I am God - Chapter 221

This time, the snake people caught a rare and beautiful big fish. As usual, they brought it to the Temple of Life to offer as a sacrifice to Shelly, the Mother of Life.

However, this time was different. The Mother of Life looked at the large fish shimmering silver in the sunlight, then glanced at the book in her hand describing the Trilobite people’s life after entering the Age of Miracles.

The book detailed the lives of Trilobite nobility, the various delicacies on their dining tables. It described how the Trilobite people made various snacks and foods, how they cooked the Ancestral Fish and even some precious ingredients from the sea floor.

Although Shelly had brought complete sets of miracle tools for making various desserts, sweets, and drinks from God’s Realm, such common items were countless in God’s treasury.

Before this, even from the moment they were created, these items had been submerged in the ocean of artifacts in God’s treasury, never taken out before.

It was Shelly who allowed them to leave God’s Realm, transforming them from treasured collectibles into daily utensils.

In a way, it seemed as if Shelly had given these objects a new purpose and meaning.

But when Shelly saw this fish, a sudden thought occurred to her.

What was the difference between the delicacies directly produced by these tools and food that was truly cooked?

She wanted to taste properly cooked food.

The little girl stood up from the divine throne. She walked down step by step to the center of the temple’s great hall, approaching Snake Mother Sermos, who was prostrating on the ground.

“My servant,” Shelly said. “I accept your offering this time.”

Sermos was overjoyed: “To please God is the glory of Sermos and the snake people.”

Shelly instructed Sermos to use fire and a stone pot to cook the fish into a soup.

Then she added some sugar and spices she had brought from God’s Realm. A small fire demon curled up beneath the stone pot, releasing its heat.

The soup gradually began to boil, emitting a rich aroma.

There was no particular technique, but it was already delicious enough.

Hands dancing in the darkness took up Shelly’s personal utensils, ladled out a bowl, and brought it before her.

Shelly cradled the delicate small bowl and took a sip with her spoon.

It wasn’t necessarily more delicious than food produced by miracle tools, but it gave a completely different feeling and experience.

“Hiss!”

Snake Mother Sermos looked at the fish soup in the stone pot, her forked tongue involuntarily flicking out, making a barely perceptible hissing sound.

Even just smelling it, she could sense the deliciousness of the fish soup.

This aroused a feeling of desire for the fish soup in the stone pot, but because it was God’s food, she dared not have the slightest greedy thought.

“Do you want to eat too?” Shelly asked her.

“Sermos wouldn’t dare!” Snake Mother Sermos said reverently.

“Take the rest!” Shelly commanded, bestowing the remaining food upon her.

Shelly had only briefly tasted it before giving the remainder to Snake Mother Sermos.

Eating no longer held any substantial meaning for a deity; its only purpose was to experience the taste and savor of food.

However, Shelly found that there were still many interesting things in the Trilobite people’s books, many fresh things she hadn’t tried before.

Snake Mother Sermos carried the stone pot and backed out of the temple. She slithered down the right side of the stairs.

Although the temple had stairs, they were clearly prepared for beings with two feet. Sermos might use them when going up, but when going down, she preferred to slide directly down the sloping sides.

As she moved, twisting her snake tail, her slender waist swayed along with it, giving an alluring impression even from behind.

She came to a corner at the base of the temple, and just smelling the aroma made her unable to resist.

Unable to contain herself, she took an eager sip of the fish soup, closing her eyes in delight.

“Hiss!”

Sermos couldn’t help but make a sound of pleasure.

For the first time in her life, she experienced the joy of eating something so delicious. She couldn’t imagine there could be such delectable food in the world.

And it only required simple boiling, then adding some sugar and spices.

However, at this moment, in Snake Mother Sermos’s eyes, the method of cooking food suddenly took on a mysterious quality. Even the casually added sugar and spices seemed to become divine objects created by the gods.

Sermos licked the stone pot clean, not daring to waste a single drop.

After returning, she even treasured that stone pot as a divine object and kept it carefully stored away.

In the snake people’s dwelling place.

After hearing Snake Mother Sermos’s description, the other snake people were both envious and curious.

“Grandmother, was it really that delicious?” a snake person asked Sermos.

“What did it taste like?” A young snake person yearned to know, even sniffing at the stone pot Sermos had brought back.

“Can we try food like that?” Other snake people also gathered around the pot, full of curiosity.

“What are you thinking? That’s an offering enjoyed by God.” An older snake person immediately scolded them, taking the opportunity to preach about their faith and reverence for the Mother of Life.

“That method of preparing food must contain some magical power. Eating it probably bestows some kind of benefit.” When a snake person said this, Snake Mother Sermos also seemed to feel that she had gained some special power from the fish soup, as if she had become a bit stronger.

On the other hand, when Sermos heard other snake people talking about the method of preparing food, she immediately recalled the scene from earlier.

She also longed to taste that flavor again. Although she didn’t have sugar and spices, she could use a stone pot and fire.

Moreover, wasn’t this exactly what Snake Mother Sermos had been seeking all along – another way to use fire?

The entire snake people clan immediately sprang into action.

This time, they used not only fish but also other ingredients.

The Snake Mother switched to a large pot, repeating the cooking scene from earlier.

Although there were no spices, the taste was indeed far superior to eating raw food.

“It’s so delicious.” The snake people’s sense of taste was far more sensitive than that of the Trilobite people. Their pursuit and appreciation of fine food also far exceeded that of the Trilobite people. They were immersed in the flavor of the food.

“Is this what the gods eat?” Around the fire and stone pot, all the snake people were wolfing down the food.

“If we do this, will the gods rebuke us?” Some snake people even had tears in their eyes as they tasted the food, then felt a sense of trepidation.

Because they felt that such delicious food shouldn’t be something they could taste at all, that it was something exclusively for the gods.

Sermos remembered Shelly’s expression at the time and said to the other snake people, “God doesn’t care about these things.”

Sermos had learned the method of cooking food from the Mother of Life, and she gradually improved upon it.

She also put some edible plants from the seabed into the stone pot, and she even learned how to grill food.

The snake people viewed delicious food as a gift from God, and even cooking became a sacred ritual.

Snake Mother Sermos recorded the cooking methods and recipes, which became something that only those in charge of distributing food could master.

As night fell, fires were lit in the square.

“It’s beginning.”

The snake people formed a circle around the fire and stone pot, then began to dance.

This was their way of praying to God, and also their method of thanking the gods for their blessings.

With crude but very rhythmic dances.

After the dance ended, Snake Mother Sermos distributed the cooked food. Some people received more, while others received less, which also reflected these individuals’ status within the clan.

Having learned to use fire to cook food, the snake people seemed to have grown a bit stronger.

The clan also expanded further at this time, with a new batch of young snake people being born.

But this also increased the pressure on the snake people clan, forcing them to find ways to obtain more food.

They formed an underwater hunting team, composed of the strongest and most capable snake people.

However, the leader of the hunting team was a female snake, one who had mastered the Petrifying Gaze divine technique to a very powerful degree.

Because of Snake Mother Sermos, female snake people had a slightly higher status than males in the snake people clan. The other male snake people didn’t see any problem with this and automatically obeyed Snake Mother Sermos and the team leader.

However, as food became more plentiful, another problem arose.

Relying on just one fire demon and Snake Mother Sermos alone, cooking and distributing food had become a very burdensome task.

Snake Mother Sermos gathered everyone and announced her decision: “Since one fire demon can’t keep up, let’s find a way to capture another one!”

“This time, the fire demon we capture will be given to the person who contributes the most.”

“Whoever performs best in this fire demon capture mission will be able to form a contract with it and become its partner.”

“And they will replace me as the one who distributes food.”

Snake Mother Sermos’s words excited many of the snake people below.

The female snake leader of the hunting team was eager to try. “Mother,” she asked, “you’re giving this duty to us, but what about you?”

Sermos replied, “From now on, I will divide the City of Life into different zones. Everyone who can form a contract with a fire demon is truly a strong snake person, and they will become the food distributors for their zone.”

“As for me, I am the guardian of the Temple of Life, the servant of God, and also your mother and clan leader.”

“Distributing food is not my responsibility. In the future, I will not only teach you how to control fire demons, but also pass on the secret recipes for cooking.”

The snake people cheered, thanking Snake Mother Sermos.

Some of the stronger snake people exchanged glances, and one could see the passion for competition in their eyes.

The snake people wanted to use the same method as last time to capture another fire demon, then form a contract with it in front of the temple.

Snake Mother would lead the team again, and besides the members of the hunting team, some newly adult snake people would also join.

The snake people were all very enthusiastic about joining, eager to have their own fire demon partner and to become the one who distributes food.

They began preparations early. In the City of Life, snake people prepared dried food for the traveling warriors. In the wilderness, one could see snake people training together, coordinating their divine techniques and mastering the power of seal imprints deeply ingrained in their bloodlines through divine technique imprints.

This time they didn’t take a detour and reached the outskirts of the fire demons’ nest in eleven days.

However, when they arrived, they saw that the area around the original swamp had transformed into a vast expanse of green forest.

In just over a decade, the landscape had changed dramatically.

There were even some amphibians in the swamp, likely having swum up from the sea and made their home in the marsh.

Under Snake Mother Sermos’s arrangement, the snake people began their reconnaissance just like last time, searching for the fire demons’ locations.

The snake people lured out a small fire demon, then worked together to trap it in the forest.

The small fire demon frantically released flames, igniting the surrounding bushes.

However, it still couldn’t escape the snake people’s encirclement and was eventually trapped inside by several stone walls.

The snake people who had confined the small fire demon were ecstatic.

“I caught it!” one snake person exclaimed.

“We did it together!” another chimed in.

“Now we can control the power of fire,” a third added excitedly.

But their joy didn’t last long. The fire spread rapidly, and with the wind, it continued to spread, igniting large areas of the forest.

Even more terrifying was that the fire attracted more fire demons.

Fire was everywhere, and a group of fire demons attacked them from within the sea of flames.

“Fire!” Everywhere they looked was fire; the snake people had never seen such a sight before.

“The fire is coming, everyone quickly take cover!” The snake people immediately scattered, slithering away swiftly with their snake tails.

“Hiss hiss hiss.” The snake people kept making hissing sounds, stimulated by the dense smoke and high temperature.

The forest was ignited, and a small team of snake people, unable to escape in time, was completely trapped within.

Not every snake person had mastered the Petrifying Gaze technique; this ability could only be awakened at the second rank, which was rare among the snake people.

Most of the snake people here could only rely on their strong bodies, holding stone shields to assist those powerful snake ability users in intimidating and forcing back the small fire demons.

Not to mention, in such a sea of fire, the power of petrification to resist flames was also weakened to a certain extent.

“I’ll go save them,” Snake Mother Sermos declared. She saw a trapped small team and immediately used her divine technique to cover herself with a layer of stone armor, then rushed into the sea of fire.

Sermos rescued several people from the fire, even engaging in fierce battles with fire demons, sustaining some minor injuries herself.

But even so, most of the snake people engulfed by the sea of fire were burned to death.

The few who were rescued were severely burned, clearly beyond saving.

The snake people could only watch helplessly as their comrades succumbed to their injuries.

The fire gradually extinguished when it reached the swamp, and those frenzied, chaotic fire demons also left.

The snake people walked into a scorched land, retrieving the bodies of their fallen companions.

They gathered around the stone house that had trapped the small fire demon, only to find that they could no longer sense the fire demon’s presence inside.

“Where’s the small fire demon?” everyone asked.

The stones that had imprisoned the fire demon were burned black, with a crack split open, and the small fire demon had long since escaped.

“It escaped?” So many people had died, and in the end, it was all for nothing. This was hard for the snake people to accept.

The snake people’s plan had failed this time because the situation had changed from before.

Even Snake Mother Sermos felt a strong sense of defeat, but not only could she not show her feelings of failure, she had to inspire the others.

At the same time, she also had to bury the dead snake people.

In front of the tall burial mounds, the snake people were angry, crying, and wailing.

“Just died like that.” Thinking of their brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters buried inside, the snake people wailed at the fragility of life.

“We must make them pay,” someone said angrily, looking towards the depths of the swamp.

“I want to catch them and enslave them for generations.” One failure didn’t make the snake people give up; they decided to prepare well and come back next time.

“Fire is more terrifying than we imagined.” Some snake people looked at the scorched earth, recalling the recent sea of fire, and couldn’t help but feel fear.

They thought they could restrain the power of fire, even control it; however, this time they had learned a lesson, and it was extremely painful.

Although Snake Mother Sermos was grieving, she had seen many births and deaths over the years.

Some of her children had died hunting in the sea, some at the hands of monsters, some from disease, some from small accidents.

This world was full of vitality, but equally full of dangers. Sometimes a small oversight or accident could take their lives.

Snake Mother Sermos comforted her children, telling them:

“Don’t be afraid!”

“After death, we return to God’s realm, where we will obtain everything we want in another world.”

The snake people asked, “What’s in God’s realm?”

Snake Mother Sermos told them: “Everything.”

This sparked infinite longing in the snake people’s eyes, imagining that their loved ones who had died could enter the place where the gods lived, a divine realm that had everything.

They fantasized about the scenes in God’s realm, which must be a place full of delicious food, beautiful scenery, warm and comfortable.

A place that has everything.

Thinking this way, death didn’t seem so frightening.

But unexpectedly, as they continued to bury the bodies of other snake people, they discovered something.

They dug up a black object from the ground that looked like stone but was very hard.

It had small holes on it, as well as beautiful patterns.

“What is this?” The snake person who dug it up carefully manipulated it.

“Let me see?” Another snake person touched it.

But when he touched a certain part of the pattern, the object immediately burst into light.

A virtual projection appeared in the open space.

In the projection, a castle appeared, with a strange humanoid creature standing on top of it, playing an instrument.

From its perspective, one could see a glorious city, with incredibly tall buildings and crowds of people everywhere.

Those people came and went on various carts and bicycles.

In the distance, at the docks, thousands of sails competed, showing a civilization at its most prosperous moment.

The snake people were frightened and threw the object on the ground.

They had never seen anything like this before, nor did they know what the things in the image represented.

Snake Mother Sermos carefully approached, her fingers touching the illusion.

But as soon as she touched it, the illusion burst like a bubble and dissipated into foam.

Snake Mother Sermos picked up the object from the ground, turning it over and over without understanding.

However, she said to the other snake people, “This must be a divine object.”

“This must be an artifact from the divine realm, accidentally left behind by the great Mother of Life,” one snake person suggested.

“If we offer it to the Mother of Life, we’ll surely receive praise from God,” another added eagerly.

Thinking about it this way, it seemed they hadn’t returned empty-handed after all.

The earlier sadness, disappointment, and sense of defeat were largely dispersed by the joy of finding what they believed to be a “divine object” lost by the Mother of Life.

Upon their return, none of the snake people mentioned their failure.

Instead, they proclaimed the divine object they had found.

It was as if their journey wasn’t to tame fire demons, but to search for an item lost by God.

Sermos carefully ascended the temple steps, cradling the “divine object,” and approached the divine throne of Shelly, the Mother of Life.

“We offer this to the great Sovereign of Life,” Sermos said reverently.

“We accidentally found something you once lost.”

The little girl on the divine throne shifted her gaze, and the black shadow on the ground began to writhe, covering the entire temple. “Something I lost?” she asked, her curiosity piqued.

Sermos still firmly believed in her earlier view: “This is a divine creation, existing only in the realm of the gods.”

“It even projected scenes from the divine realm.”

A tendril took the “divine object” from Sermos’s hands and brought it before Shelly.

Shelly stared at it for a while, taking some time to recognize what it actually was.

It was an ocarina, an early musical instrument from the Yinsai civilization.

So early that it couldn’t even be called classical, only ancient.

However, it had been preserved until now because it was a divine artifact.

Shelly took the ocarina in her hands and activated it.

“Ah, as I thought,” Shelly mused. “It’s an artifact left behind by the Trilobite people.”

Shelly’s curiosity grew as she examined the object.

She nodded her little head as she watched the projected images and listened to the pleasant sounds.

It must have been made from the molted shell of a small stone demon, designed to store the music played by the user and the scenes of the time. It was just a small toy created by a priest.

It should have been born in the God-Forsaken Era, during the last glimmers of glory of the Yinsai Kingdom.

Although the city still appeared prosperous, the musician’s melody was filled with sadness and confusion.

However, as a divine artifact, it could only be considered the lowest grade.

Although the methods for creating divine artifacts began to spread during the God-Forsaken Era, the Trilobite people of that time could no longer produce powerful third-rank divine artifacts. They could only use the bloodlines and shells of monsters to create such low-level divine artifacts.

But even so, these divine artifacts were difficult to make.

Because by the God-Forsaken Era, with God’s departure, even forming spirit realm contracts with monsters was no longer possible. Dealing with a monster was no easy task.

Being able to create such an artifact from the molted shell of a small stone demon suggests that its former owner must have been a very famous figure.

Shelly listened to the melody, and as it ended, the illusion dissipated.

“My servant, I’m very pleased with the gift you’ve offered me,” Shelly said.

As Shelly said this, Snake Mother Sermos’s face lit up with joy.

But Shelly continued, “However, this isn’t mine.”

“This is something left behind by the Trilobite people of the Yinsai civilization, a low-level divine artifact.”

She smiled, amused by Sermos’s ignorance.

“Moreover,” Shelly continued, “the scenes inside aren’t of the divine realm. They’re just images of an ordinary city of the Trilobite people from long ago.”

“The divine realm is not what you imagine, and don’t try to guess at the realm of the gods with your meager knowledge and limited mind.”

Sermos felt a bit disappointed. So this wasn’t a “divine object” left behind by God, just something from another race.

But then she thought, “What a powerful race they must have been, to create such a marvelous object.”

“And look at the scenes, how vast their population once was, possessing such magnificent cities and wondrous creations.”

Trilobite people – this was the second time Sermos had heard this name.

Before, Sermos only knew they were another race, one beloved by a god named Yinsai.

But now, from this small ocarina and its illusory scenes, she glimpsed the grandeur and greatness of this once-existing race.

The city that had shocked them all, which they thought was the divine realm, was described by the Mother of Life as just an ordinary city. This implied that the Trilobite people once had many such cities, with a population beyond the snake people’s imagination.

Snake Mother Sermos asked the sovereign on the divine throne, “Then… what about that once great race and civilization? Where are they now?”

Shelly smiled slightly. “Extinct.”

Snake Mother Sermos immediately straightened up, her mouth agape as she looked at the Mother of Life. “Extinct?” she repeated, disbelief evident in her voice.

Shelly pondered briefly, then said nonchalantly: “They became extinct tens of millions of years ago, perhaps even a hundred million years ago?”

Shelly wasn’t sure exactly how long it had been, but she felt it must have been a very, very long time ago, at least tens of millions of years.

“A hundred million years?”

Sermos had never even heard the words “ten million” or “hundred million” before, but after hearing her deity, the Mother of Life, explain the term, she felt only trembling and fear.

A hundred million years.

What an incredibly long span of time. To think that gods and another great race existed so long ago.

She even felt this time exceeded the length of the world’s existence as she had imagined it. She couldn’t comprehend or imagine what a hundred million years actually meant.

However, what shocked Sermos even more was that their god, the great Sovereign of Life, Shelly, had already stood upon this land in such a distant past.

For the first time, she felt how truly insignificant she was, and for the first time, she understood what the concept of eternity meant in the words of the gods.

Sermos prostrated herself on the ground in trepidation, no longer daring to look up at the little girl above.

The term “hundred million years” had frightened her so much she couldn’t raise her body. She was awestruck by the power and eternity of the divine, feeling completely lost.

“So not only does life die, but even such powerful races can become extinct and vanish?” Sermos whispered, her voice trembling.

Shelly pursed her lips, seeming naive as she spoke the cruelest words.

“Of course!” she said matter-of-factly. “Many races have already disappeared from this world.”

“They weren’t the first race to vanish, nor will they be the last.”

Snake Mother Sermos trembled, asking herself inwardly.

“What about the snake people?”

“Will they be the next race and civilization to vanish?”

Shelly seemed to perceive Snake Mother Sermos’s thoughts and said, “No, you can only be called a clan right now.”

“The word ‘civilization’? You’re still far from it.”

“Although you possess wisdom, you’re not much different from the fish in the sea or the beasts on land right now.”

The Snake Mother decided to keep this matter hidden in her heart, not telling anyone.

Because this was a secret belonging to God, a shocking truth from the previous era.

And what she feared more was that her children would feel despair if they heard such terrible news.

If such a powerful civilization had vanished, what about their weak clan?

Shelly set aside the gift offered by the snake people and swung her legs.

The soles of her little red boots tapped rhythmically against the metal divine throne, making crisp sounds.

Shelly looked at Snake Mother Sermos with a mischievous expression and said something that both excited and frightened her.

“This divine artifact isn’t the only thing from the previous era scattered across this island. There are many things left from the last era scattered in various places. If you can find them, you’ll inherit the legacy of the previous era.”

After saying this, Shelly paused.

The corners of her mouth turned up slightly.

“This island,” Shelly said, her voice taking on a somber tone, “is the grave of the previous era.”

After speaking, she sat up straight, resuming her usual expression, no longer looking at Snake Mother Sermos.

“Of course,” Shelly continued, “these things are usually buried deep underground, and there are many hidden dangers among them.”

“Because these artifacts themselves possess great power, and some even have traps and unlocking mechanisms set by their former owners.”

“Whether you can find and use them depends on your own abilities.”

Snake Mother Sermos was excited that they had received guidance from the Mother of Life, and that they had another way to increase their strength.

Great power would allow them to survive better in this world, and then truly establish their own civilization.

But at the same time, she was afraid.

Afraid of that sentence: this island is the grave of the previous era.

What a terrifying and heavy statement, an ancient truth so weighty it left one breathless, casually uttered from the mouth of the deity before her.