Near midnight, the Garlic Tribe was attacked for the second time by the Barbarian Tribe.
A total of twenty-five barbarian warriors wearing animal skins, wielding stone axes, charged from the western forest.
The hunters of the Garlic Tribe had already contracted their front lines, armed with bows and arrows. Under the command of the two heroes, Pig and Fish, they stood at a distance and shot arrows at the barbarian warriors.
In the baptism of long-range shooting, the charging barbarians were riddled with arrows. They seemed to have no experience in fighting against bows and arrows, relying solely on their animal skins and bodies to withstand the attack. In the end, only six or seven of them managed to reach the hunters, while the others fell to the ground.
With the absolute numerical advantage and the support of the bows and arrows, the barbarian warriors were completely defeated this time. Apart from those killed by arrows or those who escaped, the Garlic Tribe also captured four barbarian warriors.
The prophet interrogated them separately.
“Where is your tribe?”
“We will never betray!”
“What is the demon you believe in?”
“Glory belongs to God Yao! You heretics will all die!”
“How many of you are there in total?”
“We will never betray!”
“If you tell us honestly, we will let you go.”
“We will never betray!”
…
These four individuals remained tight-lipped.
The experienced shaman chose another approach.
“Your bravery and loyalty have won our recognition. To show our respect, I invite you to join our tribe.”
“You have been defeated, and if you go back, you will only face punishment from the demon and your tribe.”
“There is wheat here that can fill your stomachs, bows and arrows that can make you stronger, delicious garlic, as well as dried meat and salt.”
“If you become members of the Garlic Tribe, it will not be considered betrayal, because you will worship the great God Yao and be protected by divine power. The demon cannot harm you.”
After a moment of silence, exclamation marks appeared above the heads of the four warriors.
“Join the Garlic Tribe!”
“Join the Garlic Tribe!”
They shouted in unison.
Lu Yao sighed. The shaman was really good at judging people.
Then, the four barbarians revealed everything.
“The tribe is located northwest in the mountains, next to a huge cave. There are a total of 82 people. Excluding the prophet and the elderly, there are 40 warriors available.”
“There is a statue next to the cave, depicting a god wearing animal fur, called Jack God.”
“Jack God requires us to offer live sacrifices and strip the fur from animals. We offer all the animals we hunt to Him, so the tribe must raid for food.”
“The tribe has received Jack God’s blessings and two heroes have been born. They can transform into beast forms and are the strongest warriors in the tribe. Everyone wants to become a hero.”
“One hero went missing during the attack on the Forest Tribe. He should be dead.”
“And there is one hero who stayed in the tribe.”
“The Barbarian Tribe is the enemy! The demon is the enemy!”
“We will never betray the Garlic Tribe!”
They shouted the same slogan as before, smoothly switching sides.
The four barbarians joined the tribe. They took off their animal skins and put on leather vests similar to the tribe’s uniform. Armed with bows and arrows, they quickly integrated into the local community.
To Lu Yao’s surprise, the demon Jack had no intention of managing the tribe or developing it step by step. He continued to manipulate the barbarians to hunt and plunder everywhere, in order to gain belief.
With the addition of bows and arrows in the Garlic Tribe, the threat from the Barbarian Tribe greatly diminished. Lu Yao’s top priority was to further increase the belief value. The more strategic reserves, the better.
After repelling the second attack from the Barbarian Tribe, the Garlic Tribe entered another period of stability.
The pixelated people from the Salt Pool Tribe kept coming over to the Garlic Tribe to buy garlic and bows and arrows, and then sell salt, medicinal herbs, and farming tools that were lacking locally.
Later on, the Salt Pool Tribe even built a wooden house here as a shop for the long-term trade between the two tribes.
With increased communication and trade between the tribes, the hunters with bows and arrows expanded their range of movement, attracting more immigrants to the Garlic Tribe.
The population in the upper right corner increased to 247, and the belief value rose to 448 points.
Within a day, the belief value skyrocketed continuously, causing the thoughts that Lu Yao had suppressed before to resurface.
To convert the 【Apostles】 in the temple, 500 belief points were needed.
Currently, only 52 points were lacking.
If he waited a little longer, relied on the two items, the 【Energy Staff】 and the 【Cactus Follower】, which provided a total of 2 belief points per hour, and attracted a few more immigrants, there might be a chance.
However, even so, when Lu Yao left home for work at 8:30 in the morning, the belief value was still stuck at 459 points.
…
On this day, Lu Yao was somewhat absent-minded.
Tomorrow was the weekend, and all he wanted to do now was to rush home and focus on the simulator.
Although the 【Energy Staff】 could replenish his energy in the middle of the night, making him feel no fatigue, once he was separated from the staff, the soreness and fatigue in his muscles still persisted. The physical consumption was still very real.The staff was more like a potent stimulant, capable of maintaining one’s energy for a short period of time, but it did not alter the human body’s limits. Sleep was still indispensable.
Aside from understanding the mechanism of the staff, Lu Yao was also pondering over the old apostle in the temple.
Was she really worth such a huge investment from him?
After all, she was a trusted subordinate of the Forest God. Even a small fire, a janitor of the temple, was quite useful. The apostle, he thought, wouldn’t be too shabby.
The key point was, Lu Yao had not found any other ways to create an apostle. It seemed that the only option was to convert the old apostle.
No matter how you put it, an apostle was a high-ranking soldier above heroes and prophets, right?
He was both expectant and apprehensive, restless in his chair.
Just as he was about to finish work, his boss suddenly assigned him a temporary task, asking him to deliver concert tickets of a certain singer to a boss’s house twenty kilometers away from the company.
By the time Lu Yao finished his task and returned home, it was already eight o’clock in the evening.
He took off his backpack, disregarding the sweat soaking his hair, and immediately went to his computer.
The faith in the upper right corner of the screen had become 489 points. The growth of faith was mainly due to magical items, and the population growth had become very slow.
So, Lu Yao took a shower first, washing off the sweat from his body.
Then he went to the window, feeling the night breeze, and looked at the street lamp in the alley.
No one was hanged there today.
This was to be expected. If someone was hanged there every now and then, that demon player would be challenging the entire police system.
Lu Yao returned to his computer.
The faith showed 501.
He opened the temple interface and clicked on the “Apostle” icon on the stone coffin.
– To convert her into an apostle of your temple requires a large amount of faith. Do you want to consume 500 faith points to convert the apostle?
【Yes】【No】
Lu Yao placed the mouse on “Yes”, but did not rush to click.
He asked the cactus next to him, “Little Fire, does it really cost so much faith to revive an apostle?”
“Apostles are the most important arms of every god, it’s totally worth it, but…”
“But what?”
“The apostle of the Forest God in this stone coffin, your humble servant doesn’t recognize her, I don’t know what abilities she has.”
“Do you know all the apostles of the Forest God?”
“Uh… I remember the chief apostle, Mr. Fruist, he’s very powerful, able to summon the spirit of the forest. I haven’t seen the others, they’re all traveling the world for the Forest God.”
Lu Yao looked at the cactus with a displeased face.
So you only know one.
Little Fire seemed to feel the pressure and said nervously, “My lord, I just, just said, I really don’t know this apostle, different apostles have different abilities, some are good at fighting, some are good at investigating…”
“But an apostle is definitely worth it, you also need a walking apostle.”
Lu Yao turned his gaze back to the computer screen.
Let’s do it!
He clicked on “Yes”.
The faith value was instantly cleared to only 1 point left.
A message popped up in the pixel world.
– The sleeping apostle heard your call, your faith restored her broken body and dried up soul, she is rapidly reviving from the brink of death.
– “Apostle” Sword of the Forest·Isabella, follows your will, executes your Divine Oracle, and fights for your faith.