Jack-o'-Lantern (2)

Setting aside the inner core and whatever byproducts this monstrosity left behind, figuring out its true identity was an urgent matter. I also had to interrogate Father Raccoon to see what on earth he’d actually handed me. There was plenty to do.

First, I needed to consult Ludwig. I turned to him and asked about the creature.

The name "Jack-o'-Lantern" was merely something I’d slapped onto it arbitrarily; it had to possess a real name of its own.

"Pumpkin Jack."

"Pumpkin Jack?"

That was the name he offered. I immediately grasped what it meant. It was similar to a Jack-o'-Lantern yet distinctly different, and intuitive at the same time.

Now that I had a name, it was best to ask the Gallery for details. Conveniently, I’d managed to snap a few photos and short videos during the encounter. So many chaotic, bizarre events kept erupting out of nowhere that documenting everything had become second nature.

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

I hadn't said a single word about listing them on the Auction House, but they were already jumping to conclusions. Still, it was undeniably a rare monster. How Father Raccoon had managed to stumble upon such a seed remained a mystery.

Once I wrapped up reading the responses, I summoned Father Raccoon. I knew he wouldn’t purposely play a nasty trick on me, so I wanted to understand why he’d brought it in the first place.

"Keng! Ke-eeng! Keng!"

Didn't know either! Seed smelled good! Thought it'd be tasty to eat!

"Hmm."

Hearing his frantic chittering and watching his pantomimes, I realized he hadn’t expected me to plant the seed. To animals, a good-smelling seed was food to be eaten on the spot. Humans, on the other hand, buried seeds in the soil. Furthermore, Father Raccoon had only recently laid eyes on my vegetable patch. It was simply an unfortunate misunderstanding caused by our differing modes of thought.

Well, the outcome isn't bad at all.

I had gained the Pumpkin Jack's inner core alongside a colossal hoard of food. My only lingering concern was whether insects or scavenging forest beasts might try to devour the massive pumpkin sitting out there. Pests could be kept at bay with natural repellents, but if larger predators showed up, fighting them off was the only option.

Knock, knock.

I tapped my knuckles against the thick rind. It was remarkably solid. Very few beasts possessed the jaw strength to make a dent in a shell this thick.

For lunch, I'll cook up the smaller pumpkin attached to the root.

Pumpkins weren’t root vegetables, yet oddly enough, this monster’s true body was a pumpkin grown directly out of the underground root. It was currently unconscious after the merciless beatdown Ggobongi had dealt it. Stripped of every vine and tendril, it sat as a bare pumpkin. While far smaller than the colossal decoy, it was more than enough food for all of us. Besides, leaving it intact risked it waking back up, so processing it immediately was the safest course of action.

I’ll steam this one.

Lunchtime was fast approaching, and working up a sweat had left my stomach growling. Before diving into lunch preparations, however, there was another project that needed tackling.

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

"Here."

"That's it. Keep the symmetry balanced."

We were building a second oven. With more mouths to feed, meal production speed had become a bottleneck. Prepping ingredients didn’t take ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠long, but cooking everything in shifts took forever. An additional oven would cut our preparation time in half.

Might as well make this one a bit bigger while we're at it.

Just to be safe, I expanded the dimensions compared to the first. Naturally, the iron plates were procured with the help of Passing Dwarf. The moment I promised him a generous portion of aged pumpkin as a drinking snack later, he had happily handed over the metal.

Thanks to Ludwig’s seasoned craftsmanship, the oven was completed in no time, allowing me to transition straight into cooking.

Now let's see. Steamed pumpkin...

A proper steamer basket would have made things trivial, but I had to make do without one. Even so, the technique was straightforward: pour water into the bottom of a large pot, elevate the pumpkin so it didn’t touch the boiling liquid, cover it, and let the steam do the work. Elevating it was easy enough with a small inverted bowl placed inside the pot. Since pumpkin was naturally rich and sweet, it would serve as our dessert.

"Alright, lunch is ready!"

"Kyuuu~"

"Ppi! Ppii!"

Midway through our main meal, I set the pumpkin in the pot to steam. By the time everyone finished their savory food, dessert would be cooked to perfection.

Sure enough, as the last bites of our main course disappeared, I pulled the lid off the steaming pot.

Shimmer! Glow!

"Whoa..."

When I scooped out the seeds, the flesh had been a dull orange. Yet now that it was thoroughly steamed, it radiated a lustrous golden sheen, gleaming as if basted in liquid honey. It looked impossibly sweet, and the mouthwatering aroma sent drool pooling in everyone's mouths.

"Hold on, stop. It’s piping hot. Wait a second."

"Kyuuu..."

"Ppiii..."

At my scolding, the animals looked up with desperate, pleading eyes, their silent protest screaming: Put that pumpkin in our mouths right this instant!

Still, I was the chef. Protocol demanded I taste-test before serving. Billowing plumes of fragrant steam rose from the golden flesh as I carved out a spoonful.

Nom, chew.

"Whoaaaa!"

An involuntary gasp broke from my lips the moment the spoon touched my tongue. Was this a pumpkin or pure honey? The phrase "honey pumpkin" felt like an understatement. Watching my ecstatic reaction only drove the animals wilder. Wonmo, driven entirely by his bottomless gluttony, began furiously pawing at my knee with both front paws.

"Alright, alright! Here, take some."

"Kyuaaa!"

"Ppiiiiii!"

I ladled out fair, generous portions into their respective bowls.

"Kyua! Kyua!"

"Ppiak! Ppiaaak!"

"Hot! Hot!"

Ah, right. I forgot to warn them that it was scalding hot. Once they blew on it and adjusted, however, they devoured their portions with ferocious delight. Ludwig was no different, offering an enthusiastic thumbs-up in place of words.

As for Bbarmbo...

"..."

He chewed with his usual tranquil, leisurely cadence. What was amusing, though, was that his claws were scooping food noticeably faster than usual. To an outsider, he would still look hopelessly sluggish, but having lived with him, I could tell he was practically moving at Mach speed compared to his ordinary pace.

Life is good.

After gorging themselves, Wonmo waddled into the cave for an afternoon nap, and Tyrano scampered right behind him to doze off as well. The rest of us set to work cleaning up the shelter grounds, clearing the debris left behind by Pumpkin Jack's rampage.

Once everything was spotless, I retrieved the inner core from my pocket. It rested heavy in my palm, pulsing with a deep, radiant orange glow.

Should I just eat it?

I had consumed a staggering number of inner cores by now. Thanks to that, my aura reserves had grown exponentially with each passing day, to the point where Ludwig often stared at my sheer volume of energy with a bewildered, conflicted expression. If I swallowed this one too, what would happen? Gulping down something this big wouldn't be pleasant, but it was worth a shot.

"Should I eat this?"

"..."

Nod.

When I sought his counsel, Ludwig surprisingly gave an affirming nod. I fought entirely on physical mass and brute mana reserves anyway, so inflating my weight class even further couldn't hurt. I could worry about refining the Aura Blade later; continuously expanding my fuel tank was the priority.

With Ludwig’s endorsement, my lingering hesitation evaporated.

It’s almost too big to swallow comfortably, but...

I’d just have to force it down. Crushing it might make it easier to swallow, but damaging the core's shell would likely halve its medicinal potency. Steeling my resolve, I crossed my legs and assumed the lotus position. Seeing me sit, Ludwig quietly drew his sword, stepping into a vigilant perimeter guard to ensure nothing disturbed me during the refinement.

He really is the most dependable guy around.

After a brief, grateful smile, I exhaled a long breath and popped the massive core into my mouth. Straining the muscles of my throat, I forced the sphere down my esophagus. Feeling a solid, baseball-sized mass slide down toward my chest was deeply unsettling, but once it settled heavily into my stomach, the discomfort faded.

Heavens above...

The instant it landed in my gut, I began chanting the Mnemonic Oral Formula taught to me by the Heavenly Demon. Every single verse remained etched into my mind, and despite the formula's length, reciting it was seamless.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

The core's sealed energy began bleeding outward, surging into every corner of my circulatory pathways. The Pumpkin Jack’s core harbored vastly more mana than those of the giant river fish. No matter how much my dantian drew in, the flow showed zero sign of diminishing. My lower dantian filled to absolute capacity, stretching so tight that for a terrifying moment I wondered if my gut was about to rupture.

Gotta circulate faster, just in case...!

A spike of anxiety spurred me to cycle the Mind Cultivation Method with greater intensity. Had it not been for the supreme foundation provided by the Heavenly Demon's oral formula, this wild surge might have genuinely torn my vessels apart.

At last, the final dregs of the core were refined and absorbed. I slowly opened my eyes.

The world around me seemed distinctly brighter than before.

"Mmh."

Realizing I had finished, Ludwig lowered his sword and relaxed his guard. I bowed my head slightly in gratitude. Peering into the cave, I found it empty, though the distant sounds of the pets romping outside reached my ears. When I walked out to the cave entrance, dusk had already settled over the forest. The approaching winter meant shorter daylight hours, but refining an inner core of that magnitude had taken a considerable chunk of time.

I don't really feel all that different.

Aside from my internal mana pool swelling to a noticeably greater volume, there were no dramatic physical alterations. Still, raising my baseline capacity was an absolute win. In high spirits, I opened the Gallery interface and made a quick update post.

Most regulars congratulated me, while the unregistered fluid nicks spat out their usual jealous banter.

So that was the gist of it. Since night had fully blanketed the camp, I set about prepping dinner. And then...

"What on earth is this now?"

"Kyuuuu! Kyu-kyu!"

"Ppiiiiik!"

It was only after pitch-black darkness settled that the true effect of Pumpkin Jack's core made itself known. The entire area in front of me was illuminated as clearly as midday. The problem, however, lay directly within my own face.

Blinding, intense beams of orange radiance were projecting straight out of my eyes and mouth. Wherever I turned my head, the high-powered searchlights faithfully followed, illuminating the dark woods in brilliant, piercing cones.

"Are you kidding me? A human lantern now?!"

Brilliant beams of light streamed from my eyes and jaws. Dazzling, unyielding light. I had literally turned into a living, breathing lantern. To think I could fire illumination straight from my eyeballs. This was nothing short of...

"LASER BEAAAM!!!"

"Kyuuuuueeeeh!!"

"Ppiiiiii! Ppi-ppi!"

It looked completely ridiculous, but damn was it fun.