Chapter 7: The Curse Approaches
Before long, the lower hold at the stern of the ship quieted down. Su Xiao paid it no mind. He had successfully awakened the Doom Number, but its current state was somewhat peculiar.
Crack~
A rotten plank fell from the Doom Number. The entire ship seemed to come alive; all the deck planks spread apart, and two masts rapidly turned into a fluid state, merging into the hull.
The Doom Number’s size was shrinking, transforming from an oversized sailing ship into a medium-sized one.
Earlier, Su Xiao had used [Doom Sand] to free the Doom Number while temporarily lifting the seal of the Demon Sea to a certain extent, which was why the Doom Number was so powerful.
Now, the residual effects of [Doom Sand] were about to fade, and the seal of the Demon Sea was returning.
Su Xiao pressed one hand against the mast of the Doom Number. He had already realized why he was cursed by the Demon Sea. It was inevitable. As long as he became the captain of the Doom Number, he couldn’t avoid this, because the Doom Number itself was also cursed.
The captain and the ship share the same fate. That saying wasn’t just for show.
Su Xiao removed the Black King Bracer and looked at his left hand. On the tips of his fingers, faint black lines could be seen. This was the curse of the Demon Sea.
Starting from the fingertips of his left hand, the curse would slowly spread until these black lines covered his entire body. At that point, he would be swallowed by the Demon Sea and crushed to the seabed along with the Doom Number. During this process, Su Xiao would not become undead or immortal. This meant one thing: once crushed to the seabed, he would eventually drown there. It was only a matter of time.
The Cyan Steel Shadow Energy within Su Xiao’s body suppressed the Demon Sea’s curse from invading his interior. However, the curse’s power was immense. Directly opposing it was equivalent to fighting the entire Demon Sea. As a result, the Demon Sea’s curse would keep clinging to Su Xiao’s surface, gradually spreading. The only good news was that it couldn’t affect the inside of his body.
How long this would take, Su Xiao wasn’t sure yet, but it wouldn’t be too short. As for how to lift the curse, he had already thought of a method.
First, he bore this curse because of his identity as the captain of the Doom Number. If he thought about it from another perspective, lifting the curse on the Doom Number would naturally break the curse he was suffering.
Destroying the Doom Number might work, but there was also a worse possibility: after the Doom Number was destroyed, all the curse power on it would transfer to Su Xiao, giving him a super curse gift pack.
[Tip: You have activated Main Quest: First Ring.]
[Main Quest: Notorious (First Ring)]
Difficulty Level: Lv.72
Quest Info: Conquer Shipwreck Island and obtain the heirloom of the ‘Bern Family.’
Tip: Shipwreck Island is a pirate island with high danger.
Quest Duration: 12 days.
Quest Reward: Growth-type equipment chest.
Quest Penalty: Forced execution.
…
Seeing this first ring of the main quest, Su Xiao felt a sense of foreboding. Based on his experience, the first ring of a main quest was the simplest, with lower difficulty, such as joining a faction or reaching a designated location.
This time, the main quest started by asking him to attack a pirate island. What made it worse was that unknown enemies were present on that island.
Conquering Shipwreck Island was very difficult. According to Jink, it was the territory of one of the four great pirates, the Duke.
Although attacking Shipwreck Island wasn’t a direct war with the Duke, it would thoroughly offend him. This was a matter of interests and face.
If Su Xiao brought Bubu Wang and Baha to storm Shipwreck Island, the chances of conquering it were very low. This was an eighth-rank world. Even the low-level pirates were not weak, let alone the elite pirates under the Duke.
Su Xiao crouched down and pressed one hand on the deck of the Doom Number. This ship was his key to conquering Shipwreck Island. Although many of the Doom Number’s abilities were sealed, the three-masted Doom Number was still quite powerful.
[Doom Number]
Owner: Su Xiao
Specifications: Three-masted ship
Stage 1 Seal: Not unlocked (After unlocking the first stage seal, the Doom Number will grow to a four-masted sailing ship and restore corresponding abilities. Unlocking this seal requires the power of the Demon Sea to assimilate and eliminate the seal. This seal has a total of three stages.)
Health Points: 47,500 points.
Defense: 162 points.
Durability: 217/260 points (When durability falls below 100 points, sailing speed decreases. When durability falls below 25 points, sailing becomes impossible.)
Base Bonus: Sailing speed increased by 140%.
Crew Count: 37 (Each time a seal of the Doom Number is unlocked, more crew members can be awakened, and their overall combat power improves.)
Ability 1: Ship Hunter (Passive) – Can devour other ships or living beings to restore damage to the Doom Number’s hull (restore durability) and store the obtained energy within the ship.
Current Stored Living Energy: 0 points.
Ability 2: Underwater Navigation (Passive) – The Doom Number can submerge underwater, reducing sailing speed by 20%.
Ability 3: This ability is sealed.
Ability 4: This ability is sealed.
Ability 5: This ability is sealed. This is the ultimate ability.
…
The Doom Number’s initial abilities were simple: devouring other ships or living beings to restore hull damage, and underwater navigation.
The crew count was 37, meaning only 37 cursed people were available for combat. To increase the number of cursed people, the Doom Number’s seals needed to be unlocked.
There were three seals in total. Each time one was unlocked, the Doom Number would grow stronger. Su Xiao felt that even after unlocking the third seal, having over a thousand crew members would be the limit.
This wasn’t because the Doom Number was weak. Even the great pirates had only about a thousand elite pirates under their command. As for low-level pirates, a single cursed person could take on ten of them without issue.
These cursed people had individual consciousness. They existed between life and death. However, one thing was certain: they couldn’t resist the captain’s orders. They were enslaved by the Doom Number.
Currently, the cursed people were not in their strongest state. They only retained part of their combat abilities from when they were alive.
As the Doom Number’s three seals were gradually unlocked, not only would the number of cursed people increase, but their strength would also grow. More importantly, their thinking would become much clearer, reaching a level comparable to normal people. However, they would still be quite ferocious and ruthless. After all, being crushed to the seabed for so many years would leave anyone abnormal.
The crew count was too low to trigger the War Lord title’s bonus. But this wasn’t entirely hopeless. The cursed people were the main combat force. Although their numbers had an upper limit, Su Xiao could acquire other types of “soldier-type units” to trigger the War Lord title’s effect, allowing the cursed people to benefit from it.
Priority one was to unlock the Doom Number’s seals to increase the crew count. Next was to find ways to get more “soldier-type units.” Their combat power could be trash as long as there were enough of them to trigger the War Lord’s bonus.
Su Xiao already had some ideas on how to unlock the Doom Number’s seals. What he needed to do now was simple: develop. Once he had developed to a certain extent, he would go and confront the enemies on Shipwreck Island.
The enemy’s specific identity was unknown, but Su Xiao had roughly guessed which side they came from. Gray Gentleman, Shenfu, and Arcane Eternal Star were the three parties currently hostile to him.
Gray Gentleman and Shenfu wouldn’t do something so rash, leaving only Arcane Eternal Star.
In Su Xiao’s view, however, it was unlikely that Arcane Eternal Star would deal with him in such a direct and reckless manner.
That left only Mage Sage Seraphilia. The whole situation had her style all over it. Moreover, she was acting on her own, without authorization from Arcane Eternal Star.
If it were really Arcane Eternal Star making a move, the Supreme Being would first pay an extremely heavy price to gain entry to this world. Then, they would send spellcasters to slaughter all living things in the world. After that, they would set an ambush. The moment Su Xiao entered the Demon Sea, he would be greeted by countless high-ranking spellcasters, each stronger than him, forming a siege formation.
That was the style of Arcane Eternal Star and the Supreme Being. If they didn’t act, they stayed still. If they acted, it would be earth-shattering.
As for Mage Sage Seraphilia, she was somewhat petty. She would send an assassin or a disciple to kill Su Xiao, only to have them be given away for free.
Su Xiao had read Green Gillian’s notes and knew the reason. That female Law Destroyer with a terrible personality had toyed with and abandoned the young Seraphilia. The fact that Seraphilia wasn’t completely broken was a testament to her psychological resilience.
As for Arcane Eternal Star, Su Xiao wasn’t worried. It was basically impossible for void races to gain entry to a primordial world. Unless it was a situation like the Strongest Battle Royale, where the Void Tree would teleport them into a primordial world certified by the Void Tree.
For now, he wouldn’t think about that. Finding a way to improve the Doom Number was the priority.
[Tip: The Hunter has regained ownership of the ‘Doom Number.’ You have successfully established a faction. The Legend Ranking for this world has been triggered. This is certified by the Void Tree.]
Seeing this tip, Su Xiao recalled the recently scrapped Dragon Hunter Set. It made his heart ache a little.