Once upon a time there was a greedy snake

Especially that huge belly, the fat jiggling around, almost filled his entire field of vision!

This made Akakage gasp.

"Master Sadok, you... you've actually become this strong?"

“Cultivating magic is like rowing against the current; if you don’t get stronger every day, your body will start to get thinner.”

The high-ranking mage, known as the Sardok Mentor, chuckled and even patted Akakage's shoulder with his large hand.

"But you, you're still so thin, even thinner than before, your stomach is as flat as a shadow... Have you been eating less lately?"

"Yes... I've lost my appetite."

Upon hearing what Instructor Sadok said, Akakage immediately gritted his teeth.

This isn't saying he's lost weight; it's clearly saying he's become weaker! Even weaker than he was back then!

And just by looking at his mouth, they could tell he'd been eating less lately... Was they implying he hadn't been training as a mage? Were they questioning his recent whereabouts?

Things are more complicated than expected; it seems his entry into the Holy Mountain has been noticed.

"Eating too little won't do. For us mages, losing our appetite means a danger second only to death."

As he said this, Mentor Sadok simply pulled a leather bag out of his cloak.

"This is honey brought from the city, a treasure that only a king can enjoy. Although it has been diluted, it is just right for your digestion... Here, take it."

"How could I possibly accept such a precious treasure?"

Upon seeing the bag of honey, Akakage's pupils contracted sharply.

This is a treasure that only a king can enjoy, which means it is a gift. But that's the problem. He has neither made any contribution to the newborn dawn nor established any merit on the frozen land in the north. So why is he worthy of this sudden gift?

"What does our king want me to do?"

Akakage asked cautiously.

"Such a generous reward... Instructor Sadok, am I being drafted to the front lines?"

"How could that be? Don't scare yourself."

Mentor Sadok smiled and shook his head.

"The fighting on the front lines has only just subsided a bit, so there's no need to conscript new people right now... After all, the population that needed to be used up this year has already been used up. If we really want to start another war, we'll have to wait until next year."

As he said this, Instructor Sadok suddenly lowered his voice.

"You know what our king has been working on recently, don't you?"

"……Know."

Akakage took a deep breath.

He knew what the Dawn of the Newborn had been doing recently. First, he had the many mages quietly hunt the wild beasts of the Holy Mountain and keep them as livestock in their respective pastures. Then, he released poachers to lure the Serpent God out, and finally, he set a trap to deliver a fatal blow to the Serpent God. He had even participated in this matter himself.

Of course, although he had some strength, it was far from enough to participate in the operation to kill the gods. So at that time, his job was to work with the other magicians to hunt the beasts in the holy mountain quietly.

Instead of hunting them, they lured them to their own ranches. Since the ranches owned by these mages involved in the operation were located around the Holy Mountain, it wasn't a troublesome matter; it was just doing odd jobs on the periphery.

However, now that Professor Sadok has suddenly brought this up...

Red Shadow's heart was pounding wildly.

"Since you know this, you should also be able to see that the king's hunt was unsuccessful."

Mentor Sadok sighed.

"Not only did we fail, but our king was also seriously injured... Therefore, as mages and members of the Ignivas family, we should share the king's burdens."

"What...does our king want me to do?"

Chi Ying felt his hands, hidden under his cloak, trembling; he dared not continue the conversation.

The familiar mentor put him under immense pressure; any wrong word or even a slight slip of the tongue could expose the secrets hidden in his heart.

But at that very moment, Mentor Sadok spoke up once again.

"Why are you trembling like this? The king isn't asking you to do anything dangerous... The king just wants your saber-toothed tiger as food, that's all."

"It's just a saber-toothed tiger."

Chi Ying breathed a sigh of relief.

It startled him; he thought it was something serious. But if it was just his saber-toothed tiger, then it didn't matter—it was just some livestock, and he could just take some out and send it to the newborn ray of dawn.

As long as we don't cause him any other trouble, everything is fine.

"How many do our kings want?"

"How many?"

Instructor Sadok paused for a moment, then chuckled.

"You underestimate the appetite of our New Dawn. He is the strongest king in the history of the Ignivas family..."

As he spoke, Mentor Sadok waved his hand and drew a circle directly in the direction of the ranch.

“All of them, our king needs all the saber-toothed tigers.”

"I……"

Chi Ying was immediately dumbfounded.

Even if it's diluted, a bag of honey reserved only for the king is worth more than ten saber-toothed tigers in exchange for it; it would be a fair trade for him.

But he wants to trade all the saber-toothed tigers on his ranch for just a bag of honey that can be drunk in a few sips...

How could that be? How could he possibly agree to something like that?

Putting aside the fact that this is no different from outright robbery, the saber-toothed tigers themselves are definitely not something that can be given away all at once—you have to know that he promised that snake god to offer saber-toothed tigers as sacrifices, and that snake god even personally promised to give him a corresponding reward.

If he can't even produce a saber-toothed tiger by then... what will be the consequences?

This is no longer the kind of thing you can get away with by clever tricks; this is truly deceiving the gods.

As for the consequences of deceiving that serpent god...

Akakage dared not think about it anymore.

"Hey, what kind of talk is this, let's go inside first."

While Crimson Shadow was still hesitating, the burly instructor Sadok had already headed directly towards the ranch.

The ranch gate was actually quite wide, even large enough to allow two saber-toothed tigers to walk out side by side, but Mentor Sardok was much larger, enough to completely block the entrance—it was even difficult to squeeze in sideways, simply because Mentor Sardok had a protruding belly.

However, faced with the impassable gate, Mentor Sadok simply clapped his hands.

A torrent of flames roared out.

The solid wood ranch gate was reduced to ashes in an instant.

"Come on, come in and talk."

Facing the lingering warmth of the embers still drifting in the wind, Instructor Sadok's broad figure casually walked into the pasture.

Judging from his leisurely stroll, he seemed to be the owner of the ranch.

This made Akakage's heart sink completely.

After all, this was practically a direct instruction from his mentor, Sadok.

If he dared to utter even a single word of refusal, this thick wooden door would be his fate.

Chapter 26 Open your eyes and see the world

Du Yi in the mountains waited for seven days and nights.

According to the magician, the ranch where the saber-toothed tigers were kept was located on the outskirts of the mountain, but seven days had passed and Du Yi had not seen a trace of the magician.

"Perhaps he didn't want to complete this deal."

Du Yi couldn't help but sigh.

Come to think of it, there's nothing of note in the mountains. Even if he wanted to trade with this mage, he could only offer some berries and honey—although Du Yi thought the honey was of pretty good quality, it still wasn't enough to get enough saber-toothed tiger meat to fill his stomach.

"Besides, this mage seems to have a lot on his mind... Perhaps he's busy with something else?"

The mage was busy with other things, so naturally he had to go about his own business as well.

The first thing he naturally did was to continue learning foreign languages. Although he was already able to make some basic communication, he still needed to practice speaking more in order to have more fluent conversations. And that was the second thing he was doing right now: asking what the outside world was like and how long he had been asleep.

"So many generations have passed?"

After a period of communication, Du Yi gradually gained a better understanding of the world around him.

According to the savage who survived, the savage he met was the nineteenth generation among them, and now, these savages have evolved to the thirty-sixth generation. Not only is their population growing more and more, but they also have a much better understanding of the surrounding area.

"The east side is all water, with huge waves... So the east side is the ocean? If I want to eat fish in the future, I can just keep going east... But can I swim?"

"The south is all miasma jungle, full of swamps and lots of insects... It doesn't sound like a good place, but don't crocodiles usually come from places like this? I remember crocodiles are not small and their meat is quite good, so this should be on the must-eat list."

"The west hasn't been explored because I'm here... Oh well, I'll go west myself later and see if there's anything to say about it."

"To the north lies a frozen wasteland, inhabited by ferocious giants, and even gods... What do you mean by gods?"

After watching the savage gesture for a long time, Du Yi finally understood that he was describing a giant beast whose size was no less than his own.

"Oh?"

Du Yi immediately became interested.

Because he always had the mammoth as a reference point, Du Yi had always had a relatively clear understanding of his own size—he had actually wondered if there were any giant beasts of similar size to himself.

Although he currently has no natural enemies, that's only because of his enormous size. If there were any giant beasts as big as him, he might not be able to gain much of an advantage.

"However, if it can grow to the same size as me... does that also mean it can produce a lot of flesh?"

Du Yi suddenly felt like going to the north to take a look.

However, it's definitely not suitable right now. If someone is about the same size as him, it means their combat power won't be much different. Fighting against an opponent of the same level in the form of a snake would actually be a disadvantage.

After all, snakes only have two ways of attacking: one is to stretch out their heads and bite, and the other is to wrap their bodies around and strangle. Although Du Yi was quite dissatisfied with these two ways of attacking, which led him to develop the method of "throwing stones", this method of attacking was still a bit crude.

"We still need to prepare some other things, things that are more suitable for throwing... or maybe shed our skin first and make our bodies bigger."

In just a moment, Du Yi had already formulated a battle strategy.

But it's clear that neither of these ideas can be resolved in a short time.

"So, I need to go and take care of my own things too."

After listening to the wild man's description of the surrounding environment, Du Yi ended their conversation.

Just like how they treated the Radiant Ones back then.

"You should go and take care of your own things too."

Du Yi said this.

His Ignis language was already quite fluent, and the savage in front of him could clearly understand his meaning—but it was precisely because he could clearly understand the serpent god's words that the young Ignis man became increasingly bewildered.

Yes, the communication with the serpent god has ended, even faster than he had anticipated.

After the exchange ended, they should each go about their own business.

but.

Busy with their own things.

What else does he have to do?

Returning to Ignis City? That's out of the question. If he could go back, he wouldn't be in the Holy Mountain in the first place. As for exposing the crimes of those royalty… since that damned mage had already said something, it's pointless for him to say it now.

Moreover, the serpent god didn't really care much about the affairs among these Ignis people.

He can feel it.

As for returning to the frozen north to avenge his comrades... if he had that opportunity, of course it would be good. But with his current strength, facing those giants would be tantamount to suicide.

Even without the giants lifting a finger, the Ignis mages, upon discovering him, would execute him as a deserter.

And this also means that the most suitable place for him right now...

"Still in the mountains."

The young Ignis gave a helpless, bitter smile.