MMORPG: Rise of the Peerless Pumpkinmancer

On a mountainous path, travelers boisterously sang.

"Give me a woo!"

"Woo!"

"Give me a woo woo!"

"Woo! Woo!"

They couldn't be in a better mood. Returning to Sprigfield felt like returning home. Sure the Tea Shop peeps were nice, but they remained new acquaintances.

But this time, the journey felt way different. The road wasn't desolate anymore, tons of players were migrating toward Timber City.

They all had a clear goal in mind —> The super cool Trial Towers.

Did they even have the level to challenge them? Not really. They simply wanted to see what all the fuss was about. After all, a gigantic flame-spewing floating Tower was kinda cool.

Fun fact there were already new bandits roaming the area. They were having a field day with all the new "customers". It almost felt nostalgic: he had been there for the OG bandits.

As they finally passed through the gates that delimited the two areas, plenty of fingers were pointed.

"What?! They're coming back already?!"

"Pfft— Noobs! I bet they were careless and got robbed!"

"That's just a small setback! Talk about having no backbone!"

They wore disguises, but still. Those players sure were quick to judge. Jack simply shook his head at the fools. ~ Good luck in the trials, haha!

There wasn't a ripple in his heart as he simply hurried back. The closer they got, the quicker his steps became.

They ignored the players.

They even ignored the Town.

Then they finally reached the Pumpkin Farm.

On the outskirt of it were plenty of bloodstains and lots of trash drops. Yet the trees were as numerous and as luscious as ever. Their leaves now showed a nice red tint.

"Halt! Who goes there!!" As soon as they came closer, an unknown man stepped out from behind the trees, showing an incredibly stern face.

"No need to announce me. I'll go right in." Jack chuckled.

Before leaving, he had gotten his blacksmith army to upgrade his gear. While they were no master, he could be said to wear decent gear for his level.

They had been glad to help. The tricky part had been convincing them not to follow him. He mercilessly left them behind with tons of homework to dry their tears.

In any case…

High Level + Decent Gear + Jack's Skill —> He felt Invincible as far as 1 v 1 was concerned.

He totally ignored the sentry as he kept going forward. Even as the man threw water blades at his head, he barely reacted, dark flames evaporating them.

He was getting really good at combining Fire + Demonic Energy!

Their party simply walked straight into the killer-tree forest. The man scoffed in the back: they'd all get skewered and drained! Countless had perished the same way already!

The trees rushed toward Jack, powerfully….rubbing against his hand?! Wait a minute, was he petting the killer plants?! How was this possible?!

"H-how?! Who the hell are you?!" The man cried in shock.

Jack simply chuckled as he pointed at the D.L. emblem on the man's chest. Meanwhile, Moon Moon removed its armor under the cover of the forest.

Orange Knight —> Silly-looking wolf

The sentry's eyes shone with stars. Oh god! It was the Faction leader?! How could he have been so blind! An autograph later, he instantly agreed to keep Jack's presence a secret…

—

In the Pumpkin Patch stood a goddess.

Her appearance was a gift from Heaven, but what was even more impressive was her Life magic mastery. Each of her movements was accompanied by an overflowing green light.

Wherever that green light fell, the world would seemingly come alive. New sprouts,  insects happily scuttling, and birds chirping. Then magnificent pumpkins would appear.

Her gaze was full of the satisfaction of work well done, yet there was a certain melancholy to her figure. At this moment, she simply seemed otherworldly.

Still, she gave it her all. She had been working hard and improving daily, all for his sake. He had told her he'd come back, and not once had she lost hope.

But just as she was plowing the field….

— Whoosh! —

A figure jumped from the shadows!

Jack wanted to surprise her and had successfully sneaked closer! He was only a few meters away from her and then….

— BOOM! —

An earth-shattering green blast happened.

His body exploded, sending blood and flesh all over the place.

Jack's surprise had turned into quite the gory one, his fluids covering her entirely.

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

━━━ YOU DIED! ━━━

━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

A second later, he was left staring at the darkness of the Death Realm, shellshocked. What the actual hell?! Also, was he crazy, or was a death goddess chuckling in the background?

He slowly reminisced about the previous scene. He had stepped near some pumpkins, and then….had blown up?!

He found himself shaking, remembering the power of the explosion. Pumpkin Life-Energy Mines?! How awesomely frightening was that?!

But as he respawned in Timber City, he couldn't help but sigh. This was what he got for feeling unbeatable and not even bothering to register his respawn at Sprigfield.

#Registering Respawn Matters #Not Actually Unbeatable #Price of Arrogance #RIP

He had left her with such a traumatizing sight too! Was she blaming herself right now? His eyes turned sharp as he decided to throw caution to the wind.

"Wait for me! I'll be right there!"

━━━━━━ POV ━━━━━━━

On the mountainous road, a standoff was happening.

Rough-looking bandits currently surrounded a small group of players. The latter smiled viciously at their prey. It was almost as if the job had changed their appearances.

"Money or your life! Get all your gold out now!"

"Please, do you think we'll be afraid of such ruffians!"

The bandits frowned. Those travelers were truly strange. It was as if they were utterly unafraid to die! Hell, their eyes even shone with the desire to fight.

Were they all freaking suicidal?! What was wrong with them?! How many brothers would they lose to defeat them, and was it worth it?

But just as the bandits were thinking and the players were sneering, something happened.

— Clip! Clop! Clip! Clop! —

The sudden sound of gallop took them all by surprise. It was too faint to be a cavalry but far too quick to be a merchant convoy either.

Was it a messenger? What of it was actually a powerful warrior?

Everyone stared at the distance, trying to figure it out. That's when they saw the silliest yet most epic-looking mount ever.

Jack stormed in, riding a donkey. Well, it wasn't just any donkey. It was a donkey with a Draconic bloodline. This thing could really run!

Yes, it was very short, but because of that, it had been very cheap too! A mount in Infinite could easily cost a few thousand golds. He had gotten this one for 1337, a total bargain!

Even that bargain had only been possible thanks to his connection with the merchants. They had actually been trying to do him a favor.

As for the Dragon-Donkey's silly look…who cared! Who else had a mount? No one! 'Hehe, gaze on this majestic beast, you poor peeps!' Jack inwardly chuckled.

Bandits and players stared at the scene strangely. Was this guy strong or weak? They really couldn't tell!

Mount —> Symbol of status.

It was probably better for the criminals to leave this guy alone. They were bandits, not madmen with a death wish.

As the man passed them, the bandits heaved a sigh of relief…but then they choked when he suddenly stopped, even turning back.

Jack glanced at the players. Weren't they the ones who had called him a Noob without any backbone earlier? Talk about fate!

"Sir, this isn't what it looks like…." A stressed bandit murmured.

"Oh? So this isn't a robbery? A shame. I would have suggested taking hostages instead of killing if it had been one. Braves are immortal, you know."

"?!?"

"Anyway, see you later, you all. Take care!" Jack gave a friendly wave as he departed, the trotting sound becoming weaker and weaker.

That's when the bandits grinned as they looked at the players.

"Braves, eh? That explains a lot! Now….Money or freedom!" The bandit screamed at the players.

They weren't as fearless this time, their faces turning pale from fright and anger. Seriously, who the Hell was that guy?!

"M-money?"

"Good!"

━━━━━━ POV ━━━━━━━

"AHHHH!" A tiny fairy watched the scene of destruction with bulging eyes as she trembled nonstop.

She had almost perished! Had she stayed in Jack's pocket, she would have been turned to Fairy mincemeat! Since when was the Pumpkin Farm so dangerous?!

But what followed chilled her to the bone…

Pumpkin Girl nearby lightly screamed in surprise but quickly regained her composure, showing an embarrassed expression as she disabled the Farm's defenses.

"You're finally back!" She cheerfully addressed the wolf and fairy, seemingly not minding the bloody mess covering her.

"Woo!" (That was so flashy!)

The little wolf stared at the remaining pumpkins with wariness yet longing. It wanted to see the explosion again….just this time without anyone exploding in pieces.

The nearby fairy couldn't take it anymore…

"H-how are you all so calm?!" She knew about Jack being a Brave, but still!

"Woo!" "That's obvious!"

What followed was a heated explanation of how even death wouldn't stop him from coming back to them. Nothing would!

It was a confidence that bordered insanity! What kind of reasoning was that?! How did she not feel guilty one bit?! This was crazy!

That's when Moon Moon started telling about their adventures with its tail wagging. There was so much to tell. After all, its master was way too awesome!

"Woo!"

"Woo, Woo!"

"Woo! Woo! Woo!"

The two kept heatedly conversing in a bloodied pumpkin patch, not a worry in the world. But it seemed they were right not to worry overly.

A bit later, the sound of galloping suddenly echoed in the quiet atmosphere. That's when Pumpkin Girl showed a smile large enough to illuminate the world.

He was back….