MMORPG: Rise of the Peerless Pumpkinmancer

Chapter 321 New Objective! (+Friend?!)

　　Seer —> Information Specialist 

　　Seers were the number one mystical class for remote information gathering. While hard to use, divination was also extremely troublesome to defend against.

　　It just happened that Jack had LOTS of things to hide. He could picture himself in front of an Empire judge, the latter reading his crimes with incredible disbelief. 

　　- Bandits?! 

　　- Hijacked the City's Defense System?!

　　- Almost annihilated an entire District?!

　　- Caused a regional environmental disaster?!

　　- Oh….and the whole worldwide renewal of mana... 

　　- …

　　There wouldn't even be a need for any deliberation. He'd get punished instantly. Now, this Seer increased the chances of something bad happening incrementally! 

　　The logical thing to do was to run as far as possible and hide in another world. As long as he entered an instance, divination against him would fail. 

　　It wouldn't be too late to come back once the Seer was gone. But a crazy idea wormed its way into his brain. Could he perhaps exploit this?! 

　　He shouldn't for sure….but could he? He couldn't help but want to figure it out. He shouldn't take the gamble, and yet… ARGGG! It was way too tempting! 

　　Also, he had totally just looked down on the guy! Was there any coming back from this? The merchants were already freaking out, worried about him. 

　　Apologize and excuse himself? How about no! In for a penny, in for a p̶o̶u̶n̶d̶  crazed plan that could backfire any time! Instead, he doubled down! 

　　"Royal Seer? Sigh, I'm disappointed. Do you know how many resources would go into mending the Iceland? Do you take humanity as your personal money box?" 

　　"W-what? Of course not, I—" The Seer tried protesting. 

　　"Why spend when we could be plundering, eh? Don't you think we should keep our strength to resist potential invaders? They're just waiting for us to let our guards down!" 

　　"Ah! I never meant to—"

　　"You never meant to?! Do you think your good intentions will be any consolation once the Fiery Demonic Beings have taken over? You should be more careful with your words for…!"

　　What followed was an incredibly long lecture about the impact of one's actions on the world. Identifying problems was good, but thinking about appropriate solutions mattered more. 

　　Jack's momentum was so powerful that the poor Royal Seer couldn't place a single word. He wanted to, he really wanted, but how were the man's arguments all so logical?! 

　　The gallery was about to lose their minds. Who the heck was he to preach to the Royal Seer?! Was he crazy?! A Merchant tried to salvage the situation. 

　　"S-sir, he's the Royal Seer, the Royal Seer!" He murmured to Jack. 

　　But instead of stepping down, the madman retorted loudly. "Royal Seer? I'm not deaf, I heard. So what?! I'm talking about humanity's survival here!"

　　Talk he did…in very ample detail. Jack fought conspiracy-sounding theories with even more over-the-top conspiracy theories.

　　Mana disappearing centuries ago? —> A vile plan to make humanity lower its guard while the last of their heroes died of old age. As for new ones? Good luck without mana! 

　　Creation of a Fiery Demonic Biome? —> Perfect for shape-shifting demonic reptilians. What if they were already in their midsts, perhaps having infiltrated even the Nobles?! 

　　The appearance of the Braves? —> What if an evil entity had already corrupted some of them? Why else would so many ignore local residents so much?! (Unlike him, obviously) 

　　"Oh my god?!" This man spoke his language! The Royal Seer was too busy gasping to remember the disrespect.

　　With a single bullshit tirade, Jack had impressed the Seer and shed a light of doubt on the Nobles (Lord Silver, for instance) and the players (Who knew him). 

　　The merchants were already panicking. The situation was this dire?! But as the Seer glanced at them, they began trembling in fright.

　　"You said spies could be in our midst?" He gave them a suspicious look. 

　　Oh no! If the man divined about them, they were doomed! They had all committed their fair share of crimes, mostly insignificant, but still! 

　　That's when a miracle happened… 

　　"Oh, don't worry about them. They're all true human patriots. I've personally vetted everyone in this room." They were already heaving sighs of relief. [Affinity +++!] 

　　"Verified? How?!" The Seer asked, perplexed. 

　　"Instinct and experience," Jack remarked. 

　　"…"

　　"…"

　　"I see! I understand!" The Seer exclaimed. He did?! The crowd felt like they had lost a few brain cells along the way. As for Jack, he was already proceeding to the next step. 

　　"Now, I need your help with something…." 

　　—

　　It didn't take long for a ritual to begin. 

　　The Seer splurged, scattering precious mana stone powder all over the room in a specific pattern, the four cardinal directions and nine virtuous divination shapes all represented. 

　　The man stood alone in the middle. His entire body brightly glowed as it was enveloped in mana. It seemed as if a thousand stars orbited around him, the look of a deity. 

　　— ከፍተኛ ሟርት — 

　　That's when a colossal ethereal eye formed above him as if a god was directly peering into the mortal realm. 

　　"Oh mana, let me pry into this world's essence! Reveal your truths! AH!" With a mighty grunt, he controlled the unbelievable energy to do his bidding. 

　　The eye disappeared, seemingly floating away. The Seer started violently shaking a second later, blood trickling out of his nose. 

　　"Just a little more…just a little more!!" He kept pushing until he suddenly fell like a puppet with its strings cut. 

　　"L-lord Seer, are you alright?!" The merchants cried out. 

　　With their help, the Seer weakly rose. He ignored his injuries, even showing a victorious smile as he passed a bloodstained letter over. 

　　"Take it, and save humanity!"

　　━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

　　~ Vision ~ 

　　Water Essence:  Underwater Kingdom —> Somewhere deep inside the Very Wet Lake 

　　Wind Essence: Eternal Steppe —> Old disconnected traces in Sprigfield Meadow + Faint recent traces in Greenwood Forest 

　　━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━

　　It looked like it was time for him to return to Sprigfield. He'd have to do his own investigating, but he now knew where to search. 

　　Also, the lack of details made it clear that the items were no longer in the main world of Infinite. Otherwise, the Seer would have detected them.

　　[Progressed on Ice Tortoise's Death Aftermath!] 

　　[Quest! Find the Lost Elemental Powers!] 

　　Jack waved his hand, seemingly burning the message, the Seer nodding in appreciation. After all, one's magical writing could be used for curses and whatnot. 

　　— Obtained Seer's Bloody handwritten letter! —

　　Everything had gone so well! Jack couldn't be happier for— CLANG — the door was pushed open, a familiarly detestable face invading. 

　　Lord Silver! The man looked as noble and authoritative as ever. He was obviously here to cause trouble! But this time, he didn't waste time on rhetorics. 

　　He approached the Seer, whispering in his ears. That's when the latter's look at Jack changed. He knew about the skeletons! He was now inching backward warily. 

　　"Lord Seer, you should divine this man right now, revealing him for the villain he is!" Silver loudly suggested. As the Seer nodded, the noble reveled in his upcoming victory. 

　　— Mana Emissions to the Max! —

　　The entire manor started shaking, the merchants turning livid. What the hell had the man said?! Also, wouldn't they be implicated too?! 

　　But just as the spell was about to activate truly…. 

　　"How did someone so retarded even become the Royal Seer?" Jack wasn't fearful or angry. He was simply disappointed. 

　　The spectators wanted to hide in a hole. What was their partner doing?! Was now really the time for the insults?! 

　　"Don't worry, Lord Seer. I'll protect you while you complete the spell!" Silver reassured. 

　　"Pfft— Will you pay for the coffin too?" Jack laughed at the two. 

　　He was now threatening the Seer?! What kind of madman was he?! Not even considering the power of his opponents, they had the Empire's backing! 

　　But that's when the Seer suddenly stopped, glancing at his protector weirdly. 

　　Lord Silver had committed a grave mistake. He had encouraged the man to cast the spell right now in his eagerness. 

　　The Seer was already in bad shape from the previous one. Either Silver had spoken too quickly…or he wanted him to overexert himself! 

　　What if he divined Jack, didn't get any result and burned his power out. The enemies of humanity would be the ones winning! 

　　Just as he was hesitating, he heard a calm voice. 

　　"Us humans are easily fooled whenever we truly hope or fear something to be true. That's when we are the most vulnerable, emotion clouding our judgment." 

　　At this moment, the Seer shook: this was so true! 

　　- Not once had Jack tried to defend himself

　　- He mainly had been observing quietly 

　　- Fire reptilians wouldn't be so patient

　　- Jack appeared wise beyond belief 

　　- Silver had been rushing him!

　　- Was the Noble the enemy?! 

　　The Seer ceased to hesitate. In this moment of doubt, he used something he was familiar with: instinct and experience. Both screamed at Jack's innocence! 

　　The light dimmed out, the Seer taking a few steps forward, standing right before Jack. Then he very slowly….bowed?! 

　　"Thank you for your teachings!" 

　　"It's fine. You're helping a lot." 

　　The spectators fell from their chairs. What was wrong with this world?! Were the two trying to toy with their emotions?! Also, couldn't they have resolved this with vows?! Perhaps not...?

　　A confused and fuming Silver was about to protest, only to receive a death glare from the Seer. "You, I'll deal with you later. Behave, or I'll strip you of your Noble title!" 

　　"???!!!!" 

　　"Well, I'll be going. Take care, you all!" Jack cheerfully left, leaving traumatized NPCs and a smiling Seer in his wake. It was time to return to Sprigfield…