He stood up, and out of habit, glanced around, instantly sweeping everything in the room into his view. He quickly noticed that his reactions were much faster than before—even the tiny mosquito buzzing past the edge of the bed became incredibly clear.

He wanted to kill the mosquito, but by the time the thought had lingered in his mind for a while, his hands only slowly began to rise. His eyes were locked tightly on the mosquito’s position, but his palms landed completely elsewhere.

Suddenly, a wave of intense panic surged in Sean Carter’s heart; it felt as if his body was disconnected from his reactions.

Glancing at the black eye mask beside him, he vaguely understood that this must be the result of chopping wood for twelve hours straight yesterday.

After twelve hours of practice in the virtual space, his performance had improved from hitting the dotted line once out of ten swings to hitting it two or three times out of ten by the end.

Although this result wasn’t ideal, for him, it was already a two- or threefold improvement.

But precisely because he had overtrained his awareness and reaction speed in the virtual space, once he returned to the real world, his mind and body became out of sync.

Taking a deep breath, once he figured out the reason, he no longer dwelled on it.

This state wouldn’t last long; he would recover soon. Moreover, if he could train his body to adapt to that level of mental intensity, then from now on, he could maintain this standard.

Step by step, he steadily made his way to his father’s room. Old Miller had already prepared breakfast.

Sean Carter’s way of eating today was also very strange. He tried hard to control his wrists and his gaze, eating his meal stiffly, almost like a robot.

Old Miller looked at his son with concern, but didn’t notice anything wrong with his spirit.

“Dad, I don’t want to work in the fields today.”

“Oh, all right, then get some more rest,” Old Miller said, a little disappointed. It seemed there was still a long way to go before his son could become a skilled farmhand.

“Dad, I remember the knight’s manor is always buying firewood, so I want to chop some wood at home—as a form of exercise.”

Although he didn’t really understand what “exercise” meant, Old Miller did understand the idea of chopping wood.

But chopping wood was different from farm work. After carefully reminding him to be safe, Old Miller finally left the house.

Sean Carter went straight to the backyard and took out the axe his father usually used for chopping wood. The axe was not small—it reached up to his abdomen and felt heavy in his hands. He immediately realized why the axe looked so familiar: the axe in the virtual space wasn’t from the game, but was modeled exactly after the one at home.

Placing a plank flat on the table, Sean Carter hefted the big axe high. He didn’t notice that, at the very moment he raised the axe, his entire aura and gaze underwent a dramatic transformation.

His eyes became sharp and bright, locking tightly onto the block of wood on the table. On the uneven surface, a virtual white line seemed to appear, dazzling in Sean Carter’s eyes.

He raised the axe high, feet staggered, body slightly twisted. When the axe reached a certain height, he brought it down like a flash of lightning.

Legs, waist, hands, wrists—all his strength seemed to gather at the axe in that instant, and with a fierce whoosh, it struck precisely on that nonexistent white line.

“Crack.”

With a crisp sound, the not-so-small plank was neatly split into two almost identical pieces.

Sean Carter let out a long breath. In that moment when he raised the axe, he felt as if he had entered a wondrous state. It was just like doing the second set of exercises—everything felt so natural and harmonious.

All those worries about his body and reactions not syncing vanished from his mind.

In his eyes, there was only that white line, and the axe, carrying all his strength, had truly split the wood completely in two.

Looking at the wood, Sean Carter was faintly stunned.

After all, he wasn’t just a nine-year-old child, but an adult with some experience. Although he’d never handled a wood-chopping axe in his previous life, he at least knew that splitting such a thick plank with a single swing was no simple feat.

A thought stirred in his mind, and he immediately understood that the twelve hours he’d spent in the virtual space last night had not been wasted.

Excitedly, he set up another block of wood, stepped back, raised the axe high, and brought it down in a strange posture.

With a “thud,” the axe missed completely and almost hit his own shin.