A mage's journey begins with a battle mage.

Chapter 22 Trees, Updates, and Competitions

After eating and drinking to their hearts' content, it was time to get to work. Jiang Shuzhou picked up the legendary logging axe that had accompanied him through the lives of more than a dozen pirates. This time, the logging axe was finally going to do some of its proper work.

"One axe, two axe blows, three axe blows..."

Counting as you cut down trees is an effective way to improve logging efficiency and also lets you know roughly how many axes are needed to cut down a tree. This allows you to estimate how long it will take to cut down a tree.

Jiang Shuzhou is now trying to cut down large trees with lush branches and strong roots. Firstly, this method of cutting down trees will cause the most damage to nature. Secondly, it is also to prevent the will of nature from reviving these large trees. Although the energy level is the first level, it is undeniable that the larger the tree-man, the higher its combat power.

Originally, he intended to burn the trees directly. After all, this was a deserted island, not a law-abiding society like the real world. There wouldn't be any "fire in the mountains, the warden falls in love with me" scenario. Even if he set the mountain on fire, he wouldn't be locked up in jail for life.

However, considering the existence of nature's will, Jiang Shuzhou still didn't dare to do it. After all, cutting down some trees would damage the ecological balance, but setting fire to the mountain would directly destroy the ecosystem.

No one knows what the will of nature will do then; it might just summon a third or fourth-tier treant, and that would be the end of it.

He's just here to collect magical materials, not to fight against the will of nature. That's enough.

With each swing of his axe, the tree fell. Amplified by Jiang Shuzhou's high attack power, each swing created a deep gash, ranging from a few centimeters to over ten centimeters deep, on the tree trunk. In just three or four swings, a tree that would take over ten years to grow fell.

Like people, trees take a long time to grow, sometimes more than ten or even several decades, but they fall down in a very short time, requiring only three or four cuts.

Now who can tell the difference between a tree and a person?

No wonder those druids value trees as much as human lives, preferring to kill a person rather than let that person cut down a tree. From our perspective, it's about protecting nature; from the druids' perspective, it's about preventing tragedies.

Now I understand Druids.

But what does it have to do with me? I just like cutting down trees. Not only do I like cutting down trees, I also like cutting down people. Jiang Shuzhou is now so tired of cutting down trees that he's starting to try to understand the extreme Druids.

The extreme Druids, as the name suggests, are an extremely radical faction within the Druids. Just how extreme are they?

To give an example, those extreme animal rights activists and various extreme environmentalists are all heinous destroyers in the eyes of Druids. The reason is simple: the newspapers they use for propaganda are made of trees, and the electricity used by their platforms is generated from burning plant corpses.

According to this standard, only primitive people can be considered as not destroying nature, but anyone who uses even a little industrial products is a sinner who destroys nature.

Many people cannot understand such extreme ideas, but Jiang Shuzhou can now understand them, which makes him quite remarkable.

However, understanding is one thing, and agreeing or disagreeing is another.

Just like now, Jiang Shuzhou doesn't quite agree, and the reason is simple: cutting down trees is too difficult.

Unlike humans, whose bodies are made of flesh and blood, tree trunks can withstand far more damage than humans, even though Jiang Shuzhou can cut down a tree in just three or four strokes.

However, that was based on the premise that the cut was made in the correct spot. Due to his lack of experience in cutting down trees, Jiang Shuzhou had cut in the wrong spot more than once, causing him to need several extra axe blows to cut down the big tree.

After all, it's quite difficult to keep hitting the same spot several times.

It was already evening, and Jiang Shuzhou couldn't remember exactly how many trees he had cut down. He only remembered that almost all the trees had been cut down, leaving only small trees. The once lush forest was now sparse and desolate.

"It's over. We'll finish the rest tomorrow. If I don't get some rest soon, I feel like I'm going crazy."

He really didn't want to cut down any more trees. Now he could even understand the ideas of extreme druids. If he kept cutting them down, what would Jiang Shuzhou do? He didn't even dare to think about it.

"Log off, go to forums, go to Tieba, go to any place where you can have fun, go have some fun."

Jiang Shuzhou couldn't wait any longer.

He was prepared to impart his newly acquired understanding of extremist druids to others, only to make them regret reading it.

Unfortunately, nobody cares about him now, for a simple reason: the game is about to be updated.

If it were just an update, that would be fine, but what's even more explosive is that the game's official team is going to hold a competition.

"The Rise of the Mage! A Complete Overhaul of Spell Learning and Casting Mechanics! A Single Post to Guide You Through the Official Update!"

"Shocking! The changes to the mage are exactly like this!"

"A shocking secret! It's like this, like this, like this!"

"Is the game real? That's pure nonsense. I'll refute this conspiracy theory in 10,000 words. If you disagree, come and debate me."

.........

Posts like these appeared one after another on the forum, and the already turbulent forum was now in complete chaos.

Jiang Shuzhou originally just wanted to watch the fun, but after seeing the excitement on the forum, he immediately decided to add fuel to the fire.

"The master of truth—the mage! No optimization needed! Perfect mechanics, perfect class! If you can't play it, it just means you're bad! Disagree? Let's debate!"

After typing the content, Jiang Shuzhou frantically pressed send, but after pressing it for a long time, the post still wouldn't go through.

?

"What's going on? Is my internet connection terrible, or is the server terrible?"

After carefully checking for a long time, Jiang Shuzhou couldn't find any problems. Finally, when he opened the account homepage, he suddenly smiled with relief.

"Oh, it turns out my account was banned. I thought the internet was down."

What a loss! What a huge loss! He missed a great opportunity to stir up trouble. He was really hoping to have some fun with this post today.

"Sigh, I shouldn't have posted the succubus set of pictures."

Since I can't post now, I can only check out what competitions the official organizers are holding.

"The 'Feast of the Gods' tournament series will officially begin on December 1st, one month after the server launch."

"Please the gods with your battles; faith and glory, sacrifice and blood will be your companions!"

"Participation requirements: The extraordinary rank must reach level one."

Registration period: Registration is open until November 29th.

"Competition format: The first round of preliminary selection will be held on November 29th, and the second round of preliminary selection will be held on November 30th. A total of ten teams will be selected from the two rounds of preliminary selection to participate in the competition."

"The official competition will be held on December 1st, and the winner will be determined within one day."

"Venue: Confidential"

"Competition Rules: Confidential"

"Competition Rewards: The top three teams will receive a grand prize in-game reward called 'Soul Weapon.' This weapon grows alongside the player, can change form at the player's will, and is extremely valuable."

Note: The finals will be broadcast live to all players. Players who participated in the preliminary rounds may start their own live streams if they wish. If you mind, please do not register to participate.

"Death during the match will not consume your resurrection coins, and your equipped items and props will not be dropped, so please participate with peace of mind."

The organizer reserves the right of final interpretation.