Chapter 562: Benita

Nie Yan took a more secluded path, bypassing them and mounting his Falkner warhorse, then galloped swiftly towards the Silent Bay.

About six minutes later, he climbed up a hill and looked into the distance. At the canyon’s exit, a beautiful bay appeared before his eyes.

The scenery was picturesque. The beautiful bay resembled a quiet young girl, with sea breeze gently blowing and lifting white waves. In the center of the bay were three large islands, covered with lush trees.

The guardian Benita resided on one of these three islands, though Nie Yan could no longer recall exactly which one.

He dismissed his Falkner warhorse, leaped off the hill, and dashed swiftly towards the distant bay.

Upon reaching the coastline, Nie Yan considered briefly before deciding to dive into the water. Large flying creatures often appeared above the Silent Bay, and even powerful dragons were known to patrol there. The underwater route was relatively safer. In his previous life, players usually swam to those islands.

Legend had it that two Purple Gold ore veins lay at the bottom of Silent Bay, yielding high-quality Purple Gold ore. Nie Yan didn’t know their precise locations, but if he could discover them, he could have Guo Huai organize players to conduct underwater mining operations.

With the continuous advancement of mechanics and metallurgy, the demand for ores within the Niu Ren Tribe had grown increasingly substantial. Consequently, there was an urgent need to discover additional ore deposits, particularly high-grade resources such as purple gold ore.

Nie Yan dove into the sea and quickly swam forward.

A few minutes later, he activated his underwater breathing skill and dove deeper into the ocean.

Under the sea was a beautiful and mysterious world. Beams of light pierced down, shimmering with ripples. Occasionally, massive schools of fish swam past. The Silent Bay had a warm climate, and since it was a shallow sea, there were few predators, making it suitable for these creatures.

Here, level 70 electric rays spawned. They were relatively gentle creatures; as long as you didn’t attack them, even if you swam close to them, they wouldn’t attack you first.

Watching the electric rays swim past, Nie Yan didn’t attack them. At his current level, defeating these electric rays would yield little experience, so he didn’t want to waste time.

Occasionally, Nie Yan would reach out to touch these unique creatures, and they would swiftly dodge by swinging their long tails.

There was an island to the east. Nie Yan accelerated and swam towards it.

About ten minutes later, Nie Yan had reached deeper waters, approximately 100 meters from the seabed, when suddenly he noticed a golden light flash far away. He was startled—what was that?

This creature was huge and appeared to be swimming.

Nie Yan recalled the golden electric eels he had defeated when his level was low. Could this be another golden creature?

He decided to go check it out first. Golden creatures were generally gentle; they wouldn’t attack unless provoked.

Nie Yan immediately followed the golden light and swam towards it. Gradually, he approached the light source. When he finally saw the creature’s appearance, he wore an expression of shock—what a massive creature!

It must be a fish. It was about ten yards long, like a giant whale, fully covered with golden scales. Its entire body glowed golden, translucent and crystalline, with soft fins rhythmically propelling it forward.

When Nie Yan was about sixty yards away, the creature seemed to sense his presence. It turned around, blowing bubbles from its mouth, and swam toward Nie Yan.

Nie Yan turned to flee, but suddenly found each movement extremely difficult. Not good!

A powerful pressure overwhelmed him, and his body became paralyzed. Nie Yan sensed a great threat. If this creature attacked him first, he probably wouldn’t even have a chance to resist. Cursing, Nie Yan struggled to break free, but all efforts were in vain.

The golden fish swam around Nie Yan for a while, observing him. It seemed to lose interest and turned towards deeper waters.

The oppressive force on Nie Yan suddenly vanished, and he finally regained his freedom. Golden creatures were generally gentle and wouldn’t attack players unless provoked. This rule seemed to work, allowing him to escape unharmed.

Seeing the golden fish slowly leave, Nie Yan cast the Detect skill on it.

Golden Dragonfish: Special Creature, Level 120.

It was a level 120 golden creature. No wonder it was so powerful.

According to normal calculations, a level 120 golden creature was far stronger than an elite creature of level 180. For Nie Yan at his current level, the Golden Dragonfish was an untouchable existence.

It was actually the Golden Dragonfish!

Suddenly, Nie Yan recalled several popular videos from his previous life, all related to the Golden Dragonfish. This Golden Dragonfish had always been active near the Silent Bay. In his previous life, during the time when players were around level 100, the Bright Holy Flame guild had targeted it. They organized a large team of two thousand players, with average levels above 120 and the best equipment. They carried various underwater breathing items and potions, making thorough preparations. They believed they could defeat the Golden Dragonfish, but they suffered a crushing defeat. The entire team was wiped out, with only fifty to sixty players managing to escape.

Nie Yan had watched that video back then. The Golden Dragonfish’s power was simply indescribable. More than two hundred fully equipped shield warriors were defeated in just five seconds. What followed was a one-sided massacre. After that incident, players were too afraid to provoke the Golden Dragonfish for a long time.

Later, the Triumph Empire, Bright Holy Flame, and War Blade Bloodthirsty guilds organized five Divine Warriors, totaling more than thirty top-tier players and over three thousand participants, before daring to confront the Golden Dragonfish. After defeating it, the Golden Dragonfish’s corpse transformed into a Dragonfish Sword, floating silently in the sea, radiating golden light. Historically, the Dragonfish Sword was a divine weapon comparable to the Zaenarad Sword. Its wielder was the Giant Race’s leader, Cross, who had led the war against the dragon race.

Such a unique and powerful divine artifact was beyond monetary value. Just like Nie Yan’s Zaenarad Sword, these kinds of weapons were bound upon equipping.

Eventually, the Dragonfish Sword ended up in the hands of a Divine Warrior named Feng Dao Wushuang from Bright Holy Flame. That sword was an absolute killing tool, cutting down enemies like melons and vegetables. It was said that after obtaining the Dragonfish Sword, the Divine Warrior’s damage output increased more than two-fold, and there were never any issues with threat loss when pulling aggro.

Feng Dao Wushuang was a prominent figure in Nie Yan’s previous life. Although he now held an important position in Bright Holy Flame, he was somewhat overshadowed compared to other figures like Cui Can Daoguang.

Once his team became strong enough, Nie Yan would lead his forces to defeat this Golden Dragonfish. Weapons like the Dragonfish Sword were not to be missed.

The Dragonfish Sword was a one-handed sword, making it more suitable for shield warriors. For a shield warrior, possessing a good weapon meant stronger offensive capabilities, making it easier to maintain the boss’s aggro during tanking, thus ensuring the team’s safety. On the market, the fully intact Dragonfish Sword would likely be worth even more than the fully intact Zaenarad Sword.

Watching the Golden Dragonfish swim away, Nie Yan swam in another direction. After all, the Golden Dragonfish had always been active in the Silent Bay and wouldn’t run away. The Silent Bay wasn’t that large, and finding such a massive Golden Dragonfish shouldn’t be difficult.

After swimming underwater for a while, Nie Yan reached the edge of an island. He surfaced and walked towards the beach, spotting some spiky humanoid monsters moving in the distance. He immediately activated stealth mode.

The island wasn’t as safe as the sea. Here, level 120 Ironback Fishmen spawned. They were very strong fighters, and their most annoying trait was their immunity to physical attacks. Any physical attack against them was ineffective. Encountering such monsters, Nie Yan could only avoid them.

After searching the island for a while without finding Guardian Benita, Nie Yan returned to the water and swam toward another island. While underwater, he discovered a purple-gold ore mine located midway between the two islands. He recorded the coordinates.

The Zijin ore mine stretched for three to four hundred yards. Underwater rocks were embedded with sparkling Zijin ore of various sizes, shimmering like stars and creating a breathtaking spectacle.

The creatures here were gentle and wouldn’t attack people. For miners, this was an ideal mining location, where even low-level miners could come to gather ores.

Nie Yan immediately sent a message to Guo Huai, instructing him to send people to mine the ores.

The mining team of Niu Ren Tribe had expanded from over one hundred to six thousand members. Around one thousand of them were officially employed by the tribe. They moved between various ore mines, responsible for gathering ores for Niu Ren Tribe. As the game progressed, more high-level players emerged. Most players who were not skilled in leveling or PvP had switched to mining or other non-technical professions.

This group of miners had decent productivity. While Niu Ren Tribe met its internal needs, it could also sell surplus lower-quality ores.

Generally, when a new ore deposit was discovered, the resources were initially abundant. However, after some time of mining, the daily output would drop significantly. The Niu Ren Tribe had ample supplies of low-grade ores but faced a severe shortage of high-grade ores like Purple Gold. The Purple Gold deposit Nie Yan discovered would greatly benefit the tribe.

Guo Huai had already dispatched people. It would take a long time for the players to escort the miners here, as there were too many high-level monsters along the way. Once a group of miners arrived, they wouldn’t need to return. Niu Ren Tribe’s rogue players would transport the mined ores back.

There was another gold ore mine nearby. Nie Yan planned to have Guo Huai send people to search for it.

After a while, Nie Yan set foot on another island. As he stepped onto the sandy beach, he heard a melodious song drifting through the air, faintly audible, like a sorrowful lament. The voice was as crisp as a nightingale’s, as if expressing inner longing.

It must be the dragon girl Benita’s voice. She was on this island!