Nie Yan took a relatively remote path to avoid the two from before as he galloped toward the Silent Gulf on his Faulkner Warhorse.
About six minutes later, Nie Yan arrived on top of a hill. He could already see the water of the beautiful gulf on the other side of the ravine.
A picturesque landscape, the bay resembled a gentle maiden. As the wind blew past, rolling waves clashed against the rocks, spraying white foam into the air. Three large islands poked out of the water, lush with exuberant plantlife and trees.
Venita was on one of these three islands. As for which one, Nie Yan had already forgotten.
After recalling his Faulkner Warhorse, he started running down the hill and towards the distant gulf.
Reaching the coast, Nie Yan thought for a moment. He decided that swimming over was still the better option. Large flying creatures frequently roamed the skies above the Silent Gulf. Sometimes even powerful dragons appeared. In comparison, the water was much safer. In the previous timeline, players generally opted to swim for the three islands.
It was rumoured the Silent Gulf contained two Violet Gold Ore deposits. However, Nie Yan had no idea where they would be located. If he happened to find them, he could have Guo Huai dispatch a team here to mine them.
As Engineering and other metalworking industries grew with each passing day, Asskickers United's demand for metals became larger and larger. So, they needed to continue finding more ore deposits, especially high quality ones like Violet Gold.
Nie Yan dove into the water and started swimming forward.
After a few minutes, Nie Yan activated his underwater breathing skill, then dived down toward the depths of the gulf.
Nie Yan entered a dark and beautiful underwater world, where rays of sunlight pierced through the water's surface and shone down below, glimmering and sparkling. From time to time, large shoals of fish swam by. The climate of the Silent Gulf was warm. Due to the shallow waters, there were few predators. So, it was perfect for these types of creatures.
The monsters that spawned here were Level 70 Electric Rays. They were fairly gentle creatures. As long as you didn't attack them, they wouldn't attack you, even if you swam up right in front of them.
Electric Rays swam by one after another. Nie Yan didn't bother attacking them. At his current level, killing them would net him next to no experience. He would only be wasting his time.
Nie Yan occasionally reached out his hand to touch these peculiar creatures. They would shake their long tails and nimbly swim away.
To his east was an island. Nie Yan quickly swam in that direction.
After 10 minutes, Nie Yan had already swam pretty deep. He was only 100 meters from the sea floor. Suddenly, he saw a golden flash in the distance. His heart trembled. What was that?
This large golden light was swimming around.
Nie Yan recalled the Golden Electric Eel he killed when he was at a lower level. Could this be a golden creature?
"Let's check it out first..." Nie Yan muttered to himself. Golden creatures were usually mild tempered. As long as he didn't attack it, it wouldn't attack him either.
Nie Yan immediately chased after the golden light, swimming closer and closer. His eyes widened in shock when he could finally make out its appearance. This creature was enormous!
It was probably a fish. At about 10 meters in size it resembled a giant whale with golden scales. Its entire body was golden and sparkled with a brilliant radiance. Its soft and flexible fins swayed back and forth gently.
When Nie Yan swam within 60 meters of it, he got noticed. It turned around, blowing out a stream of bubbles from its mouth, and swam toward him.
Nie Yan tried to turn around and flee. However, every movement seemed to become more cumbersome than the last. Not good!
A powerful pressure swept over Nie Yan, preventing him from moving. He sensed enormous danger. If this creature attacked him, he wouldn't have any chance to retaliate at all. "Dammit!" He tried to break free, but his struggling was futile.
This golden creature swam around Nie Yan, observing him. After a while, it eventually lost interest, turned around, and swam toward the greater depths.
As the immense pressure disappeared, Nie Yan finally regained control of his body. Golden creatures were generally non-aggressive and wouldn't go out of their way to attack players. It was good that this was the case, or else he would've been dead.
Seeing the golden fish swimming away, Nie Yan inspected it with Transcendent Insight.
Gold Dragonfish (Special): Level 120
It was a Level 120 golden creature. No wonder it was so powerful!
A Level 120 golden creature was even stronger than a Level 180 Elite. Nie Yan was absolutely no match for it in his current state.
It was actually the Gold Dragonfish!?
Nie Yan suddenly recalled several videos that went viral in the previous timeline, all of which were related to the Gold Dragonfish. This monster always roamed around the vicinity of the Silent Gulf. Back then, when players had reached Level 100, Radiant Sacred Flame started eyeing it. They organized a Level 120 2,000-player expedition team, equipped them with the best gear available, and provided them with all sorts of underwater breathing items and potions. Their preparations were flawless, believing they could kill the Gold Dragonfish. However, they suffered a crushing defeat. Of the 2,000 players sent out, only 50 escaped with their lives.
At that time, Nie Yan had also watched the videos. The Gold Dragonfish's strength left players speechless. More than 200 fully armed Fighters were wiped out in the short span of five seconds. What happened after could only be described as a one-sided massacre. After that incident, no one dared to challenge the Gold Dragonfish for a long time.
Later on, Victorious Return, Radiant Sacred Flame, and Bloodlust Blades mobilized five Champions, more than 30 other Master class players, and 3,000 players to challenge the Gold Dragonfish. After taking down this monster, it was rumoured that its corpse was turned into the Dragonfish Sword; quietly swimming through the water's depths, shining with an unfathomable golden radiance. In history, the Dragonfish Sword was not the slightest bit inferior to a godly weapon like Zennarde's Sword. Its wielder was the leader of the giant race, Kroth, who once led the war against the dragon race.
A price couldn't be put on this kind of godly weapon. Just like Zennarde's Sword, these sorts of weapons were permanently bound once equipped.
In the end, the Dragonfish Sword went to a Champion in Radiant Sacred Flame called Windblade. It was a weapon made for killing, cutting down people like chopping vegetables. It was rumoured that after receiving the Dragonfish Sword, Windblade's damage doubled. From then on, he had no problems holding aggro.
In the previous timeline, Windblade was one of the most famous Fighters out there. But at present, though he was still an influential figure in Radiant Sacred Flame, he was overshadowed by players like Bladelight, Lofty Shadow, and several others.
When Asskickers United grew powerful enough, Nie Yan planned to bring an expedition team here to kill the Gold Dragonfish. He definitely couldn't miss out on the opportunity to obtain a godly weapon like the Dragonfish Sword.
The Dragonfish Sword was a shortsword, so it was most suited for Fighters. For a Fighter, a better weapon didn't only mean they would deal more damage, but they would also have an easier time holding a boss' aggro. Like this, they could more easily ensure the safety of their team. If you were to place the Dragonfish Sword on the marketplace, it would probably sell for much higher than Zennarde's Sword.
Seeing the Gold Dragonfish swimming away, Nie Yan turned around and swam in a different direction. In any case, it would always be lingering around the Silent Gulf. He didn't have to worry about it swimming away. Even so, the Silent Gulf was quite large. Even finding something as large as the Gold Dragonfish would be difficult.
Nie Yan finally arrived at an island a while later. He came out of the water and headed for the beach. Seeing humanoid figures with sharp barbs growing all over their bodies moving around in the distance, he quickly entered stealth.
The island wasn't nearly as safe as the water. The monsters that spawned here were Level 120 Iron Barbed Murlocs. They were extremely powerful. The most annoying aspect about them was that they were immune to physical damage. Encountering such monsters, Nie Yan could only take the long way around them.
After searching around for a while, Nie Yan failed to find Dragon Girl Venita. He went back into the water and headed for another island. During this time, he discovered a Violet Gold vein. It just happened to be located between the two islands. He quickly recorded down the coordinates.
This Violet Gold vein stretched out for about 400 meters. There were glimmering Violet Gold ores both large and small dotted all over the reef. It was almost like looking at the starry night sky.
The seamonsters here were all docile. This was the perfect place for Miners. Even a Level 1 Miner could dig here without fear for their safety.
Nie Yan immediately contacted Guo Huai and had him dispatch people to mine this vein.
Asskickers United's mining team had expanded from just over 100 members to more than 6,000, among which 1,000 were officially contracted by the guild. They went from one mining site to the next, and were responsible for collecting ores for the guild. As the game progressed, the number of high level players increased. Those players who weren't suited for levelling or PvPing would overwhelmingly switch their focus to Mining or other professions that didn't require much skill.
These Miners were pretty productive. Aside from fulfilling Asskickers United's needs, they had spare ores to sell; especially the lowest quality ones which the guild didn't require.
When an ore vein was first discovered, its natural resources were plentiful. However, after being harvested for a while, the amount of ores it produced on a daily basis would decrease significantly. Asskickers United had enough low rank ores to use for themselves. However, they were sorely lacking in high rank ores like Violet Gold. Nie Yan discovering this vein was a huge boon for the guild.
Guo Huai quickly dispatched a group of people. Nie Yan estimated it would take a while for them to arrive. The road here was filled with high level monsters. However, when they finally did arrive, they wouldn't have to leave for a long time. They would stay here digging for a couple of weeks. Asskickers United's Thieves would transport the ores they harvested back to the guild.
There was another Violet Gold vein in the vicinity. Nie Yan could have Guo Huai dispatch a second group to find it.
After a while, Nie Yan set foot on another island. When he arrived on the beach, he heard a pleasant humming in the air. It was faint and melancholic. It resembled the song of a nightingale, expressing a deep longing for something or someone.
It was likely the sound of Dragon Girl Venita. She was on this island!