With the support and speech of the wizard Sen, Yu Zouli went against the opposition and dismantled the divine book into individual pages, allowing Yu Lian to study and compare them.
The icon of the "Gift" in the slot disappeared without a trace.
Lu Yao’s experiment yielded results: the pixel people could not directly grasp the "Gift" through the temple if they couldn’t understand it. They could only understand the "Gift" based on their existing knowledge.
Soon, a prompt appeared on the screen.
"Yu Lian has invented paper."
"The Garlic Tribe has learned to make and use paper, and their faith has been elevated."
"The Garlic Tribe has learned to make and use books, and everyone’s intelligence has slightly improved."
The invention and use of paper and books brought Lu Yao 400 points of faith from the Garlic Tribe.
Shortly after the appearance of paper, the leader Yu Zouli passed away.
This young man who once said, "The gods love slippery fish," the hero who almost died in battle due to blind confidence, and the small person who took on the responsibility of leadership in his old age, ended his life.
The memorial monument read:
"Yu Zou: One of the first two heroes of the tribe, who bravely fought against the demon apostles to defend the tribe and battle the cave dwellers. He strongly advocated the construction of ships, spreading the influence of the Garlic Tribe over the water, integrating the East River Tribe and the cave dwellers, and helping Yu Lian create paper. We will always remember him."
Yu Zou’s soul was taken by Scott and arrived in Sanilo in the south, embarking on a new journey of life.
The era of the first generation leaders and heroes of the Garlic Tribe came to a complete end.
After Yu Zou’s death, the cave wizard Sen Jian took over his position. Yu Lian was also recommended by Sen Jian and became the youngest leader in the history of the tribe.
The leadership of the second generation of the Garlic Tribe took shape.
Sen Jian, the cave wizard, was the decision-maker for major events in the tribe.
Astrologer Shahang spent most of his time in the temple, serving as a servant of the gods and responsible for the tribe’s writing and book compilation.
Yu Lian was a rising star among the leaders, and he began proposing a series of reform plans to drive the tribe forward.
He said, "Our sailboats have been to Sanilo, which is also a place of faith for God Yao."
"The Apostle said that Sanilo is the city of ghosts, where many ghosts that we cannot see reside. Many of the tribe’s deceased will be received there."
"I have traveled to Sanilo by boat. It is an amazing city with clean streets and houses, roads that are not afraid of rain and mud, straight and flat streets, and tall and sturdy city walls."
"The Garlic Tribe should also build such a city."
"A city will allow us to live more comfortably, be less prone to illness, and better unite our faith and confidence."
This suggestion was vetoed by Sen Jian, citing the current lack of manpower in the tribe to support such a time-consuming and massive project.
It was commonly referred to as "biting off more than one can chew."
However, Sen Jian expressed agreement with some of Yu Lian’s viewpoints.
The wizard believed that road construction was the top priority for the tribe. The road between the Salt Pool Settlement and the Garlic Tribe’s headquarters must be connected so that goods can flow quickly between the two places.
With a road, the two places can also support each other in case of danger.
But road construction proved to be more difficult than they anticipated.
Just opening a road from the mountains consumed all the labor of the cave dwellers.
The cave dwellers worked day and night, digging and mining in the mountains. They were experienced in digging tunnels, but even so, they encountered several landslides and heavy rain, resulting in the deaths of several cave dwellers.
Lu Yao also lent a hand and used "Scorching Sun" to dispel the heavy rain, allowing the mountain road project to continue.
After the road between the two places was connected, the speed of goods circulation greatly increased, and there were more and more camels transporting goods back and forth.
The merchants immediately became active. They targeted the profit difference in trade between the two places and began frequently trading feathers, salt, and garlic, gaining many benefits.
However, problems followed one after another.
Transporting goods required camels or manpower. In the trade between the two places, the efficiency of bartering goods was low and there were large losses, which troubled the merchants.
Not long after, Lu Yao saw a prompt on the screen.
"Shang Li has invented the currency ’Haibei’."
"The Garlic Tribe has learned to make and use currency, and their faith has been elevated. Everyone’s intelligence has slightly improved."
- Great God, a believer has made a remarkable achievement that surpasses the rest of the group. Do you want to transform him into a hero?
"Yes" or "No"
Lu Yao clicked on the temple.
Standing in the temple was Shang Li.
He was only 18 years old, even younger than Yu Lian.
Lu Yao transformed him into a hero.
In the detailed personal panel, Shang Li was a handsome young man with tied-up hair.
He wore linen clothes and sheepskin boots. Shang Li led a camel along the path, carrying goods wrapped in cloth on the camel’s back.
Under his portrait was his personal motto.
"I wish everything could be a commodity, clearly priced, and once paid for, it belongs to oneself, never worrying about losing it."
...
[Hero Lv1] Shang Li
Attack 0 Defense 0 Knowledge 2 Mana 1 Luck 2 Morale 0
[Abilities]
Wisdom Lv1: Wisdom is the key for the apostle to listen to the will of the gods. The higher the level of wisdom, the easier it is to improve and comprehend various abilities.
Trade Lv1: Skilled in trade, possessing superior business abilities, and has a certain probability of making commercial inventions.
...
Shang Li’s appearance was a pleasant surprise.
Lu Yao originally thought that progress in the tribe’s civilization system might require the introduction of iron or engineering.
But he didn’t expect the merchants to step forward.
Their eagerness to gain more profit from trade made them the most enthusiastic group for change, and Shang Li was a representative of the merchant’s power driving the civilization of the tribe.
With the permission of Sen Jian and others, the currency Haibei invented by Shang Li quickly became popular in the tribe.
Currency made transactions more efficient and clear, and bartering became a thing of the past.
The people of the tribe even learned to set up stalls and sell their goods.However, some drawbacks also arose from this.
"Mutton, 40 shells per piece."
"Mutton, 39 shells per piece."
Two mutton vendors started a price war.
"Why do you always have to undercut me?"
"Idiot, of course it’s because that’s the only way to make sales. You can lower your prices too."
"Mutton, 38 shells per piece!"
"Mutton, 35 shells per piece!"
The two vendors argued incessantly, almost coming to blows. In the end, it took the intervention of the tribe leader to resolve the dispute.
In addition to this, the introduction of currency trading also brought about the classic problem of shortchanging.
"You’re selling less meat than the others!"
"Nonsense, it’s exactly the same."
"It’s definitely less!"
"If you don’t want to buy, then don’t."
"Give me back my shells! I’ll go buy somewhere else!"
"You’ve already bought it, and you’ve damaged the meat. How could I possibly take it back?"
"Damn you! You scoundrel!"
"That’s how trading works, you should have checked properly."
Lu Yao shook his head as he watched.
He was tempted to unleash a "Lightning" spell and strike down this tribal swindler. The hard-earned fruits of the laboring people were being deceitfully pocketed, which was truly infuriating.
But even if he killed this swindler, it wouldn’t help.
If one swindler fell, countless others would rise.
Lu Yao was curious to see if the Garlic Tribe had any solutions.
Soon, the tribe came up with a countermeasure.
"The tribe leader has invented units of weight: catty/liang."
"The Garlic Tribe has standardized the units of weight."
"The Garlic Tribe has learned to establish and use units of measurement, slightly increasing everyone’s intelligence."
Lu Yao thought to himself, that’s more like it.
The merchants, like hungry catfish stirring up the calm pond, brought pressure and challenges to the tribal leaders.
The gears of the new era began to turn slowly under the push of countless people.