Once upon a time there was a greedy snake.

Chapter 68: The Essence Comes in Small Portions

The Fourth Akakage's innovation was met with unprecedented acclaim.

A single food essence can replenish the body's needs for an entire day, which is undoubtedly one of the greatest inventions, especially for the Ignivas.

After all, as mages, they can truly convert their food intake into combat power.

The dietary improvements made by the Third Akakage had greatly reduced the burden on them in their magical training, while the food essence of the Fourth Akakage directly broke their eating limits—after all, even the stew left by the Third Akakage would make them feel a bit full if they drank too much.

But if you replace it with this tiny bit of food essence, it's a completely different story.

As long as they can handle it and digest it, they can eat handfuls of this stuff.

Based on this, the Fourth Akakage naturally gained the recognition of everyone. They believed that the Fourth Akakage was a great wise king—and the Fourth Akakage's achievements were even more than that, since he would always be needed after his combat power increased.

Thus, in the later years of the Fourth Akakage, the Ignivas launched a war to reclaim their lost territory.

The entire war was utterly crushing. After all, the giants were starving and had lost their former glory. On the contrary, the Ignivas mages, empowered by the essence of the food, fought with increasing ferocity.

Perhaps due to excessive nutrition, these new generation of Ignivas are no longer the same height as before. Many of them have reached the chests of the giants, and some are even nearly the same size as the giants. However, compared to the emaciated giants, they are much stronger because they are well-fed every day, and their magic is more than one level higher than that of the Ignivas from their homeland.

In the past, mages were considered to have combat power simply by blasting fireballs, but now, every warrior of Ignivas can blast much larger fireballs. If they were to use the smaller fireballs of the past, they could even fire them in succession. This has increased their combat power by more than one level.

"This is all thanks to the Fourth Akakage!"

They praised that red-clad figure in this way.

"If it weren't for the Fourth Akakage, how could we have achieved this!"

"This is actually the wisdom left behind by that great serpent god..."

The Fourth Akakage did not take credit for it; instead, like the Third Akakage, he naturally acknowledged the origin of this system.

After all, the essence of this food was developed based on the stewing techniques of the Third Akakage. If we really want to trace it back, it truly comes from the wisdom of the great Serpent God.

After all, even the container used to make the essence of food is still a pot, a type of cooking utensil.

However, this minor incident was quickly overshadowed by the great victory reported from the front lines.

On the fifteenth day of the war, the mages finally located the main force of the giants and then wiped out the starving corpses in a quarter of an hour. After these giants were annihilated, the remaining giants fled northward toward the ice plains and never looked back.

The victory came so suddenly, it was like a dream.

This directly led to the Fourth Akakage fainting after confirming the news of the great victory at the front.

When he woke up again, the Fourth Akakage felt that he was already exhausted. Thinking about it carefully, he should have died long ago. After all, repeated failures were a huge torment to the human spirit. Those days of working day and night seemed focused, but they had long since worn down his body.

As the one who further improved the diet of the Ignivas, the Fourth Akakage himself was the one least likely to be healthy.

So, just like the Third Akakage back then, the Fourth Akakage also chose the most reliable person from among his researchers.

"From now on, you will be the Fifth Akakage."

The Fourth Akakage said to the researcher, "I have completed the tasks assigned to me by the Third Akakage. Even if I were to die now, I would have no regrets... If I had to say what I regret, it would probably be the food essence. You should have sensed it too, that thing has the potential for further development."

"Yes."

The researcher nodded vigorously.

In fact, it's not just them; many Ignivas have realized that something related to the essence of food, or rather, the key that the human body needs, is not the so-called essence of food we have now, but the real, unadulterated essence that the human body needs.

In the past, people had a burden when it came to food intake, mainly in terms of digestion. The body always needed to distinguish and process what was necessary and what was not.

If this part could be clarified, or even precisely captured...

"This task is entrusted to you."

The Fourth Akakage grasped the researcher's hand.

"Also, there's another matter, which concerns the Holy Mountain..."

“I know that, you mention it often.”

The researcher continued to nod.

The matter of the Holy Mountain can be considered the last wish of the Third Akakage. After all, the Third Akakage learned his food improvement techniques from the Holy Mountain. Now that he has the opportunity, he naturally wants to tell those so-called mountain people, who are the former Ignis people.

Although the two sides have diverged into different branches over the long past, they ultimately share the same ancestors and past, so it is only natural for them to connect with each other.

"Finally, don't forget to offer sacrifices to that great serpent god, after all, we also received wisdom from Him..."

As he spoke, the Fourth Akakage's voice grew softer and softer.

Until there was no more sound.

On that same day, the Fifth Akakage also completed his succession.

As the new Akakage, the Fifth Akakage immediately chose to fulfill the Fourth Akakage's last wish by personally visiting the sacred mountain of the past to pay homage—this was a ceremony, and in a sense, also a diplomatic act.

Although the people of the sacred mountain and the Ignivas share the same ancestors, they ultimately split into two different factions.

Fortunately, the people in the mountains were easy to talk to, especially the young man who took the initiative to meet them. It was at this moment that the Fifth Akakage realized that the other party was actually a person from the same era as the First Akakage, and had even lived to this day.

"It seems you have finally found your own path."

Looking at these new generation of Ignivas, I couldn't help but feel a pang of emotion for that young deserter from back then.

Seeing that these Ignivas people were recovering, it was as if Akakage's wish had been fulfilled. He could finally put his mind at ease and continue to focus on his own path.

But what he didn't expect was that this was not the end.

But it was the beginning of everything.

(End of this chapter)