MMORPG: Rise of the Peerless Pumpkinmancer

375  Breaking the Mirage! "A crew to man the ship?" Jack chuckled. As if that was an issue at all! He just needed a couple more hands, right?! That's precisely what magic was for! "Arise for me!" He gestured toward the deck, the whole thing creaking. A second later, bone shards came out of the wood, quickly turning into bony humanoids. [You've Raised a Skeleton Sailor!] [You've raised…] … [Took Control of the Ship!] [You Are Now Gaining Naval XP!] [What Are Your Orders "Captain"!] "Hear me! Together we'll sail and conquer this mirage! Everyone to the oars, we're leaving this bloody place! Gold? Who needs it!" He shouted at them. The creatures bowed, all taking their respective places as they got to work. "1, 2, 1, 2, get us the hell away from this place!" Jack repeated to his new minions. < Skeleton Sailor Level 24!> On the one hand, they were SLOW… but they were free labor! Thanks to their commitment, they soon reached the open sea, and that's when the trouble began. [How Will Find Your Heading Without a Captain?] The entire sea seemingly stared at them, full of possibilities and mysteries. At the moment, they were akin to rally members that had gotten lost in the wild. "Don't worry. I have a plan for that. Moon Moon, come here!" "Woo!" (How can I help?) [?!?] Jack gave a confident smile, handing a stick to the little wolf. It was full of mermaid carvings he had done on a whim…but it really was just a stick, right? "Throw it high up in the air!" Jack ordered. — Whoosh! Thud! — What exactly was this supposed to accomplish? The poor system couldn't analyze the situation for its life. "There we have it! That's our heading!" Jack triumphantly declared, pointing in the same direction as the stick's tip. [Is the Host…Gambling?!] [?!??] "Of course! You'll understand soon…." He chuckled to himself as he barked orders to his undead crew. A mirage was essentially a replay of past events. Usually, he would have to stick with the main actors, but what if he flipped everything on its head instead? He was done playing explorer with a crew that had their own objectives. He'd take control of the narrative from now on, completely crushing it! The wind kept pushing them, faster and faster. Besides swerving a little to avoid a few Islands, they barely touched the ship. Full wind, straight line! They didn't sway even when they passed through a flock of flesh-eating seagulls, kept going as they encountered, and kept sailing even as another ship showed on the horizon. "Don't even pay them attention! Let them chase us. We don't stop for anyone!" Their ship didn't stop even as he ran out of mana, all skeletons turning to dust. He'd have spasms out of mana deficiency yet was still pushing himself. He'd draw in his HP pool whenever they needed to adjust the sails, relying on his life regeneration. [You've Used Blood magic!] He was bringing shame to an entire linage of evil sorcerers. Instead of using Blood Magic to commit genocides and gain power, he was sailing…yes, just sailing. Was there anything more ridiculous than this?! Yet he kept them going in the same direction! "Woo!" (You should rest! Let's stop at an island and—"

The little wolf couldn't help but worry. Its master looked so weak, bleeding from all orifices as he kept pushing himself. All because he believed in Moon Moon's luck… "Don't worry. Everything will be fine…." He kept reassuring, even as he threw blood up. He wasn't convincing at all! But then, after who knows how long, Jack raised a bloodied finger as he shakily pointed toward the horizon… "We're here at last." "Woo?!" (What is that?!) Endless red sea? No, it had an end! Was this the edge of the world?! There simply wasn't anything there, the water falling downward. It was a world-sized gargantuan waterfall! But that wasn't all. The current was already dragging them toward it! Yet Jack stared straight at the deadly scene with a mischievous grin. [Reached the End of the Mirage!] [New Quest! Escape!]

If they turned right now, they'd be able to survive! Jack shakily rose, drawing upon his very life force to summon his skeleton crew again. At that moment, he looked even worse than the now-dead berserk sailors….whatever! "Raise my minions! Adjust the sails, straight in!" "Woo?!" (We're not avoiding the Abyss?!) Jack scoffed at the [Escape!], even using wind magic to boost their speed further. Their ship was barely touching the tumultuous waves, jumping them! [Warning! Dying In the Mirage Will—] "Shhh, let me enjoy this moment of madness!" Jack scolded, standing at the prowl. He even extended his hands. "I'm the king of the world!" Said king was about to kick the bucket… The whole ship, crew, and mascot wolf all plunged into the Abyss. They were so fast that they were flying, a feeling of weightlessness enveloping them. They were about to reach the bottom and perish…but then something strange happened. Out of nowhere, the world suddenly disappeared entirely! [Error! Error! Out of Bound!] [User Went Out of the Mirage…?!] [Calculating! Calculating! Calculating!] "There's no need for that. The quest was to survive the mirage, right? Welp, now we're out of it: that means we survived! Just see it as a test of courage…." Jack argued. That's when the surrounding area returned to what it had been before. They opened their eyes in an old ship, a time curse still trying to devour them. The ship was being flooded with more and more water, all of it coming from the outside world. They were officially back! "Woo?!" (What was that?!) "Well, you see…." Jack quickly explained the situation to his companion. The mirage had been built to accommodate sane players, and their suicidal action had broken the game…slightly. "Woo!" (Can we go again?!) The little wolf asked with stars in its eyes. It still remembered that incredible feeling at the end. It was like they were flying! "Pfft— Sure, but first, let's explore this place. Remember, we're here to find a water treasure."

"Woo!" (Of course I remember! For the water park!) Old Ship? This place was an antique gold mine! Gold pieces, cuttelry, jewels, there was a bit of everything! The two then proceeded to pilfer the entire place. They didn't care much, grabbing everything they could, only leaving destruction in their wake. They even scrapped the bloody walls to get some of the engravings! This felt like a British' wet dream. How many museums could one even open with so many treasures?! Probably just a lousy one…but still! Still, there wasn't any trace of any water treasure. They could only shake their heads in disappointment, but then the system finally returned from its analyzing spree. [Calculating…] [Acquired Sailing F!]

[Acquired: Masochist Captain!] [Acquired: He Who Broke The Mirage!] [Magic Mastery Significantly Increased!] [Congratulations! Leveled UP! Leveled UP] Twice?! This was amazing, considering all he had done at the end was a glorified suicide. Then again, the hard part was probably taking over the ship itself….oh well! Sailing was pretty straightforward. The masochistic Captain title increased his sailing speed when getting hurt. As for the other title, it was… Holy shit!?! The more he read and the more excited he got. 'You've discovered a new method to defeat mirages. It's super effective! +10% rewards from mirage-breaking!' The 10% increase was nice, but that wasn't the crux of it. It was all about the implications! "Wait, you're not going to patch this?!" Jack couldn't help but exclaim.

[Rewards = Proportional to Difficulty!] [Mirage Breaking Has Been Deemed a Valid Strategy!] "Oh my god!" This was bloody amazing! Sure the system would probably do some balancing in the background, but did that matter?! Painfully clear the mirage slowly but surely? —> Hijack a boat and sail it till the world's end! The second option was obviously more fun, no matter how difficult! "Moon Moon, you know what this means?" "Woo!" (Lots of fun!!!) The duo's creepy laughter echoed in the area as they glanced at all the other ships. It was time to enjoy themselves… It didn't take them long to go wild. No, wild was an understatement. They'd dash straight into every ship, busting the front door open, Jack screaming "Here's Johny" for some reason. Then they'd be assaulted by a similar time curse and other weird illusions… [Welcome to the Mirage!] [Survive the— Never mind…] The system would offer them a very nice mission, only for the two troublemakers to start scheming against their NPC allies instantly. The system could only watch their shenanigans: One time they were pirates and induced a bloody mutiny… One time they were privateers and quickly betrayed their patrons… One time they found themselves on a merchant ship, and they actually joined an enemy pirate crew, then started a mutiny! Oh, and every single run ended up the same, except that sometimes they actually had a living crew with them when they sailed to their deaths. The more adept the two became and the wilder the system notifications became. [Successfully Created a Cult!] [Turned Evil Pirates Into Saints!] [Caused the Downfall of a Fishing Empire!] [Filled the Sea With the Blood of Innocents!] [Found Atlantis...and destroyed it. Escaped the Mirage!] Wasn't there something wrong with the last few?! Either way, the two kept doing their own thing, ignoring everything else that happened in the mirages. Then they'd escape to a list of rewards that was getting shorter and shorter every time thanks to diminishing returns, not that it mattered to Moon Moon. "Woo!" (Again! Again! This is the best!) It would wag its tail with the same excitement every time. Heck, this was perhaps even as fun as…eating! They were having so much fun with the journeys and the looting that they lost all their sense of time until Jack found something while organizing his inventory. "When the hell did we get that?!" He exclaimed, holding a small blue pearl. < Legendary Water-Generating Pearl !💧(1/97) > … That moment when you dive into the Abyss, only to find yourself breaking out of mirages by diving into another Abyss...only to realize that you inadvertently found the treasure you were looking for.

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