Chapter 141: Florida Man Purchases a Functional Sherman Tank in Preparation to Evict New Batch of Migrants Around His House
What if Felix could acquire ANOTHER Philosopher Stone?
What if he could DUPLICATE them?
One stone into a thousand? A thousand into a million?
His mind imagined the possibilities. First, he would save 20 charges from his current stone to fund his ambitious project. He'd buy another Dim Philosopher Stone, enhance it until it reached its peak, and then duplicate NEW Philosopher Stones, mass-producing the magical artifact.
It was the perfect plan. With this, Felix could secure infinite resources!
Felix licked his lips in excitement and glanced at Jessica, eager to know if his theory was as brilliant as he thought. Jessica crossed her arms and nodded approvingly.
<Well done, Felix. I see you've gotten a lot smarter.>
"I'm always smart," Felix snorted, grabbing a piece of paper to scribble down the details of his plan.
But reality, as always, had a nasty surprise in store. Jessica doused his excitement with a cold splash of truth.
<Philosopher stones can only be upgraded through alchemy. You can't use a philosopher stone to enhance another philosopher stone. You can't also use a philosopher stone to create another one of the same quality or a higher quality. At best, you can duplicate them, but you'll end up with a counterfeit version—each with just one charge. And the effect will be weaker than even the Dim version.>
"…Man," Felix muttered, heartbroken. He had been so close to outsmarting the system.
But Jessica wasn't one to leave him hanging in despair. She threw him a lifeline, a small glimmer of hope.
<Don't get too down. The counterfeit version can still duplicate regular and some weak magic items. The ratio will be one item to a hundred. You won't be able to craft entirely new materials, but you can definitely use them to mass-produce any resource you need.>
Felix's eyes lit up again. He could work with that.
But first things first. Felix needed an immediate source of lifespan. He gathered all the items in his stash that could boost his lifespan: Mancant Inferno Cigarettes, Phoenix Ash Cigars, and a handful of essence stones.
Could he upgrade them?
Mass-produce them?
Felix smirked. He had a better idea.
He opened the system store and scanned for something affordable yet valuable. His eyes landed on the perfect gamble: the Mystery Crate (Class E). It only cost 10 years of lifespan, encouraging shoppers to bulk-buy for a shot at rare treasures. But Felix wasn't interested in gambling. He had a game-breaking plan.
Snickering, Felix bought one Mystery Crate. As soon as it entered his inventory, he activated the Philosopher Stone.
"Make me a thousand duplicates!" he commanded with a grin.
*DING*
With the consumption of one charge, a thousand identical Mystery Crates appeared in his inventory. 88 charges remained!
Felix rubbed his hands together, eyeing the contents of the Class E Crate.
…
Mystery Crate (Class E):
This crate contains random tools, items, or system perks. Upon opening, one of the following will drop according to these probabilities:
- Mystery Crate (Class D) x 1 – 2%
- Mystery Crate (Class E) x 2 – 4%
- Phoenix Dawn Needle x 1 – 6%
- Essence Stones x 10 – 12%
- Elixir of Bone Reconstruction x 5 – 14%
- Emergency Call-In Beacon x 5 – 16%
- Supply Crate (Class D) x 3 – 18%
- Supply Crate (Class E) x 10 – 28%
…
He didn't believe that his luck would fail him. With 1,000 crates to open, Felix was sure to land the top prize—Mystery Crate (Class D)!
Felix wasted no time and began cracking open the boxes.
*DING*
*DING*
*DING*
*PA-PA-DA-PA!*
After opening just 220 crates, Felix hit the jackpot—a Class D Crate! He patiently opened the rest, gathering a nice haul of emergency beacons, essence stones, and backup supplies for future battles.
Once all 1,000 crates were gone, Felix turned his greedy gaze toward his six new Class D crates.
"Time for round two," Felix muttered, practically salivating.
He activated the Philosopher Stone again, targeting one of the Class D crates.
*DING*
One charge consumed, and a thousand more crates filled his inventory.
Felix's laughter echoed through the room like the cackle of a madman. He checked the potential rewards for Class D Crates.
…
Mystery Crate (Class D):
This crate contains random tools, items, or system perks:
- Mystery Crate (Class C) x 1 – 1%
- Mystery Crate (Class D) x 2 – 3%
- Phoenix Dawn Needle x 3 – 8%
- Essence Stones x 100 – 12%
- Alchemy Resource Crate (Class D) x 1 – 14%
- Super Potion x 3 – 16%
- Emergency Call-In Beacon x 10 – 16%
- Supply Crate (Class D) x 3 – 30%
…
No new skills or features, but Felix didn't care. He tore through the crates with reckless glee, his system inventory rapidly filling with rare items.
Hours later, after burning through eight more Philosopher Stone charges and opening thousands of crates, Felix stood in his B1 storeroom, now an absolute mess.
Crates, gadgets, weapons, and random trinkets spilled out of his room, overflowing onto the floor. He scratched his head, eyes darting between the piles that had turned the once neat room into a chaotic treasure hoard.
His system inventory slots were maxed out, and the room barely had space left for the mountain of dangerous and sensitive items he had amassed. Bombs next to ancient relics, crates on top of elixirs—everything crammed together haphazardly.
"Maybe I overdid it a bit," Felix chuckled dryly, half in disbelief at the scale of the mess.
<No, not a bit. You went way overboard.>
"…My bad."
There was no undoing this. His system inventory slots were all maxed out, and Felix had run out of space to stash his newfound loot. He needed to cheat the system, somehow.
Maybe he could create a larger container or expand his inventory. But how?
Could the Philosopher Stone help with that?
He wondered if he could use it to upgrade his inventory system, or maybe increase the stack size.
At the moment, his stack limit capped at 999 per item, and despite having 400 slots—maxed out through his many level-ups—it still wasn't enough to hold all his treasures.
Stuck for answers, Felix turned to his most reliable source of info: Jessica.
"O' Great 177013 of the system, what is your wisdom?"
Jessica rolled her eyes, fully aware of the crude reference. Though the joke skirted the edge of propriety, she decided to humor him.
<You haven't explored all the system's add-ons yet. Currently, your house add-ons are limited to your flying island. But you have another structure that you've been neglecting.>
Felix's eyes widened as realization hit him. The oil derrick—he could add extensions there! He had completely forgotten about that.
However, there was a glaring issue. The basilisks had taken over the area surrounding the oil derrick. Though Felix could technically build and install anything without physically touching the derrick, the idea of setting up add-ons in basilisk territory made him uneasy. There was no telling what consequences might arise when the add-ons were activated.
"What happens if I build add-ons on top of an enemy camp?" Felix asked, concerned about the potential consequences.
<During construction, the oil derrick's barrier will be disabled to allow the system's drones and new resources to enter the perimeter. It will also be vulnerable to... any attack.>
"...Well, shit." Felix let out a deep sigh, frustrated with the situation. He despised these kinds of predicaments. "I guess I'll have to go clear them out. Their presence is annoying anyway. Might as well get rid of the pests squatting around my money printer."
With a new goal in mind, Felix got to work organizing his overflowing inventory. Since there wasn't enough space underground, he left the storeroom in its chaotic state and turned his attention to the unused rooms in his house.
He sorted through the overwhelming amount of items. Dry food, water, cigarettes, cigars, medicines, and life-saving gadgets were piled high.
By the end of the day, every empty room on the first floor was packed wall-to-wall with crates. Felix had transformed his home into a bunker of supplies. Dry rations, emergency kits, and even luxury items like cigars were neatly stored away. Sensitive resources, such as beacons and volatile materials, were carefully moved to the underground storage.
Only energy-based items, including his precious ammunition stockpile, remained in his inventory. Those were too valuable to risk storing elsewhere.
"Next stop, basilisk eviction," Felix muttered to himself, ready to take on the monsters and reclaim full control of his oil derrick.
Exiting the house, Felix took a moment to admire the scenery. The garden and front yard were so pristine that he could let Eins and Zwei roam freely, playing on the freshly trimmed grass. Despite the tranquil setting, Felix knew his task wasn't finished. He still had a mountain of inventory to sort.
Walking toward the side door, which led to what was supposed to be a garage, Felix opened it to reveal an empty space. On the outside, the house appeared modest, no bigger than 100 square meters, but the garage was affected by spatial distortion, expanding its interior to a size large enough to fit 50 sedans comfortably.
Felix accessed his system inventory and selected some of the many vehicles he had scored from the Class A mystery crates. With a flick of his wrist, 10 military Humvees materialized in the garage, each equipped with a .50 caliber heavy machine gun turret mounted on top.
Grinning, Felix hopped into one and carefully maneuvered it into position, ensuring it didn't block the entrance.
After lining up all 10 combat Humvees in perfect formation, Felix stood back and admired his work with a proud smile. He then glanced up at the ceiling.
Barely 3 meters tall, it was clear that this space wouldn't be enough for the larger items clogging up his inventory. He'd have to save that project for another day.
Instead, Felix pulled out 10 pickup trucks and 10 armored personnel vehicles (APVs) from his inventory. As usual, he parked each vehicle with precision, turning the garage into a mini military showroom.
Exiting the garage after hours of hard work, Felix wandered around the house, searching for a suitable place to store the even bigger prizes.
Walking around the west side of the property, he noticed the long wooden fences separating his house and the western mountainous zone.
Jiji had built the fences in her free time. Though they hadn't been painted yet, they did a fine job of marking the boundary of his house, even extending slightly beyond the protective barrier.
Felix climbed over the waist-high fence and entered the unprotected zone. He smirked as he prepared to clear even more space in his inventory.
With a loud *RUMBLE*, an M4 Sherman tank materialized in front of him.