Free Web NovelChapter 6: Chapter 1: A Strange Small Game
After his workday, Luh Yao dragged his exhausted body back to his rented apartment.
The small company had about ten employees, but more than half were just coasting by on their connections. Take away the boss and his partner, and only three people did any real work. Though he’d only been there for three months, Luh Yao already felt like each day was a year long.
Still, he didn’t dare to quit before finding a new job. With the economy in a slump, he had to focus on survival first before even thinking about his next move.
This was the only time of day Luh Yao had any space to relax. He shifted gears mentally, temporarily pushing all the day’s frustrations to the back of his mind.
Now, it was game time!
He turned on his old computer, moving the cursor slowly across the screen.
’Let’s see... what should I play today?’
’A round of ranked?’
’A game of Dota?’
’Or maybe Romance of the Three Kingdoms IX?’
...
An inconspicuous icon caught Luh Yao’s attention.
The icon was in the bottom right corner of the screen. Its logo, a green, pixel-art island, blended into the grassy desktop background, making it easy to miss.
’God Simulator?’
’What kind of game is this?’
Luh Yao had no memory of ever downloading or buying it.
He clicked to check the file properties. The source file was 20MB—just a small game. A file that size suggested it was probably a very old one.
Luh Yao’s computer was low-spec. He’d been using the same machine since college and couldn’t bring himself to replace it. It could only run games like LoL and Dota on the lowest graphics settings. As for AAA titles, he had to rely on cloud gaming or watch other people’s gameplay videos. Consequently, Luh Yao spent most of his time playing a variety of classic old games.
He tried clicking on God Simulator.
The screen slowly faded to black.
Accompanied by a melodic, old-school 8-bit chiptune, lines of white text appeared one by one on the black screen in a classic pixel-game style.
[On this day, the world finally welcomed the return of its great God.]
[Your arrival has given the world meaning once more. Your great power will create a brand new civilization.]
Then, the black screen gradually faded away, replaced by a scene of little pixelated people. Some were constructing various buildings, others were tilling farmland, and a few were cheering with their arms raised high. The pixel-art style was refreshing and nostalgic, and Luh Yao felt a wave of relaxation wash over him.
Three white options appeared over the background.
[New Game]
[Continue]
[Exit]
Luh Yao clicked [New Game].
The screen went black again. Then, blocks of uniform green pixels began to appear, like patches of paint being smeared onto a blackboard.
[Acquiring World...]
About five seconds later, the green pixels had filled the entire screen.
[World Location Finalized. Welcome, great God.]
The pixelated background changed once more.
A flat green plain appeared on the screen, surrounded by forests, rivers, high mountains, and a desert. In the center of the landscape stood a white, domed building that looked like a Divine Hall.
A line of text appeared in the center of the screen: This is your Divine Hall. You shall name it the ___ Divine Hall.
Luh Yao thought for a moment, then casually typed a word.
Yao Divine Hall.
The words [Yao Divine Hall] materialized above the structure.
Then, the scene on the screen became strangely still.
Luh Yao clicked on the Divine Hall, but no options appeared.
’What’s going on?’
’What company made this old game, anyway? It doesn’t even have a basic tutorial or guide.’
Just as he was wondering what to do, two small, barefoot, bare-chested figures appeared in the corner of the screen. They made their way over and began to walk around the Divine Hall.
An exclamation mark popped up over one of the little figure’s heads, followed by a dialog box.
"What an exquisite and magnificent building! This must have been built by a God."
The other little figure raised its hands high.
"A God, a God!"
"This must be a sign from a God! This is a fortunate place. We must bring more people to settle here!"
"The Land of Divine Promise! The Land of Divine Promise!"
Smiley face icons appeared above both figures’ heads. They ran off-screen and returned a few seconds later, bringing five more little figures with them.
The seven little figures began to worship at the Divine Hall. They built a small thatched hut next to it, brought over some shrubs that looked like berry bushes from off-screen, and started their new life beside the Divine Hall.
A message then appeared on the screen.
[You have gained your first Believers in this world. The Power of Faith is the means by which you perform Miracles. Please gather more Faith.]
Luh Yao noticed that a small icon of a person’s head had appeared in the top-right corner, labeled Population. Next to it was a Palace icon, labeled Faith. Both the Population and Faith values were 7.
’It seems 1 Believer provides 1 point of Faith Value.’
He clicked on the population counter with his mouse, but nothing happened. When he clicked on Faith, however, an icon that looked like a ball of mist popped up.
[Miracle]
Below it was a row of options, each with a simple line-drawing icon. All the Miracles were grayed out, indicating that none of them were currently usable.
Casting any Miracle consumed Faith Value. Even [Rainfall], the one that required the least, cost 10 Faith Value.
’In other words, I need 10 Believers just to perform a single Miracle.’
Increasing the population became the top priority.
Unlike other simulation games, God Simulator didn’t allow him to directly build houses or produce residents. He could only wait for the little pixel people to multiply or gather on their own. The only option he could currently interact with was [Miracle].
Luh Yao watched the little pixel people farm, his cursor restlessly exploring the screen. His stomach started to RUMBLE.
He went to the kitchen, cooked a bowl of noodles, and returned with a few cloves of garlic.
When he got back to his computer, Luh Yao noticed the little figures around the Temple were behaving strangely. Sad faces appeared above their heads, and they were all gathered around the Temple, praying.
Dialog boxes kept popping up above the little figures’ heads.
"Great God, please grant us a sign!"
"Please give us your Blessing! Great God!"
"The Forest Tribe believes we worship a Demon! They want to tear down the Divine Hall! Please, show them a Divine Miracle!"
Luh Yao took a bite of his noodles. ’Looks like this is the first crisis,’ he thought.
’But I only have 7 Faith Value. I can’t even make it rain. The Miracle tab is useless right now.’
Luh Yao kept exploring and finally managed to open a new interface by clicking on the Divine Hall.
In the center of the screen was a stone fire pit. Before it sat a gray, humanoid statue. Its face was blurry, making it impossible to tell its gender; it seemed to be the little pixel people’s imaginary depiction of their God.
In front of the Divine Statue was a long table with two slots of different shapes.
The large slot on the left was labeled [Sacrificial Offering].
The smaller one on the right was labeled [Blessing].
Both slots were currently empty.
’Sacrificial Offering is easy enough to understand. It must be things the little Believers offer to their God.’
’Following that logic, then a Blessing must be a power or Artifact bestowed upon the Believers by the Divine Hall.’
’Could this be the Divine Miracle they were asking for?’
Luh Yao searched everywhere, but couldn’t find any items he could move or drag. He was stumped. ’I’m stuck on the very first problem.’
Suddenly, he noticed something strange.
’That long table in front of the Divine Statue... why does it look so familiar?’
’Wait a second...’
’How can that table look exactly like my computer desk?’
’The two slots... the Sacrificial Offering slot is the exact rectangular shape of a keyboard, and the Blessing slot is oval... like a mouse?’
’And looking closer, the enshrined God statue is depicted sitting at the long table... isn’t that a depiction of me, sitting here playing on the computer?’
The thought made Luh Yao jump.
’Impossible...’
’It has to be a coincidence.’
Then, a bold idea popped into his head.
He carefully placed a garlic clove from beside his bowl of noodles onto his mouse.
Luh Yao stared at the mouse, full of anticipation.
Two seconds later, the garlic clove rolled off the mouse.
"It really was just a coincidence."
Luh Yao said with a self-deprecating laugh, though he felt a faint pang of disappointment.
Just then, the garlic clove that had rolled off his mouse suddenly vanished into thin air.
Luh Yao instinctively glanced at his computer screen.
In the Divine Hall’s [Blessing] slot, a new pixelated icon of a garlic clove had appeared.
[Garlic]: A Blessing from a God. A special spice and medicinal herb.
A line of text appeared on the screen.
—Do you wish to bestow [Garlic] upon your Believers?
[Yes][No]
Luh Yao’s hand, holding the mouse, trembled.
