I stood at the edge of the hole and looked down on it. “Time to have some fun! But first… my dear apprentices, tell me the story of why the sea is salty.”
The three of them exchanged baffled glances. They held a whispered conversation, and then Kharli shrugged and said, “Rainwater dissolves salt from the mountains and it flows into the ocean.”
I was taken aback by their scientific knowledge. “Okay, but I meant the story about the Old Man of the Mountain.”
Kharli tilted her head, trying to remember that particular tale. “That story? They say the Old Man of the Mountain was making salt pork, and he cast a spell on a bucket to fill it with salt, but Coyote came to his house and invited him to go fishing. He forgot all about the spell. When he returned on his fishing boat weeks later, his house and the whole island he was living in sank under the sea because of all the salt.”
“And some say that to this day the bucket is still there, still making more and more salt. One day we’ll all be buried in it!” Mo chimed in.
“Coyote had a big laugh about it.” Lari seemed to relish this idea.
I took Lari and Mo by the shoulder. “The moral of the story is that when we do this, we need to pay very careful attention to what we’re doing. Or else we could be buried in stuff and sink to the bottom of the ocean!”
“It’s dangerous?!” Mo exclaimed. “Maybe we should let Teacher do it herself.”
“There is no danger if you guys don’t get distracted. Just like the story of the Old Man of the Mountain. If he hadn’t left and forgotten, he would only have one bucket of salt, that’s it.” I removed my hands from them. “And I can’t do it myself.”
I showed them [Ying Fang’s Chest] and explained what we were about to do.
In Adventure Incarnate most items were stackable in the inventory, but not in the world. That is to say, millions of [Strawberries] only took up one space in the player’s System inventory, but there was a limit of 999 [Potatoes] that could be placed in one tile in the game. This made a lot of sense since a tile was a square space three feet wide in reality. My strategy involved using glitched items that could exceed this limit.
The bug I was going to abuse was a very old one that GodIAm discovered and reported way back when the player’s inventory was limited to only thirty-six slots. Called the Chest Duplication Bug, the glitch was quickly fixed, but not before countless players used it to max out their [Vials of Water].
There was a time when [Vials], used for Herblore potion-making, were painstakingly handmade. We had to make [Molten Glass] by using [Sand], [Soda], [Ash], and [Limestone] on a [Furnace]. The [Glassblowing Pipe] could then be used on the resulting [Molten Glass]. This was so obviously unwieldy that developers quickly introduced a [Glass Workshop] building that could create the [Vials] faster and automatically.
It was bad enough that the duplication bug made the [Vials] worth less, but what was worse was that unscrupulous players would repeatedly crash the server by making over 2,147,483,647 of them. Therefore, it was patched a few hours after it was released.
The glitch involved a quest where the player helped an NPC or Non-Player Character cure her pet parakeet’s illness by making a potion. A lot of ingredients were needed, so we were told to put them in [Ying Fang’s Chest] for storing while we gathered all of them.
“What you’re going to do is simple and there should be no problem as long as you listen closely to what I say.” I opened the chest. “First, make sure that your inventory is full. Put random things like rocks or handkerchiefs in it if you have to.”
Unlike me, Farm Hands like Lari, Kharli, and Mo had limited inventory slots.
I waited until they said they had done as I had instructed before continuing.
“Now I will put exactly one [Vial of Water] inside this special chest. Now click on the chest.”
My apprentices were used to my video game slang and knew how to mentally click on an item. The next bit should also be easy for them to do.
“Okay. You should see the chest inventory. On the right side of the chest inventory are three icons. The top one is for combining items. The middle one is for organizing the contents. The bottom one is for trashing items. Got it?”
They all nodded.
“Kharli, you will go first. Objections?”
There were none. Kharli was the oldest, and the others looked up to her as their leader.
“Kharli, click and hold the [Vial of Water]. Whatever happens next, don’t let go of it. What happened?”
She was frowning in concentration. “Teacher, a big notification box appeared. It says ‘Inventory Full’ and it’s flashing red.”
“Yes, it thinks you’re trying to take the item. Now, drag the [Vial of Water] to the organize button. Hold it there until I tell you to stop.”
I waited until the System clock said that ten seconds had passed before telling her to unclick the item.
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Kharli fell to her knees in front of the chest. “Teacher, that one vial turned into ten vials!”
I had no idea why organizing the chest that way spawned more items, but it was fun. I pulled my apprentice up and removed nine of the vials. “Don’t be shocked. That was just a short trial run. Mo is next.”
Mo looked nervous but excited.
“You just have to do the same thing Kharli did. Drag the vial to the organize button and hold it there until I say ‘stop.’ She held it for ten seconds. You will hold it for twenty. Ready?”
Lari, Kharli, and I did a countdown for her and we all yelled “Stop” at the end of it. They were all surprised by the result.
“Why are there forty?” asked Mo.
Lari rubbed his chin, thinking aloud. “Teacher, if there were ten vials after ten seconds, shouldn’t there be twenty vials after twenty seconds?”
“You would think so, but nope! The rate of duplication increases the longer you hold it.” I removed most of the items, leaving one inside. “Lari, shall we try one full minute?”
He looked extremely excited. “Yes!”
“I knew I could count on you.”
Lari screwed up his face in an expression of deep concentration as he followed my instructions and the girls did a sixty-second countdown for him.
“Teacher, there are 10,240!” He paused, a mischievous glint in his eyes before he revealed his idea. “What if I put a gold coin in the chest?”
“Try it,” I said.
Of course, I already knew it wouldn’t work. Only items from the quest could be properly put inside the chest inventory, but Lari, Kharli, and Mo tried everything anyway. They were successful in physically placing a gold coin inside the chest, but the System did not recognize the coin as an item, which meant they couldn’t select and drag it to the organize icon. Next, they attempted to use items like [Potatoes], [Buckets], [Ginseng], etc., but none of them worked.
After twenty minutes or so, I called a halt to their experiments because I wanted to get on with it. “Before we put the water into the lake-”
“We’re filling the lake with the water from the vials?” Mo peered down at the hole in the ground, frowning. “But a vial has very little water.”
“That’s exactly why we need to use this little trick.” I gestured at the empty lake. “We can only use 999 buckets of water at a time. That would take forever! The pile of [Vials of water] you guys make with the chest can go beyond that limit. But before Lari uses the 10,240 vials on the lake, you all need to go into your settings and go to your inventory settings. Done?”
I waited a few seconds for them to find the setting.
“Then scroll down and click on the option to ‘Destroy empty containers after use.’ You can uncheck it after this.”
Kharli smiled. “I understand. We need to do this or our inventory will have millions of empty vials!”
“That wouldn’t be so bad,” said Lari. “I bet these glass vials would sell for a lot of money.”
I lifted my hands and eyes heavenwards in an attitude of prayer. “Please let’s not flood the market with millions of glass vials. Okay?”
Lari gave me an impish smile but nodded his agreement.
“Now, Kharli, right-click the vials in the chest and [Use] them on the lake.”
The water made a bit of a splash in the hole. Each vial had around one ounce of water inside, so even ten thousand of them only contained seventy-eight gallons of water.
“Great! Now let’s make more vials!” I said.
By testing the rate of duplication, we found that after 99 seconds we got two million vials, which was plenty. The three of them took turns and filled the lake after using fifty million vials on it.
“That was incredible!” Mo was beaming from ear to ear.
“Strange, but fun.” Kharli’s shoulders relaxed and her expression was one of quiet satisfaction as she looked at the surface of the lake’s water that was rippling at the slight breeze.
“I want to try with the gold again,” said Lari to me.
“Sorry, no.” I put the chest in my inventory. “Besides, if you did succeed in making millions of gold coins, that would only devalue the currency.”
“Devalue?” Lari gave me a questioning look.
“Gold is worth a lot because it's rare,” I explained. “If we make more, then it won’t be rare anymore, and it will be worth less. Hence, its value will be less.”
Lari took out a gold coin from his pocket and gazed at it thoughtfully. “I see.”
“Why did we need to fill the lake? Won’t the rains do it?” asked Kharli.
“Isn’t it past the time of the spring rains? I mean, in this part of the world.” I started walking around the perimeter of the lake. “Some of the water will drain into the ground, and the sun will dry it out, too.”
“The air around here already feels cooler,” Lari observed.
“I can tell this will be my favorite place in the future.” Mo walked beside me. “The grass will be greener and more lush here next year.”
“This water reservoir is essential to make this place livable. We can stay here comfortably thanks to my bloodline inheritance, but normal people would find it extremely difficult with so few water sources,” I said.
Based on the information from the System, the lake should also help replenish the groundwater in this area. That would make it easier to get water from wells, but I reckoned it would be years before this land could sustain a sizable population without outside support.
We put wooden markers around the area in order to check later on if the lake changed. Then we returned to the house for lunch.
The castle’s banquet hall, with its high-vaulted ceiling, rough-hewn stone walls, elaborate tapestries, and massive wooden trestle tables was way too dramatic for a regular household meal. We had lunch in a smaller, much more cheerful place called the solar, a bright, sun-drenched room with large windows that offered a pleasant view of the inner courtyard and gardens.
Deming must have been inspired by the castle because our noon meal was a regal affair. Gold plates and heavy silverware were set on fine linen tablecloths for me and my apprentices while the rest of the staff dined on pewter and porcelain tableware.
Since we were eating healthier vegetables and less meat, this time the appetizer was a flavor bomb of minced toasted coconuts, peanuts, shallots, and a small amount of minced pork, all flavored with lime, ginger, and chilies, and then wrapped in a wild pepper leaf. The explosion of flavors in my mouth was magnificent. Sweet, sour, salty, and spicy tastes danced across my tongue in perfect harmony.
Next was a deep-fried sea bass served with a vibrant salad of green manga, shallots, and fresh herbs. The fish had been pounded thin before frying, creating a delicate, airy crunch that shattered pleasingly between my teeth.
After the fish dish, we cleansed our palates with cucumber sorbet before proceeding to the main dish, Royal Golden Chicken Curry. It was called royal because, in the past, it was a favorite fish of the royal courts. The color and exotic ingredients served to emphasize the monarch’s wealth. The exact recipe was a closely guarded secret, but the Demon Chef had created his own version with saffron and a myriad of other rare spices and herbs.
I inhaled the steam rising from its surface. It smelled of creamy coconut with notes of lemongrass and galangal along with the saffron. My first spoonful was a tender chunk of chicken swimming in a creamy broth. The coconut milk coated my tongue with a velvety richness perfectly complemented by the acidity of lime juice. Was that cinnamon I tasted? Soft potatoes and crisp bell peppers added textural contrast to each mouthful. I ate it with fluffy white rice, the perfect vehicle for the silky curry sauce.
Dessert was sweet sticky rice cakes with sliced fruit and caramelized bananas which I devoured with gusto. It was the perfect ending to a perfect meal.
We retired to our rooms tired and content.
That night, I got a System notification popup before I went to sleep.
Author's Note:
- A simpler chapter about abusing an item duplication bug and eating lunch.
- I read in the news that the new remastered Oblivion kept their item duplication bug. Coincidentally, that one also has a glitch with a container.
- Advanced chapters on my Patreon!
- Thank you very much for reading.
- Please let me know if there are any errors.
Thank you to all my readers and everyone who has bought a copy!