I Have a God Simulator

Chapter 25: Chapter 20: Increasing the Intensity

The East River Tribe didn’t have a Divine Hall on Ship Island. Instead, they worshipped a Divine Statue carved from blue stone, named [Qi]. They rarely prayed to their God for favors; it was more of a sacrificial tradition inherited from the East Sea Clan. Most of the time, the East River Tribe was busy sailing, fishing, and capturing slaves.

Luh Yao decided to test them.

He opened [Miracle], spent 30 Faith, and selected [Hurricane].

A Hurricane quickly formed over the water, creating a massive whirlpool as it rushed menacingly toward the East River Tribe’s Ship Island.

Faced with the Hurricane, the East River Tribe wasn’t panicked in the least. They were even talking and laughing.

"Look, it’s a Storm."

"A Storm will stir up a lot of fish, maybe even some crabs. This is great."

"Praise the Prayer God for sending us food."

"The sky will look so beautiful after the Storm."

"Whoa, that’s a big Storm."

Just as Luh Yao was wondering what was going on, the Hurricane suddenly dispersed as it neared Ship Island, turning into a gentle breeze that swept past. The dissipating Hurricane even brought them some fish, which landed on the deck of Ship Island.

The little people of the East River Tribe picked up their spears and started fishing everywhere.

A message appeared on the screen.

[Due to the protection of the Divine Totem, your Miracle was ineffective.]

Luh Yao noticed some faint cracks appearing on the surface of the Divine Totem on Ship Island.

The Totem wasn’t just a symbol of Faith; it was also a defensive Artifact capable of blocking even a cataclysmic Miracle like that.

This piqued Luh Yao’s interest.

’Let’s see how many of these you can block.’

[Thunder Strike]

’Zap ’em!’

Another silver bolt of lightning descended from the sky, striking the Totem dead center. Just like the Hurricane, the lightning dissipated the moment it landed, posing no threat to Ship Island.

"The weather’s really strange today."

"Is it going to rain? With the Storm and lightning, it must be about to rain."

"Last summer’s drought was severe. It looks like we’ll get plenty of Rainfall this spring."

"More rain means the river will widen. That’s a good thing."

The little people of the East River Tribe continued to chat idly.

Luh Yao clicked on Miracle and cast Thunder Strike again.

[Thunder Strike]!

[Thunder Strike]!

[Thunder Strike]!

Three consecutive bolts of lightning struck Ship Island, and now, distinct cracks webbed across the Totem.

This time, even the people of the East River Tribe realized something was wrong.

"Whoa, what in the world is happening?"

"Is the sky cracking open to let out this lightning?"

"We have to tell Grandmother. Something’s not right on the water today."

"Thank goodness we have the Prayer God’s Totem, or this would be a disaster."

Luh Yao decided to up the ante.

[Thunder Strike] x5!

Lightning flashed and thunder roared in the sky as one bolt after another rained down, bombarding the air above Ship Island. The first four bolts of lightning dissipated into nothing, but the fifth finally slammed down onto Ship Island, striking two members of the East River Tribe dead before they could escape and starting a fire on the deck.

And the blue Totem, which had been steadily cracking and taking damage, was finally destroyed, turning into a pile of ash.

The East River Tribe fell into Chaos.

Tribe members ran around trying to put out the fire while some slaves seized the opportunity to jump into canoes and escape. The East River Tribe had to spare some of their people to pursue the slaves.

But the greatest shock to them was the destruction of their Totem.

"The Prayer God’s Totem is shattered! We’re finished!"

"We’ve lost our protection! We can no longer stand against the Storms and whirlpools!"

"The Prayer God has abandoned us!"

"Oh, gods! Oh, gods!"

"Why is this happening?!"

In contrast, the five men from the Garlic Tribe began to speak up one by one.

"Lightning! The lightning has returned! The God’s lightning has returned!"

"It’s the great Yao God! You attacked the Garlic Tribe and angered the Yao God!"

"Yao God is angry!"

"Now you’re in for it!"

But no one from the East River Tribe paid them any attention.

...

Luh Yao stretched his fingers.

It was just as he’d suspected. The Prayer God’s Totem was a consumable Artifact, likely a God’s Blessing. The Totem had seemed unremarkable, but it only collapsed after being bombarded by Miracles worth 210 Faith Value, which meant it was very durable.

The East River Tribe had only a hundred people, yet they had long managed to live on the East River. They would attack other tribes in their canoes, capture slaves, and act with brazen arrogance.

They relied on Sea Monsters for offense and the Prayer God’s Totem for defense.

Now that Luh Yao had broken one of the East River Tribe’s arms, they immediately fell into a panic.

Luh Yao observed them a little longer and saw that the East River Tribe indeed had no way to repair the Totem. Seeing this, the tribe’s leader, [Grandmother], issued a series of commands.

"You will depart at once! Take all of this year’s Sea Monster sheddings and return to the Clan Divine Hall. Make a Sacrificial Offering and pray for a new Totem Blessing."

"Blockade the river. We must prevent other tribes from finding out our Totem was destroyed until the new one arrives."

"Feed all the female slaves to the Sea Monsters. It will make them shed their skins sooner."

...

Luh Yao watched for a while and got a good grasp of the situation.

The East River Tribe’s Prayer God Totem came from the East Sea Clan’s Divine Hall. As an external branch of the clan, the East River Tribe had always maintained contact with the East Sea Clan. They raised Sea Monsters, first, to build up their military strength, and second, because they needed the Sea Monster sheddings to offer as a sacrifice to the Prayer God.

In other words...

Without Sea Monster skins, the East River Tribe couldn’t get a Totem. And without a Totem, the East River Tribe was a pushover.

’That makes things easy.’

A faint smile appeared on Luh Yao’s face.

The East River Tribe’s fleet, sent to ask the clan for aid, departed quickly. Five canoes carrying the Sacrificial Offering of Sea Monster skins, escorted by three Sea Monsters, left Ship Island and headed east.

Once the boats were far from the tribe’s waterborne settlement, Luh Yao cast [Thunder Strike], engulfing all five canoes.

The sudden lightning set the canoes ablaze.

The surviving pixel people had to jump overboard to escape, struggling desperately in the water with terrified expressions appearing above their heads. The Sea Monsters were helpless against this, only able to carry the pixel people on their backs away from the burning boats.

The Sacrificial Offerings in the canoes were burned to ash.

With the help of the Sea Monsters, the surviving little people managed to struggle back to Ship Island.

Upon hearing that the Sacrificial Offering had also been destroyed, the entire East River Tribe fell into a complete panic.

"All the Sea Monster skins have been burned! We can’t go back."

"Lightning... there’s lightning everywhere. The lightning won’t let us leave."

"We’ve angered the God of this place! We have to make a Sacrificial Offering, or the tribe will be attacked by lightning again."

"The tribe is finished. We’re finished."

"Let’s run. Let’s just run away."

The once arrogant East River Tribe, faced with a natural disaster they were powerless against, now had many little people showing signs of wanting to surrender or desert.

But [Grandmother] was the tribal leader, after all. In this moment, she displayed the composure and decisiveness of a true leader.

"Some of the slaves say this punishment was sent by the Garlic Tribe’s Yao God."

"We will go to the Garlic Tribe and make peace with them."

...

The East River Tribe’s boats slowly docked at the shore.

[Grandmother], along with two female captains, met with the Prophet and the Shaman.

The two sides spoke privately for a while.

An exclamation mark lit up above the Prophet’s head. "The East River Tribe has angered Yao God. To earn his forgiveness, you must revere him and offer your Faith."

"You need to build a Divine Hall and worship Yao God."

"Yao God is a benevolent God who loves peace and life. He punished the East River Tribe because of your insolence and offense."

A moment later, a new notification appeared on the screen.

[The East River Tribe has presented you with a Sacrificial Offering.]