However, Shen Nong ultimately underestimated the orcs' monstrous strength.
They not only lifted it up, but even bounced it around, and then said, "It's a bit heavy."
You call this a bit heavy?
On the way back, Shen Nong was constantly worried that the giant beast would crush the spines of the hunting team of orcs, and bloody images kept playing uncontrollably in her mind.
However, what he feared never happened in the end.
The hunting party, which was supposed to return after sunset, returned to the Mu tribe just as the sun was beginning to set in the west.
They also brought back a large prey, enough for the tribe to eat for two days.
The guards gasped in surprise as they watched the hunting party carrying the large game.
"What a huge prey!"
"Aside from giant beasts, this is the first time we've hunted prey this big."
"The tribe has meat to eat again, so they don't have to go hungry anymore."
The hunting party waved towards the tribe, and Tiger Roar shouted, "The priest hunted this for us!"
It wasn't long before they received a response from the tribe.
"priest!"
A wave of voices swept over Shen Nong's eardrums. He didn't stop them, because it would be a waste of breath to say anything. They would stop naturally when they got tired of shouting.
Amidst the clamor of the crowd, Ze stood in the crowd and looked at Shen Nong.
That person was unlike anyone else; that person was as clean and pure as winter snow, and as powerful and mysterious as a god.
He was the person he swore an oath to protect like the Beast God.
After Shen Nong returned, she was followed by a little tail, who followed her everywhere and she couldn't shake him off.
The boy had washed himself clean as Shen Nong had instructed, and his dark skin had turned into a healthy wheat color. Although he was very thin, his facial features and bone structure were extremely handsome.
Even Shen Nong, who is obsessed with appearances, was looking forward to seeing what the boy would look like after he grew taller and gained weight.
Shen Nong looked at the large leaf wrapped around the boy's waist, nodded in satisfaction, and reminded him again, "You can follow me from now on, but I have one condition: you must keep yourself clean every day."
Ze had no doubts about Shen Nong's request.
Because this beautiful priestess was as pure as snow.
He assured Shen Nong that he would do it.
Shen Nong reintroduced Ze to the people of the Mu tribe, saying, "Ze will be my personal bodyguard from now on."
When Shen Nongti was giving a brief introduction to what a personal bodyguard is, she incurred the hatred of many people.
Tiger Roar shouted directly, "Priest, I'm better than him. I can be your personal bodyguard too."
Shen Nong didn't say no directly, but instead said that there were more important things for him to do in the future.
Upon hearing this, Tiger Roar straightened his chest, raised his head, clenched his fist, patted his chest, and shouted, "Priest, whatever you need, just ask me to do it! I'm very capable!"
[Ding, system notification: The Wood Tribe has been detected to possess the "fire-making by friction" skill. Reward: 3000 infrastructure points.]
At the same time, Rabbit Wind ran over, shouting as he ran, "Priest! I've started a fire!"
Shen Nong was pleasantly surprised. He had initially thought that he would receive 9,000 infrastructure points all at once upon completion.
"Let me see what I can buy!"
The system opened the system shop, and two more items appeared besides sugar: one was rock salt, and the other was refined salt.
One jin of salt stone is sold at each infrastructure site, so there must have been salt stone here originally.
Moreover, if the Mu tribe wants to exchange for salt stones, they can simply take the clay pots to the Salt Department to exchange for a large quantity once the clay pots are fired.
Therefore, salt is worthless in the system's store.
Refined salt is a bit expensive, costing 100 infrastructure points per pound.
Shen Nong glanced at the two types of salt, and suddenly an idea came to him; his second task was almost complete.
"Exchange for 100 catties of rock salt, and then put it there when someone passes by my cave entrance."
The system code froze for a moment. Saltstone? Isn't it refined salt?
After confirming it once, Shen Nong still said salt stone, so the system did as he said.
Shen Nong waited quietly for a while, listening to Hu Xiao and the others grab Tu Feng and ask him for the secret to making fire by drilling wood.
Before long, another person rushed over, shouting, "Priest, salt stone! There's salt stone!"
The news that a large number of salt stones had suddenly fallen in front of the priest's cave spread throughout the Mu tribe. Without Shen Nong saying much, someone found the most reasonable explanation for these salt stones.
"It must be that the priest saw us eating salt soil, so he summoned the beast god to send us salt stones!"
"This is no ordinary rock salt, it must be divine salt!"
Tiger Roar loudly affirmed, as if he had personally witnessed the Beast God delivering the salt stones, "Yes! That's right!"
Shen Nong couldn't help but glance at the other party. "You're kidding me! I exchanged this with my base points! What does this have to do with your so-called Beast God?"
The largest and most worshipped deity on this continent is the Beast God.
The salt stones they witnessed falling from the sky were right in front of their priests' cave.
Even though their priests didn't utter a word, they still firmly believed it.
The priests were filled with even greater awe because they could communicate with the beast god and receive salt stones from him.
At the same time, they became increasingly convinced that the Wood Tribe, under the leadership of the priest, would surely regain its former glory.
With the priest being so powerful, he can definitely enable more orc warriors to be born, and their children can all successfully awaken into orc warriors!
Summer will pass and autumn will follow. Thinking of this, one of the orcs couldn't help but ask, "Priest! When autumn comes, will our child be able to successfully awaken?"
Once one person asked, others followed suit, as this was their biggest concern.
“Yes, priests, some of them have already lived through twelve autumns. If they haven’t awakened by this autumn, they will have no chance.”
Shen Nong: What autumn? What awakening? What no chance?
"System, come out here!"
Originally, the system wanted to remain silent and pretend it wasn't there, but after being called out by name, it couldn't keep up the act anymore. After logging back online, it slowly returned to Shennong.
[Literally...you know, this is the primitive era of orcs.]
The primitive people here are not purely human; they possess beast-blood genes that awaken in autumn at a certain age, allowing them to transform into beast form.
However, those who haven't awakened their powers by the age of twelve will become half-orcs if they do awaken later.
[Some of the beast-like characteristics cannot be completely reverted, and the power will be reduced by half in the full beast form.]
"What do I need to do to awaken them?"
Each tribe possesses a unique crystal; one must sense the energy emanating from the crystal to awaken their powers...
Then, those who successfully awaken their powers need to have their level tested with bloodstones every year. Don't worry, bloodstones are free; I have as many as you need...
Shen Nong, well-versed in the system's tactics, asked pointedly, "What are special crystals?"
The system hesitated and stammered before finally saying, "It's your crystal core."
Shen Nong's mind worked quickly. "So, the newbie gift pack you mentioned is a scam."
He affirmed, "No matter what, you will restore my crystal cores, because it is essential to ensure their awakening."
The system code manifested as a tiny figure on the screen, hands on hips, and the wicked system complained first, "So you also want me to give you a 30% discount on all items in the store!"
"Tell me straight, are you really going to give me a discount, or are you going to secretly raise the original price and then sell it to me at the original price?"
Shen Nong laughed angrily, "Those who work with systems can't have dirty hearts."
The system said guiltily, "We AIs don't have hearts."
Shen Nong retorted, "Then the code can't be too dirty."
"Give me the full 30% discount, and then I'll resend you a newbie gift pack."
Shen Nong began to threaten the system, "If you don't do as I say obediently, I won't continue this mission."
The system scoffed, "You think I'm afraid of you! Believe me, I'll wipe you out right now!"
"If you could really do what you say, you would have done it the first time you were offered a discount."
Shen Nong wasn't buying it and stated bluntly, "Besides, not only can you not do anything to me, you also need me to achieve your goals. So while I'm still easy to talk to, behave yourself."
The system-simulated little man looked blank, as if he didn't understand why he could be seen through by mere humans.
Shen Nong glanced at the system's expression and couldn't bear to look at it.
This thing isn't a high-dimensional intelligent being; it's clearly a high-dimensional mentally challenged being.
"Putting that aside for now, how am I supposed to use the crystal cores to awaken them? The crystal cores are in my brain; I can't just open my brain when I need them and close it when I don't."
After Shen Nong finished speaking, she emphasized to the system, "Don't say you're so capable!"
[I didn't say you could... Just release the energy from the crystal core using your special ability; a little more will be enough for them to awaken.]
The crystals of this era don't have the purity of your crystal core; they wouldn't even qualify as substandard.
Shen Nong: Thank you for your compliment?
Chapter 7 Barbecue
Buy three Marrow Cleansing Pills and get one free (repair)
[Ding, system notification: The Wood Tribe has been detected to possess the "Pottery Making" skill. Reward: 3000 Infrastructure Points.]
Because it wasn't fired in a sealed environment, quite a few pieces broke or cracked.
However, they burned a lot, and quite a lot of it was still usable.
The fired pottery turned gray due to insufficient heat and the materials used. Shen Nong instructed people to collect the broken pieces, which could be used as cooking oil later to effectively prevent cracking.
The people of the Wood Tribe were amazed at what they had created; they could actually turn clay into stone bowls by firing it.