Garlic Tribe

Lu Yao first ran a lap around his rented room, then went to splash his face with cold water. After jolting himself awake with the hot-and-cold contrast, he returned to his computer desk.

On the computer screen, there really was garlic in the Temple's [Blessing] slot.

That meant the garlic in his hand had indeed been sent into the Temple through the mouse cursor's position.

--Would you like to bestow [Garlic] upon your followers?

Although Lu Yao had no idea what this game was or how it could break through the barrier between dimensions, it was already an established fact. He wanted to see what kind of results the interaction between the real world and the game world would produce.

Lu Yao clicked [Yes].

Outside the Temple, exclamation marks popped up over the heads of the Pixelated Villagers worshipping around it.

"God has revealed himself!"

"God has sent down a Divine Miracle!"

"Long live the Divine Miracle! Long live God!"

"Great God, thank you for your Blessing!"

"Garlic! Garlic!"

"God's garlic! God's gift!"

After kneeling in worship and prayer, the villagers ran about spreading the news, their expressions all turning into smiling faces.

Then they all busied themselves, working together to clear out a patch of Farmland. Tiny shoots sprouted from the soil, slowly growing into green seedlings.

A message appeared on the screen.

[Your Blessing has taught your followers to grow and use Garlic. Their faith has increased.]

Lu Yao looked at the upper-right corner.

His Faith Points had risen from 7 to 22.

It seemed Blessings could quickly earn Faith Points.

Lu Yao looked around and found a pencil on the table.

A tool like a pencil should be quite useful to a tribal civilization.

But when he opened the interface, he discovered that the garlic was still in the [Blessing] slot. Clicking it brought up a prompt.

[Garlic is merging into the world. Please wait patiently.]

Lu Yao could only give up.

He had only just started playing this game, and he was still figuring out many of its mechanics and features. He could only take it one step at a time.

He ate his instant noodles, which had already gone cold, while keeping his eyes fixed on the screen.

About half an hour later, a group of Pixelated Villagers ran in from beyond the edge of the display. They all wore Leather vests, and their leader was a villager wearing a Bull Horn Helmet and holding a Wooden Spear.

The outsiders held torches and surrounded the Temple.

"Demon Hut! Demon Hut!"

"It must be destroyed! You Demon Cultists!"

"Burn it! Burn it!"

Lu Yao understood.

This was the Forest Tribe the villagers around the Temple had mentioned. They believed the Temple worshipped a Demon.

At the same time, exclamation marks appeared over the heads of all seven Temple followers.

"This is God's palace, the Yao Temple!"

"God has sent down a Divine Miracle!"

"The Divine Miracle of Garlic!"

"How dare you blaspheme God!"

The Forest Tribe ignored their explanations and only kept shouting that it had to be burned down. The torch-wielding villagers were about to set fire beside the Temple.

Lu Yao opened [Miracle] and moved the cursor over the first option, [Rainfall].

If he brought down a rainstorm, then based on the understanding of these tribal villagers, they should think God was angry and would probably retreat in the face of difficulty.

Just as his finger was about to click, Lu Yao suddenly changed his mind.

No.

If he was going to act, he should make it spectacular.

Lu Yao looked at the options further down.

From top to bottom, the [Miracles] consumed increasing amounts of Faith Points: [Rainfall] 10, [Lightning] 20, [Scorching Sun] 25, [Hurricane] 30, and [Earthquake] 40.

Lu Yao's gaze settled on [Lightning].

[Lightning]: Consume 20 Faith Points to create Lightning in a designated area.

You'll do.

Lu Yao selected Lightning, and the mouse cursor turned into a range icon that could select and drag an area. He compressed the range and locked it onto the head of the Forest Tribe's leader.

As the saying went, the bird that stuck its head out got shot first. With great power came great responsibility. So take this Lightning first.

He clicked lightly.

A bolt of Lightning descended from the skies of the Pixel World, striking the Bull Horn Helmet Villager below and blasting him and two nearby villagers into ash.

Exclamation marks appeared one after another over the heads of the other torch-wielding Forest Tribe villagers. In an instant, they scattered and fled.

Only the seven Temple followers had angry expressions appear over their heads.

"Divine Punishment! Divine Punishment!"

"You have angered God!"

"Do not provoke God! This is the fate of God-Defilers!"

Lu Yao watched with satisfaction. The Forest Tribe probably would not cause trouble again anytime soon, unless someone else wanted to taste Electric Shock.

He relaxed and felt a slight ache in his neck.

The game did not require much input, but it had a strange addictive charm. Without realizing it, Lu Yao played until twelve-thirty.

Though reluctant, he still shut down the computer, washed up, and went to bed. After all, he still had work tomorrow.

Lying in bed, Lu Yao thought drowsily.

If he could create natural disasters and continuously bestow things from the real world upon the humans in the game world, then in the eyes of those Pixelated Villagers, he truly was no different from a God.

The next day, Lu Yao got off work relatively early. His boss had gone out to meet clients, and the well-connected employees slipped away quickly, so he left work early as well.

When he got home, he eagerly opened God Simulator.

As he clicked [Continue Game], the familiar pixelated scene slowly unfolded once more.

He breathed a small sigh of relief. As long as the save file was not corrupted, it was fine.

When he noticed the scene on the screen, Lu Yao was somewhat surprised.

There were now five Thatch Huts beside the Temple, with a square plot of Farmland in front of each one. When he moved the cursor over them, it showed that Garlic was being grown there.

The population in the upper-right corner had risen from 7 to 30, while Faith Points had become 25.

Lu Yao did the math.

Yesterday, he had used one [Lightning], leaving only 2 Faith Points. Now it had risen to 25, an increase of 23 points in total, while the population had increased by 23 people.

This proved his earlier guess had been correct. Under normal circumstances, every additional person brought 1 Faith Point.

More importantly, the game continued running even when it was not open on the computer.

At that moment, a new prompt appeared on the screen.

--Your followers are now numerous enough to establish a tribe. Name it ___ Tribe.

Lu Yao typed in the two characters for "Garlic."

Following the simple naming conventions of ancient times, these followers' specialty was the Garlic he had bestowed upon them. Calling them the Garlic Tribe made perfect sense.

[Your Miracles and Blessings have officially established the Garlic Tribe. The Yao Temple has become known to more people from distant lands.]

So it helped attract outsiders?

Lu Yao focused on the newcomers.

He noticed that the twenty-three Pixelated Villagers who had joined last night all wore Leather vests, completely different from the original seven barefoot, bare-chested local villagers.

They were from the Forest Tribe.

It seemed that some of the Forest Tribe's Pixelated Villagers had joined the Temple's faction and settled here.

Lu Yao grinned inwardly.

Last night's Lightning tactic had produced immediate results.

Whether they had been drawn by fear or worship did not matter. They had indeed been attracted here.

With more people came a basic division of labor. The villagers were no longer limited to growing Garlic and tending berry bushes. Two villagers began hunting in the forest, while another tried catching fish barehanded by the river.

Overall, the Garlic Tribe was still in the primitive stage of society. Every member was still struggling for food.

Lu Yao opened the Temple interface and found that the Garlic was still in the [Blessing] slot.

He felt slightly disappointed.

The cooldown period for Blessings seemed rather long.

Had he known he could place objects from the real world into the Pixel World, he would have chosen Wheat. That would have eased the Pixelated Villagers' early food shortage. Or he could have sent over a Bow and Arrow, allowing them to master archery and hunt much more easily. If they encountered the Forest Tribe again, they would also have the ability to fight back.

Lu Yao lowered his gaze and suddenly noticed something that had not been there before.

There was now a red item in the [Sacrificial Offering] slot.