but that five bundles difference isn't so easy to bridge.

Aside from the initial delay, I cut down the trees according to Dante's instructions.

I must say, I didn't slack off at all; I kept chopping down trees non-stop. Even so, around one o'clock, I was still five bundles behind everyone else.

However, there's nothing we can do about it. As a modern person, although I was born in the countryside, I am very different from those people who are completely isolated from modern tools and live a primitive life.

In other words, after struggling in this world for more than a year, my physical functions have improved significantly compared to before.

Otherwise, if I, who used to work in a factory, were to do this tree-cutting work, I probably would be exhausted even if I only managed to cut twenty bundles of firewood a few times, let alone manage to cut a few.

Susu and several women from the tribe left first to prepare dinner for the people in the tribe.

By the time we carried all the firewood back to the tribe in the afternoon, it was almost dark. When I got back to the cave, I collapsed and lay on my mat, not wanting to move at all.