Chapter Eleven: Chopping wood and pit making

Zu chops his hundredth piece of wood in half with a short axe. He is sweating, but he sets the axe down and wipes it away while looking up. ‘What am I doing?’ he says to himself while shaking his head.

Thinking back to a few hours after meeting with the man wearing a white robe, Zu finally accepted to learn from him. The man told Zu and Brent that they should follow him. They did and ended up going to a small wooden house not to far away from where they were. Granted they didn’t even notice the house because it was hidden away by a barrier.

Brent sighed. If they continued to search for months or even years they would have never found these two lost Church members. The barrier gave an illusion as if it was a forest there, and even when you walked in the forest it felt like you were actually in a forest. However once the white robed man chanted something, the barrier disappeared and a small wooden house appeared.

Zu and Brent followed him to the wooden house. It was bigger than Zu’s house and a lot more sturdier as well. Inside they found another person in white robes floating in the air. This person was not a male but a female instead. Brent kept telling Zu that the reason they were ‘lost’ was because they were getting it on, but Zu dismissed him.

With the other Church member found you would think his quest was complete, but that wasn’t the case. The male Church member told Zu that he needed to finish his training first before they went back. Zu himself didn’t think much of the training considering he would be able to learn it fast like those ‘Jumpers’. However the training that the Church member spoke of was chopping wood.

He took Zu to the back of the wooden house where there was an axe and a pile of logs. He gave Zu an order to chop all of the logs in two. Zu nodded his head and began chopping them, only he didn’t think that the man would continue bringing more wood. He even had Brent helping him in bringing more logs.

This continued on and on until finally Zu chopped his one hundredth piece of wood in half. He gave a huge sigh of relief because he didn’t see any more logs coming his way. Zu didn’t understand at all why he is chopping wood. What kind of training is this? Who teaches someone to chop wood and expects them to learn something.

After cutting his hundredth log in half, Zu had a blue screen pop up. It told him his strength increased by two. ‘So I can earn stats this way as well!’ Zu told himself. He thought the only way to get stat points and increase them was by killing monsters and leveling up. He was wrong, he could gain them by physically doing the work as well.

“Come, he’ll be happy to have these.” A voice called out.

This voice became familiar to Zu very fast. This voice belonged to the man Church member who had Zu chopping wood. He was talking to Brent a lot and it seemed they got all buddy-buddy fast.

Coming around the corner was none other than the male Church member and Brent. They were both dragging a dirty bag on the ground. Zu heard some rumbling nosies inside of the bag as they approached him. ‘What’s this?’ he asked himself.

With an umph they tossed the bags on stump. This stump was wide, enough to hold the two big dirty bags and still leave room for one more.

Zu looked at the bags and then looked at the Church member. “What's that?” Zu asked as he pointed towards the two dirty bags.

“Open it.” The Church member replied.

Zu took a quick glance at Brent who was all smiles. Whatever was in those bags couldn’t be good news for him, especially if Brent was happy about it. Zu walked over to the two bags and opened the first one. Inside were tons of small rocks, each one had a flat surface - no bumps at all. He opened the second one and it had the same thing inside. Zu looked at the Church member confused.

“What do you want me to do with these?”

“Make a pit.” He replied.

“What!?” Zu screamed.

Brent started laughing on the side while he was holding his stomach. He already knew what Zu’s expression would be, but he still couldn’t handle it. When him and the Church dude finished bringing Zu logs, he asked what they were bringing him next. The Church dude told him rocks, and Brent’s eyes shone. This Church dude was really planning on pushing Zu to the edge.

“What? Can’t you handle a few rocks?” Brent said.

“Listen, once you make the pit we can go to the other phase of your training.”

Zu sighed and nodded his head. ‘This better be worth it.’ Zu thought as he grabbed a handful of rocks out of the bag. He took a few steps forward and started placing them in a circle - making a pit.

“Wait… what are you doing?” The Church member asked Zu as he already made his circle.

“Making a pit…?” Zu said.

The Church member shook his head. “No, you have to dig into the ground first. Then you place them around the edges and pile them up.”

Zu sighed. How was he going to dig, he didn’t even have a shovel. Did this Curch member want him to dig with his hands!? Zu looked at the Church member. “What am I going to dig with?”

He pointed towards the axe. “That of course.”

Zu rolled his eyes. How can you dig and make a hole out with an axe? Is that even possible? However Zu didn’t complain, he might have cursed this man inwardly but he didn’t utter a word. He grabbed the axe and chopped the ground. When he pulled the axe back up, there was only a line in the ground. This axe is not like a shovel where it can dig into the ground and you can just dig up the dirt.

Zu frowned as he looked at the Church member and Brent who were chatting away. They were leaning against the house and talking about girls. What sort of Church member who is suppose to be pure can have such thoughts and talks? If the Church knew of this wouldn’t he be deemed unholy and slaughter? Or worse castrated?

Zu shook his head as he continued to chop into the ground. After ten minutes his body was drenched in sweat, but he could feel that he already chopped this damn ground more than a hundred times already. Even his strength went up by two again, but he only managed to cut out half a circle. It wasn’t even a perfect circle, it looked more like a square than anything.

“So man, what’s your relationship with her?” Brent asked the Church dude.

“Nothing much.” he replied.

Zu was over here working hard while these two were talking about the female Church member inside the wooden house. He could understand the Church man not helping, but isn’t he paying Brent? Brent could at least help him out instead of conversating about tits and ass.

“Really!?”

“Yeah. She’s not my type.”

“Ho ho ho, does that mean I can have her?” Brent’s eyes were lustful as he licked his lips. Sure he couldn’t see her face because it was covered, but he figured that she must be a real beaut.

The Church man started laughing while nodding his head. “Sure, try your luck.”

Brent patted the man on the shoulder. “You’re a true pal you know that. If only more men could be like you.” Brent told him as he turned around and headed for the door.

‘I can see why that girl at the Army wanted to murder him.’ Zu said to himself. This guy is over here trying to chase skirts instead of doing anything productive. ‘Maybe I picked the wrong person.’ Zu thought.

Sure Brent was cheap for his service, but he would have been better off picking the other male who also cost six copper. At least he might have helped Zu digging his hole unlike Brent. Zu continued chopping the ground making the hole larger. It didn’t do much for making the hole deeper because there was only so much an axe could do.

Soon Zu’s face turned ugly. He didn’t expect to get a blue screen popping up out of nowhere.

Your stamina is below ten All movement speed and attack speed is decreased by 25%

The axe in his hands felt much heavier than before. He didn’t think that he wasted so much of his stamina by only chopping at the ground. Zu looked in his inventory and found one little vial of green. He thought about it and closed his inventory, he was not going to waste a stamina potion for digging a hole. That would be purely stupid on his part.

Zu sat the axe down while he took a seat as well. His arms were killing him, and his back hurt. Sure his strength increased by eight points, but it wasn’t worth it. What kind of class was he going to be? A lumberjack?

“Hey hey hey. No slacking off, continue digging.” The Church member said to Zu.

“No. I am tired, you try chopping a hundred logs and then dig a hole with an Axe. An Axe of all….!”

“Tired huh? Why didn’t you say so.” The Church member replied. He chanted some kind of spell and a light green ball flew to Zu. It went inside of his body and all of a sudden his body felt refreshed.

This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Stamina Up has been used on you

Stamina Up Recovers 5 stamina every second of twenty seconds

“Better right?” The Church member asked.

Zu nodded his head while he grabbed the axe at his side. As long as that guy continued to provide him with that spell, then he would be able to continue working. Soon he got another blue screen telling him that his strength has increased once again. Zy smiled because soon after that, his dexterity also increased by two. If he continued working like this, wouldn’t he be able to raise his strength and dexterity by leaps and bounds?

Shortly after Brent came out of the house. He had one black eye but he was all smiles. “Woah, you didn’t tell me she was that rough!”

The Church man started laughing. “You didn’t ask either.” His tone turned serious for a moment as he said, “She's a real beaut right?”

Brent nodded his head. “Right, the heavens have blessed us.” Brent touched his eye which was swollen. “For the price of this eye, I would look at her a million times.”

“That indeed, when I first met her it was like Ive touched me herself. Such a fine woman became one of us, such a shame.” The Church member said while he sighed.

“I know, but the temptation is just…. too good. Such a pure woman, I must have her!” Brent placed his hand over his heart as if it was being taken away by an angel.

The Church man laughed as he patted Brent. “Come, we should go get the last piece for the next phase.”

Brent nodded as he followed the Church man. They both left Zu alone and went to the front of the house. Zu wondered where they were going. ‘What if they come back with a boulder… and tell me to carve a statue… with this axe.’ Zu thought. He would die if he had to do something like that. Chopping the ground with his axe was already painful enough, but to carve a statue with it was like worlds apart.

Zu finally done making his circle like pit sighed. The first part was already done, now he just needed to place the rocks around the edges. Once he’s done that, he would be finished and he could go on with phase two.

Zu grabbed a few rocks and started placing them around the edges of the hole. Soon they started piling up more and more, but then it fell. One whole side collapsed because Zu’s knee touched it. “Damnit!” Zu yelled. He worked hard to put them nice and neat, only to have one side destroyed in an instant. He grabbed the rocks that fell and tossed them out of the hole. Next he grabbed some more and started filling in the missing pieces.

Finally after thirty minutes Zu has completed most of it. In his hand was the last rock that needed to be placed. His hand was trembling with excitement, once he placed this then the whole then would be completed. He placed the rock in the last spot and sighed. He’s finally done it.

Ding! You’ve gained Patience

Patience (P) You wait until the the very end without complaining. Sure everything is hard, but that’s the way it is. However you have waited it through and prevailed to the very end. Wisdom is increased. Dexterity is increased.

Ding! You’ve gained Calm Mind

Calm Mind (P) Nothing can get in your head. In a dangerous situation you are still able to think straight. In a non dangerous situation your thinking speed is much greater than normal. Wisdom is increased. Intelligence is increased.

Zu smiled. He gained two new skills just by finishing this pit. He didn’t even need to fight any monsters, but he still gained something new.

“Hey Zu.” Brent said as he touched Zu’s shoulder.

Zu jumped along with his legs knocking over the pit. He was so focused on his new skills that he didn’t even notice Brent approaching him from behind. If he did he wouldn’t have jumped when Brent touched him. Zu turned around and glared at Brent. He spent a long time piling these rocks up only to have it knocked back down in a second.

“What!?” Zu yelled at Brent.

Brent looked at the pile of rocks that fell. He lightly laughed while saying, “Church dude wants you.” After that, Brent walked away. He was laughing also, the look on Zu’s face was priceless.

‘What now!?’ Zu said to himself as he dragged himself to go see the Church man. He walked into the wooden house and found a deer on the table being cut open. Brent was sitting on a stool ogling the Church woman. Zu wanted to know how did they kill a deer without it vanishing. Whenever he killed a wolf or little rabbit they always disappeared.

He walked over to the Church man that was slicing the deer. “Yes? You wanted something?” Zu asked him.

The Church man looked up at Zu. “Ah, right. See that pearl over there, go swallow it.”

Zu looked at the end of the table. There was a small golden pearl laying on a piece of pure white silk. ‘He wants me to eat… a pear…’ Zu thought to himself. He walked over to the end of the table and picked it up. He put it to his nose and smelt it, but it didn’t smell like anything. He looked at the Church man who didn’t even pay him any attention and continued to slice the deer.

“Why should I eat this? I mean, i’ve chopped wood, made a pit, and even piled up stones! Yet I still don’t understand what type of class you are or want me to be.”

“No, those stones fell. Remember.” Brent cut in while laughing.

The Church man put his knife down and shook his head. “You couldn’t even pile up the stones, how are we going to eat?”

“Eat? Eat!?” Zu screamed.

“Yes, that’s why you cut the logs and made a pit. So we could cook our dinner, why else would you do that?”

Brent who was on his stool started laughing louder. Zu had a blank expression like he was dead. His mouth was wide open and he was staring at the Church man. “Didn’t you figure it out?”

“You’re telling me, I did all that for food.”

“Yes, did you think that would allow you to get a class? Or have some super deep meaning?” The man replied.

‘Fuck! This!’ Zu screamed in his head. He set the golden pearl back and the table and turned to leave.

“Wait, you don’t want to be like us?”

“Hell no! I wasted so much time doing chores!” Zu replied.

The Church man shook his head. He took the piece of clothing that covered his face. His appearance was way more handsome than Zu’s even more handsome than those male ‘Jumpers’. His hair was silver and stopped at his neck. His eyes were a golden color and his skin was snow white. If he didn’t speak you could mistake him for a girl. However in the middle of his forehead was a pearl that was golden. It looked exactly the same as the one on the table.

“Trust me, you’ll love it.” The man spoke.

“N-” Zu was going to say no, but the pearl shot in his mouth. The Church man looked at him with his eyes beaming with joy.

Zu had no choice but to swallow that pearl. It slid down his throat, but it didn’t have the slightest bit of resistance. Zu’s whole body felt holt and his vision turned white.

Ding! You’ve gained a class.

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Wrote this up in like 1 1/2 hours or something like that. Time to write 5 Dragon Emperor :o