There's a kind of five-leaf clover in this forest. If you make it into powder and take it, your body will develop resistance to the peach blossom miasma, and you'll be fine. Here, take this first. Keep taking it for three months, and your body will naturally develop antibodies, then you won't have to worry anymore." As she spoke, Chambers handed a small porcelain bottle to Ronnie.
The five-leaf clover powder tasted bitter. Ronnie almost vomited after taking it, barely managing to swallow it completely. Then he dragged the large axe into the woods.
Entering the peach grove, Ronnie observed his surroundings. The air was incredibly fresh, carrying a faint fragrance of peach blossoms. The air was humid, likely due to the Azure River flowing beside the grove. The peach trees were spaced very closely together; even though he wasn't tall, he had to be careful not to bump into them.
Peach trees, even the older ones, weren't tall. Their branches spread out in all directions, making them much easier to chop for firewood than taller trees. However, Ronnie now faced a problem: even with such short branches, he needed to be able to lift the axe. How could he, at such a young age, possibly wield an axe that even an adult would struggle to lift?
Looking at the peach trees before him, Ronnie felt a pang of difficulty. Several attempts only exhausted him, allowing him to barely lift the axe off the ground. Strength had never been a mage's forte.
"If I could conjure an ice blade right now, maybe I could chop down the branches," Ronnie muttered to himself. However, although he possessed ice magic power, he hadn't practiced any ice magic spells before. Without the right spells, even with magic power, he was helpless. Should he use fire magic to burn it? He had memorized fire magic spells long ago, from level one to eight, but that would be useless unless he wanted to burn the peach tree in front of him.
An axe was indeed too heavy for a ten-year-old child. Sitting under the peach tree, Ronnie used his brain, far beyond his years, to think. Break off some branches to take back? No, that would mean he couldn't chop firewood either. He needed to chop some thicker branches. But he couldn't even lift the axe, so how could he chop?
Suddenly, an idea struck Ronnie. Although he didn't know ice magic, he possessed a second-tier fire spell called Fire Blade. It used condensed fire element to create a flaming longsword for attack. The main attack power of the Fire Blade was concentrated in the fire itself; using it to chop down trees would not only be ineffective but also easily start a fire—a disaster if the peach blossom grove caught fire. However, what if he modified the incantation, turning the fire into ice during the chanting? He wondered if that would work. While a second-tier spell might be a stretch with his current magical power, he could give it a try; after all, there was no harm in trying.
Ronnie leaped to his feet, tossing his axe aside. He pulled his precious Ice Goddess Stone from his robes, smiled slightly, and held it high above his head, his thumb and forefinger pinching it between them. He chanted intently, "Ice element! I beg you, condense into a sharp blade, and cut through the shackles and chains of this world!" His voice and tone mirrored those of a fire blade. He clearly felt the surrounding ice element rapidly converging upon him, resonating with the ice magic within the left side of his body. In mid-air, a nearly transparent ice blade, about a foot long, floated into view. Ronnie was overjoyed. He knew he had succeeded. He pointed to a tree branch as thick as a thigh in front of him and said, "Go."
A flash of light, and the ice blade struck the branch with a whoosh, shattering into pieces. His magical power was still insufficient, and the ice blade's power was limited. Even so, Ronnie was extremely excited. He knew he had discovered a shortcut. Perhaps mid- to high-level magic had its own unique incantations, but for low-level magic, the chanting method should be similar. The branch, after being struck by the ice blade, developed a crack about a third deep. Ronnie didn't examine it further with the ice blade. He ran to the branch, grabbed it with both hands, and pulled hard using his body weight.
The branch, having a chipped edge, wasn't metal, and snapped with a crack.
Using the same method repeatedly, Ronnie was surprised to find that his newly acquired ice magic power was actually greater than his previous fire magic power. It took seven uses of the ice blade before his ice magic power was completely depleted. Seven thick branches had appeared on the ground.
The use of magic had left him somewhat listless. Leaning against a nearby tree, he began a brief meditation.
The Ice Goddess Stone truly lived up to its reputation as a top-tier ice gem. In just one hour, it had helped Ronnie recover his limited ice magic power. The process of depletion and recovery, combined with the meditation the previous night, had resulted in a slight improvement in his magical abilities.
Chambers had just finished preparing lunch and was stretching his stiff body in front of the cabin. He found it strange that Ronnie hadn't returned for so long. Could he really chop wood with that axe? Impossible. He had only sent him with the axe to see how long the boy would take to return. The longer it took, the longer he had to think about how to chop the wood. A thoughtful person would have a better understanding of dishes when cooking. This was a simple test Chambers had given Ronnie. But he had been gone for over two hours, and the sun was already high in the sky, making Chambers increasingly anxious.