I Have a God Simulator

So, a question arose.

What do people in a tribal era play for fun?

It couldn’t be too complex or mentally taxing; it had to fit the context of the era and environment. The best games would be easy to learn, instantly addictive, and playable without much thought.

Luh Yao racked his brain.

Mahjong? No, too complicated.

Playing cards? No, for the same reason.

Chess? That would be too difficult for them, too.

Luh Yao realized there was only one suitable option.

Dice.

Personally, Luh Yao wasn’t a fan of toys with such a gambling nature.

But human nature has a gambling side. Adventuring for treasure is a gamble, and so is exploring the unknown. That was an undeniable fact.

Dice were easy to understand—six sides carved with a different number of dots.

Luh Yao looked up some information online.

As early as the Neolithic period, humans began playing a type of board game, which could be considered the ancestor of modern tabletop games. Many of these games required the use of an important Artifact: the die.

Now that the Garlic Tribe had mastered arithmetic, these simple numbers shouldn’t pose much of a problem.

Luh Yao immediately went out and bought a stone die from the trinket shop across from his apartment complex. As soon as he got home, he sent the stone die into the Divine Hall.

Inside the Divine Hall, the long-slumbering old Astrologer Shahan excitedly raised his arms, gazing up at the dome of the Divine Hall.

"Oh, God, have you heard our prayers? You have finally seen your humble servant once more..."

An exclamation mark appeared above Shahan’s head.

"Is this... a [Die]?"

"Oh, God, you have granted us this [Die] as a Blessing. Is it so that we may learn to divine the future?"

"You are so merciful, so full of Wisdom..."

While he was going on and on with his frenzied praise, Luh Yao was cringing so hard his toes curled.

’This die isn’t for divination at all.’

’A classic case of occupational hazard for an Astrologer.’

’No wonder Shahan has been in the Divine Hall for so many years, yet the simulator has never given any indication that he could be converted into a Prophet.’

’It seems Shahan and the job of Prophet just weren’t meant to be.’

Fortunately, although the Astrologer had completely missed the point, most of the other people quickly understood the purpose of the die.

[The Garlic Tribe has learned to make and use dice.]

"This thing makes numbers, some big, some small."

"Yeah, we can compare them! Mine’s bigger than yours! Ha! I got a six, you got a two! I win!"

"Again!"

"You’ll just lose again. Forget it, there’s no fun in beating you."

"Get back here! One more round!"

The vast majority of the tribal people quickly grasped the meaning of the different numbers on the six sides of the die. The random jump between numbers produced different outcomes, which could be applied to many things.

Luh Yao’s attention was drawn to three of the little people.

The trio was huddled in a corner, plotting something big.

"Just like we planned. We make our move tonight. Steal a galley, sell it for Sea Shells, and leave right away. We’ll take the Sea Shells to the East Sea Clan’s island, where no one knows what we’ve done."

One of them said, "But if we steal the boat, who do we sell it to?"

"..."

The man continued asking, "And if we sell the boat to a merchant, how do we get to the island? Steal another one?"

"..."

"..."

"You idiot, why didn’t you say that sooner!"

"I just thought of it."

"Your brain is mush, you idiot!"

"I’m sorry!"

The three fell silent for a moment.

"What do we do now?"

The third man said, "...Let our God guide us. We can use this die. Our God just bestowed it upon us."

"Will God guide us to steal a boat?"

The leader spoke again, "Idiot! God knows everything, but he hasn’t struck us with lightning yet, so he must support us! If God supports us stealing the boat, what’s there to be afraid of!"

He hadn’t even finished speaking when a bolt of lightning struck the little man on the head, turning him to ash.

Luh Yao flexed his fingers.

’You ask if I support you? Of course I don’t.’

’Stealing a boat is actually no big deal. But this is the first time I’ve seen someone make such an absurd request, so I’ll graciously grant your wish.’

The other little people were so scared they immediately dropped to their knees and begged, trembling all over.

"Lord God, we’ll change our ways, we’ll change right now."

"We were wrong, we were wrong."

Luh Yao had already shifted his gaze elsewhere.

Two pixelated figures were chatting by the edge of a forest.

The man, named Muke, said, "Have my baby!"

The woman, named Hai Wanggu, replied, "Are you stupid?"

"Didn’t you say you liked me?"

"I was just kidding."

"Why?"

"You’re too young."

Luh Yao took a look.

Muke was twelve, while Hai Wanggu was already twenty-two. That was a pretty big age gap for this kind of relationship.

Their surnames revealed their lineage: Muke was a descendant of carpenters, while Hai Wanggu was a descendant of the East Sea Clan.

"I just want you to have my baby. Can you promise not to have anyone else’s baby until I’m grown up?"

A crying face emoji appeared above the young Muke’s head.

"..."

Hai Wanggu said, "Then let’s listen to the will of our God. Use the [Die] that our God gave us as a Blessing. If you can roll a 1 three times in a row, it means this is the fate our God has guided us to, and I’ll agree."

Muke took out a die and rolled a 3.

"Go back to chopping trees, you silly boy."

Hai Wanggu turned and walked away.

The young Muke knelt on the ground. "Why? Why did it have to be like this!"

"God, oh God, why can’t you show me some mercy and give me your blessing! All I want is to sleep with Hai Wanggu and have a baby. Why won’t you help me..."

"God, you’re too cruel!"

Luh Yao couldn’t help but laugh.

’Kid, you’ve got guts, I’ll give you that.’

’But you’re still too young. Stick to chopping trees and stop letting your mind wander.’

The pixel people of the Garlic Tribe generally understood the die, but they mostly used it to resolve disputes—in other words, to use God’s guidance to decide who was right and who was wrong.

This deviated somewhat from Luh Yao’s original idea of entertainment.

Just as he was observing the various goings-on, a large-scale armed brawl suddenly broke out in the tribe.

For some unknown reason, two groups of little people had started fighting with bows, arrows, and spears. As more and more people joined in, the chaos escalated further.

The two leaders, Senjian and Yulian, rushed over to stop them.

"What on earth is going on? What are you all doing?"

Wizard Senjian was now a highly respected elder in the tribe. As soon as he appeared, the riot was quickly brought under control.

"The merchants are despicable!"

"That’s right! They’re the ones who made us lose everything!"

"Yeah, yeah!"

"Despicable merchants!"

The crowd of little people all started talking at once, each with a different story.

Luh Yao checked the statements of many of the little people before he could piece together the cause of the incident.

Here’s what happened.

Seafaring fishermen had salvaged some beautiful corals and shells during their deep-sea fishing trips, items of considerable value. Upon their return, merchants bought these items for extremely low prices and then sold them for a high price over at the Salt Pool, making a huge profit.

Not only that, but the merchants had also counterfeited Sea Shells, mixing fake ones in with the real ones, causing the fishermen to suffer massive losses from all sides.

The fishermen, finally unable to tolerate it any longer, demanded the merchants return their Sea Shells. The merchants refused, so the fishermen angrily launched their attack.

This large-scale brawl was the culmination of the fishermen’s long-term dissatisfaction and anger at being cheated by the merchants.

Luh Yao was actually curious to see how the tribe would handle this matter.

Whenever there’s a large group of people, someone will always want to take shortcuts to make excessive profits. Such things can’t be completely eradicated for the time being; they can only be constrained by various methods and rules to protect people’s legitimate interests.

To Luh Yao’s surprise, before the group of leaders could pass judgment, a merchant stepped forward and offered to compensate the fishermen for all their losses.

It was the Hero, Shang Li.

Shang Li said, "To make trade fairer and more just, I hope the leaders can establish a rule. If a loss in a transaction is caused by deception and concealment, then compensation must be paid to the other party."

"Correspondingly, if the price is merely high, but both parties agree to it, then the transaction is legitimate and should be recognized and protected by the entire tribe."

"I have made many records of the problems that have existed in tribal trade over the years and have also written down my personal thoughts. I ask the two leaders to please look them over."

Shang Li took out a small notebook.

Senjian and Yulian looked at it for a while, and exclamation marks appeared above both of their heads.

"Excellent! Excellent!"

"Well written!"

They discussed it with Shang Li for a while.

A new notification appeared on the screen.

[Shang Li has authored the "Tribal Trade Code."]

[The Garlic Tribe has invented law.]

[The Garlic Tribe has learned to create and implement laws. Everyone’s Intelligence has slightly increased.]

Luh Yao took a sip of tea and nodded to himself.

’This Shang Li is a real talent.’

’He and Yulian will be the future of the tribe.’