Once upon a time there was a greedy snake

Realizing this, he immediately began to seek revenge.

"This mage, who was wielding the power of a god, uttered blasphemous words and even attempted to kill a god..."

“ㄧˇㄙㄨㄥㄍㄛˋㄌㄛㄧˇㄍㄜˋㄧㄨㄍˋㄗㄧㄊˋㄌㄧㄛㄥˋㄓㄧㄣˊㄏㄝˋㄏㄛˋㄌㄧㄛㄥˋ.

At that moment, the enormous snake head in mid-air also spoke, its voice like thunder.

“ㄞˇㄙㄧㄆˋㄈㄨㄣˊㄈㄛㄣˊㄏㄧˋ……?”

The conversation ended abruptly when both parties were stunned.

Chapter 20 Two Chairpersons

Hearing the obscure and incomprehensible words spoken by the wild man, Du Yi was speechless for a moment.

Although he was awakened from his molting slumber and was still a little groggy, the sight of these plump mammoths around him made it all worthwhile—their flesh, with its marbled texture and snowflake-like patterns, was so tender and juicy that it seemed impossible for them to grow in the wild.

This also led Du Yi to begin to appreciate the gifts of nature.

Upon seeing living people, Du Yi felt even better. Having slept for so long, he hadn't spoken to anyone for quite some time. Now that he had encountered two living people, he could chat with them and find out exactly how long he had slept and what new changes had occurred in the outside world.

This is the benefit of communicating with others. The information one can explore on their own is ultimately limited, but communicating with others allows them to obtain more information that they could not explore on their own, and to know things that they would otherwise have difficulty knowing.

But Du Yi never expected that there would be a language barrier.

"That doesn't make sense! Didn't I learn the language of these savages?"

Du Yi was quite puzzled. He remembered very clearly that the savage called the Radiant One had learned the way snakes sounded from him, and he had also learned some of the savages' language from him—through these languages, he had even been able to communicate smoothly with the Radiant One for decades.

But now, these languages ​​are completely useless.

The savage clearly didn't understand what he was saying.

He couldn't understand a word the savage was saying.

"This……"

Du Yi started scratching his head with his tail; at that moment, he felt that all the language he had learned before was for nothing.

However, this wasn't a big problem for him, since similar situations had occurred before—Du Yi had successful experience in communication.

Since we can't communicate in the same language, we might as well just use the most basic method.

Thinking this, Du Yi simply tore off a piece of mammoth meat and pushed it toward the two of them.

----------

As the fragrant elephant meat was pushed in front of them, the two people beside the giant snake had different expressions.

Looking at the two pieces of meat that had been separated in front of him, and especially seeing the other piece being pushed in front of the mage, the young Ignis's expression immediately became somewhat subtle.

When the mage saw a piece of meat being pushed in front of him, he burst into laughter.

The moment he heard the serpent god speak, he realized that it was indeed speaking Ignis, but in an ancient language from hundreds of years ago—a way of speaking that probably dates back to the time of the nineteenth Holy King, and no one speaks like that anymore.

Even he couldn't quite understand the meaning of these ancient sounds.

But that wasn't the main point. It was fine that he couldn't understand it; what really surprised him was that the young Ignis beside him also couldn't understand it.

Hearing that the other party was actually communicating with the gods in the current Ignis language, and seeing the stunned expressions on both sides, how could the mage not know that this young Ignis person and the serpent god in front of him had no way to communicate normally?

How could someone who can't even communicate normally with the serpent god be appointed as an apostle by the serpent god to collect sacrifices?

"And what I said before..."

Thinking of this, the mage couldn't help but breathe a slight sigh of relief.

Upon seeing the piece of meat before him, the mage became even more certain that he had safely survived this perilous ordeal.

After all, throughout the history of the Ignivas family, out of thirty-six generations of leaders, only the nineteenth Holy King had ever received food from the serpent god.

Although the first leader, who received magical power from the Serpent God, was clearly more noble in terms of status, the nineteenth Holy King, who received food from the Serpent God, was far more important than the first leader.

After all, the first leader obtained power merely by spying.

But the nineteenth Holy King had actually communicated with the Serpent God and even received wisdom from him.

And now, the same treatment is being presented to him.

"Could it be, could it be..."

The mage was immediately filled with excitement.

To become a mage, he is also a member of the Ignivas family, not the Ignis people, but the Ignivas family—in other words, he is also royalty, and he can be considered a descendant of that holy king.

Now, after hundreds of years, the descendants of the Holy King have once again received the food bestowed by the Serpent God.

Doesn't this mean...

"Could I also achieve something comparable to that Holy King?"

The mage's face flushed bright red in an instant.

Thinking of the Holy King whose legend has been passed down to this day, the magician felt a surge of emotion. All along, he could only hear about that great figure in the records of his clan and in the legends of the streets and alleys—and now, at this very moment, he actually had the opportunity to become such a great figure!

"How could I have such a fate? How could I have such an opportunity..."

The thought of being hailed by thousands, being honored as the new generation of Holy King, and even replacing the nascent dawn to sit on the throne symbolizing royal power made the magician dizzy and even tremble with excitement.

But at that moment, he heard a chewing sound beside him.

It didn't originate from mid-air, but from beside them, and the one eating wasn't the great serpent god, but the young Ignis.

This immediately darkened the mage's face.

Indeed, this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Receiving food from the serpent god meant that he had already begun to qualify as a holy king.

However, he wasn't the only one who had this great opportunity.

Beside him, the young Ignis was also enjoying the serpent god's blessings.

Upon sensing his gaze, the young Ignis even smiled.

"Indeed, I am not a messenger of any serpent god."

The young Ignis man spoke softly as he ate his meat.

"But if you've got the guts, go ahead and blast me to death in front of the Snake God."

"you……"

The mage immediately gritted his teeth.

But he held back in the end, simply because he was still enjoying the food bestowed by the serpent god, and he could not show any disrespect under any circumstances—although, due to the language barrier, those blasphemous words he had uttered earlier might not have killed him.

But right now, if he were to show any other expression towards the elephant meat that the serpent god had so carefully prepared, he would certainly not survive.

"But... what is the snake god trying to do?"

Chewing on the roasted meat in his mouth, the mage silently clenched his fist.

"How can there be two kings in Ignis?"

Chapter 21 Second Contact

Seeing that the two savages had eaten the meat, Du Yi took them back to the mountains, just as he had done with the Radiant Ones.

The language barrier wasn't a big deal for Du Yi; it was just a matter of learning it again.

Furthermore, Du Yi had already realized that the savage was clearly speaking the same language as him, but the other party's language must have undergone some changes, resulting in completely different pronunciations and intonations.

"It must be a change brought about by time... How long have I actually slept?"

Du Yi couldn't help but sigh.

Since it's the same language, it'll be much easier to learn. You know, it didn't take him long to learn the language of the Lightbringers back then, even though the two sides couldn't understand each other at all. As for now, he just needs to modify his old pronunciations and language structures to suit the current situation.

Of course, just like he did back then, he wouldn't learn these things for nothing; at the very least, he would be provided with food and lodging.

However, Du Yi soon encountered some troublesome problems with food.

"What about the prey in the mountains?"

Du Yi, who was about to start cooking, was puzzled.

Du Yi originally planned to make some mammoth dishes, since it was his favorite among all the ingredients—not because the other ingredients were lacking in taste and texture, but because the mammoth was simply too perfect.

First of all, this thing is big enough, which is an absolute advantage. Its huge size means enough meat, and it is also a herd animal, which means that as long as Du Yi hunts a herd of elephants, even with his current huge size, he can have a good meal.

On this basis, the taste of mammoths is also impeccable. The meat of these wild mammoths is quite firm, yet has beautiful fat marbling. They only need to be simply cooked over an open flame to release an enticing aroma.

Of course, Du Yi's favorite is the mammoth bone. Inside the thick bones is bone marrow full of energy. As the flames gradually heat the bone marrow into a viscous paste, no additional seasoning is needed. The wonderful taste of the ingredients themselves is enough to make people forget everything and become intoxicated by it.

Furthermore, mammoths have a unique advantage.

That is, this thing has no natural enemies.

Having no natural predators means that no one will compete with him for them. Even if the mammoths in the mountains are almost hunted down, as long as he stops chasing and killing them for a while, a new batch of mammoths will always emerge.

"So, I've been sleeping for so long, there should be quite a few new mammoths growing out by now, right?"

The thought of the herd of mammoths he had hunted recently filled Du Yi with anticipation.

That was definitely the highest quality mammoth he had ever eaten. The juicy, smooth texture was unlike anything that could grow in the wild. Clearly, during his molting period, mammoths had gradually evolved into a breed of exceptional quality.

However, it seems there's a problem in the mountains right now.

Two days and nights had passed, and Du Yi had already circled the mountains twice, but he hadn't seen a single mammoth—you see, in order not to scare away his prey, he had even deliberately concealed his tracks, always moving close to the ground, rarely even raising his head.

But he still didn't see a single mammoth. It was as if those mammoths that used to run happily in the mountains had completely disappeared.

"It doesn't make sense..."

Du Yi climbed all the way to the top of the mountain and looked down at the scenery below.

But he still didn't see a single mammoth.

Something seems a little off. The mammoths in this mountainous area shouldn't have gone extinct. After all, he has always been very careful about the population's reproduction to ensure that there are mammoths to eat every time he wakes up. He would never do something like draining the pond to catch all the fish. And judging from the current resources in the mountains, the things that mammoths like to eat are still there, and even rock berries are everywhere. It's impossible for the mammoths to migrate because they run out of food.

"Should we look for something else?"

After thinking for a moment, Du Yi could only settle for second best for the time being.

If mammoths aren't an option, saber-toothed tigers are actually a good alternative. Although they aren't as big as mammoths and their meat quality is slightly inferior, the amount of meat is still quite sufficient. And most importantly, there are many more of these than mammoths. If you can find a few more, you can have a good meal.

But after two more days and nights, Du Yi was shocked to find that the saber-toothed tigers that used to be everywhere were now almost nowhere to be found.

"what happened?"

Du Yi was increasingly puzzled; it seemed that some strange changes were taking place in the mountains.

After searching for four days without finding any prey, Du Yi had no choice but to return home for the time being. Since he had eaten a lot of mammoths before, he wasn't very hungry. This is where the advantage of snakes in digestion comes into play. They can eat a lot at once and then go for a long time without getting hungry after eating so much.

But just because he wasn't hungry didn't mean the two savages wouldn't be hungry. If he didn't go back soon, those two savages would probably become two corpses.

"A proper meal is out of the question, so how about some seasonings to tide us over?"

With that in mind, Du Yi casually took some berries and beehives back with him.

This amount of food wasn't even enough for him to roast meat once, but considering the size of those two savages, it was enough to choke them to death.

"I hope they won't be malnourished."

Du Yi felt quite ashamed for not being able to arrange the meals properly.

Fortunately, when Du Yi returned, the two savages had found berries to eat on their own. Seeing that the two savages could eat vegetarian food, Du Yi was somewhat relieved.

He still needs to learn the current language from these two savages, so he can't let them die like this.

So, after leaving the berries for the two savages, Du Yi began to try to get them to start by naming the berries, just as he had done with the Radiant Ones years before.

Fortunately, these two savages were also intelligent. Du Yi only used body language to teach them for half a day, and the two bruised and swollen savages understood what he meant.

Under Du Yi's diligent and highly efficient learning, he was able to communicate with the two savages in just half a day.

It was at this moment that Du Yi learned the reason why the prey in the mountains had disappeared.

"What? You mean all the mammoths in the mountains have been stolen?"

Upon hearing this from a savage, Du Yi immediately frowned.

Chapter 22 The Importance of Knowing a Foreign Language