In the temple, the [Sacrificial Offering] slot received something new once more.
[Magic Harpoon]: Faith +1/hour, 1/3 uses (charging)
It hit fish every time.
Lu Yao looked at the new sacrificial offering in his hand.
The harpoon was about one and a half meters long, with an iron three-pronged fork fixed to the top of a wooden pole. It looked like a crude handmade fishing tool.
Holding the [Magic Harpoon], Lu Yao felt that if he had a cigarette too, he could perfectly recreate the Fishman Yuan Hua.
It was not as if this sacrificial offering was completely useless.
If an angler went fishing and failed to get even a single bite, he could pull out the harpoon when no one was looking, spear a few fish, and toss them into his fish basket. That would guarantee he would not come home empty-handed and avoid being mocked by other anglers.
However, the [Magic Harpoon]'s special ability was useless to Lu Yao. It could only serve as a lucky charm.
Fortunately, it could provide 1 Faith per hour, making it more useful than the [Golden Dice] tossed into the bonfire.
Lu Yao accepted the sacrificial offering, and the East River Tribe in Pixel World breathed a sigh of relief.
"The God accepted the sacrificial offering."
"We offered the tribe's most important treasure. This should calm the God's anger, right?"
"I hope the Local God will bless us."
[East River Tribe's attitude has changed to Friendly.]
At this point, the relationship between the East River Tribe and the Garlic Tribe eased further. With the support of their tribal leaders, the two sides began formal trade.
The Garlic Tribe traded its wheat, potatoes, garlic, and meat for the East River Tribe's fish, shrimp, crab, and shellfish. Since they bypassed the Salt Pool Tribe, the middleman, both tribes could exchange for more goods.
Taking advantage of this peaceful period, Lu Yao put on his shoes and went out.
Following the streets from memory, he turned a corner and found a small fishing tackle shop.
"What can I get you, handsome?" the middle-aged owner asked with a cigarette hanging from his mouth.
"Fishing net."
"Only cast nets right now. How big do you want it? We have 2 by 5 meters, 2 by 10 meters, and 2 by 20 meters. They're all twelve-strand, thick, sturdy, and easy to use."
"The 2 by 5-meter one."
"Sixty-eight yuan each."
Lu Yao paid, took the fishing net wrapped in a plastic bag, and hurried all the way home.
Ever since Bow and Arrow had fully integrated into the world, he had been considering what to give the Garlic Tribe next. After dealing with the East River Tribe's issue, he made his decision.
Fishing nets.
The East River connected to the East Sea, and the river and sea were rich in resources that needed to be exploited early. Developing shipbuilding and Navigation both depended on fishing as a foundation.
Lu Yao had noticed that the East River Tribe did not have fishing nets either. They relied on Sea Monsters and harpoons to catch fish.
Perhaps because fishing was too easy for them, they had no need to develop more advanced tools. Thus, both their Dugout Canoes and harpoons remained relatively primitive.
In the Garlic Tribe, Hunters made traps and leather clothing. They had long learned how to make rope, and with rope came the materials for fishing nets.
Lu Yao placed the fishing net on the mouse.
A prompt appeared on the screen.
--Would you like to bestow [fishing net] upon your believers?
[Yes]
As the fishing net was dropped into the Garlic Tribe, the little people of the Garlic Tribe grew excited.
"Fishing nets! Catch fish, catch fish!"
"With fishing nets, we can go to the riverbank and catch fish!"
"Make fishing nets, make lots of fishing nets."
"No fish can escape the fishing nets. The whole river is food!"
The Pixelated Villagers wove fishing nets, while some carried nets to the riverbank to catch fish.
The appearance of fishing nets also caught the East River Tribe's attention.
"Fishing nets look so clumsy."
"They're not useful at all. Harpoons are still best. One stab, one fish."
"Fish aren't stupid. Why would they swim into a net?"
"Stupid land-dwellers. They don't understand how agile fish are underwater."
Before long, the smiling faces above their heads turned into exclamation marks, then confused question marks.
At first, the Garlic Tribe was clumsy with fishing nets. The little people kept scooping around in the water, like trying to draw water with a bamboo basket. No matter how hard they worked, they could not catch fish.
The Shaman and Hunters adjusted their methods, waiting until fish swam into the fishing net's range before pulling it in. From then on, they began catching scattered fish.
Later, the Garlic Tribe refined their methods further and learned to tie stones around the edges of the fishing nets before casting them into the water.
Since the weighted edges sank quickly, fish in the center had no time to swim out and were covered beneath the net. By tightening the ropes, the edges of the net would draw together into a pouch, catching many fish at once.
The sight of a single net hauling in dozens of fish shocked the Donghai Clan.
Many East River Tribe villagers gathered around the fishing nets, chattering all at once as they changed their tune at lightning speed.
"As expected of a God's Blessing. This truly is an incredible thing."
"Why can't the fish resist swimming inside? There isn't even any bait. How strange."
"A treasure, this is a treasure! And it's a treasure that can be made!"
While some villagers were still marveling, others had already taken action.
[Grandmother] arrived by boat once more and visited the Prophet and the Shaman.
The two tribes discussed matters briefly and reached a conclusion.
[The Garlic Tribe taught the East River Tribe how to make and use fishing nets. East River Tribe's attitude has changed to Intimate.]
[The East River Tribe taught the Garlic Tribe how to make and use Dugout Canoes.]
Lu Yao rubbed his shoulder.
This was exactly what he wanted.
Technological exchange.
If the Garlic Tribe wanted to develop rapidly, it could not keep working behind closed doors. It had to increase its contact and learning with other tribes in order to acquire more technology and culture.
From that perspective, the Salt Pool Tribe was quite crafty.
As a partner of the Garlic Tribe, the Salt Pool Tribe was also Intimate toward them, yet none of the technology they possessed had ever flowed here.
From beginning to end, the Salt Pool Tribe had regarded the Garlic Tribe as a source of goods, a link in their trade network to exploit.
They had neither opened roads nor revealed their tribe's true location. They tightly controlled the routes out and the map, secretly restraining the Garlic Tribe's development.
Even the [Golden Dice], the sacrificial offering they presented to Lu Yao, this God, was completely insincere and merely perfunctory.
The reason Lu Yao had been actively seeking a route to connect with the outside world was to break free from the Salt Pool Tribe's stranglehold and find another corridor leading outward.
[Grandmother] knelt on the ground outside the temple in worship.
Yet a question mark appeared above her head.
Lu Yao clicked it open.
"Great God Yao, please forgive our disrespect. Our East River Tribe are believers of Prayer God, and we should seek Prayer God's protection and aid. But we are only a small and weak tribe. Our voices cannot reach the God..."
"Your Wisdom and majesty are things the East River Tribe would never dare offend or doubt."
"The Prophet and Shaman said that you always protect those who believe in you. Now, we humble outsiders beg you, pleading for your mercy."
"The East River Tribe bears the responsibility of raising Sea Monsters, and they are also our most important property. But since last year, the Sea Monsters have fallen ill, terribly ill. Three have already died, and only seven remain."
"If the women of our tribe can no longer give birth to Sea Monsters and provide Sea Monster moltings to the Temple, then the Donghai Clan will abandon us completely, and the entire tribe will be unable to survive here."
"We must give birth to more Sea Monsters to fill the void left by the dead ones."
Lu Yao fell silent after reading that.
Sea Monsters were actually born from East River Tribe women.
Wasn't that a bit...
Thanks to Jinjin for supporting with 100 Qidian coins.
Before you continue