Ye Jun drifted alone in the sea for a little over half a month, facing the vast sea every day, without even someone to talk to, and with only a few dozen square feet of activity. If it was someone who couldn't stand loneliness, they would have had a mental breakdown.
It was an unexpected surprise to receive a pet.
This was after all a spirit pet he received from checking in the system, and it was connected to Ye Jun's mind, unlike the electric ray, which just knew how to discharge electricity like a silly dog.
From now on, Ye Jun had a partner.
Even if this little fellow, Nine Thousand Years Old, was just a freeloader, Ye Jun would still raise it properly.
Compared to having teammates, Ye Jun felt it was more trustworthy to have a pet.
Sometimes, animals were inherently more trustworthy than people.
Now, those in Group Mode, unless they had lots of resources and lived well, most had disagreements and disbanded.
This wasn't surprising!
People were inherently self-serving, risk-averse, and good at blaming other people for their mistakes.
This selfish nature could be infinitely amplified in an environment where one had to face life and death risks every day.
Not to mention ordinary people being selfish in difficult situations, even the remarkable four-man squad on their journey to the west, if they didn't have help from Heavenly Immortals and Gods, they would've disbanded long ago.
Disbanding was a minor matter. What you had to truly guard against was the backstabbing by these so-called teammates.
There were more and more examples of these situations being revealed on the world channel now.
Some robbed their teammates for food, those who broke up the group and robbed their ex-teammates specifically, and those who just took advantage of their ex-teammates and freeload EXP while their ex-teammates were hunting.
There were even hungry, crazy people who hunted each other and ate human flesh.
Compared to the capricious, complicated, and simply baffling human mind, Ye Jun felt the naive-looking electric ray that only knew how to discharge electricity looked a lot more pleasing to the eye.
Not to mention, a pet like a sea turtle that was connected to his mind.
It was better to have a pet, even if it was just to stroke it every day, than to fight and scheme against others and fight for power.
However, to Ye Jun's surprise, this little guy, it seemed like it wasn't just a freeloader. It had some skills.
"Your skills, show it off!"
"Wuwu…"
The little sea turtle seemed to express its displeasure at Ye Jun for not trusting it, and with a flip, it jumped into the sea.
'Heh, the little guy… has a temper!'
Ye Jun was a bit speechless.
The small sea turtle sank into the water and disappeared from his sight.
Ye Jun could feel that the little guy didn't swim too far and was diving deeper toward the ocean floor. He was worried that the little guy would encounter fierce natural enemies. It would probably be swallowed in one bite once it met a large fish.
Ye Jun hurriedly sent the doll after it.
The little turtle swam unhurriedly through the sea, seemingly unconcerned with the dangers of the sea.
Youth knows no fear!
After all, it wasn't a wild animal, and it hadn't suffered the beatings of nature.
This little guy was hatched by his own hands… Ye Jun controlled the doll and followed it all the way, diving to the bottom of the sea, to find out that the little turtle was heading towards the iron mine.
"It knows that there's iron ore there? It recognizes iron ore?"
Ye Jun was a little surprised.
'Looks like the little turtle has some skills.'
'I wonder if it's a coincidence!'
Currently, he had to rely on his doll to swim around slowly and aimlessly at the bottom of the sea.
If the little sea turtle could find treasures in the sea, then Ye Jun's efficiency in searching the seabed would be greatly increased in the future.
The little turtle burrowed into the mountain of iron ore and disappeared, leaving the doll to wait outside.
After a while, the little turtle came out.
The little turtle swayed as it swam in the water as if it were a bit unsteady.
'Just… how has this guy grown up so much in such a short time?'
Coming closer, Ye Jun noticed that it wasn't that this guy had grown up, but it was carrying something black on its back.
"What's this?"
Ye Jun got his hands on it.
"Magnets found!"
'I can't believe it's a magnet!'
Ye Jun was taken aback.
It wasn't uncommon for iron mines to have some associated minerals. But, how did Nine Thousand Years Old find magnets?
And how did it know that magnets were more valuable than iron ore?
Ye Jun thought of a nature documentary he had once watched, and in one episode, it seemed to say that sea turtles relied on magnetic fields to determine their direction and that they had a keen sense of them.
Was that why it was able to find the magnets?
The little turtle held its head high as if to say, 'now you know how awesome I am!'
Both of them were thinking the same thing.
"You're awesome!"
Ye Jun laughed a little and stroked its ebony head. "Nine Thousand Years Old, is that all the magnet? Or is there more in there?"
'Wait!'
The little turtle passed its thought to Ye Jun, turned around, and once again dug into the mine, and shortly after, it struggled to carry out a magnet.
Three times in a row!
On its last trip, in addition to carrying out a large magnet, the little turtle had a small piece of sparkling gold in its mouth.
"Found shattered gold! Worth 3 gold coins."
It was gold!
All kinds of ores had some kind of concomitants, but it was extremely rare for iron ore to be found with gold.
Plus, the gold had mud on top of it. The little turtle had dug it out from inside the mud.
If it were Ye Jun, even if he emptied the entire mine, he wouldn't be able to find this chunk of gold.
He might not even be able to find the magnets.
After all, the situation at sea changed constantly, and it was impossible to say how long he could stay here.
'Go! Go back!'
Ye Jun controlled the doll to return with the magnets on its back.
Back on the ship, the little turtle was lying leisurely on the deck, crossing its legs and stretching its long neck. It cocked its head as it looked at Ye Jun with a smug look.
"You're really something!" Ye Jun praised this little guy wholeheartedly; as expected of something produced by the system, it truly wasn't a freeloader.
This small chunk of gold should be worth 30,000 copper coins, enough for this little guy to eat fish for a few years.
Ye Jun didn't care much about this bit of gold that was worth some copper coins. The most important finding was the magnets.
With these magnets, Ye Jun could do a lot of things.
The first thing was definitely to make a compass!
At first, Ye Jun wanted to make a geomantic compass, but it wasn't accurate enough, so a normal compass would still work.
Even though there was sun every day, how would he know whether he was in the southern or northern hemisphere?
Maybe this place wasn't even Bluestar.
With a compass, the basic bearings could be determined.
Making a compass wasn't difficult; he learned how to make one in elementary school as homework for arts and craft class.
Make a magnetic pin first, then a base, before finishing it off with a needle in the middle of the pin.
Ye Jun gently moved the magnetic needle, which turned with inertia, and finally slowly pointed in a direction.
Ye Jun experimented a few times, making the magnetic pin turn in opposite directions at different speeds, and whenever it stopped, the magnetic pin always pointed in the same direction.
The compass was complete.
Although the magnetic poles weren't truly north and south, at least the general direction was there.
Now he didn't have to worry about the ship going in circles at sea.
He just had to control the direction and sail the ship in one direction, and sooner or later, he would be able to make it to land.