My territory is filled with block creations.

Chapter 17 Vibrant Life, All Things Flourishing

After Thorne finished speaking, he wedged the stone sword into the back pocket of his jacket and the stone axe into the waist pocket of his jacket. Then he maintained a normal distance of about one meter from the training dummy, which would be necessary for a conflict.

"You two need to pay close attention. If the road to Autumn Wind Town is mostly through forests, then longswords and axes are the best choices. If you use spears, they're too long. Not to mention whether you can use them effectively in the forest, even as beginners, it'll be a problem if you can even aim accurately. Understand?"

After Thorne finished speaking, he didn't forget to look back at Lester and Doug. The two nodded repeatedly to indicate that they understood, and then Thorne continued.

"First, there are two scenarios. If the enemy you encounter is equipped with ranged weapons like longbows, immediately drop what you're carrying and run. Survival is the most important thing, understand?"

After Thorne finished speaking, Lester and Doug looked at each other, and finally Lester, somewhat stunned, raised his hand and asked, "Um, doesn't that count as betrayal?"

"What I'm having you carry are just some pieces of cloth, nothing valuable. Two lives are far more important than those things. In another scenario, if your opponent doesn't have ranged weapons and gets to a relatively close distance with you, and you can't escape, then you'll have to fight them."

As Thorne spoke, he walked back to a position about one meter away from the training dummy: "If you can't run away, then you're not that far away either. So you can strike first. For example, you can pretend to back down and take the money pouches on your waists."

However, although it was said to be a pretense of admitting defeat, unfortunately, Thorne did not show any intelligence in his demeanor or expression. After all, he lacked the relevant experience. He simply mechanically reached for the handle of the axe at his waist, pulled it out sharply, and slammed it into the chin of the training dummy from bottom to top.

With a loud bang, the dummy's head bounced upwards. Thorne still had time to explain to the two observers: "At this moment, if the enemy is lucky, they'll be half dead. If they're unlucky, they might dodge or just be stunned for a moment. You need to seize the opportunity and continue chasing and killing them."

With that, Thorne took a step forward, his axe already raised high, and swung it down at the dummy's head. As he swung it down, he also twisted his body sharply, his other hand still quietly reaching for the hilt of his sword on his back. Using the force of the turn, he pulled it out and held it in his hand, then slashed it horizontally across the dummy's abdomen in a circular motion.

After doing all this, he turned to Lester and Doug and asked, "Did you understand my movements just now? Actually, this was just a starting move. You were simply using this movement to kill the enemy closest to you. At the same time, after this movement, you can also draw your weapons. The rest of the battle is about playing it by ear. Now, show me how it goes."

After Thorne finished speaking, he stepped aside, while Lester and Doug took out two long strips of cloth, tied them around their waists and backs, and then pinned their longswords and axes to their respective positions.

Then the two of them went to their respective training dummies and imitated Thorne's movements and methods.

The difference lies in Thorne's incredibly stiff demeanor and forced smile when he bowed in submission. However, Lester and Doug's movements were remarkably lifelike and far more believable than Thorne's mechanical bowing.

The two then practiced quite well. As the axe was suddenly pulled from his waist and struck the training dummy's chin, he used gravity to bring the axe down from a height, then drew the longsword from his back and spun it sharply.

Perhaps due to years of hard work, both of them were still quite agile, and neither of them made any mistakes in this series of movements.

Thorne watched their movements with great satisfaction, describing them as fluid and effortless: "You two have good talent. Keep practicing, I should get back to my work."

Thorne, who had just turned to leave, seemed to remember something and suddenly stopped, turning back to continue, "Of course, if you prefer to start with drawing your swords, that's fine too. However, the essence is exactly the same as starting with the axe—it's all about lowering the enemy's guard. If you want to improve, start by researching how to lower the enemy's vigilance. After all, you two haven't had much training, and if you don't get the first move, you'll easily suffer losses."

Seeing that the two of them nodded quickly, Thorne walked towards the furnace not far away with satisfaction. A few unleavened flatbreads didn't have much nutrition, and besides, most of the villagers were doing physical labor these days, so it was necessary to prepare a midnight snack for them.

Lester and Doug, who were watching this, exchanged a glance: "Um... should we go tell them now?"

"Um... let's wait until the lord has some free time."

So Lester and Doug chose to delay, waiting until fewer people were around. Thorne, on the other hand, prepared the late-night snacks and then stuffed the unleavened flatbreads under each person's pillow before continuing towards the worktable.

It just so happens that the power source of the brushing machine was cut off for a period of time when I was grinding flour, so that the coil was loose and full of knots, which was obviously unusable for weaving hemp rope, but it was perfect for making wool.

And so, another mountain of wool quickly rose up next to Thorne's workbench, and then two pieces of wool were placed side by side in the two compartments of the workbench.

As he gently tugged at one corner of the wool and pulled it outwards, the originally fluffy and thick wool was quickly reorganized, woven, and compressed by an invisible force the moment it left the worktable, and by the time it landed in Thorne's hands, it had become a soft and comfortable carpet.

Then he yawned and continued to pick up more wool to make more carpets, until he had made sixty of them, at which point he carried the wool carpets to the Thrust Valley Square.

In the corner, Lester and Doug continued their diligent training with the practice dummies. They had also laid out a wool carpet that was two meters wide and thirty meters long. Then, they called down two villagers who were building the city wall and asked them to help roll up the carpet so they could sell it as cloth later.

The city wall construction team, which had been siphoned off by three waves of people through farming, training, and other means, had two more people pulled away, making the already slow city wall construction progress even longer.

Thorne looked at this scene with some helplessness. The population was still too small, and there was nothing that could be done about it. They could only take it slowly, because there was no use rushing things. Alternatively, they could attract people from other places, but that was not an easy task either.

I've only ever heard of people moving to higher places, never flowing into villages. So, if you want to attract people, you can only improve the villages until they become towns or even cities.

Thinking of this, Thorne's hand-rubbing of the carpet became even more efficient. He continued working like this until evening, when it was already dark. Thorne then called out in the center of the village that it was time for those repairing the city wall, rolling up the carpet, farming, training, and even those on duty at the brushing machine to go home and sleep.

If you leave the wire brushing machine unattended overnight, it will only produce one super large coil; there won't be any problems.

The villagers, with relaxed and hopeful smiles, stepped down from their posts and returned to their rooms.

Thorne's bed had already been placed in their room by Alex. The moment they took off their dusty clothes and lay down on the bed with a feeling of "I am worthy," an unparalleled happiness instantly enveloped them.

Aside from something slightly off, why does it feel a little uncomfortable under the pillow?

Without exception, they all instinctively reached under their pillows and pulled out the still slightly warm, unleavened dough.

A strange feeling left them somewhat bewildered and unable to articulate it, but they chose another approach.

And so, after a long day's work, the villagers returned to their rooms, finished their late-night snack of unleavened flatbread, and then swung their arms and rushed out of their rooms to continue working.

Lester and Doug were naturally among the crowd.