God Ash: Remnants of the fallen.

The trinkets that could ward off the curse were surprisingly cheap, and while it stung, it was only for a little bit.

Cain boarded the ship with heavy steps. He felt a subtle connection to the vessel. He felt that the moment he gave a direction, the ship would heed his command and begin moving at its top speed.

All this seemed so unreal...

The Beastmen were quick to move things forward. Ammunition, as well as spare weapons and armor were quickly brought onto the ship, as well as food and medical supplies, the medical supplies being crates of HP Regen potions as well as a few MP Regen potions.

Things became quite busy very fast. Hunter and Dan coordinated with the Beastmen to get all these things onboard, while Leah and the rest of the Beastwomen helped out.

Very quickly, the preparations came to an end, and it was time to set sail.

The wind blowi6across the sea was salty, moist and cold. However, it was refreshing. Cain felt his heart slow down as the wind beat against his cheeks.

"I guess its time, huh..."

Susan was beside him, staring at the rune on the floorboards with intrigue,

"Whatever people made this thing paid attention to detail. These runes are connected to that nexus over there. It possesses a self-reconstruction function. Incredible..."

Susan continued to murmur to herself. Cain glanced at her, finding this side of her a bit cute. She was levelheaded most of the time, so this was not a common sight.

Sensing Cain's gaze, a blush appeared on her cheeks. She quickly stopped herself and cleared her throat,

"I can see no control mechanics. How is it going to move?"

"Well, it's supposed to have an enchantment that does this.." Cain answered. Although he ad a good understanding of runic sorcery, his knowledge in enchantments was very limited.

Susan nodded, "I see... From what I can see, there's something very odd with this ship. The runes are high level and I can't make heads or tails of some of them. But what I do know is most of 5hem seem to serve no purpose."

Cain nodded. He had also noticed this.

However, he thought about a bit more,

"Or, could it be we just can't understand their purpose? It wouldn't be very smart to assume that they are useless. In any case, all that doesn't matter now."

They could ponder the mysteries of the ship later...

Susan nodded, "Everything is moving according. Still, I can't help but worry. The ship seems old..."

Cain could understand her sentiments, "Don't worry. This old beauty won't sink so easily!"

Susan showed an amused smile, "You think?"

Cain snorted, "Alright. Let's figure out how to dial this thing."

Cain reached out with his mind. The shop was supposed to have a spirit that could control it according to the system. However, some things weren't adding up.

According to the story, the ship once belonged to a pirate. If it had no steering mechanisms, how was this pirate able to use the vessel on his conquests?

Did he had some kind of strange ability that made him able to do this, or was there more to the ship that the system was unwilling to share?

'No many mysteries...'

Cain's mind traveled. With {Spirit Sense}, he could now observe things that couldn't be seenw ith the naked eyes like mana flow patterns, and maybe, just maybe... Ghosts of haunted ships...

'Let's see...' Cain thought as he scanned the ship. There were currently numerous people running up and down the deck, but he mad ethem fade into obscurity until he couldn't see them any more. He blocked all his other senses as well.

Silence and darkness...

However, he could still observe the world with {Spirit Sense}. That was why he was able to notice something that shouldn't have been.

The entire ship was covered in a ghostly, eerie light. It was strange and off putting. Suddenly, something seemed to reach out to his mind though his {Spirit Sense}.

A deep sense of greed and gluttony suddenly assaulted his mind. The curse warding trinket on his hand suddenly shone with a bright light.

'What is going on?! I thought the charm could ward the curse off?!' Cain began to panic.

The deranged feeling of lust, greed and gluttony continued to eat at him until he could no longer bear it. He was devoured by the desire to consume all that was good in the world. Money, women, power... Everything was his for the taking. Only if he was ready to trade his soul...

Cain suddenly snapped out of it. This... These emotions weren't his. His mind had always been strong, yet he had lost himself for a moment. What came after the shock was rage.

"Get the fuck out of my head!" He exclaimed. A benefit of having a high Spirit stat was resistance to mental attacks. Cain had once engaged a {Phantasma} before. A type of Devil known for their perverse metal capabilities and was still not overwhelmed.

Whatever had just attacked him was far more capable than a {Phantasm}, and it had still taken him only a few moments to snap out of it.

Cain's eyes slowly opened. He was still on Gwendolyn. However, there was mostly no one around him. Or rather, he couldn't see anyone. Instead, there was only a single... person standing, no...

floating in front of him.

A rather beautiful woman dressed in a flowing one piece white priestess robe. Her hair was as white as her dress, and her face even whiter, like delicate porcelain.

Her eyes on the other hand, where darker than pools of filth. Cain was immediately overcome with the desire to throw up the moment he gazed into her eyes.

Something had gone wrong just now. Terribly and terrifyingly wrong. Much to his amazement and horror, he discovered that he couldn't move an inch. There was no power obstructing his movement. Instead, what kept him firmly rooted was fear.

As shameful as it was to admit it, this strange person, or what used to be a person, struck great fear in his heart.

"So you are the new master of Gwendolyn?" The woman spoke.

Her voice was as sweet and crisp as an Angel's melody, and as guttural and hateful as a Demon's curses. Cain had no idea what to think.

Oblivious to Cain's internal turmoil, the wraith continued,

"A better one than before. Let's hope you don't die too quick this time."

She approached, moving faster than he could follow, appearing directly before him almost immediately.

Stretching her hand, she reached over to touch his face.

Her ghostly face frowned, "The aura of a Celestial creature. And the essence of the Devil race... What disgusting creature is this?..."

Despite her words, Cain didn't feel offended at all. Dread was all he could feel, as the cold fingertips rubbed across his face.

She was close enough for him to observe her better. Her eye sockets were empty, as though they had been gouged out. Across her neck was a thin slit, still bleeding as though the wound had just been made a moment ago.

"Mortal creature... Ownership of this vessel has been passed onto you. I shall serve you for a time... Once your grace has reached its limit, I will collect what I am owed."

Cain wanted to curse. What the hell was this?! How the hell had he inquired another debt? This didn't make any sense!

He had just gotten a ship, but as fate would have it, the ship was cursed. Then as though that wasn't enough, he had unwillingly made a deal with a ghost.

'Great... How awesome!' Cain cursed.

When his soul returned to his body, there was no change to his environment. Everyone was still bustling around,the only exception being Susan, who shot him a concerned, yet inquisitive gaze.

Cain sighed, "I've made contact with the spirit that controls the ship."

Susan was surprised, "What..."

Cain waved his hand, "There's nothing to worry about. Let's get this thing on the road!"

He quickly threw that eerie encountered to the back of his mind. He would worry about it later. Besides, he wasn't too bothered about it.

Although she was scary, he could tell the spirit wasn't as powerful as a Demon. Did she have the power to devour his soul? Yes... Would the terrible Demon, Azazel allow that? He doubted it...

Cain recalled the knowledge that had been passed directly into his brain. From what he knew, the evil spirit would leave him alone for the most part, and would only react to his desires. As long as he pictured where he wanted to go, the ship would get him there. However, the more he used this, the stronger the curse wild grow until the trinkets became useless.

Then he would be firced to either get rid of it, or suffer the same fate as the previous owner.

Cain threw the distance repercussions out of his mind and quickly commanded the vessel to move.

The runes covering the body of Gwendolyn brightened up and the ship began moving on its own. Exclaims of excitement rang out across the deck as the many people aboard watched in amazement.

"This is incredible..." Jenny couldn't help but sigh.

Li clicked his tongue, "Cain is really moving up in the world, isn't he..."

Sue snorted, "It isn't that impressive." Although she said that, it was clear from the look in her eyes how facinated she was. After all, Gwendolyn didn't look like any traditional ship created by the inhabitants of this world. Instead, it was obvious it was the work of an intelligent civilization alien to this world.

The style, the shapes, the colors, and the magic... It was all so different.

Everyone took all this in, but the excitement was quickly put on the back seat as the ship picked up speed. The realization of what was about to happen quickly set in rapidly.

Every one of them had their eyes fixed on the horizon, wary of what was to come...