Third Outer World Story Series: Pumpkin Sorcerer - Chapter 40

Translator: MadHatter Editor: MadHatter

I’ll now commence digging a channel for the palatable water—I mean, for Mizuki’s sake—but since this is a great opportunity, I will proceed not only with my training but also with my research.

“So first of all, I should start off with releasing the sweet smell.”

Pumpkin spread some vines around the area, and from the tips of the vines, he drew out dewdrops that were sweetened with magic power.

After that, he scattered the dew around the area with [Gust Blow].

“Then, I would make preparations while waiting for the prey to arrive.”

While the unfortunate prey were lured by the fragrance, he excavated a vertical hole 30cm in diameter and 4 to 5m deep at a predetermined point, which he covered with wood that had been carved to match the shape of the hole.

[[[Chu!]]]

“Bumooo!”

“Shaaa.”

“Oh, here they come.”

Having finished digging the hole, he took a look around.

He was able to make out several creatures coming this way from all sides, enticed in by the sweet aroma.

Among them, the target animal for this time is… ah yeah. There they are. There are many other animals, too. If so, this is the proper course of action.

“[Resonance Spell?Sleep Cloud].”

[[[Chu…]]]

“Bumo…”

“Sha…”

The Sleep Cloud in Pumpkin’s hand turned into a mist that enveloped the surroundings, inducing a series of deep comas in the animals that lunged for the smell.

“Now, I’ll finish off the ones that interfere with my work.”

With the exception of the Anregirats, which was his objective this time, he would drive a root into each animal’s carotid artery after they had all fallen asleep and finish them off by sucking their blood.

As soon as the animals were killed, the skin of the animals was dismantled and the meat and fat were scraped off to prevent decomposition, whereas the bones were neatly scraped off and stacked to be used for various purposes later on. Finally, the meat was thrown into unglazed pots created using bonfires. Incidentally, a leaf infused with Pumpkin’s magic power was also placed in the jar.

You may be asking, why am I doing this?

Well, I thought it might be useful for some kind of research. 

Furthermore, reflecting on the experience involving the blood ink, the contents of the jar will be stirred once every few days to ensure that the dark magic will not accumulate too much and cause a strange situation to arise.

Even though Ryoko’s case had made this clear to him, a curse can be a really dreadful thing.

“Gebu. The disposal is complete.”

After the unwanted animals were taken care of, the experiment was to begin.

Well, to begin with, the content of this experiment is an experiment about channeling magic.

Apparently, Plein has been working on various aspects of channeling magic based on what he had learned from Pumpkin, but there was still not enough information and experience to proceed. Besides, it was unknown how long it would take for a living thing to experience [Overburst], which was why this experiment also served as an investigation of that aspect.

“So, this is case one.”

“Chu!?”

Pumpkin forced the ivy into the mouth of the Anregirat and slowly injected it with magic power.

The Anregirat’s whole body has been inundated with magic power, and as a result, a large amount of green magic power was seeping out while also progressively rising along with its own red magic power.

The rise of magic power stopped after it reached two to three times the Anregirat’s initial magic power level. From that point on, the quantity of magic power leaked out increased in proportion to how much more was poured into the Anregirat.

“Hmm.”

“Gyu!?”

In Case 1, it appeared that the body will automatically adjust the amount of magic power intake when it was administered orally.

Therefore, even if it may be time-consuming, oral administration would be the preferable approach for increasing the amount of magic power safely.

The reason why this was the case was only a matter of course. In essence, if someone consumed a delicious meal that was overflowing with magic power, they will gain magic power from that meal and their magic power will rise.

If so, it was highly probable that Pumpkin’s customary way of gaining more magic power via sucking blood also worked on the same principle.

“Case 2!”

“Chu!? Chuuuu!!”

And so the experiment is progressing but… for now, let me summarize the results.

First, the methods of augmenting magic power can be broadly divided into three patterns: spontaneous increase through training, consumption of substances containing magic power, and forcible channeling.

Moreover, the efficiency of boosting magic power followed the order of training<meal<channeling of magic power.

So, when it came to the channeling of magic power, there may have been a difference in the color of the magic power, or perhaps it was due to the fact that it was being forced to be channeled… That was to say, if the attributes differed, a small amount of magic power would be enough, but if a large amount of magic power was infused, various problems would ensue.

To be more exact, if the earth attribute magic power of Pumpkin were to be infused into the fire attribute magic power of an Anregirat, the Anregirat would first just appear to feel somewhat unwell, but after it topped half of the total magic power, it would gradually start to feel sick. When it surpassed three times the total amount of magic power, it would start to have convulsions, and eventually faint.

This was likely a similar principle to the phenomenon of fainting when striking an opponent of lower ability with a large amount of magic power.

At any rate, I will call this phenomenon “Magic Intoxication”.

Well, there is no problem so far. The real issue starts from here.

If more than 10 times the total amount of magic power was forcibly channeled into a subject at once, the subject would slip into a coma followed by death.

However, despite the term “10 times,” in reality, depending on the thoughts that were channeled into the victim at the time the magic power was injected, the victim may succumb to death with a much smaller amount, or, conversely, survive just barely even with a much larger amount.

This issue was also dependent on the physical condition and amount of magic power of the Anregirat itself into which the magic power was poured, so it may take more time to investigate the exact nature of this issue.

The only thing that was certain for now was that if someone put in a thought that they wanted to harm the other person—in other words, a wicked thought—they could harm the other party with a smaller amount of magic power, whereas if they put in a thought that they wanted to help or save the other party, the magic power could be transferred more safely.

“Now, for the final experiment??”

“…(Trembling)”

The final experiment was the conditions for the occurrence of a living thing to cause an [Overburst] and its power when generated.

“Don’t worry. Whatever the outcome, it will be instantaneous and painless.”

“Chuaaaaah!!?”

He was indifferent to the Anregirat’s utter terror. After all, technological advancements would be inevitably accompanied by sacrifices.

“Hmph!”

“Chugo!?”

“This is… bad!”

The moment Pumpkin delivered the magic power reinforced by [Resonance], the Anregirat began to puke blood and its skin began to bubble up in a sickening manner.

When he witnessed this, he hastily dumped the Anregirat into the hole he had dug at the beginning and covered it with the lid.

“Hyulololooo!!”

He then launched himself into the sky, soaring as quickly as he could.

And right after he took off…

Boom!!

With a deafening rumbling that sent tremors through the immediate area, a massive pillar of earth rose up and engulfed the whole area in a cloud of dust and smoke.

And when he saw the scene, Pumpkin…

“What can I say… yeah. I’m sorry for this.”

At any rate, all of the animals and plants that were caught up in the tragedy as well as the Anregirats who were sacrificed on this occasion were reunited in their death.