She'd listen for ages, or at least until night came.
Night was the time for battle training and to go wild. It was them versus the rats, and Pumpkin Girl would watch their "heroic shows of bravery," as she'd call them.
There wasn't much valor there as far as Jack was concerned. Getting rid of the rats was as easy as uttering "Flamethrower goes BRRRR!" which he surprisingly did often nowadays.
Day after day, there were more pumpkins in the pumpkin patch. Most were carved, but they still retained their previous vitality.
The more pumpkins, the more rats came!
From 50 to 100, to 150 and it was increasing! This meant more XP and more monster materials too! (Apparently, the local adventurer guild had a bounty on the pests.)
But even then, the creatures would come in waves rather than all at once. This made things so easy that he used the opportunity to train his pets.
They improved individually, but so did their teamwork. Chicky would block the acid salves while Moon Moon rained fiery hell on their asses. He even taught them to kite like pros!
It even reached a point that Jack barely needed to do anything.
He'd just let the wolf and undead chicken loose and watch the destruction while cozily carving inside the house, Pumpkin Girl even bringing him snacks. That was life!
Sometimes they'd get a visitor. The half-naked Monk would give a wry smile every time he saw the way Jack and Pumpkin Girl interacted. He even tried playing matchmaker:
"You know she likes you, right?"
"Of course."
"Then why don't you make a move?!" The Monk asked, baffled. She was agreeable, and her body was a solid 20 out of 10!
"I'm busy learning to carve. Plus, the current situation is pretty entertaining." Jack admitted while gazing her way.
The Monk couldn't understand, but he stopped meddling in the two's relationship. Either way, they had time since both were young and healthy by Infinite standards.
He'd often share with Jack the results of his training.
Near the town was the "Very Wet Lake" (Ridiculously named). Anyway, around it were level 15 Hard Shelled Crabs that were incredibly resistant except for a few weak points.
Jack had shared the secret of the mana engulfing technique with the Monk, and the man had somehow found an NPC to help him with it.
He had somehow developed a skill that was the complete opposite of those crabs. It made his body weak all over, besides a few key spots (Now stronger than steel).
This made it so the Naked Monk became the Masochistic Naked Monk. After all, the man would enthusiastically throw himself toward the enemies' attacks.
Sure, he was making sure that the strikes collided with his few resistant spots, but he looked like a freaking deviant every time he did it!
He'd often show up and train alongside them. Hell, the chicken and he had seemingly entered a competition to see who could block the most attacks!
Each had a specialty:
Chicky —> Resistant to acidic attacks
Masochistic Monk —> Resistant to physical attacks
Moon Moon would even act as the referee in this competition. Still, determining a true victor was especially hard given that the little wolf didn't know how to count.
But that didn't stop Moon Moon from being incredibly studious.
It would carry around its "A Death Knight's Struggles With Literacy" and browse it diligently whenever it got tired of carving.
This cycle kept going:
1. Hardworking Days
2. Quiet Evenings
3. Battling Nights
The pumpkin farm had come to feel like an entirely different world. Here time had no meaning nor grasp on them.
As for Jack's "official" excuse of delivering a letter…he hadn't needed to use it at all. There was militia in the town, but the Empire was too busy to supervise them.
With the renewal of mana, the capital was already going crazy— or so the rumors said.
Monsters were suddenly attacking settlements while races/species that were supposedly extinct resurfaced.
Just the rats and crows that Jack saw daily were testaments to it. The rats were more deformed, and the crows were suddenly less blind.
In any case, Jack didn't feel guilty one bit.
He just "wasted" his days away, giving his all to carving. Day and night, he would be carving, Pumpkin Girl often gazing his way.
He was akin to a sage unaffected by the outside world. Rain? Thunder? Wind? A tempting farm girl? He endured it all with a steady heart!
All until it all finally paid off:
[Congratulations! Learned Carving F!]
[Acquired Title: Carving Pumpkins Till I Collapse!]
This one effect was so long that it took an entire window.
[Increased resistance to all debuffs while carving a pumpkin (Passive)!]
He couldn't help but chuckle. After the sitting title, he now had a carving one! At this rate, he was just missing a singing one, and he'd turn into an immortal demon!
"Woo!" (Congratulations!)
The little wolf had felt the change in its master. Not only had it sensed his joy through their soul link, but it could also notice the difference with its own eyes.
As Jack carved, he emanated a profound aura. It was a reserved one that was incredibly soothing. But under that modest appearance resided incredible strength!
"Cluck! Shriek!" (Congra-cluck-lation!)
"Thanks, guys. From now on, I will be known as the Legendary Pumpkin Carver! My title will resound across all the realms and induce terror in my enemies!" He thundered.
"Pfft— Very frightening indeed!" Pumpkin Girl gave a thumb up in the background. "Shall we celebrate with pumpkin pie?"
"Of course! You know how much I love your pumpkins and your cooking!" Jack replied eagerly.
As usual, she blushed a pretty crimson from the teasing.
"I know, I know, you've told me daily!" She said that, but she was obviously enjoying the praise. "Ah, I know! Wait for me! I'll be right back!" She darted toward the town.
He could already guess that she had gone to get some alcohol. Would she use the opportunity to get them both drunk? A party was always fun…
Jack patiently waited for her to come back as he busied himself crafting equipment for Chicky. He would hide its undead identity behind a pumpkin armor set.
This was one of the perks of carving —> Cosmetics.
It wouldn't give any stats and would break down by itself if Chicky took too much damage, but it would do the trick for now.
[Successfully Crafted Pumpkin Chicken Armor!]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Pumpkin Chicken Armor
Rank —
Level 0
[Type] Cosmetic
[Scaling] Chicken's HP
[Trait] Blindingly Visible
[Detail] Hides the Body Completely
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
The valiant chicken was outfitted from head to talons in a blindingly orange suit a few minutes later.
"Woo!" (Cheerful!)
Moon Moon instantly gave it a playful nudge. From that point onward, they would be the same color!! They almost looked like brothers!
"Pfft— It looks very peculiar, but it serves its purpose!" Jack chuckled.
It sure was flashy, but at least if the Chicken did decide to cross the road, it would be visible AF!
Jack peacefully smiled as he watched the two mess around with this new "toy". They would be testing it in live combat later on.
They kept playing until Pumpkin Girl finally came back.
But as soon as he saw her, Jack knew that there was something wrong. She walked hurriedly, her hands empty and her face completely livid.
In her usually clear eyes, he saw terror…
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[A/N] Hype! Feb Mass Release Time! 🔥
Day 13: It's Pumpkin Girl time! 🎃 ^_^v
Thoughts?