I Have a God Simulator

The piercing wail of a stray cat outside the window woke Luh Yao from his doze.

He rubbed his forehead and then his face.

He checked the time: half-past two in the morning.

’I should probably go back to sleep.’

Even as he thought this, Luh Yao reflexively glanced at his computer screen.

A few lines of text had appeared on the game interface.

[Muke has invented Tribal War Chess.]

[The Garlic Tribe has learned to make and use Tribal War Chess.]

[The Garlic Tribe now possesses its first Specialty Product. Everyone’s Wisdom has slightly increased.]

[The Blessing is complete. The dice have been integrated into the world.]

—O great God, one of your Believers has accomplished a feat far surpassing his peers. Do you wish to transform him into a Hero?

[Yes][No]

Unlike before, this notification came with a brand-new resource icon.

A [Specialty] icon had been added to the status bar at the top-left of the screen.

Luh Yao moved his mouse over it and saw that the Specialty details listed only one item: Tribal War Chess.

’I just wanted to inject some vitality into the tribe’s little people, give them some entertainment. I didn’t expect them to whip up something new.’

He focused on the inventor.

Muke.

’...Isn’t that the kid I rejected before?’

Luh Yao opened the Divine Hall.

A new villager had appeared in the Divine Hall, with "Muke, Age 13" displayed above his head.

Luh Yao immediately converted him into a Hero.

In his personal portrait, Muke was a young teenager sitting under the setting sun. He had drawn intersecting paths and a game board on the sand and was rolling dice, playing the game all by himself.

Below the portrait was a single quote from him.

—Only Tribal War Chess will always be with me.

...

[Hero Lv1]Muke

Attack 0, Defense 1, Knowledge 3, Mana 0, Luck 0, Morale 0

[Abilities]

Wisdom Lv1: Wisdom is key for an Apostle to hear the Divine Will. The higher the level of Wisdom, the easier it is to improve and comprehend various abilities.

Gamer Lv1: Skilled at games. Has a chance to invent new games.

...

After its creation, Tribal War Chess quickly spread throughout the entire tribe.

In the past, the villagers’ days were monotonous, consisting of little more than labor, eating, and procreation. Now, in their free time, they would take out their war chess sets to play a game with someone, anytime and anywhere.

The number of smiley faces above the villagers’ heads gradually increased.

Tribal War Chess improved the atmosphere in the Garlic Tribe, providing a pastime and entertainment for the hardworking villagers. Especially during the cold winters, everyone would gather to play the game, and even the frequent fights and brawls became less common.

Seeing that his goal had been achieved, Luh Yao also felt a sense of relief.

’Workers shouldn’t make things hard for other workers.’

’Your bro is working hard to get you some benefits.’

’But playtime is playtime. When it counts, you all better step up.’

「In the Pixel World, winter passed and spring arrived.」

That winter, many Wild People left the forest and joined the Garlic Tribe. When spring came, a tribe of Burrower Monsters also came down from the mountains of their own accord to pledge their allegiance.

The Garlic Tribe’s population increased by over a hundred people in one go.

During the same period, Ghost City Saniluo also saw significant results. Commander Alex discovered a sprawling coral reef to the west, out at sea. There, he found numerous shipwrecks and oceanic Wandering Souls.

He brought back nearly three hundred Ghost Souls in one go.

With this, Luh Yao’s Believer population officially surpassed twenty thousand.

The top-right corner of the simulator displayed:

Population: 20,018, Faith: 3,935

Following this, a series of strange changes occurred in Luh Yao’s body.

He felt a scorching hot fluid emerge within his body.

It was as if a brand-new circulatory system had formed inside him, spreading throughout his skin and muscles and surrounding the deeper layers of bone and nerves.

This indescribable, flowing heat seemed to be an aggregate of some microscopic substance. It constantly circulated around his bones, muscles, and nerves, opening hidden channels and breaking limitations within his physical body, making Luh Yao feel incredibly comfortable.

In a daze, he saw a squatting creature appear on his normally messy bed.

The animal was pitch-black, as if concocted from a mixture of paint and syrup. Its surface seemed to constantly secrete black crude oil, giving it a moist sheen that obscured its specific form.

Underneath it was not his bed, but a dry, gravel-strewn riverbed.

The creature was squatting on a rock, sitting on its haunches like a cat or dog, as if gazing into the distance.

Luh Yao blinked, and the black creature vanished without a trace.

On the bed in his room, there was only the turned-down quilt and wrinkled sheets.

’Is this... am I seeing another World Dimension?’

Luh Yao was a little shocked.

’Thankfully, the monster didn’t notice me. Or rather, it couldn’t see me.’

This change left Luh Yao a bit baffled.

He concentrated, focusing his eyes on the bed.

The oil monster appeared again.

It showed no awareness of being watched. It simply turned and flowed across the riverbed, gradually disappearing from view.

After some experimentation, Luh Yao gradually got the hang of it.

This visual perception of what was almost an Inner World could be actively turned on and off. However, he could only see a very small area, and the image would quickly fade and blur.

The key was that hot current inside him. As long as he stimulated it and made it accelerate through his body, he could see scenes and creatures that weren’t part of the real world.

However, he could only see them. The vision lasted only for a moment, he couldn’t touch anything, and there was no tangible interaction between the two sides. It was more like a localized mirage.

Just as Song Shiyi had said, the safe zone was still safe.

Luh Yao wiggled his fingers, recalling a certain phrase.

Population is the vessel.

This was the qualitative change brought to his body by his population surpassing 20,000.

Luh Yao focused his attention on his own body. This time, he could feel the hot currents converging outside his body, forming some sort of external, closed loop.

He turned his head to look.

A luminous, ring-shaped band had materialized behind him, just like the rings around a planet. It maintained a sort of synchronization with Luh Yao’s body, rotating slowly on its own.

Luh Yao could clearly perceive that this Star Ring was not some external projection or a trick of the light. It was a tangible, special substance or form of energy—the product of a massive amount of hot current converging outside his body into a stable, cyclical form.

When Song Shiyi had revealed her identity to Isabel, she had also shown a Star Ring behind her, one that was basically identical to his own.

It seemed that once a simulator’s population reached a certain level, the body of a Divine Player could generate this Star Ring.

’So, what does it do?’

Luh Yao began to experiment cautiously.

He could touch it with his hand and feel the interaction between his fingers and the hot current.

The Star Ring felt like an extension of his own body.

’Can it be damaged?’

He tried hitting it with his fingers and fists, then poking it with a clothes-drying pole, but he felt no pain at all. His fingers and the pole passed right through it.

Luh Yao had a sudden realization.

’So, the ring formed by the hot current only reacts to the same hot current. When anything else touches it, it’s like passing through air, as if they don’t even exist in the same space.’

The sensation in his fingers wasn’t coming from his nerves, but from the hot current within the fingers themselves.

Luh Yao tried bringing a pen close to the Star Ring.

The pen fell straight to the floor.

’There’s no gravity, nor any kind of field-like effect.’

But its image was visible in a mirror and on camera.

’So what on earth is this thing for?’

’Is it just for show, to make me look like a Buddha with a divine halo...?’

After a series of patient experiments, Luh Yao finally made a discovery.

Besides reacting to the hot current that created it, the Star Ring also affected artifacts from the simulator.

An Artifact like the [Energy Staff] could float on the Star Ring, slowly rotating along with it.

Not only that.

Luh Yao only needed to concentrate and slightly accelerate the Star Ring, and it would swallow the [Energy Staff], pulling it into a special space. When he needed it, accelerating the Star Ring again would make it spit out the specific Artifact.

That subtle sensory experience was difficult to describe accurately.

The space within the Star Ring was pure darkness, like a complete void. Nothing could be perceived inside it except for the simulator Artifacts he placed there.

Luh Yao had always had a question.

As the number of Artifacts grew, how did veteran players like Prayer God, who had entered the Divine Hall of the Gods, manage to store them all?

Lisa still had three Artifacts even after falling from the Divine Hall of the Gods; Gods like Prayer God would surely have far more.

Now he understood.

Veteran players who entered the Divine Hall of the Gods, or in other words, stepped into the Crawling Area, must all store their Artifacts in their Star Rings, ready to be retrieved at any moment. This Star Ring was a Divine Player’s bag of holding.

’When Song Shiyi revealed her identity, a silver shield imprinted with a bonfire emerged from her Star Ring. That must have been some kind of Artifact, too. Maybe it was her work ID for the Committee?’

Luh Yao stuffed all the Artifacts he had on hand into it.

’No need to worry about someone stealing my stuff anymore!’

He lay down on his bed and slept more soundly than he ever had before.