I Have a God Simulator

Initial experiments revealed that collisions between worlds shattered their Rule Power. The impact also caused both worlds to fracture, with sections peeling off and breaking away.

However, achieving a more powerful impact and an instantaneous, explosive effect required further acceleration.

Acceleration wouldn’t necessarily cause greater damage, but it would improve the hit rate.

Unlike Gravel Worlds, Divine Kingdoms are World Ships controlled by Gods. While their movement is slow and suffers from a delay, they can still turn and reposition.

If pushed, the Gods would burn Faith to accelerate and evade calamities.

This meant the Gravel World weapon had to be fast enough. That way, even if the Gods spotted an unidentified world hurtling toward them, they would struggle to accelerate and escape in time.

Of course, achieving a perfect, one-shot kill was a bit of a pipe dream.

The unique nature of the Vortex World meant that most Divine Kingdoms would keep their distance, denying any opportunity for a close-range shot.

Luh Yao’s solution was to increase the quantity.

As long as there were enough projectiles and a high enough rate of fire to achieve area-of-effect saturation, the hit rate would naturally improve.

This was an inspiration he drew from [Aegir’s Fire].

Luh Yao named this macro-weapon the Vortex Cannon, and its projectiles, Boundary Cannons.

With the general strategy set, it was time for practical preparations.

First, the Gravel Worlds had to be accelerated in an orderly and safe manner. This required ensuring they were all of similar size. Otherwise, due to varying effects of Rule Power, they could easily collide with one another, essentially blowing up in the barrel before they were even fired.

This part of the process required a meticulous selection of Gravel Worlds.

Luh Yao spent a considerable amount of time selecting two echelons of worlds from the Ring Realm Group. He placed them into two separate, unused orbits, arranged them by ’small’ and ’micro’ classifications, and set them to revolve around the Vortex World.

They were, in effect, two different ammunition depots.

With the initial problems of Boundary Cannon selection and loading solved, the next step was the firing sequence.

Luh Yao started his tests with the small-sized Gravel Worlds.

After accelerating and launching a dozen or so Gravel Worlds, he found a relatively suitable acceleration cycle.

The Vortex World’s effective range was, at most, the width of a single screen. Accuracy decreased with distance, and the trajectory deviation of an accelerating Gravel World was severe.

To hit a target at the edge of the screen, a small Gravel World only needed to accelerate for three seconds. After acceleration, it would complete one orbit to reach the proper launch angle, completing the firing sequence for one Gravel-Level Boundary Cannon.

Firing one Micro Gravel-Level Boundary Cannon cost around 40,000 Fire of Faith.

Luh Yao’s initial plan was to launch at least fifteen Boundary Cannons per salvo to achieve basic area saturation. For a better effect, he’d have to increase the number of projectiles—the more, the better.

In actual combat, a single bombardment from the Vortex Cannon would consume a minimum of fifteen similarly-sized Gravel Worlds, with a base cost of no less than 600,000 Faith.

This heavy-firepower weapon was incredibly expensive to use.

As for its effectiveness, that could only be determined through a live-fire exercise.

Luh Yao began searching the World-Dimension Space for a target.

Half an hour later, he finally found a suitable mock enemy.

It was a relatively small Fragment World, also unnamed. Shaped like a turtle shell, it drifted aimlessly through the pitch-black World-Dimension Space.

Fragment Worlds were quite durable. Their Rule Power was even more complete and resilient than that of a Divine Kingdom, so a glancing blow from a low-power Gravel-Level Boundary Cannon shouldn’t be a major issue.

The small-model Boundary Cannons were only one-twentieth the size of the Fragment World. Factoring in the large distance between them, the Fragment World should be able to withstand the impact.

Luh Yao took aim and began the procedure.

He selected the Micro Gravel-Level Boundary Cannons, moved them into orbit to complete the loading, and initiated the acceleration.

Fifteen micro-sized Gravel Worlds accelerated in unison, their orbital velocity around the Vortex World steadily increasing.

The three-second acceleration phase ended.

He adjusted the angle.

To improve his aim, Luh Yao maneuvered the Vortex World closer to the Fragment World until they were less than half a screen apart.

Luh Yao clicked ’Fire’.

The Vortex Cannon’s first live-fire exercise produced dismal results.

Four of the Boundary Cannons collided with each other upon launch, neutralizing themselves.

Six more veered far off course, flying off to parts unknown.

Another three were pulled off-course by the Rule Power of nearby Gravel Worlds, causing them to strike other targets en route.

In the end, only two Gravel Cannons grazed the target. They caused the Fragment World to tremble slightly and shed a few fragments, like dust shaken from a clump of dirt.

’What a pity,’ Luh Yao thought.

’This accuracy is atrocious.’

’To guarantee a hit, it seems a point-blank shot from the Turbine Cannon is the only way.’

’It looks like the long-range accuracy problem won’t be solved anytime soon.’

’I’ll have to increase the number of projectiles. Opportunities are rare in actual combat, so a single salvo will require at least thirty Gravel Worlds, and I’ll still need to be at close range to guarantee a hit.’

Luh Yao considered his next adjustments.

He continued collecting nearby Gravel Worlds, sorting them by Body Type. Fortunately, desolate Gravel Worlds were everywhere, so there was no fear of an ammunition shortage.

The test firings and drills for the Vortex Cannon were incredibly expensive. If not for his vast resources, this seemingly simple research project would have been impossible to even start.

Luh Yao, however, failed to notice that during the test fire, one of the stray Boundary Cannons had flown deep into the darkness, scoring a direct hit on a Divine Kingdom and causing a chain of violent tremors.

...

The Bamboo Reed Kingdom was an ordinary Divine Kingdom.

As the master and ruler of this Divine Kingdom, the King of Bamboo Reed lived by a simple motto: safety first.

He wasn’t particularly powerful, but He had managed to maintain the stable development of His Divine Kingdom for hundreds of Eras because He was adept at reading situations and always managed to avoid danger and the calamities of war.

It wasn’t that He had an innate talent for Seeking Fortune and Avoiding Evil, but rather that He possessed a special Fire Seed Artifact: [Bamboo Mirage Light].

[Bamboo Mirage Light] could cover the entire Divine Kingdom, disguising it to look like a Gravel World.

When other Gods observed it from a distance, they would only receive the feedback: [Gravel World Unnamed].

The effect of [Bamboo Mirage Light] would only vanish if another world drew close enough for its Rule Power to interfere, at which point its true identity as a Divine Kingdom would be revealed.

All the King of Bamboo Reed had to do was stay far away from other worlds—be they Fragment Worlds, Gravel Worlds, and especially other Divine Kingdoms.

As long as it drifted in solitude, the Bamboo Reed Kingdom was safe.

In the endless World-Dimension Space, broken and useless Gravel Worlds were as numerous as grains of sand in the sea. No one paid them any mind.

This was the King of Bamboo Reed’s philosophy for survival: to hide among the gravel.

In the past, He had been a warmonger, leading His Apostles and Believers into battle against many other Gods.

He had reaped many spoils from war, but the aftermath always lingered for years: slowed population growth, faltering Faith, diminished creativity among His Believers, the expense of repairing the Divine Kingdom... The many hidden costs were difficult to quantify.

Over time, He slowly became a pacifist.

It was ironic.

After adopting a pacifist strategy and closing its borders, the Bamboo Reed Kingdom’s development far surpassed its past, entering a period of rapid growth. The population increased dramatically, the residents of the Divine Kingdom lived in peace and prosperity, and fervent waves of Faith would erupt from time to time.

But prosperity and decline go hand in hand. As the Eras passed, the Bamboo Reed Kingdom’s development eventually slowed to a state of Stagnation.

The King of Bamboo Reed then came up with a new solution.

He piloted His World Ship, searching everywhere for shattered, ownerless Divine Kingdoms.

These Divine Kingdoms rarely contained anything of value, or even much life, but they often held the ruins and remnants of past civilizations. These allowed His Believers to acquire new technologies and cultural knowledge, which in turn stimulated His own civilization.

This was beneficial for His Divine Kingdom.

In short, the King of Bamboo Reed was scavenging through the refuse of other Divine Kingdoms in the World-Dimension Space, hunting for treasure amid the trash.

This method didn’t yield much and required great Patience, but its main advantage was that it was perfectly safe.

Recently, the King of Bamboo Reed had been in good spirits.

Not long ago, He had found an ownerless Divine Kingdom that, to His surprise, still contained some plants and a large amount of usable soil. He transplanted all of it to the Bamboo Reed Kingdom.

The Bamboo People and the Lumin were ecstatic, triggering a new wave of fervent worship for their God.

The King of Bamboo Reed gazed down at His vibrant Divine Kingdom, a swell of pride in His heart.

’This is the path I have found as a God.’

’It has been a difficult path, but it is a safe one.’

...

When the Gravel World appeared, the King of Bamboo Reed was initially just confused.

He had never seen a Gravel World move so fast. It was hurtling out of the deep darkness at an incredible speed.

’This is bad!’

’It’s going to hit the Bamboo Reed Kingdom!’

The King of Bamboo Reed immediately gave the order to Sail, accelerating the entire Divine Kingdom.

But it was too late.

Even though He had ordered them to Sail at maximum speed, the rapidly approaching Gravel World still slammed into the Bamboo Reed Kingdom.

Amidst the violent tremors, the world’s Rule Power twisted and shattered.

Black fissures tore across the sky. Lightning rained down like a torrential storm. The Sun cast a viscous, blood-red light, and droplets of water on the ground began to slowly rise into the air.

This apocalyptic scene caused the residents of the Bamboo Reed Kingdom to turn pale with fright. They fell to their knees one by one, praying for their God’s protection and for His wrath to be appeased.

At that moment, only one thought dominated the King of Bamboo Reed’s mind.

’An attack.’

’This wasn’t an accident. It was an attack! A sneak attack!’

’No Gravel World would ever slam into a Divine Kingdom at such a high speed—and with such precision!’

’From somewhere unseen, the enemy has already launched their first attack.’

The King of Bamboo Reed looked in the direction the Gravel World had flown from.

Far in the distance, a massive, white Vortex World hung in space.

And in an orbit at the edge of that Vortex World, one, and only one, Divine Kingdom was slowly hovering.

[Ghost Realm].

The King of Bamboo Reed didn’t know what method his enemy had used to see through the Bamboo Reed Kingdom’s Disguise, nor how they had managed to turn a Gravel World into a weapon of Destruction.

But He knew one thing: if He didn’t act now, the Bamboo Reed Kingdom would become a sitting duck, likely to be bombarded into smithereens by a barrage of Gravel Worlds.

The Bamboo Reed Kingdom had reached a moment of life and death.

He decisively announced to all life within the Divine Kingdom, "An enemy God has launched an attack! Effective immediately, this Divine Kingdom is in a state of war!"

"The Counterattack is about to begin!"

Under the leadership and organization of the Apostles, the Bamboo People and the Lumin mobilized for action.

The Bamboo Reed Kingdom changed course, flying straight toward the [Ghost Realm].