Once upon a time there was a greedy snake.

Chapter 126 Above the Gods
The best way to keep people from going crazy is to give them something to do.

Based on his experience before he fell asleep, this method seemed to be correct. After the mammoths were domesticated, the remaining Ignivas people unexpectedly quieted down – at least while he was awake, they were diligently domesticating the mammoths and even developing various flavors.

Of course, later on, no one knew where those Ignivas went, but at least while he was awake, they were still working diligently.

Now is the time when he is awake, and judging from his past behavior, he will not enter molting hibernation so soon, at least for a long time.

Although it wasn't a long time for him, it would be at least a hundred years in human terms.

That's enough for him to do a lot of things.

"You guys come with me."

Thinking of this, he called the priests over.

"I have something for you to do."

"This……"

The priests hesitated for a moment, unsure whether to agree or not.

The giant serpent before them was clearly strange, and might not even be a servant of the cobra goddess Vajit. If they were to work for an unknown being, they would undoubtedly be judged as betraying the sun god.

In this day and age, to betray the sun god is simply courting death.

However, the giant snake was still staring at them. If they didn't agree, they would probably die right now. Although the giant snake seemed easy to talk to before, after the previous surprise attack that ended before it even began, they all understood that it would be much easier for the giant snake to crush them than for them to crush ants.

so……

What do you want us to do?

After overcoming their fears, they decided to at least ask what they were supposed to do.

After hearing how cooperative the priests were, Du Yi nodded slightly.

"Don't worry, what you need to do isn't complicated."

As he said this, Du Yi began to recall his previous thoughts.

He could control the Ignivas by talking about domesticating mammoths, since breeding various breeds of mammoths is an almost endless endeavor, with new mammoths always being born, which means the Ignivas would have to do this generation after generation.

Now, there are no mammoths.

Without the mammoth as a useful cheat tool, it's really hard to find a large-scale objective that can attract generations of people to participate—although domesticating cattle and sheep is not impossible, it's really hard to use something like that a second time.

What's more, these people don't even know him.

The Ignivas knew him, and had even worshipped him as a god for generations. Although he didn't acknowledge it at the time because he didn't want the trouble, they still listened to what he said.

But now, these locals don't know him, and even if he talks about some grand goal, they may not listen to him.

Therefore, it's better to start with small things.

"Let's gather some seasonings first. Bring us everything you can find."

"...?"

The priests were stunned on the spot.

The priests looked at each other, their eyes filled with disbelief—when they were summoned, they all thought it was something important.

And that's it? Just to get some seasonings? Was it really necessary to call them all over for such a small thing?

Can't we just call on any random person?
Besides, they were merely captured and imprisoned in this serpent god temple; they never actually lived there properly. How could they possibly know where old Bhutto had hidden all those seasonings? No matter how you look at it, this kind of thing should be asked of the old man.

After a moment of silence, one of the priests voiced his doubts.

"It's just a small matter, yet it still bothered old Bhutto..."

"No, you can do it."

Seeing that these people actually showed signs of not wanting to participate, Du Yi immediately shook his head.

"That old man has his own things to do. What you need to do is help me find all the seasonings you can... You can't even do this small thing properly, can you?"

Of course, we can't say we can't do it well. If we can't even do this little thing well, we might lose our lives.

As prisoners of war, they should at least demonstrate that they have value in surviving.

"Besides, what I want isn't what's in the kitchen."

Recalling how he used to collect seasonings after waking up, Du Yi explained his needs in detail.

"First of all, there needs to be a variety of things. Find everything you can find so I can judge which ones are good and which ones aren't... Then there also needs to be a certain amount. You all know the size difference between us. If I use your portions, I'm afraid I won't even be able to taste anything."

This was already quite detailed, and at least in Du Yi's view, these priests had fully understood his meaning.

This made Du Yi nod in satisfaction.

"I'm giving you a month to do this. Don't even think about running away. I'll be keeping an eye on you the whole time... Of course, I won't let you work for nothing. If you do well, you'll get some benefits."

As for what the benefits would be, Du Yi hadn't figured it out yet. However, as prisoners of war, the priests, facing the possibility of being killed at any moment, didn't dare to ask any more questions.

However, this matter itself doesn't seem to be a difficult one.

"That sounds pretty simple."

Just as Du Yi turned his back and was busy repairing the barbecue grill, a priest couldn't help but speak up.

"It doesn't sound like it's that difficult. It's just about buying the seasonings you can find in the market, like salt, garlic, onions, pepper... It's like going to the market instead of the kitchen, right?"

Upon hearing this, the priests were somewhat puzzled, since it seemed to be true – although the giant serpent's demands were more than they had imagined, it was still ultimately just a errand-running job.

However, that's where the problem lies.

If it's just a errand, is it really worth calling them all over, and even giving them a whole month?

"This... is very likely a test."

It was at this moment that the leader, the priest who had once used the golden scarab, spoke.

"This must be a test, a test of our abilities."

At that moment, the priest leader felt he understood everything.

"What that ancient serpent wants to do is definitely not just to go to the market to buy things."

(End of this chapter)