Plague
Making sure that the emissaries understood what he was saying, Leylin confiscated all the riches that they had brought. He then showed them their chief who was still alive, and chased them out of the warship.
“Do you see this? There are riches all over this island, and the natives managing all this wealth are so cowardly and ignorant…” Leylin stepped on the gold, watching the greedy eyes of his men. He grinned, “Half of this gold and everything we get in the future will be yours. Divide it amongst yourselves…”
The pirates erupted into cheers.
Although the gold seemed to be a lot when piled up, how much would one person get when it was divided amongst three thousand? Still, this display served to increase their greed, and gave them a deeper impression of Debanks Island’s wealth. It would motivate them to fight!
Many of the pirates were now zealous, eager to take over the entirety of Debanks Island and willfully plunder its wealth.
If he asked people to believe in him without any benefits, they would not advance wave after wave in the face of death, at least not now. Leylin needed to show them profits, and the sparkle of gold was the best of them all.
“Will they really do it?” Isabel ignored the clamouring crowd behind her, standing on deck to watch the canoes leave. “Angodub is related to them by marriage, no? Their great relationship is what lets them govern this region together…”
“That depends. We aren’t natives, and don’t know how they think. Besides, how is it possible for two tribes to live so close to each other without friction?” Tiff brought up an opposing opinion.
“Mm. Besides, even if they don’t do it we can help. For example, we can spread news of them preparing to attack Angodub, or just pretend to be natives and attack a nearby village…” Leylin’s eyes glinted with intelligence. “Once seeds of doubt are planted, they’re not so easily removed. There will definitely be a war!”
Isabel now understood Leylin’s plan, and had to admit it’s feasibility. “Once both tribes are tired out, we can wipe them out with minimal cost, bridging our way into Debanks Island.”
Still, she frowned soon. She continued asking, “What happens if the Sakartes Empire finds out. This is a large operation after all. Considering our current strength, we’ll be chased away once they step in…”
Debanks Island was the size of several kingdoms, with the Sakartes Empire at its heart. A few tribes surrounded it. Although Leylin enacted his schemes in an isolated area, this was still a single island. There was no ocean to blockade it off, so news would spread quickly.
“Don’t worry. They’ll be too busy to bother with us soon…” Leylin smiled and shook his head, the hidden meaning causing Isabel and Tiff to shiver in fear.
……
Time passed quickly. Soon enough, the two tribes Leylin had chosen were immersed in war, without Leylin even needing to step in. After all, they were both occupying the same lands. How could there be true friendships between rivals for resources?
On top of that, the totem spirits of the tribes wanted to devour each other to strengthen themselves. With all sorts of factors favouring it, it was natural for war to break out.
To show his sincerity, Leylin’s fleet did not stop by the continent and instead sent away many of the ships. Some of those that were left kept away from the warzone, as if this had nothing to do with them.
Leylin even bought slaves from both tribes. They were sturdy, courageous natives, great for regular slave work at the Chihuahua Islands or as soldiers. He wasn’t stupid enough to pay in precious materials like gold or silver, instead providing weapons and ammunition.
These arms caused the natives to grow more powerful, and the selling of slaves continued. To avoid falling behind, the opponents had no choice but to do business with Leylin, which created a vicious cycle that caused both tribes to shed blood. Leylin’s side had a great harvest.
Amidst the flurry of activity, Leylin stayed holed up inside his lab. The trade was taken care of by his men, who had prior experience in capturing slaves from piracy. His own task now was extremely important, and that was to prevent the Sakartes Empire from meddling in his affairs.
He looked at a petri dish under dim light, at a half-rotten piece of meat. His eyes flashed with light as the A.I. Chip performed a scan.
‘Has it been nurtured to this state already?’ The piece of flesh in the petri dish was from a native’s body. Continuous experiments allowed Leylin to roughly understand the structure of their DNA, and create a toxin that would be extremely lethal to them.
[Beep! Number 2’s infection is stable, beginning extraction of data...] The A.I. Chip sent a large amount of information to Leylin, which left him nodding his head.
“Very well…” Using a pair of tiny tweezers, Leylin clipped the piece of flesh and placed it in a test tube with clear liquid.
[Beginning experiment 17642, recording data…] the A.I. Chip’s voice intoned. Leylin looked at the piece of flesh dissolve, shaping up like a tentacle before bubbling up.
‘Alright, the fission is stable. The chances of success this time are extremely large!’ Leylin nodded his head, and spells glowed forth from his hand on occasion, using the radioactive energy to catalyse the reaction.
Once the violent reaction ended, Leylin smiled at the test tube, which itself was now red as blood.
[Beep! The lethal virus has been completed. Name?]
“Pathogen 1,” Leylin named it nonchalantly.
[Beep! Name recorded, storing data...] The A.I. Chip carried out Leylin’s instructions, before displaying the data in front of his eyes.
[Pathogen 1: It is a genetic weapon that is extremely contagious. Can thrive in extreme weathers and lives for a hundred hours. Spread through the respiratory tract, with 90% infection and 90% lethality. No cure available, capable of two degrees of transmission. Note: The pathogen is extremely effective against the specific specimen, namely the first set of natives stored in the database.]
This pathogen only infected natives, and was highly contagious and lethal. It was like smallpox combined with the flu, and Leylin did not doubt for a moment that once it was released it would strike more fear than even devils or demons could.
Even the 10% chance of survival was not Leylin’s kindness. Were all the natives to die, there would just be nobody left to give him power of faith.
‘Although I can’t let all of them die, I don’t need a large population of worshippers either. The survivors will provide enough power for me to ascend to godhood…’ Leylin pondered as he stroked his chin.
Had the same pathogen been unleashed on the natives of his previous world, the people would have been wiped out completely. However, the rules of this world were different. Taking into consideration the existence of gods and extraordinary abilities, the 10% chance Leylin had given would leave a small number of survivors.
‘Once I release the plague, I need to make special medicine and vaccines…’ Although nobody was immune to this plague, Leylin had still left a backdoor open for external immunisation. Having died wave after wave, how would they see the ‘cleansing’ of the disease by Kukulkan? The vaccines could grant them the ability to survive, and they would be none the wiser about it.
It would already be a blessing for those totems and demigods to protect the nobles. There simply weren’t enough spells to go around saving the commoners. Leylin was quite sure that this situation would be a great harvest of the power of faith.
‘The death of their worshippers will cause the power of the totem spirits to drop. Even demigods won’t be able to do a thing about it, much less the earth-bound spirits. The huge drop in strength will be checkmate!’ Brilliance flashed in Leylin’s eyes. With a simple wave of his hands, he could now determine the life and death of several million natives. The word evil could not begin to describe his current actions.
If he were to filter this power of faith, he could turn into a god of plagues or biological lives, immediately usurping the throne of the Goddess of Plagues. But he wasn’t interested in that at all.
‘Although I shouldn’t absorb faith in the domains of plague and disease, there is one domain I cannot miss… Death!’ Leylin’s plans were always multi-layered. On one hand, the plague and vaccine would allow him to conquer the entirety of Debanks Island quickly without expending much energy. On the other hand, the sheer amount of death would allow him to comprehend the death domain.
Massacre and death were two powerful domains that suited Leylin’s needs, and he coveted the latter now. With the millions of lives lost, the power of death would definitely reach a frightening level. At that point, it wouldn’t be impossible to comprehend the death domain.
Compared to this, the other trivial matters could be neglected. Leylin believed peace only followed chaos. After a period of suffering, the people of Debanks Island would choose his rule, welcoming the revolution he would bring about.