Curse of Gold Coins

Judging by the situation, it seemed the witch's phylactery was connected to the iron box that sealed their hearts, and now that the witch had been drained of energy by the Crystal Ball, it might have affected them as a result.

He lifted the Crystal Ball, now completely pitch-black, and gave it a light wipe. Inside, faces emerged, each twisted with terror—young, old, male, female, all different. As Li Shaolin observed them, they seemed to see him too, screaming in despair without a sound, their features contorted in struggle but no noise escaping.

"Archmage! Archmage!" A low voice rang out faintly. Looking closely, behind the crowd of figures in the Crystal Ball, a familiar silhouette appeared—Soul Grayson. For some reason, his words came through clearly and steadily to Li Shaolin.

"Captain Greyson, can you hear me?" Li Shaolin tried calling into the Crystal Ball. Sure enough, Grayson nodded inside and responded. He tried to push forward, but the surging tide of souls swept him away, and he vanished in an instant.

"Grayson? Grayson!" Li Shaolin shouted, unconsciously applying a bit of force to his hand. Black mist surged up, wrapping around the swirling, howling souls. When it cleared, only Captain Greyson remained inside.

"Captain Greyson, what's going on? Do you know? Where did those souls go—were they absorbed?" Even though they were trapped in the iron box, never to escape, that was still better than being drained into energy by the Crystal Ball. If they'd been destroyed just because of a thought he'd had, that would be truly horrifying.

"There's a strange pulling force in here. They're all stuck, unable to move. These are the innocent souls of those attacked by Murlocs on the ships at Long Beach—trapped by the witch in the iron box because their will to survive couldn't be released." Soul Grayson explained from inside.

Strange—didn't he not know before? Had he been hiding something from me?

"How do you know that?" Li Shaolin asked.

"Well, ever since we were all sucked into this Crystal Ball, it's like some inexplicable connection formed. I can't quite describe it, but I can vaguely sense their thoughts. That's about it." Grayson tried to explain the feeling but couldn't put it into words.

It didn't seem like he'd get much more out of him. Fine, he'd take a look at that manuscript from Karnak instead.

He set the now-blackened Crystal Ball aside and fished out the manuscript he'd obtained earlier from his Storage Space, reading it carefully. Besides Karnak's personal history of noble rise and fall, the final part recorded his insights into Scourge Alchemy. It turned out the guy was quite clever—not only studying the mysteries of ice magic, but also a genuine alchemist. Those bottles and jars in the room at Jason's Farm had been his alchemy equipment. Naturally, with an alchemist's foundation, learning Scourge Alchemy was twice the result with half the effort.

Below that were his notes on using the Scourge Alchemy Stone. It turned out the stone not only absorbed and released Death Force but also had the power to imprison souls, making it easier to absorb the wandering spirits in graveyards. But according to the manuscript, once a soul was drawn into the Alchemy Stone, it lost its autonomy—life, death, even speech were all under the owner's control. Without Li Shaolin's permission, they couldn't communicate with the outside world at all. So what was up with Captain Greyson?

Now that he knew this, he had to get to the bottom of it.

He picked up the Crystal Ball from the table and gently brushed his hand over it. Layers of black mist dissipated, and at his will, Grayson's face emerged.

"Captain, I want to know one thing—why was your soul able to break free from the iron box and stand alone? And how are you able to contact me?" Though he believed the captain meant no harm, caution was key. In this perilous otherworld, if he lost his life through carelessness, no one would pity him.

Grayson hesitated inside the Crystal Ball, opening his mouth as if to speak but stopping.

This guy definitely has some secret! Li Shaolin thought to himself. But if the man didn't want to say, he couldn't force it, right? He was a law-abiding, upstanding citizen of the 21st century. Of course, if he wanted to, a single thought would let the black mist in the Crystal Ball corrode the souls inside until they could neither live nor die.

Just as he was about to put the Crystal Ball away, Grayson seemed to make up his mind. Gritting his teeth, he bowed and said, "Archmage, please promise me one thing first, and then I'll tell you the reason."

"What thing?"

"You have the power to reallocate souls. I hope you'll let me merge into that monster and gain a new life." The soul's face twisted with pain as he spoke. After all, he knew that trapped in this Crystal Ball, he had little chance of getting out. Even if he did, without the ball's protection and with his heart destroyed, death was the only outcome. So he might as well become a monster—better to live in disgrace than die in glory, and maybe there'd be other opportunities later.

Li Shaolin nodded. This wasn't hard for him. The Scourge Alchemy records stated that all he had to do was inject the soul into the Abomination's body. "Alright, I promise you."

Seeing his agreement, Grayson breathed a sigh of relief and said, "Actually, on my last voyage, something unexpected happened. Back then, I had burning ideals—I dreamed of one day becoming the greatest, richest captain on the Endless Sea, then returning to Stormwind City's harbor in all my glory, the center of everyone's attention. But as time passed, those ideals faded. Of the original fifty-odd brothers, some left, some fell ill, and only eleven of us remained." The old captain sighed, lost in the dreams of his youth.

"Eventually, we decided to transport one last cargo and then find other paths. But on that final trip, we ran into a massive tsunami on the Endless Sea. After a fierce struggle, we managed to survive. Others weren't so lucky. On a ship capsized by the waves, we rescued three lucky fellows. Under their guidance, we salvaged a large wooden chest from that ship.

When we opened the lid, gold coins dazzled our eyes—a whole chest full, probably a solid hundred thousand."

"And then?" Li Shaolin couldn't help but draw a sharp breath. A hundred thousand gold coins was no small sum even in the game, let alone in reality. It could probably buy an entire town.

"Alas!" Old Grayson sighed, his voice filled with endless desolation. "Money really is the root of all evil. We were supposed to split the gold evenly, but under the conspiracy of us eleven brothers, we killed those three rescued men on the spot, blood staining the coins. Then we set off on the journey home."

"After that, the infighting began. I was blinded by greed too, and I joined in, turning on my own brothers. Thinking back now, I regret it terribly." The old captain said mournfully inside the Crystal Ball.

"Anyway, it was a chaotic brawl—everyone hated everyone else. In the end, after a bloody purge, only three of us were left. We finally stopped fighting, each getting thirty thousand gold coins, enough to become minor lords. But after we divided the spoils, we found a note at the bottom of the chest. It turned out the gold was looted by a group of pirates over a lifetime, then embezzled by their leader. In their resentment, the pirates hired a witch to curse the gold—whoever possessed it would sail the seas forever, like they had in their days of plunder and slaughter, never able to set foot on land again."

"We thought it was nonsense and didn't pay it any mind. But then, as we reached Stranglethorn Vale, we were attacked by Deep Sea Giants. With all the crew dead from the infighting, no one manned the cannons, and the ship, already damaged by the tsunami, couldn't withstand the giants' assault and fell apart. Of course, the gold sank with it."

"After losing the gold, the three of us pulled together, found a piece of wreckage, and drifted to a sandy beach. My leg was injured, so I lagged behind a few steps. And then, alas!" Grayson's face showed terror, as if the scene was playing out before his eyes. "The moment those two brothers set foot on the beach, their bodies began to rot. Right before my eyes, they turned into two skeletons!"

"It was the curse from the gold!" the old captain choked out.

"After that, I didn't dare go ashore. I thought I'd die drifting at sea, but a passing cargo ship rescued me. Then, I ended up stranded here at Long Beach, attacked by Murlocs. What happened next—I fled into this Lighthouse. Maybe because it's a few steps from the shore, the curse didn't trigger. Then the witch trapped me. It seems my soul was also affected by the curse, which is why I could break free from the iron box and stand alone."

After hearing the old captain's story, Li Shaolin found it quite surprising. The world was vast and full of wonders. A curse like that existed? He wondered if he could remove the spell from the gold coins. If he could, salvaging them would make him rich. Tsk, Fargodeep Mine only brought in three thousand gold a year—it would take thirty-three years without any mishaps to earn that much.

Alright, time to drop that unrealistic idea. He'd try fusing Grayson's soul. He wondered if the curse would still take effect once he became an Abomination.

He aimed the Crystal Ball at the Abomination's body and murmured a few incantations. A wisp of black mist seeped out, wrapping around a translucent shadow, which slowly drifted toward the Abomination's gaping belly.

The black mist spread gradually. The Abomination let out a "Hmph!" and its single eye lifted, opening wide.