Chapter 33: A Few More
Seeing the fourth ability of the Doom Number, Su Xiao was quite surprised. He had originally thought the Doom Number would unlock some kind of combat ability.
In reality, compared to a combat ability, 'Curse Refinement (Passive)' brought greater benefits. In terms of combat, the Cursed Ones were enough; a ship couldn't go ashore, and no matter how strong its abilities, there were limitations.
The effect of Curse Refinement was simple: place an item inside the Curse Magic Box in the captain's cabin, and refine it using the Doom Number's curse power.
In principle, this curse power came from the Demon Sea, seemingly inexhaustible.
Su Xiao had no plans to curse-refine the equipment he was currently wearing. The reason was that the curse power didn't match his combat style. But that didn't mean Curse Refinement was worthless.
Just because Su Xiao didn't need equipment with curse properties didn't mean other contractors didn't.
The most valuable aspect of this ability was the potential to refine secret treasures from this world. The Doom Number was Su Xiao's property. If he seized a secret treasure from this world and refined it through the Doom Number, once the refinement was complete, could the treasure be certified as equipment?
If feasible, it would mean spending a few days to freeload a high-grade piece of equipment with curse properties. After returning to Reincarnation Paradise, selling it would net a large number of Soul Coins.
Besides this, Su Xiao could also refine items in his storage space. For example, placing [Extreme Frost Stone (Epic Gem)] into the Curse Magic Box, after one refinement, could he obtain a Holy Spirit-grade curse-property gem? Or perhaps an Immortal-grade one?
Even if it was the lowest rating for an Immortal-grade gem, the value would still be high, at least a profit of 3000 Soul Coins.
Su Xiao walked into the captain's cabin. Sure enough, on the low cabinet in the corner of the cabin, a large black chest had appeared.
Opening the Curse Magic Box, the inside was a chaotic void. Su Xiao placed the [Extreme Frost Stone (Epic Gem)] inside, but no prompt appeared.
Curse power spread out from the magic box. Su Xiao quickly closed the lid. He had actually considered putting a small section of the 'Wild Growth's Frenzy' tree root into the box to see what would happen, but considering the suicidal risk, he ultimately abandoned this tempting idea.
Besides equipment, items, and the world's secret treasures, Su Xiao had also thought about putting a Cursed One inside to see if it could be strengthened.
Just as he was about to do that, all the Cursed Ones retracted into the ship's hull, not making a sound.
"Woof!"
Bubu Wang looked at the magic box with great curiosity. That look clearly meant it was observing the box's structure and figuring out the most professional way to bite into it.
"Bubu."
"Woof?"
"Remember the Golden Throne?"
"Woo-woof!"
Bubu Wang felt a chill in its crotch and backed away several steps. This time, it no longer looked at the magic box. One of Bubu Wang's three most painful experiences was getting electrocuted while peeing near the Golden Throne.
"Any of you want to get stronger?"
Su Xiao looked towards the door of the captain's cabin. As soon as he spoke, the Cursed Ones outside shook their heads repeatedly, their eyes filled with fear. The Cursed Ones feared two things: Extinction Light Island and the captain of the Doom Number.
Although these Cursed Ones were ferocious in battle, when facing the captain of the Doom Number, they didn't even dare to breathe loudly.
"Captain, we... don't desire to get stronger."
A Cursed One left these words before merging into the deck and slipping away.
"Pity."
Su Xiao hadn't found a Cursed One with a particularly tough head. He would have to wait until he replenished the Cursed Ones to see if he could encounter a stubborn one.
The Doom Number could carry up to 800 Cursed Ones, which meant a massive boost in overall combat power. But now, only 197 Cursed Ones remained.
Su Xiao, along with Bubu Wang and Baha, headed towards a few wooden huts behind the dock. Amu stayed behind to guard the ship. Although they were on Extinction Light Island, necessary precautions were still needed.
As for Beini, that cat-like being had already gone treasure hunting. This time, Beini didn't leave alone; it also took the Ouroboros Tablet: Greed.
Compared to helping Su Xiao find treasures, the Ouroboros Tablet was much friendlier to Beini. This damn thing occasionally had charm properties.
The reason it was 'occasionally' was because Bubu Wang had the highest charm attribute. After Beini's charm attribute affected the Ouroboros Tablet: Greed, Bubu Wang immediately tried it.
The result was a line of text appearing on the Ouroboros Tablet: 'Your intelligence is insufficient to understand the prophecy.'
Whether one could use charm attributes to influence the Ouroboros Tablet was entirely up to the tablet itself. This thing had a significant origin.
Currently, the Ouroboros Tablet's recovery value was 68%. If Beini only used it for treasure hunting, it wasn't dangerous.
Undoubtedly, after using the Ouroboros Tablet to predict danger once per world, handing it over to Beini maximized the benefits.
Walking on the dock of Extinction Light Island, Su Xiao pondered a question. He had summoned the Ouroboros Tablet using the equipment [Dark Redemption]. But how should he summon the 'Blazing Sun Disc: Monarch' and the 'Dark Mask: Power Craving'?
He most wanted to summon the 'Blazing Sun Disc: Monarch' because it was trustworthy and powerful enough. It represented the existence of power.
Lost in thought, Su Xiao stopped in front of a small wooden hut. Pushing open the door, the old woman was still inside, sitting on a wooden chair against the wall.
"Captain of the Doom Number, are you ready to bear the third Curse Stone?"
The old woman cackled darkly. In her hand, she now held four Curse Stones.
"This time, set the Curse Stones into the Black Crow Ring."
Su Xiao removed the upper part of his clothes and took out a device resembling a half-body armor from his storage space. He fastened it onto his left shoulder. The device was covered in alchemical array diagrams.
Su Xiao wouldn't make the same mistake twice. He couldn't resolve the curse erosion from the Doom Number. This curse power came from both the Doom Number and the Demon Sea, too vast to confront head-on without suffering consequences.
However, the curse power spread from 'setting' Curse Stones into the Black Crow Ring could be countered. This type of spreading curse power was more like an instantaneous outburst leading to loss of control.
Su Xiao took out several hollow, semi-transparent crystals, each the size of a fist. These were containers made of soul energy, each consuming 10 Soul Crystals (Large).
Click, click~
A total of five containers made of soul energy were snapped into the device on his shoulder.
"Begin."
"You're not the first person to try resisting the curse."
As the old woman spoke, the four Curse Stones in her hand shattered simultaneously, turning into four streams of gray energy that surged towards Su Xiao. The malice from the old woman was completely undisguised. She could have crushed them one by one, but she chose to crush them all at once.
The four streams of gray energy entered Su Xiao's left arm. The black lines on his arm became clearer. The curse power spread along these lines towards his shoulder.
Su Xiao felt his left arm go completely numb. A cold sensation appeared at his shoulder.
Buzz~
The device covered in alchemical array diagrams on Su Xiao's shoulder activated. The curse power spreading towards his neck was cut off, first entering the metal device, then flowing into the soul energy containers on top.
Inside the fist-sized hollow crystals, a gray-black energy appeared, drifting within. After a few minutes, Container No. 1 was full, and the curse power entered Container No. 2.
When Container No. 2 was filled, Su Xiao's left arm regained some sensation. The curse power began to inject into Container No. 3. Over ten minutes later, Container No. 3 reached its limit, and Container No. 4 activated.
Container No. 5 wasn't needed. A total of four hollow soul energy crystals were filled with curse power. Knowledge is power, especially transcendent knowledge like alchemy.
"Is that it?"
As Su Xiao spoke, he removed the metal device from his shoulder and took off the four hollow crystals. These were now filled with curse power and could be used as weapons. Throwing them at an enemy's face would either kill them or leave them crippled.
"Is there any way to set a few more Curse Stones? If possible, give me six more."
Su Xiao looked at the old woman in front of him as he spoke. The old woman fell silent.