Third Outer World Story Series: Pumpkin Sorcerer - Chapter 17

Translator: MadHatter Editor: MadHatter

Now, I have a goal.

Nevertheless, to achieve that purpose, there will be innumerable things to be done first, so Pumpkin will start with what he can do.

To be specific, he needed to prepare for winter and research magic using the grass.

At any rate, even in the absence of recording equipment, the grass alone should be easy enough to memorize.

“First, I should collect some straw-like objects and the grass.”

So, after searching through the forest, I would go to the dry riverbed and marshland to collect plants that seem to have excellent heat insulation properties, such as silver grass and rice straw, along with the grass… maybe I should just give the grass a name instead of constantly saying that. Anyway, I’ll call it “Sleep Cloud” because of its efficacy. Whenever I find a patch of Sleep Cloud, I cut it down, leaving enough for it to grow back.

Even so, Lean Forest may look like a carpet of greenery when viewed from above, but exploring beneath the trees in this way revealed an unexpectedly diverse variety of places.

There were swamps prevalent in certain areas, places where clay-like soil could be extracted, and locations where there were slightly elevated hills.

Furthermore, ants, lizards, and other animals that were not seen before were also discovered, so Pumpkin defeated them at opportune moments, and retrieved their parts with magic power or parts that could be utilized.

While he did spot some bees, he was not attacked at all, which may have been due to the fact that he was a pumpkin. It seemed that he, as a plant, was not subject to being assaulted unless he attacked a leaf-eating vermin or a hive.

Pumpkin was grateful for that. Autumn bees were fearsome, and the bees of this world had their magic firmly concentrated in the base of their stinger. It would probably have been very severe if they had stung him.

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So, over the course of several days, Pumpkin continued to acquire the materials in this way.

“Today, the experiment will commence. Oops,” Pumpkin remarked, staring at the stack of Sleep Cloud in front of him and the cage containing a sizable number of rats used as test subjects, or what was termed “Anregirats” according to Mizuki’s knowledge.

Anregirat was a rat that had magic power embedded in its front teeth and had the unwelcome propensity to fight aggressively with other rats of the same kind.

However, no conflict amongst the rats of the same race took place because it was now terrified by Pumpkin’s magic power and were immobilized.

“So, I guess the first step is to find out what the Sleep Cloud itself can do for me.”

“Chu!?”

After curling the Sleep Cloud, Pumpkin forced-fed the grass to the Anregirat by opening its mouth.

“Chu…”

The Anregirat eventually started to drift off to sleep silently.

Apparently, there was a proper hypnotic effect. If not for this, Pumpkin would have been in a bit of trouble.

“So, let’s see what the effectiveness of this Sleep Cloud is.”

Here were the three patterns he tested.

1. Dried raw Sleep Cloud

2. Crushing[i] and curling up the raw Sleep Cloud.

3. Dried, crushing, and curling up the Sleep Cloud.

The truth was he wanted to try to extract with water… or rather hot water but since there was no fire, he decided to give up this time.

The results turned out to be more effective in a crushed form than in its raw form.

It was discovered that the dried and crushed ones worked better in putting someone to sleep in a shorter period of time.

This may be due to the fact that the dried and crushed form of the grass was more easily absorbable by the body.

“Now that I understand the basic properties, the next question is what happens when it is used as magic.”

He formed a magic sphere on his palm with his right hand, changed the hue of the sphere with his body, and channeled the magic into the Sleep Cloud as he had done previously.

He then recalled the explanation for the magic he was employing, or more precisely, what he had learned.

First of all, this magic was named [Resonance Spell] by him.

The [Resonance] power he acquired from Lean was the basis for the name, and it was most likely activated by resonating his magic power with a catalyst substance.

Well, I am sure I am not greatly mistaken.

Secondly, [Resonance Spell] was activated by infusing magic power into a substance that served as a catalyst, but in order to activate it, the magic power of the color… or more precisely the attribute of each catalyst must be infused in a certain sequence and in a specific amount.

If the amount was too much, [Overburst] will ensue, but [Overburst] had the characteristic that it was more likely to be triggered if the magic power of a color distant from the specified color on the color wheel was flowed in.

Therefore, if he wanted to activate it manually, it would be better to use a catalyst that originally has red magic power, such as the boar… the Clawing Boar’s fangs.

That was to say catalysts were basically expendable.

And now for the subject of this experiment.

Pumpkin has only previously utilized raw Sleep Cloud as a catalyst for [Resonance Spell], but he was now wondering if dried or crushed Sleep Cloud may also serve this purpose.

“Hmm.”

The experimental site was then moved from within the base to outdoors, and after making some tweaks, he danced around to get [Resonance Spell] to react and activate.

The name [Resonance Spell?Sleep Cloud] shall be attached for the time being.

“Hoi!”

[[[Chu…]]]

And the result of the experiment:

Apparently, the effect of [Resonance Spell?Sleep Cloud] seemed to be enhanced by the processing, just like feeding Sleep Cloud with magic power.

But the overall quantity of magic power required of the user will rise, as will the amount of magic power that must be channeled into it.

This was a rather troubling situation. If the desired effect was to be sought, it would be necessary to use the processed one, and if immediate effect was desired, it would be necessary to use the unprocessed one, etc.

“Well, for the time being, this is all I need to know.”

That was the end of this experiment.

From now on, it will be essential to discover new catalysts and determine whether there were any variations based on when and where the samples were collected.

In addition, the Anregirats used in the experiment were devoured by the experimenter.

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T/N:

[i] Even though I used crush, I am not too sure about the exact term. It could mean grind down; mash (like potatoes) as well