Chapter 205

Jack-o’-Lantern (2)

Setting aside Pumpkin Jack’s inner core and the other materials it had left behind, identifying exactly what this creature was took priority.

I had no idea what Father Raccoon had given me, but I needed to question him about it as well.

There was a lot to do.

First, I should consult Ludwig.

I asked him if he knew the creature’s identity.

"Jack-o’-lantern" was merely a name I had assigned to it based on my own knowledge. It was bound to have a proper name in this world.

"Pumpkin Jack."

"Pumpkin Jack?"

That was the name he gave me.

I immediately understood its general meaning.

It was similar to "jack-o’-lantern," yet different.

It was also remarkably straightforward.

Now that I knew its name, it would be best to ask the gallery for more details.

As luck would have it, I had taken several photos and videos.

So many unpredictable things kept happening that recording them had become a habit.

Title: What’s a Pumpkin Jack?

Wild Grylls

(A photo of Pumpkin Jack grinning wickedly)

(A video of Pumpkin Jack leaping into the air)

(A video of Pumpkin Jack regenerating)

(A photo of Pumpkin Jack’s inner core)

I planted a seed Father Raccoon brought me, and it suddenly turned into this thing;;

That pumpkin head kept regenerating no matter how many times we cut it apart, so we barely managed to find its roots and kill it.

It even spat out this strange inner core. Does anyone know what it is?

Ludwig says it’s called a Pumpkin Jack, but the name alone doesn’t tell me much.

└ Heavenly Demon: A monster with a face upon a pumpkin? Considering that faceless egg ghosts exist, perhaps it is not so strange.

└ Wild Grylls: Egg ghosts actually exist?

└ Heavenly Demon: They are commonly found in places overflowing with demonic energy.

└ Wild Grylls: So they’re similar to monsters.

└ They’re fundamentally different from monsters. Monsters existed that way from the beginning, while specters are humans who became corrupted.

└ A Cheonggui is also a specter created when someone is killed by a tiger. That’s why they lose their minds and start fighting whenever they see one.

└ Aren’t specters generally a level above monsters?

└ Usually. In the Central Plains, more people die fighting one another than fighting monsters.

└ What are you talking about? Lmao. They’d all die in front of a dragon anyway.

└ Dragons get killed by humans too, so obviously some specters can be stronger;;

└ SwordMaster: Pumpkin Jacks are extremely rare monsters, so this is fascinating. They’re supposed to appear only during a certain season and only at night.

└ Wild Grylls: Only at night? It openly fought me in broad daylight.

└ SwordMaster: That’s exactly why it’s fascinating. Though it’s possible that what I know is wrong.

└ Starlight Princess: Perhaps they’re simply easier to find at night. They emit light, after all.

└ Wild Grylls: It emitted light, but it also fired seeds like arrows.

└ Starlight Princess: I don’t know about that. They’re so rare that very little is known about them.

└ All-Father: There is a day known as the Day of the Dead. Pumpkin Jacks tend to appear frequently on that day.

└ Wild Grylls: That sounds ominous just from the name.

└ All-Father: It is a day when undead monsters appear with unusual frequency. Vengeful spirits, dullahans, ghouls, zombies, liches, and many others emerge in great numbers.

└ Don’tAbandonTheHero: That’s the busiest day of the year for priests! I participated in the fighting once, a long time ago!

└ What did you kill?

└ Don’tAbandonTheHero: A Death Knight!

└ Damn;; You killed a seriously tough one.

└ Aren’t Death Knights roughly as powerful as high-ranking knights?

└ Undead monsters are hard-countered by divine power, so they’re surprisingly easy for priests to kill.

└ PraiseTheSun: What are you going to do with that inner core? It looks too large to eat comfortably.

└ Wild Grylls: I’ll store it for now. If nothing else works, I can ask Starlight Princess for help.

└ PraiseTheSun: Really? Then what about the pumpkin? Are you planning to eat that enormous thing by yourself?

└ GrowBigAndStrong: For reference, pumpkins are harvested in autumn and become incredibly delicious if you let them mature through winter.

└ Wild Grylls: That’s what they say.

└ PraiseTheSun: Then give me a little when the time comes, lol.

└ Passing Dwarf: Me too, lol.

└ Wild Grylls: Sure, I’ll give some to all of you.

└ You mean you’ll put it up in the auction house, right? Lmao.

└ My mouth is already watering, lmao.

I had never said anything about putting it up in the auction house.

In any case, it was clearly a rare monster.

I had no idea how Father Raccoon had managed to find it.

Once I finished checking the comments, I called Father Raccoon over.

There was no way he had brought it to play a prank on me, so why had he given it to me?

"Keeeng! Keeeeng! Keng!"

"He says he didn’t know either. The seed smelled good, so he thought it would be good to eat."

"Hmm."

According to Father Raccoon, he hadn’t expected me to plant the seed.

Animals ate seeds if they looked tasty, whereas humans planted those seeds in the ground.

On top of that, Father Raccoon had probably only seen my garden recently.

This whole incident had resulted from a difference in how we thought.

’Still, the outcome wasn’t bad.’

I had obtained Pumpkin Jack’s inner core and an enormous supply of food.

I was somewhat worried that insects or other beasts might eat the giant pumpkin.

I could deal with insects using repellent, but there wasn’t much I could do about beasts other than fight them.

Knock, knock—

’At least it’s tough.’

The one consolation was that the pumpkin’s rind was extremely hard.

Ordinary teeth wouldn’t even leave a mark on it.

’I’ll use the pumpkin growing from the roots for lunch.’

Pumpkins weren’t root vegetables.

Strangely enough, however, the main body hanging from the roots was itself a pumpkin.

It was the creature Kkobong had beaten unconscious.

All of its vines had now been removed, leaving only the main body behind.

It was small compared to the giant pumpkin, but still large enough to feed all of us.

There was also a chance it might wake up again, so I needed to deal with it quickly.

’I’ll steam this one.’

Lunchtime was approaching, and I had worked up an appetite after exerting myself for the first time in a while.

But before I began preparing lunch, there was one more thing I needed to do.

"Yes, right there. Stack them like that."

"Here?"

"That’s right. Think of it as arranging them symmetrically."

We were building another oven.

Now that there were more mouths to feed, productivity had become important.

Preparing the ingredients didn’t take very long, but cooking them did.

If I built another oven, I could reduce the overall cooking time.

’Since we’re doing it anyway, let’s make this one bigger.’

I made it larger than the previous oven, just in case.

Naturally, I received help from Passing Dwarf with the iron plates.

When I promised to give him some pumpkin to have with his drinks later, he gladly provided them.

With Ludwig’s help, we finished the oven quickly and immediately began preparing our meal.

’Let’s see. To make steamed pumpkin...’

It would have been much easier if I had a steamer, but unfortunately, I didn’t.

Still, steaming something wasn’t difficult.

All I had to do was pour water into the bottom of a pot and suspend the pumpkin above it.

Keeping it out of the water was simple as well. Placing a small bowl inside the pot would suffice.

Since pumpkin was naturally sweet, I planned to serve it as dessert.

"All right. Let’s eat."

"Kyuuu~"

"Piii! Pii!"

Around halfway through the meal, I began steaming the pumpkin.

At this rate, it should be ready just as we finished eating.

Sure enough, once everyone had finished their meal, I took out the steamed pumpkin.

Sparkle! Sparkle!

"Oh..."

It had definitely been orange when I removed the seeds.

But after being steamed, it glittered with a golden color.

It looked as though it had been coated in honey, even though I hadn’t put any on it.

The steamed pumpkin looked unmistakably sweet.

Everyone was practically drooling at the sight.

"Slurp... No. It’s hot. You have to wait."

"Kyuuu..."

"Piiiii..."

The little ones stared at me longingly after I stopped them.

Their silent protest seemed to say, Hurry up and put that steamed pumpkin in my mouth!

But I was the cook.

Before serving it to the others, I had to taste it myself.

It had only just finished steaming, so wisps of steam rose from it.

Munch, munch—

"Kiyaaa!"

An exclamation of delight escaped me the moment I took a spoonful.

Was this pumpkin or honey?

The phrase "honey-sweet pumpkin" suited it perfectly.

After seeing my reaction, the little ones grew even more restless.

Wonmo, whose appetite was especially powerful, began frantically scratching my knee with his forepaws.

"...All right, all right. Here you go."

"Kyuaaaa!"

"Piiiiii!"

I distributed the steamed pumpkin among them.

Everyone received an equal portion.

"Kyuaa! Kyua!"

"Piiak! Piiaak!"

"Hot! Hot!"

Oh, right.

I had forgotten to tell them to eat slowly because it was hot.

Once they adjusted to the heat, however, they ate it happily.

The same was true of Ludwig.

He gave me a thumbs-up instead of voicing his opinion.

Lastly, Fast Sloth ate leisurely with his usual slow movements.

What was interesting was that his hands were moving faster than normal.

To anyone else, he would still have looked painfully slow, but I could tell he was moving much faster than usual.

’Good.’

Wonmo went into the cave for a nap, and Tyranno followed him, apparently planning to sleep as well.

The rest of us finished cleaning up.

Pumpkin Jack had made an enormous mess, after all.

After tidying everything, I took the inner core out of my pocket.

It was a fairly large inner core that continued to emit an orange glow.

’Should I just eat it?’

I had consumed many inner cores by now.

Thanks to them, my aura grew larger by the day.

As a bonus, Ludwig looked increasingly troubled whenever he saw it.

What would happen if I ate this one too?

It would be difficult to swallow, but it seemed worth trying.

"Should I try eating this?"

"..."

Nod—

When I asked Ludwig for advice, he unexpectedly indicated that it should be fine.

I already fought by relying on my overwhelming physical capacity, so there was no harm in increasing it further.

I could think about forming an Aura Blade later.

For now, I should continue increasing my raw capacity.

With even Ludwig giving his approval, there was no longer any reason to hesitate.

’It bothers me that it’s large enough to be difficult to swallow...’

Still, I would have to force it down.

Breaking it apart would make the core easier to swallow, but it would also reduce its effectiveness by half.

I nodded and immediately assumed a cross-legged meditation posture.

When Ludwig saw me sit down, he silently picked up his sword.

It appeared he intended to guard me in case something invaded the shelter.

’He really is dependable.’

I smiled briefly, then exhaled slowly and placed the inner core in my mouth.

I strained my throat as much as possible and forced myself to swallow it.

The sensation of a massive sphere traveling down my esophagus was far from pleasant.

Still, it somehow reached my stomach, allowing me to relax.

’The energy of the heavens...’

The instant I swallowed the inner core, I began reciting the mnemonic formula the Heavenly Demon had taught me.

I remembered every word of it perfectly.

Each verse was long, but that wasn’t a problem.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The energy within the core gradually began spreading throughout my body.

Pumpkin Jack’s inner core contained far more energy than the fish’s core had.

No matter how much energy I absorbed, it never seemed to diminish.

Thanks to that, my dantian was soon filled to the brim with internal energy.

At this rate, I wondered if it might burst.

’Just in case, I should circulate it faster...’

Growing anxious, I pushed the cultivation technique even harder.

If not for the mnemonic formula the Heavenly Demon had taught me, this might have become quite dangerous.

Eventually, I absorbed the entire inner core and slowly opened my eyes.

When I did, I had the illusion that the world had become much brighter than before.

"Hmm."

Realizing I was awake, Ludwig relaxed his vigilant stance.

I bowed my head to express my gratitude.

Then I looked around the cave and noticed that the little ones were gone.

Instead, I could hear them playing outside.

When I stepped out, the sun was already setting.

The days had grown shorter with winter approaching, but absorbing the inner core had also taken quite a long time.

’I don’t feel particularly different.’

Other than having far more mana within my body, I couldn’t identify any notable changes.

Still, increasing my raw capacity was undoubtedly a good thing.

Delighted, I made a post in the gallery.

Most people congratulated me, while the anonymous users responded with jealousy.

└ Aren’t you eventually going to explode with a bang?

└ Hasn’t that happened to someone before?

└ There was someone whose mana reserves were so abnormally large that cracks formed throughout their entire body.

└ Heavenly Demon: That once happened to this lady. However, thanks to your aid, I was able to survive.

So they said, anyway.

Night had arrived, so I began preparing dinner.

And then...

"What is this now?"

"Kyuuuuu! Kyukyu!"

"Piiiiik!"

It was only after nightfall that I discovered the effect of Pumpkin Jack’s inner core.

I could see as clearly as if it were morning.

The problem lay with my eyes and mouth.

Powerful beams of light were shining in whichever direction I looked.

Turning my head made no difference.

The light followed my gaze perfectly.

"Now I’ve become a human lantern?"

Light was pouring from my eyes and mouth.

Extremely bright light, at that.

I had become a human lantern.

Being able to shoot light from my eyes meant this was basically—

"LASER BEEEEAM!!!"

"Kyuuuuuuu!!"

"Piiiii! Piiiiii!"

It looked freaking stupid, but it was fun.

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