"Behold, the divine manifests!""God has blessed us with a wondrous miracle!""Hail the miracles! Hail our Almighty ruler!""Great Deity, we offer gratitude for this munificent gift!"
The fervent chants of the faithful echoed through the digital interface like hymns delivered across dimensions. Kaiser watched through the screen, arms crossed, half-expecting them to break out in dance.
Following their prostrations and rituals, the devout hurried to spread the good news. Their expressions, once placid and reverent, now glowed with newfound purpose as they worked in unity, reclaiming a patch of land. They began planting—the soil tilled with primitive tools, the seeds buried with care.
Then, a notification blinked into view:[Through your gift, the faithful have acquired knowledge of potato cultivation and utilization, elevating their faith.]
"Took them long enough," Kaiser muttered, exhaling through his nose. Then—[Faith Points +20]
So bestowing gifts did do something after all. Who knew?
He tapped on the potato icon.[The integration of potato into this realm is underway. Patience is advised.]
"Wait... I gave them potatoes on Day 37," he said aloud. "Why didn't I get a message back then?"
And then it hit him. The memory resurfaced: removing the Lumen Core, setting the potatoes near the fire. Someone must've eaten them. He smirked. "They ate it before they knew what to do with it... but I guess now they get it."
From savages to subsistence farmers—what a glow-up. The once-barbaric shelter now hosted people with the spark of civilization, farming under the guidance of a silent, unseen god. Kaiser glanced at the top-left corner of the interface.
Population: 150.Apparently, his name—his faith—was spreading across the island.
Opening the info log, he found dozens of new achievements stacked neatly:
[Your people have formed a tribe] +20
[Your people have developed primitive agriculture] +20
[Your given gift: Crossbow has been integrated into the world]
But strangely, nothing about berries. "Must've gotten eaten like snacks," he grumbled.
Then—gunshots.
Kaiser's back straightened.
He snapped the Lumen Core into his mouth like a pill, grabbed his gun with three remaining bullets, and calmly unplugged the USB from his laptop. He closed it, packed it into his suitcase, zipped it up, and covered it with brush and leaves.
Moments later, a bloodied figure stumbled into the cave, panting hard, yelling something in a foreign language. Kaiser ducked behind a rock, holding his breath. The man was frantic, hands raised, clearly begging for mercy from someone—or something—chasing him.
Then he appeared.
A man laughing, confident, casually walking into the cave. The monocle man's subordinate. He said something in gibberish, clearly mocking the man on the ground.
These guys... they were probably behind the earlier gunshots.
Kaiser acted.
He raised his pistol and fired. Missed.
The man's expression shifted instantly from amusement to focus. He turned, eyes scanning the dark, grabbing the wounded man and using him as a human shield, yelling words Kaiser still didn't understand. But he didn't need to.
Hostage tactics were universal.
Kaiser exhaled, aimed again, and fired.
This time, hit. The bullet struck the man's elbow. He screamed and fell. The hostage, seizing the moment, scrambled for the gun, and fired point-blank.
One shot. Dead.
The man with the monocle—the confident killer—slumped into stillness.
The bloodied man collapsed beside the body, breathing heavily. Then, to Kaiser's surprise, he pulled out a small ornate bottle, unstopped it, and drank. Then another. And another. Seven in total.
Kaiser stared, eyes narrowing. "Is that... a healing potion?"
The bottles looked elaborate—metallic silver caps with gem-like stoppers. They had to be expensive. This man was either loaded... or important.
As the man lowered his guard, Kaiser crept behind and slammed a rock into the back of his head. Not enough to kill, just enough to knock him cold. After all, someone who could tank multiple bullets and still run this far? Too dangerous to leave unbound.
He used vines to tie him to a rock, leaving only his undergarments, then began the search. His thoughts were methodical, almost clinical.
A ring.The man had pulled out potions like magic. The ring was probably the key. A storage artifact, maybe? But Kaiser had no way to use it. No divine sense, no magic. He set it aside.
A wallet.Inside: a photo. The man, smiling, holding a young girl. Looked around ten. His daughter?
"Damn," Kaiser whispered.
Then his gaze shifted to the corpse. The monocle man. No name. No backstory. Just another casualty of a hidden war.
Kaiser stripped him down, burying the body outside. "A nameless burial is all I can give you," he muttered. "I won't apologize. I did what I saw as right."
Back in the cave, he kindled a fire. Then, one by one, he examined the rest of the gear:
Two rings: one gold (hostage), one black (monocle man)
A monocle, now his
A pistol
A wallet
Identity cards
Assorted papers and maps
A strange core, glowing faintly red—tucked in the dead man's clothes
A loot crate in the form of a corpse.
Kaiser packed everything neatly, though his eyes lingered on the unconscious man tied to the rock. He hadn't killed him. But a part of him was responsible for the blood spilled.
In this world, divinity came with consequences.