Archie stood in front of the captain’s cabin door, with the giant brilliant-cut pink diamond in hand. Flames covered his form as he activated Spirit Bond

  Behind him lay five steel short swords, Archie looked at them with annoyance. He was quite annoyed with how weak his Silver Carving Knife was and how it took him ten swings to lop off his left arm. So, he decided to make a short sword and etch onto its blade a higher-tiered sharpness rune.

  Unfortunately, due to the dungeon’s mana, the short swords he forged became attuned to Undeath.

  Steel Short Sword (Common):

  A steel short sword forged by Archie Gracefield, a Novice Forgesmith. Due to being forged within an area of high Undeath-attuned mana, the steel had been attuned to that of undeath. All cuts made on flesh with this short sword will inflict a degree of necrosis. Etched onto the blade are the runes of Soul-Bound, Self-Repair & Moderate Sharpness. Effects: Soul-Bound, Self-Repair, Necrosis Infliction & Sharpness. Status: Perfect. Requirements: Lv 70+, Undeath Affinity & Humanoid Race.

  Thankfully he remembered to Identify his short sword before entering the captain’s cabin. With his plan of cutting off any limbs quickly if they get infected with undeath-mana gone, Archie had to go with plan B; don’t get hit.

  He was more than tired of this dungeon, first, all the gear he forged was as useful as paper in water. Manabolts tore through his armor with ease, something he would have to rectify once he found some mana-resistant material or figured out some runes that have mana-resistant effects. Second, he had to lop off his own arm to avoid turning into dust. Third, he couldn’t even forge the short sword he needed to lop off a limb in case he got injected with undeath-mana.

  “Now without further ado,” Archie muttered under his breath as he inserted the pink diamond into the large socket on the captain’s cabin door before taking a step back. Not a moment later, the light blue light that illuminated the dungeon vanished, engulfing the cavern in darkness.

  Archie asked himself as he looked around with a bit of concern. He could still see due to his high Perception stat and saw nothing really happened other than the light disappearing.

  A few seconds later the crystal above him relit itself, but instead of the blue light it previously released, it was replaced with a dim pink light. Once the cavern was fully illuminated, a soft click was heard from the door in front of him.

  Archie thought as he activated Adrenaline RushThornscourge Expansion

  Not wanting to waste any more time, Archie pushed open the door and entered the captain’s cabin.

  A quick glance revealed that the room was somehow magically expanded, easily three times the size of its outward appearance.

  Broken frames and bits of glass covered the floor of the cabin. Previously ornate mahogany wooden furniture were now torn apart and splintered across the cabin. Cuts were embedded into the walls of the cabin. , Archie deduced as he stared at the broken and fractured blades that were scattered across the room.

  In the center of the cabin was a long rope that hung from the ceiling and at its end was a noose. Attached to the noose was some sort of wight dressed in a tattered black coat with golden highlights. Unlike the rest of the pirates, this wight was in full gear; boots, pants, gloves, chestpiece, bracers and of course the iconic tricorne hat. Attached to its waist were twin cutlasses.

  [Stygian Wight Lv 89]

  As Archie’s eyes rested on the limp form of the wight hung by the noose, he saw it twitch slightly.

  Archie kicked off the planked floor and activated Savage Charge

  Archie’s right fist smashed into the wight’s sternum and launched it across the cabin and into the cabin wall. Its skull fell onto the floor, bits of vertebrae still attached to its base.

  Archie landed on the ground and stared at the now headless wight as it landed on the planked flooring, boots first. It swiveled its jutting spine in Archie’s direction, seemingly taking a moment to readjust itself to its current situation and locating Archie.

  But Archie wasn’t going to let that happen, he activated Savage Charge

  A thin shallow cut appeared across Archie’s chestpiece as Archie stared at the wight who had drawn out one of its blades during the flurry of blows Archie landed upon it. The blade itself was alit with white flames with its edges as dark as a shadow.

  Archie instinctively knew the flames were dangerous. They shouldn’t touch his flesh, lest he’d face something worse than what the previous wight did.

  The wight slowly made its way towards Archie, its lit blade raised horizontally from the floor.

  , Archie complained as he crouched slightly and slowly inched towards the wight. He knew the stance it took when making its way towards him, he played enough games to tell that was a damn Wing stance. A stance knights actually used in medieval times, where guns never existed.

  Once the wight was five meters away from Archie, it lunged at him; its blade leaving a thin trail of white as it raced towards him.

  Archie leaned to his left, dodging the wight’s thrust, but his eyes widened as the wight’s wrist started to turn impossibly. Its blade arced towards his head.

  Archie channeled a surge of stamina into his right leg, kicking off the flooring and dodging the blade that whizzed towards his head with a hair’s breadth. But immediately after dodging the blade, Archie kicked off the ground and smashed his fist into the wight’s cutlass wielding fist.

  As Archie’s fist smashed onto the wight’s glove-covered knuckles, he had activated Impact Dynamo. The 30% filled Impact Dynamo exploded with nature-attuned kinetic energy and flowed through the wight’s fist and throughout its body, launching it a few feet backwards.

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  Within mere moments the wight’s left arm exploded, scattering bone shards in every direction. Its cutlass sent flying past his head and embedding itself into the wall behind him, seemingly unharmed by the Impact Dynamo.

  Archie felt his shoulder quickly pop back into place and swiftly cocked his left fist back before running towards the wight. He then activated Savage Charg

  An explosion of undeath-mana erupted from the wight, launching Archie backwards, his heel digging into the wooden flooring beneath him. His body was now covered with undeath flames that were melting the surface of his armor.

  But with a quick surge of his own mana, he extinguished the undeath mana atop his armor.

  The wight was now surrounded by an aura of undeath-mana flames, like the ones that previously encompassed its cutlass, but unlike those flames, they looked to be completely made out of shadows. Atop its head, instead of jutting pieces of vertebrae was a head made of undeath flames. Its left arm, slowly regenerating itself.

  Its aura reminded Archie of his own aura that was currently being released from his own being.

  Archie surged mana and stamina into his being, pushing Adrenaline Rush

  A smile grew on Archie’s face and his eyes widened, the adrenaline rushing through him filling him with large amounts of dopamine.

  Archie’s right fist smashed onto its flame-covered blade, knocking it away slightly from reaching his face and following his attack with his left fist smashing into its side, where its liver would have been, had it been still alive.

  He quickly sidestepped away from a sudden stab from its left arm, however his eyes furrowed as he stared at its left arm. It wasn’t an arm at all, rather it looked as though the arm stopped from its elbow and became something akin to a bone-shaped blade fused to its arm.

  It quickly struck with its right arm towards Archie’s midsection, making him sidestep once more from its attack.

  Archie’s smile grew as he released a flurry of punches towards the wight, who seemed to meet him with every blow with its own blades. His own flames from Spirit Bond

  Archie constantly pushed forwards with every strike, pushing the wight backwards and keeping it on the defense. But during their exchange of blows its skull of undeath flames trembled before exploding outwards.

  Archie quickly kicked off the ground, launching himself into a backward tumble. Mid-tumble, he rolled into a crouch before ripping off his mask, now engulfed in undeath-flames, and tossing it aside.

  Archie kicked off the ground and charged towards the wight, his form becoming a streak of crimson red as he closed the distance between the two of them and released another flurry of blows at it.

  The undeath flames that exploded from its head scattered themselves across the cabin before quickly roaring into existence.

  Within the roars of the flames around him, Archie heard something that made him smile, a crack.

  Within the flames that encompassed both the blade and its arms, Archie noticed fractures starting to appear on its bones and blade, seemingly at their limits.

  Archie stopped his flurry of blows, pivoting backwards to dodge a stab from its bone sword, before charging into its now unguarded chest.

  Archie activated Savage ChargeThornscourge Expansion

  The 60% Impact Dynamo exploded through its body, shattering the bones that guarded its core, while the vines that erupted from his fists wrapped themselves around its core and retracted back to his fists.

  Archie gritted his teeth from the kickback from the 60% Impact Dynamo and ripped out its core. Not a moment later, its undeath flame form stilled before extinguishing as the bones attached to its bone fell onto the ground lifelessly, leaving a burnt rotten scent behind.

  Archie stared at the pile of bones and burnt rotten flesh for a few more seconds before deactivating Adrenaline RushSpirit Bond,Thornscourge Expansion

  *[Stygian Wight Lv 89] has been slain – XP has been given. 1157 Tutorial Points given*

  *Your Class has reached Lv 70 – Points allocated, +4 Free Points*

  Archie chuckled as he stared at the pile of bones and pus on the singed floor. As he stared at the pile of bones and pus he got upset.

  In Archie’s opinion, it was unfair that wights could explode their undeath flame heads and still live, while he couldn’t do the same to his normal fleshy head….Some things in life were simply unfair.

  Sighing, Archie looked at the dungeon completion notification.

  Dungeon of the Cursed Ship

  Objective: Reward:Dungeon will automatically close in 0:10:58:04

  Confused at the rewards he received, Archie found them in his spatial storage and took them out

  One of the objects was a brass compass the size of his palm, that looked like it came from the early 20th century. Its dull red needle was pointed north, unmoving. Etched onto its corners were the four cardinal direction letters.

  The second object was a bronze-colored coin the size of his palm. Atop the coin was an onyx-colored skull with a tricorne, most likely symbolizing the Captain of the Cursed Ship.

  Compass of Desire (Epic):

  A compass made from [Redacted] and crafted by [Redacted]. Points you in the direction of whatever you truly desire. Its accuracy depends on how close you are to the object and the strength of your desire. Effect: Soul-Bound, Self-Repair & Desire’s Needle. Status: Excellent. Requirements: Lv 70+ & Humanoid Race.

  “Woah! This is cool as shit,” Archie said as he read through the compass’s description.? Archie questioned as he channeled mana into the compass before envisioning his father’s face.

  Staring at the compass, he felt it hum as the needle turned crimson for a moment but returned back to its previous dull red state.

  Archie noted before envisioning Xelgar.

  This time the compass softly hummed, and the needle turned crimson red while spinning around. Which checked out since Xelgar was exactly above him.

  Sigil of Challenge (Unique):

  A sigil given to the first person who has defeated one of the four Sigil Guardians hidden throughout the Group Tutorial. Will disappear once Group Tutorial ends.

  , Archie shrugged as he placed both items back into his spatial storage.

  Now with the dungeon complete, Archie needed to leave the dungeon before it closed on him. Looking behind him, he found the ashen remains of his mask. Sighing, Archie pulsed mana across his face and felt it start to repair itself.

  Exiting the captain’s cabin, Archie walked across the main deck and jumped over the forecastle railing and onto the Bowsprit. Once on the Bowsprit, Archie activated Thornscourge Expansion

  Flinging his arms forward, vines exploded from his arms and soared through the air, latching onto the cliff above. Once the vines dug themselves into the stone and were firmly set, Archie slowly retracted himself upwards.

  Archie stood in the center of his base with the Compass of Desire in hand. Curious to try out an idea he had when walking through the tunnel, to see if abstract concepts could work on it.

  Archie channeled mana into the compass while envisioning a dungeon to explore, one that was special, not unlike the one he had just completed.

  Once he felt the compass humming, he opened his eyes to see the crimson needle point Northeast.

  Archie smiled at the new discovery and his next target. But just as he was about to leave his base, he remembered that he had to choose his next class skill.

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