Captain Ninefingers was a [Dread Pirate]. He wasn't a [Dread Pirate] before. No, he ranked up from a lowly common [Farr]. He was a farr on his father's farm but his na wasn't Ninefingers. He was called Almond, a stupid na. His life wasn't bad until that wretched sister was born. Retarded, her birth defect ant she would at best be a drooling idiot. A waste of food anyway.
His father told him a few days after the girl was born. "That is no fruit of my loins!" He confided. "That woman you call mother committed adultery, I tell you, Almond."
His father was a good man. Even with the living proof of her cri, he didn't cast her away. But the stupid baby, it didn't even cry like other babies.
One day, a rchant ca and his father decided to get rid of the damn abomination. The girl was traded for food, dicine, and warm clothes.
A few days later, like a curse, the girl cos back. She shows up on the snow with a bag of money.
"That's the Devil's money," his father said. "Almond, the farm is yours. I'm going away. I can't stay here anymore. I'm going to make people believe I'm dead. Take care."
His father went away. When news ca, he feigned indignation and sorrow but those were a distant second to the hatred he felt toward the abomination that destroyed their family.
The curse was just beginning. The tax collector ca, they beca slaves. Curses, curses, curses. For almost five years he rowed that damn boat. He was stronger than others, [Farrs] had good Strength scores. He demanded food from the weak, promising to help them row. Failing to row as a galley slave was a death sentence.
One day, opportunity struck. Pirates attacked the galley, and Almond attacked the galley. He killed his oar-mates and leveled up. He killed pirates and leveled up. He dueled the pirate captain and won by a hair's width. He ranked up and chose the Class he has today. [Dread Pirate].
He lived his life. Not knowing if his family lived and not interested in looking for them, Almond beca Ninefingers. Feared, respected. Months ago, he found his soulmate. A daring woman, a [Pirate Captain] of great skill and power.
A few days ago, she went to raid the open waters and now she ca back. News that she brought a guest quickly reached his ears. When he heard the description, his blood boiled. He summoned her.
When the girl showed up in front of him, he couldn't believe it. Fate delivered the cursed baby on his lap. The retarded face he so hated. In a way, she even looked a bit like Mirabelle, his eldest sister when she was her age. No doubt.
She opened her arms wide and ca to hug him. He knew what to do. He bought a perk for this very mont.
Bitter Betrayal (ultra-rare): When striking an unsuspecting target, you gain a massive exponential bonus to damage and instant death chance based on how much the target trusts you. You gain no Experience for the kill. Should the target survive, the trust will beco a {Curse of Hatred} with the sa strength.
He had other perks to enhance instant kill, surprise strikes, and bleed damage. She wouldn't survive. That stupid grin was the last thing he saw before he closed his eyes and plunged the dagger in her heart.
"Almond, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE!" lyonen shouted.
I felt weak and slid down. The murder dagger was in Almond's hand.
Ninefingers used Bitter Betrayal. You lost all your HP. You have a punctured heart. You are bleeding. You are dying. Endurance test (modified by Luck) passed. Instant death averted.
You received the Curse of Hatred [Ninefingers] (ultra-rare) curse. Your love and trust in Ninefingers beca bitter hatred.
No! Apricot's entire being quivered. The pain of having her mind and feelings twisted and turned the other way was worse than a punctured, bleeding heart. I forced down and focused my mind not in surviving, but to hanging to the only pure thing in the Death Princess' whole existence. Her unconditional love for her family. I boxed that hatred, I boxed that curse. I used {ditation}, {Resist Social Influence}, and Apricot ntal nature to keep that thing contained.
You have 0 HP. Activate Cyst Hibernation?
I can't die before making ands.
The cyst ford around , a clear gel oozing from my body and covering my equipnt and . I lost track of the world as my notion of ti slowed down to a thousandth speed.
"She's the reason for all my family's misery, l," Ninefingers answered. "What is this crap?"
The abomination was covered in a hard, opaque amber shell. Ninefingers struck with his dagger but he couldn't even chip the damn thing. When he looked at the damage notification, his damage was reduced to zero. But she was dead. Dead. His family was avenged.
"She's the one that saved and your two unborn children!" lyonen screeched.
Ignoring his wife, Ninefingers called his henchn. "Get this thing out of here and toss is on the sea," he pointed at the body-shaped blob. Too bad even her gear was covered by it. She seed to have so nice things.
He turned to address lyonen's histrionic crisis. "What's done is done, l. Two children? What a blessing."
The woman didn't answer to reason. Ninefingers had to keep her restrained to quarters.
Six months later, he knew. It wasn't a blessing. It was the return of the curse. The children had the sa retarded face as his sister. His face twisted into a rictus of anger at the blatant betrayal, Ninefingers decreed.
"You are an adulterous woman. No way these wretched abominations are the fruit of my loins. You will be chained and sent to the brothel. Be glad I don't want to kill either you or your illegitimate children. Begone from my sight."
Captain Ninefingers was a [Dread Pirate]. He wasn't a [Dread Pirate] before, but now he'd embraced his Class in its entirety.
Inside the Cyst, Nenandil and I slept. I still had a punctured heart, I was still dying and bleeding. But at one-thousandth of the speed and I had nine hundred of damage resistance. I wasn't conscious but the damage log ssages showed bleeding ticks every thousand seconds for 0 damage.
I wasn't aware of my surroundings. Unconscious, I fought to keep Almond's betrayal and the curse I received bottled.
But ti passed. Inside this cyst, I would live for more than a million years before I died of natural causes. But the world moved on, inexorable.
This text was taken from . Help the author by reading the original version there.
The night of the three full moons, which happened only once every twelve years and in the winter solstice ca. It would mark my eighteenth birthday. That night, all moon-bound and therianthropes in the world shifted. The pull of the moons in their full glory was just too much. The soft cyan light that shone on the world forced to shift. And my regeneration kicked in. I healed my wounds, at one-thousandth of the normal speed.
But I healed. My fat reserves went away but I was hale. Maybe hungry but hale. All the Cyst needed now was favorable conditions to release .
An earthquake struck. The earth shook and a tsunami ford. Water fled the coastline and the pirate's bay dried. The cyst broke and I woke up.
Nenandil called.
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