"I underestimated you."
Seeing that Dunn had stopped, Annie regained her calm expression and drew her dagger.
Thud! That was the sound of Karl's corpse hitting the deck.
"To think you're Born Extraordinary, and you've been hiding in the White Elephant Chamber of Commerce for so long. You've certainly been patient, holding out until now."
In this world, class holders could not raise any single attribute to 20 before reaching tier three. The 20-point attribute barrier only opened to them after they advanced to tier three.
But the world never lacked geniuses and freaks.
These people possessed certain innate traits that allowed them to cross that barrier before tier three and reach a supernatural attribute score of 20. They were known as Born Extraordinary.
Dunn's current situation could also qualify him as Born Extraordinary.
Dunn did not dispute Annie's claim. After all, if he discovered that someone Born Extraordinary had gone off to work as a sailor, even he would not believe there was no plot involved.
After all, between a lowly sailor who had just become Born Extraordinary and someone Born Extraordinary secretly working as a sailor as part of a plot, the latter clearly fit people's expectations better.
"But that doesn't matter now. This [Navigator] is dead."
Annie deliberately stressed the word "Navigator."
Dunn understood at once.
"You're a [Navigator]?"
Navigator was the tier-two advancement of the Navigator class, with the ability to observe and sense weather conditions, as well as some close-combat capabilities.
Annie being a Navigator explained her killing Karl perfectly.
With Karl dead, Annie was the only person who could bring everyone aboard safely to the next island.
Every crew member's life was inevitably tied to Annie.
Even Dunn's.
That meant that even though Dunn had defeated Green, the initiative remained in Annie's hands.
As things stood, Annie and the dozens of crew members were forcibly bound together, while Dunn's trump card, his Transcendent Constitution, had already been exposed.
Although none of them could penetrate Dunn's defenses, with so many people rushing him together, they would have no trouble restraining him.
Then they would only need to throw Dunn into the sea and leave him to his fate.
But Dunn was no sitting duck either. Green lay right in front of him, and if a fight really broke out, Dunn could cut him down immediately.
Judging by Annie's reaction, Green was still very important to her.
"Still, this Annie thought of this approach and carried it out the instant I defeated Green. This woman is no ordinary person."
Dunn narrowed his eyes slightly as he looked at Annie opposite him.
"Can we talk now?"
"What do you have in mind?"
At Dunn's words, Annie gave a friendly smile.
"Since we both have our eyes on this ship, why don't we work together?"
"I'm this ship's indispensable [Navigator], and you're Born Extraordinary. If we join forces, we should soon be able to carve out a place for ourselves along this sea route."
"We're both smart people. Given our abilities and potential, once we reach an understanding, I don't think either of us would betray the other without a fundamental conflict of interest, would we?"
"No problem. I want to be captain."
Dunn answered without hesitation.
Captain? Annie paused slightly. Under the current circumstances, the position of captain was only a title. With enough strength, he would be captain whether he held the title or not. Without enough strength, he would never hold on to the position even if it were given to him.
Why was Dunn so fixated on becoming captain?
Could it be a class advancement?
Annie's eyes brightened slightly, and she immediately nodded in agreement. "No problem, but could you let me treat Green's injuries first? If we delay any longer, we might lose an important fighter."
Hearing Annie agree so readily, and use "we" so naturally, Dunn froze for a moment. He had not expected her to agree so easily, and for a moment, he could not help suspecting that she had some scheme.
"Fine. Come over and treat him yourself."
For now, it did not matter whether her agreement was genuine. If it was false, he could cut her down when she came over to treat Green.
Then he could advance straight to tier two.
As for navigating the ship, that could all wait. This unexpected incident had made Dunn quite eager to advance.
After all, strength was everything.
At worst, he would drift at sea.
He would take a gamble on whether, as one of Heaven's Favored, he really was Heaven's beloved child.
If her agreement was genuine, everything would be easy to discuss. Once he reached tier two, Dunn was confident he could keep these two under control.
At the very least, he could hold his own against them.
Dunn took out his Career Card.
[You have met the advancement conditions for the tier-two class [Pirate]. Advance?] [You have met the advancement conditions for the tier-two class [Pirate Captain]. Advance?]
Watching Annie apply medicine and bandage Green's wounds, Dunn raised an eyebrow slightly.
She had actually agreed.
Still, that was good too. Having a tier-two [Navigator] offered considerable benefits.
He confirmed advancement to [Pirate Captain].
Instantly, a mysterious power flowed from the card into Dunn's body, and his body underwent certain changes in an instant.
The advancement was completed silently.
Advancement in card-based classes relied on the Career Card. It was that quick and simple.
Name: Dunn Campbell Age: 20 Level: 10 Tier: Two Class: Pirate Captain Talents: Aberrant, Heaven's Favored Strength: 15 Agility: 10 Constitution: 22 Charisma: 11 Intelligence: 9 Perception: 12 Willpower: 10 Class skills: Rokushiki (Soru, Rankyaku, Tekkai, Kami-e, Geppo, Shigan) Career Ability: Plunder: Each successful act of plunder may increase your class-related base attributes. The stronger the enemy, the higher the chance. Ship Animation: Bind a ship and animate the entire vessel, granting it certain mysterious abilities. Feats: Personal feats: Aberrant, Reduced Pain Sensitivity, Sleepless Transcendent Feat: Supernatural Toughness (constitution), Supernatural Recovery (constitution) Based on your personal traits, you have obtained the advancement conditions for the tier-three class Supernova and the lower-ranked tier-three class Great Pirate. [Supernova: Prerequisites: Tier-two class Pirate/tier-two class Pirate Captain. Advancement requirements: Biological Level 10, strength 15, constitution 19, perception 15, willpower 15. Advancement conditions: 1. Have a total bounty of 1,000 gold coins.] [Great Pirate: Prerequisites: Tier-two class Pirate/tier-two class Pirate Captain. Advancement requirements: Biological Level 10, strength 14, constitution 16, willpower 15. Advancement conditions: 1. Have a total bounty of 100 gold coins.]
Looking at his attribute panel after advancing, Dunn slowly rubbed his fingers over the Career Card and sank into thought.
Strength and constitution had increased by two points, perception by one, and willpower by one.
The [Pirate Captain] class appeared to prioritize constitution, with strength secondary. In theory, that meant constitution should have increased more than strength.
Both strength and constitution had now increased by two points, presumably because his constitution had reached 20, reducing further gains.
Barring anything unexpected, this reduction would still exist when he advanced to tier three.
The increase in perception was probably a natural increase resulting from his greater strength.
As for willpower, starting at tier two, every advancement in every class increased it by one point.
His class skills were the Navy's Rokushiki from the world of One Piece. That was not particularly surprising, since his cheat was essentially connected to that world.
Plunder, this Career Ability, was probably the core ability of [Pirate], similar to the Breathing Technique of classes such as [Warrior] and [Knight]. It was the main means of increasing base attributes. Since [Pirate Captain] prioritized constitution, with strength secondary, those would be the two attributes it increased.
Similar abilities were far from rare among card-based classes.
But as far as Dunn knew, compared to the steady improvement offered by the Breathing Technique, abilities like these were generally rather unforgiving. The claim that stronger was better essentially meant that plundering people weaker than himself would never grant attribute increases. Only plundering people roughly as strong as him, or even stronger, offered any chance of an increase.
The final ability, Ship Animation, gave Dunn rather more to look forward to. He surmised that this ability was probably the key distinction between the lower-ranked [Pirate] and the higher-ranked [Pirate Captain] classes.
By that reasoning, this ability should bring Dunn a few pleasant surprises.
"Not just Born Extraordinary, but one of Heaven's Favored too. You really are an enviable fellow!"
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