The Garlic Tribe

Lu Yao first jogged a lap around his rented room, then splashed cold water on his face. After completing this hot-cold cycle to wake himself up, he returned to his computer desk.

On the screen, the temple's [Blessing] slot indeed held garlic.

This meant the garlic in his hand had truly been sent into the temple through the mouse cursor.

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

Though Lu Yao had no idea what this game really was or how it could break through dimensions like this, since it was already reality, he was eager to see what would happen when the real world and the game world interacted.

Lu Yao clicked [Yes].

Outside the temple, exclamation marks popped up above the heads of the little people gathered around it in worship.

"The God has manifested!"

"The God has sent down a miracle!"

"Long live the miracle! Long live the God!"

"Great God, thank you for your blessing!"

"Garlic! Garlic!"

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

After kneeling and praying, the little people ran to spread the news, their expressions turning into smiling faces.

Then they busied themselves, working together to clear a patch of farmland. Tiny sprouts emerged from the soil, slowly growing into green seedlings.

A message appeared on the screen.

[Your blessing has taught your followers to plant and use garlic. Faith has increased.]

Lu Yao glanced at the upper right corner.

The Faith Points, originally at 7, had now become 22.

So blessings could quickly harvest faith.

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

A tool like this should be very useful for a tribal civilization.

But when he opened the page, he saw that garlic was still in the [Blessing] slot. Hovering the mouse over it revealed a prompt.

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

Lu Yao had no choice but to give up.

He had only just started this game, still figuring out its mechanics and gameplay, so he could only take it step by step.

He ate his now-cold instant noodles, his eyes still glued to the screen.

About half an hour later, a group of little people ran in from the edge of the screen. They all wore leather vests, and the leader was a little man with a Bull Horn Helmet, holding a Wooden Spear.

The outsiders surrounded the temple, brandishing torches.

"Demon Hut! Demon Hut!"

"It must be destroyed! You Demon Cultists!"

"Burn it! Burn it!"

Lu Yao understood.

These were the Forest Tribe the little people near the temple had mentioned, who believed the temple housed a demon.

At the same time, exclamation marks appeared above the heads of the temple's seven followers.

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

"The God has sent down a miracle!"

"The miracle garlic!"

"How dare you blaspheme against the God!"

The Forest Tribe refused to listen, only shouting about burning it down. They raised their torches, about to set fire beside the temple.

Lu Yao opened [Miracle] and hovered his mouse over the first option, [Rainfall].

If he brought down rain, given the understanding of these tribal little people, they would likely see it as the God's wrath and back off.

Just as his finger was about to click, Lu Yao suddenly had a second thought.

No.

If he was going to act, he needed to make a big splash.

Lu Yao's gaze swept over the subsequent options.

[Miracles] from top to bottom, arranged by Faith consumption from least to most, were [Rainfall] 10, [Lightning] 20, [Scorching Sun] 25, [Hurricane] 30, [Earthquake] 40.

Lu Yao's eyes settled on [Lightning].

[Lightning]: Consume 20 Faith Points to summon lightning to a designated area.

You're it.

Lu Yao selected Lightning, and his cursor transformed into a range icon that could select areas and be dragged. He compressed the range, locking it onto the head honcho of the Forest Tribe.

As the saying goes, the bird that sticks out gets shot—with great power comes great responsibility. Take this lightning strike first.

He clicked lightly.

A bolt of lightning fell from the sky in the Pixel World, striking the Bull Horn Helmet Villager directly, blasting him and two nearby villagers into ash.

The other Forest Tribe villagers holding torches had exclamation marks pop up above their heads, and they scattered in all directions in an instant.

Only the seven disciples at the temple had angry expressions appear above their heads.

"Divine Punishment! Divine Punishment!"

"You've angered the gods!"

"Don't provoke the gods! This is the fate of blasphemers!"

Lu Yao watched with satisfaction. The Forest Tribe shouldn't cause trouble for a while, unless someone else wanted to try the taste of Electric Shock again.

He relaxed, feeling a slight ache in his neck.

This game didn't require much operation, but it had a strange addictive quality. Lu Yao had unconsciously played until 12:30.

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

Lying in bed, Lu Yao thought hazily.

If he could create natural disasters and continuously grant real-world items to the people of the game world, then in the eyes of those Pixelated Villagers, he really was no different from a god.

The next day, Lu Yao got off work early. The boss had gone out to negotiate with clients today, and the cronies slipped away quickly, so he followed suit and left ahead of schedule.

Back home, he couldn't wait to open God Simulator.

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

He breathed a slight sigh of relief—at least the save file wasn't corrupted.

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

Next to the temple, there were now five Thatch Huts, each with a square plot of Farmland in front. He hovered the cursor over the farmland, and it showed garlic planted inside.

In the upper right corner, the population had grown from the previous 7 to 30, and Faith Points had become 25.

Lu Yao did the math.

Yesterday, he had used one [Lightning], leaving only 2 Faith Points. Now it was 25, a total increase of 23 points, and the population had grown by 23 people.

This confirmed his earlier guess: under normal circumstances, one new population point brought one Faith Point.

More importantly, the game kept running even when he wasn't at the computer.

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

--Your followers have enough to establish a tribe. You name it ___ Tribe.

Lu Yao typed "Garlic."

Following the simple naming conventions of ancient times, these believers' specialty was the garlic he had granted them, so calling them the Garlic Tribe made perfect sense.

[Your Miracle and Blessing have officially established the Garlic Tribe. The Yao Temple becomes known to more people from afar.]

Meaning it helped attract outsiders?

Lu Yao focused on the new arrivals.

He noticed that the 23 Pixelated Villagers who had joined last night were all wearing leather vests, completely different from the original 7 barefoot and shirtless locals.

They were from the Forest Tribe.

It seemed that some of the Forest Tribe's Pixelated Villagers had switched sides to the temple and settled here.

Lu Yao felt a surge of amusement.

Last night's lightning tactic had worked immediately.

Whether out of fear or worship, they had indeed been drawn in.

With more people came a simple division of labor. The tribal villagers were no longer limited to planting garlic and tending berries. Two villagers started hunting in the forest, and one tried to catch fish by hand by the river.

Overall, the Garlic Tribe was still in a primitive stage, with all members striving for food.

Lu Yao opened the temple interface and saw that garlic was still in the [Blessing] slot.

He felt a slight regret.

The cooldown for Blessings seemed pretty long.

If he had known he could throw real-world items into the Pixel World, he would have chosen wheat. That way, the early food shortage for the Pixelated Villagers could have been alleviated. Or he could have sent a Bow and Arrow—if the villagers mastered archery, hunting would be much easier, and they'd have a way to fight back if they ran into the Forest Tribe again.

Lu Yao's gaze moved downward, and he suddenly spotted something that hadn't been there before.

A red item had appeared in the [Sacrificial Offering] slot.