Chapter 2912: Second to Last

Inside the small wooden cabin, Su Xiao put away the 【Black Crow Ring】. He was not yet prepared to wear this item; wearing it required a period of adaptation and likely came with risks.

Or rather, anything related to the *Doom* carried inherent risks. For those without high soul strength, the *Doom*, Minguang Island, the old woman, and the like were all filled with malice.

Looking at it this way, the "scapegoat" who had previously purchased the *Doom* must have been stronger than imagined. Although their soul strength hadn't reached the level required to wear the 【Black Crow Ring】, it was certainly not low.

Su Xiao was very eager to know the intelligence regarding what caused that scapegoat to die a miserable death. The person had sailed the *Doom* to slaughter on the seas and, after upgrading the *Doom* to its strongest state, had died not long after.

What exactly would happen once the *Doom* reached its strongest state was a question Su Xiao urgently wanted to answer. To lift the curse of the Magic Sea, he had to first break all the seals on the *Doom*; only then could he reach the "Origin of the Curse."

After some investigation, Su Xiao understood why the Magic Sea's curse was so stubborn and difficult to deal with. To put it simply: the Magic Sea had applied the curse to the *Doom* and then sealed the *Doom*. In this way, the power of the curse was protected within the seal.

The seal was like a bottle, and the power of the curse was the water inside. Gradually breaking the seal was like slowly unscrewing the bottle cap.

The reason why becoming the captain of the *Doom* resulted in being cursed was actually similar to the principle of an IV drip. The water inside the bottle was injected into the captain's body through the infusion tube below, which was why becoming the captain of the *Doom* led to being cursed.

Of course, these were just metaphors; the actual situation was much more complex.

It was meaningless for Su Xiao to remove the curse acting upon himself. As soon as he removed it, the power of the curse would surge out from within the *Doom* and act upon him again. Gradually opening the seals was the key.

Su Xiao looked around the small wooden cabin. Many strange and bizarre objects hung nearby: a shriveled dead parrot, a wooden prosthetic eye, and many bottles and jars placed on a wooden shelf not far away.

"Captain of the *Doom*, do you want to take something from me? You can take anything here, but... you must leave something of equal value, such as a part of your soul, hehehehehe."

The old woman laughed in a dry, raspy voice. Her words were no joke. There were many good items in this small cabin; although they couldn't be taken out of this world, they could play a huge role on the sea.

Unfortunately, to take anything from here, one had to leave behind a portion of their own soul. This point had been notarized by the Tree of Void.

Leaving behind a portion of one's soul would inevitably lead to a permanent reduction in soul strength. Since many dangers on the *Doom* and Minguang Island were based on soul checks, the malice in this cabin's trade was off the charts.

"Can I only pay with my own soul?"

"Of course."

"Then forget it."

Su Xiao placed the small bottle he was holding back onto the wooden shelf and stepped out of the room.

He had temporarily named this small cabin the "Black Crow House." The reason was that to inlay curse stones into the 【Black Crow Ring】, one had to find this old woman. This old woman also had a significant connection to the flock of crows on Minguang Island.

Following this logic, if he broke the seals on the other wooden cabins, perhaps he could find people related to the Cursed Ones? Or leader-level units of the Cursed Ones?

After leaving the Black Crow House, Su Xiao walked toward the depths of Minguang Island, entering the endless black fog.

As soon as he stepped into the black fog, Su Xiao felt numerous cold auras nearby. As the captain of the *Doom*, he felt no ripples in his heart. They were just Cursed Ones; he had been sailing the *Doom* recently, and the ship's hold was full of them. He was long used to it.

After walking about a hundred meters, Su Xiao stopped. Far ahead, there was an exceptionally massive and tyrannical aura. It felt as if it wanted to swallow everything. Approaching that thing now would be dangerous.

"ROAR!!!"

Layers of black sound waves spread from ahead, and all the Cursed Ones in the surrounding black fog scattered.

*Clang! * The sound of chains being pulled came through. Judging by the sound, the chains in the distance were very thick; otherwise, they wouldn't produce such a deep, heavy noise.

The thing ahead likely required the *Doom* to be restored to its strongest state before it could be summoned from Minguang Island to assist in battle. Moreover, this thing was not exactly obedient; while its combat power was off the charts, it was also extremely difficult to control.

Su Xiao walked out of the black fog. He had basically confirmed the situation; as long as he solved the next certain matter, he could go and attack Shipwreck Island.

Returning to the pier, more than a dozen cursed shipwrights were still busy on the *Doom*, currently fixing the Angry Shark Ram at the bow.

Jumping onto the deck, Su Xiao walked into the captain's cabin. To him, Minguang Island was equivalent to a safe zone, and being inside the captain's cabin of the *Doom* was even safer.

This was quite good. If he were injured after fighting an enemy, Su Xiao could sail the *Doom* back to Minguang Island and then recuperate in the captain's cabin.

The flame of the oil lamp flickered. Su Xiao sat cross-legged on a small wooden bed and took out the 【Black Crow Ring】. As long as he could adapt to this ring, he could summon 15,000 Black Curse Crows from Minguang Island.

It was not yet clear what the combat power of the Black Curse Crows was, but once they were classified as soldier-type units, the effect of the War Lord title could be triggered.

Starting with 15,000 Black Curse Crows, the bonuses of the War Lord title were:

1. Morale +70 points (can be triggered by 500 soldier-type units).

2. All real attributes +20 points, no luck attribute (can be triggered by 10,000 soldier-type units).

The remaining three bonuses required soldier-type units to reach 50,000, 100,000, and 300,000 respectively. The bonuses were:

3. All friendly soldier-type units have their maximum HP increased by 45% and physical defense +30 points (can be triggered by 50,000 soldier-type units).

4. All ability levels increased by Lv. 10; technique-type and ultimate ability increases will be somewhat reduced (can be triggered by 100,000 soldier-type units).

5. Blood Soul Power (Passive, Lv. 55): The weapon held will carry a blood-bathing effect and be imbued with soul-burning power. Attacks will carry 120 points of real damage and simultaneously absorb the enemy's life force to restore one's own lost HP (can be triggered by 300,000 soldier-type units).

If the War Lord bonuses were fully applied to the Cursed Ones and the number of Cursed Ones was increased to a certain level, then taking the top spot on the Legend Ranking was not a fantasy, although Su Xiao currently didn't have a single point of Legend.

Su Xiao glanced at his current ranking: 219th, second to last. He didn't know how the guy at the very end had managed it, but he actually had -3 points of Legend.

On the World Contact Platform, many contractors were confused about how Legend could be negative. After asking, they learned that the guy in last place had once joined multiple factions, only to be expelled from all of them, which resulted in the negative Legend.

The competition for the top ten on the Legend Ranking was gradually becoming fierce. Among them, it had appeared that if one couldn't compete in Legend, they would just slaughter those with higher Legend than themselves. Sweet Orange from Apocalypse Paradise was a representative of this.

This poison-using girl had strong combat power. Even Alec, who was in first place, was unwilling to clash with her. It wasn't that he couldn't win, but even if he did, he would have to pay a very painful price.

Not considering the Legend Ranking for now, Su Xiao removed the wearing effect of the Black King Armguard and put the 【Black Crow Ring】 on the index finger of his left hand.

*Thump~*

It was as if an invisible wave spread out. The oil lamp in the captain's cabin went out, and everything around was pitch black.

In the darkness, a faint light appeared on Su Xiao's left hand. The 【Black Crow Ring】 on his index finger gradually turned into a fluid and merged into the black vein lines on his hand. These black vein lines were caused by the Magic Sea curse.

When the 【Black Crow Ring】 completely disappeared, Su Xiao closed his eyes to sense his left arm. The power of the curse was still clinging to the surface of his body. Something similar to a coordinate was mixed within the power of the curse; this was the 【Black Crow Ring】. It actually had no fixed form.

Six curse stones could be inlaid on the 【Black Crow Ring】. Every time a curse stone was inlaid, Su Xiao could control more Black Curse Crows.

This was not without a price. Every time a curse stone was inlaid on the 【Black Crow Ring】, the Magic Sea curse on Su Xiao's body would intensify by one point.

Now the curse had spread to his elbow. If all 6 curse stones were inlaid on the 【Black Crow Ring】, by then, the curse would likely spread to his shoulder. ===== CHAPTER 2913 =====