37 – Settlement and Farming, and ??? (3)
Items, spaces, or skills hidden in the game by the developers’ design are what we call “hidden pieces.”
They might be challenging to find, but they are deliberately placed for us to discover. The more we actively use them, the better.
Messages concealed according to the developer’s intentions are known as “Easter eggs.”
While they rarely aid in the game itself, they offer insight into the game’s background or hidden content.
Finding these is always beneficial.
Furthermore…
Something unintentionally created by the developer, considered an error or bug, is what we call “bugs.” If it significantly impacts gameplay, it’s also referred to as a “cheat.”
Of course, if the developer tolerates this bug, it might simply be termed an emergent playstyle.
If the developer didn’t intend it or allow it, then it’s ultimately just a cheat.
A glitch in the game system. Something that was accidentally created by the developer’s unintended actions.
A mistake that somehow appeared between the spaces of 0 and 1.
In that sense, this item was both a bug and a cheat.
So it shouldn’t have been here.
After all, this is reality. A world where errors, bugs, or anything like that cannot exist.
While you can easily dismiss hidden paths or easter eggs as being intended to be there, errors are not like that.
From the start, the space itself is foreign, and it doesn’t fit with the concept of continuity.
Literally, it’s just a sudden hole that appeared, nothing more or less.
“So what is this?”
Thanks to that, I briefly had such thoughts.
“Is this really inside a game?”
In reality, I didn’t transmigrate to this world, I just fell into the world of the game.
It’s a world made up of 0s and 1s, not a world made up of atoms and particles.
All those who I thought were humans are just digital brains, and everyone except me is a virtual character. So, having such glitches, it’s somewhat natural.
Just like there can be wall hacks in a game.
But I only had these thoughts briefly.
Soon, I shook my head sideways.
“No, no…”
I’m thinking too deeply.
Without proper evidence, these thoughts will only give me a headache.
And although I don’t have any particular evidence… I wanted to believe that this world is another reality. That way, my actions might seem somewhat useful.
Anyway, let’s move on.
The effect of this broken text item was simple. Nullification of the abilities of the Four Heavenly Kings and the Demon King, and temporary stun.
Having an effect like that on a bug item is tremendous.
There were times when thanks to the nullification effect, I was able to easily defeat the Four Heavenly Kings. For minutes, they couldn’t do anything, and during that time, I dealt a lot of damage.
But I didn’t use this item many times. There was a deadly problem with this item.
“I remember when I first discovered this item.”
It was when I found this item for the first time and used it out of curiosity.
I was amazed by the tremendous power of the item and surprised by its uniqueness.
At first, I thought it was a hidden piece that the developer had concealed.
[Inappropriate play has been detected!]
[The character will be deleted as a sanction!]
If only there weren’t such dog-like messages.
-What the f*ck?
That’s how the character I was raising ended up dying. The cause of death was not a battle with the demon king or the destruction of the world, but the sanction from the administrator.
It must have been when I was about to defeat the Four Heavenly Kings for the third time.
It took me two weeks just to get there.
But that damn developer just blindly deleted my character for using one item.
I was furious, so I sent a complaint email to the game company.
Is this a reasonable action? I didn’t know. Isn’t it your fault for not fixing the bug? There was no one to stop me from being livid at that time.
I even sent a 5700-character complaint letter to the game company.
But the response I got was:
[Action cannot be taken.]
[Sorry, user. Our company policy is to unconditionally terminate that item.]
That’s all it was.
In the end, it was because it was you who used the bug that you had to face the consequences.
Looking back now, I can’t understand why I enjoyed playing this sh*tty game. It was beyond my comprehension.
Anyway, from then on, I started carrying this unidentified item with me whenever I found it. Sometimes, I even organized and saved the places where the bug existed separately.
I had the intention of really infuriating the developer… And because there was no problem in carrying it around, I couldn’t give up the effectiveness of this item, even considering the character deletion.
Using it almost guaranteed deletion, but at least I could defeat one more boss before that.
Whenever I was in a crisis and on the verge of death, I always used it.
If I’m going to die regardless, at least I wanted to defeat one more boss.
Anyway, this item was something like that.
It could flip the tide of battle, but at the same time, it could also bring about one’s own destruction.
‘…Wait a minute.’
My thoughts naturally continued.
‘What would happen if I used it here?’
Chiiiii…
A shiver ran down my spine in an instant.
Could it be that using it here would get me deleted just like the others? Thanks to that, the pebble in front of me looked like a harbinger of doom, a disaster waiting to happen.
“… Let’s grab it for now.”
Nevertheless, I put that pebble in my pocket.
[▣△Incomprehensible※Confusing#@&∑ signs]
It felt like a waste not to take it with me.
And if I only kept it, it wouldn’t cause any problems.
“I should probably get a personal storage space for it later.”
Muttering to myself like that, I left that strange space.
The bag I have with me right now also has a personal storage magic applied, but I don’t want to put it in there since it’s a team-shared item.
“Hero! Hero, where are you?”
As I returned to the original location, I heard someone calling for me.
Looking around, I saw the saint searching for me. It seems the bedroom investigation has finished.
I went up behind her and lightly tapped her shoulder.
From Noble mtl dot com
“I’m right here.”
“Eek! You scared me! Where were you? How did you suddenly appear like that? My heart almost jumped out of my chest.”
She was so startled as if she had seen a ghost.
I approached her with some consideration, though. But was it really such a shocking thing to startle her like that?
I pointed at the hole I had just come out of and said, “I was in there.”
“Huh? Where?”
“I mean, you’re looking at it. That hole over there.”
“So, where is it…”
She stared at the wall with the hole for quite some time.
The hole was right below her gaze.
Even though the answer was right in front of her, she couldn’t find it for a long time.
“… Hmph!”
After such a long time, she finally spotted the hole and was taken aback.
“What… What is this!?”
“What? What’s wrong?”
“What is that… emanating such an ominous aura? Is it connected to the demon king’s room…?”
“What do you mean…”
At that moment, I felt a sense of unease.
I couldn’t help but feel it.
It was because everything was so unnatural, from the struggle to find the hole for a long time to the trembling in fear upon discovery. And yet, there was only a small pebble inside.
“Seems like there’s some kind of device attached.”
If I had to describe it, it seemed to be a magic spell of perception disruption and cognitive distortion.
The fact that it was so well guarded made it feel very suspicious.
“I should investigate it later.”
With that decision, I joined the party with her.
As we approached the entrance to the Alchemic Reality, I saw them gathered, chattering away.
“So, Lily, you guys only found a few strange books as your loot?”
“That’s right!! I was hoping for some magic grimoires, but all I found were novels?! And the contents were so bizarre, too! A little kid who hasn’t even turned 20 suddenly becomes the strongest wizard in the world…”
“Hmm, seems like you didn’t have much luck on your side. But don’t worry, our side had a quite fruitful harvest. Just by selling these, we won’t have to worry about the budget for a while.”
Each of us shared the results we brought. I participated and smoothly passed off the lab’s results as my own.
After all, we had plenty of potions and books aside from what I had hidden.
I just had to throw them as research materials.
After concluding our farming settlement, we slowly prepared to leave.
“Now that we’ve captured the guy and collected everything we need… let’s start getting ready to go back.”
“What? Really?!”
Lily responded with a bright face.
“Haah~ Finally leaving this dreadful place! I thought I was going insane! From now on, I won’t even look back towards this castle!”
Seems like living in confinement had taken its toll on her.
Well, it’s understandable. Spending a whole day covered in bugs and without a clean place to rest would definitely take a toll mentally. That’s why everyone else had a faint smile on their faces as well.
“Ah, finally…”
Especially the Holy Maiden’s reaction was quite interesting.
She even shed tears of joy, going beyond laughter. Her sapphire eyes, drenched in excellence, held depths that even I couldn’t fathom.
Is she that happy…? Well, considering how much she despises bugs, it’s understandable that the experience is particularly new and significant to her.
We are finally returning to the Empire.
However, unlike the hearts of these girls, my heart was filled with unrest.
“…sigh.”
In the end, I’m going to the Empire.
They endured the oppression of those women with great effort.
Now, it’s my turn to endure the oppression of the people of this country.
Thinking about dealing with those rotten nobles, my head already hurt.
