Chambers smiled slightly and said, "Child, you must understand that building a solid foundation is the most important thing. Without a good foundation, if you rush into things, you will never reach the highest level of culinary skill. Chopping wood is indeed tedious, but the training it provides for your hands, eyes, and mind is something no other method can achieve. Once you've mastered the skill of splitting wood into fine strands, you'll achieve twice the results with half the effort when you learn other things." He then cast a meaningful glance at the hair-like strands of firewood. "The method of observing firewood can also be used to observe cooking ingredients. Every material, like firewood, has its own characteristics and texture."
Ronnie's heart stirred; he seemed to understand something. Actually, he wasn't averse to chopping wood. After three months of chopping wood, he was surprised to find that his mental strength was growing at an astonishing rate, and his control over magic was many times stronger than before. Even ordinary beginner-level spells became magnificent in his hands. Mental strength, magical power, and magic control are complementary. The stronger one's mental strength, the better and faster one can absorb magical elements, and the more skillfully one can control the use of magic. Who would have thought that simple wood chopping could bring such great benefits?
Chambers looked at Ronnie, whose gaze was somewhat dazed, and thought to himself, "Have I been too harsh on this disciple? His comprehension is far superior to mine!" It took him five years to even begin to master the technique of splitting wood with a cleaver, and ten years to fully master it upon graduation. Of course, that was partly due to his simultaneous study of culinary arts, but in terms of aptitude alone, he was far inferior to this kid. In fact, he had already been teaching him real culinary skills long ago. His daily lectures imparted theoretical knowledge, the daily meals trained his sense of smell and taste, and splitting wood with a cleaver was the best training. Once all of this was mastered, integrating it with other techniques would make everything proceed incredibly quickly.
"Alright, go push the cart out from behind the cabin, we're off."
Ronnie was taken aback. "Off? Where to?" Since arriving at the peach grove, he hadn't left, nor had he seen Chambers leave.
Chambers said, "It's been a long time since we've gone out. Although we can pick our own vegetables from the peach grove, we still need to buy some necessary seasonings, and we're running low on rice. You've been here for a year; going out for a walk will do you good."
"Great! Finally, we can go out!" Although Ronnie's thinking was no longer that of a child, he was still only eleven years old. He was already quite bored with the routine life he led here every day. How could he not be excited to go out for a walk? He threw the machete aside and ran towards the back of the cabin, taking three steps at a time.
To avoid being disturbed, Chambers built his wooden cabin in the center of the peach grove. Due to the miasma, although the grove was quite large, it was free of venomous snakes and wild beasts, so he didn't even build a fence. For someone with severed tendons, constructing such a house was already quite an achievement.
The so-called "cart" was simply a makeshift wheelbarrow made entirely of wood. Fortunately, the two wheels were fairly round, making it relatively easy to push. Over the past year, Ronnie had transformed from a handsome little boy into a cute, chubby young man, but his strength had also increased significantly. The supplements hadn't been in vain, and the exercise of chopping and splitting wood had given him considerable strength, making pushing the wooden cart effortless.
"Master, if you're tired, just sit on the cart and I'll push you," Ronnie said excitedly, showing off his strength to Chambers beside him.
Chambers chuckled and said, "I'm not that old yet. You should save your energy; you'll probably have a lot to carry when you come back. Don't complain to me then. We only come out once a year; think about how much stuff we'll need to buy!"
Ronnie's eyes darted around. "Master," he said, "my magic practice hasn't been going well lately, especially fire magic. It seems a bit unstable. Sometimes when I'm too tired, I have trouble controlling my fire magic. If you're not afraid I'll burn everything, buying more stuff is fine."
Chambers said irritably, "You brat, are you threatening me?"
"No, I wouldn't dare threaten you," Ronnie said, but the smile in his eyes couldn't hide his true thoughts. Chambers was helpless against his magical apprentice. He snorted and said, "We'll see."
Although no one came to the peach blossom grove, Chambers had deliberately cleared a path leading out while chopping wood. Later, after Ronnie started chopping wood, this task of clearing the path was given to him. He intentionally made it difficult for them to leave the grove.
When they emerged from the grove, the sun was nearing noon. Although the Ice Moon Empire was located in the north of the Yangon Continent, where temperatures were relatively low, the direct sunlight still brought a slight heat. Ronnie was fine; he carried the Ice Goddess Stone. However, Chambers, whose health had never been good, was already panting.
"Boy, aren't you tired? Let's rest for a while," Chambers called to Ronnie.
"Oh." Ronnie pushed the cart to a large tree and helped Chambers sit in the shade. "Master, would you like me to cast a little magic to cool you down?"
"Forget it," Chambers waved his hand repeatedly. "Your magic is too extreme; I can't handle it." He still vividly remembered the last time Ronnie tried to cool the air in the room, he almost froze him solid. Actually, even Ronnie himself didn't know that he had already reached the level of an intermediate mage, capable of using both fire and ice magic, from the first to the third tier. Having two top-grade gems for cultivation was indeed far more effective than for ordinary people.