Nie Yan gazed up at the cliff. About halfway up he spotted a cave entrance, several dragons circling above it in the skies. Their scales sparkled like crystals and reflected a dark violet colour under the sunlight.
"Did you find out how many of them there are?" Nie Yan asked. Judging by their appearances, these dragons looked like Violet Dragons. The defense and physical attacks of Violet Dragons were mediocre at best, but they had extremely powerful magic attacks. From his memory, there was a nest of Violet Eye Dragons in this vicinity. Perhaps this was it.
"We've discovered seven Violet Eye Dragons so far. There might be more," Silvery Night replied.
"How do you know they are Violet Eye Dragons?" Nie Yan asked.
"When some of them went out to hunt and drink water, we followed them and were able to confirm it."
Nie Yan nodded in approval. Silvery Night had performed well.
Nie Yan decided to climb up the cliff and take a look inside the cave. His target was the dragon egg in the den.
Nie Yan knew of the Violet Eye Dragon from a story of the previous timeline. Back then, the players from several guilds had cornered a wounded Violet Eye Dragon. At the crucial time, a random Warrior had swooped in to steal the dragon's egg, which he shortly after hatched. He instantly rose to the ranks of an expert, both in skill and level. The several guilds who had the egg snatched away from them sent people to kill him several times, only to have their forces slaughtered time and time again. Eventually, the Violet Eye Dragon became one of the top three pets.
Even though flying mounts did exist in the previous timeline, there weren't all that many. The levelling speed of players also was substantially slower. As such, pets were of much greater importance. A high level one could instantly help a player become powerful.
Later on, stories spread of players discovering the den of another Violet Eye Dragon. Several large guilds dispatched expedition teams to kill the dragons and snatch their eggs. However, they were wiped out. Eventually, someone supposedly snuck into the nest and stole an egg, a Violet Eye Dragon hatching from it. However, these were all stories Nie Yan had heard in passing or read on the forums; it was hard to tell truth from fantasy.
What these events of the past did prove, was the strength of the Violet Eye Dragon. They were comparable to Lil' Gold. Even though they paled in close combat ability, they more than made up for it with their powerful magic ability. In the previous timeline, Golden Dragons only ranked in the top 10, while that one Violet Eye Dragon was always in the top three, never knocked off from its position. It was no wonder Nie Yan was moved.
In the previous timeline, players had resorted to all means fair or foul to obtain a Violet Eye Dragon. Yet they still met with failure. In this life, if Nie Yan wanted to obtain a Violet Eye Dragon egg, it wouldn't be easy.
The Violet Eye Dragon might be a dragon that could fly, but it wasn't a flying mount. It could only sustain flight for about six minutes tops. And when flying, they couldn't attack. Flying was an extremely strenuous activity for them.
Nie Yan and Silvery Night observed the dragon's den for a while. Every now and then, one or two Violet Eye Dragons would come flying out. However, no matter what, the den was always guarded by at least three Violet Eye Dragons.
These Violet Eye Dragons were all Level 200 Variant Lords. They were extremely powerful. Any single one of them could wipe out Nie Yan and the other Thieves. One could imagine how difficult it would be to snatch an egg from this place. Nie Yan had no idea how the people of the previous timeline did it.
Even though he was about to do something so dangerous, Nie Yan was fairly calm. Ever since the game was released, he had risked his life countless times. This was part of the game for him.
When Silvery Night, Su Yue, and the others heard Nie Yan wanted to snatch away the dragon egg, they all looked at him with baffled expressions, believing they misheard. However, seeing the confident smile on his face, they knew he wasn't joking. To snatch away an egg from right under the noses of seven Level 200 dragons, perhaps he was the only one who dared to do such a thing!
As Nie Yan was about to draw up a plan, a Thief let out a cry. "Boss, watch out!"
"It's a Rank 7 Dark Mega Sandscorpion!"
"Shit, it's coming straight for us!"
Nie Yan raised his head. An enormous, black winged scorpion was swooping down towards them from the sky. Its wings were kicking up a black sandstorm.
"Boss, run!"
Silvery Night, Su Yue, and the others all scattered.
"A darkness-attribute flying creature, here?" Nie Yan narrowed his eyes. His lips curved into a smile. Why would he run?
In the face of the scorpion swooping down towards him, Nie Yan showed no signs of moving.
Silvery Night, Su Yue, and the others wanted to call out to Nie Yan, only to hear a large explosion. A black sandstorm completely enveloped Nie Yan and swept out into the surroundings. They raised their daggers to block, yet were still pushed back several steps.
They paled in fright. Trapped within this powerful sandstorm, Nie Yan was doomed for sure!
How could a player go toe-to-toe with a Rank 7 flying creature!?
Nie Yan had to admit that the sandstorm was pretty powerful. Just as the Dark Mega Sandscorpion came swooping down, he activated Gale Step and combined it with his Shadow Steps footwork to evade the attack.
The scorpion landed heavily on the ground. Its multiple eyes scanned the surroundings for traces of Nie Yan. Its stinger was raised high in the air, ready to strike.
At this moment, a silhouette landed on its back.
Feeling something move on his back, the scorpion thrashed about and kicked up a powerful sandstorm.
PSFHT! Nie Yan plunged the Bloody Dagger into the back of the Scorpion's head. It let out a painful screech and jabbed its stinger at him.
Nie Yan sidestepped and evaded the attack. With a grunt, he drove the Bloody Dagger across the scorpion's head. PSFHT! A black liquid sprayed out and splashed his body.
A string of 10,000s floated up above Nie Yan's head. He quickly took a high rank Antidote from his bag and drank it, removing the poison effect.
No matter how much the scorpion struggled, it couldn't throw Nie Yan off its back.
After a while, the scorpion's movements gradually came to a stop. Nie Yan stuck his hand into its head and fished out a Darkness Life Core.
Silvery Night, Su Yue, and the others were anxiously waiting a little distance away. The sandstorm was too powerful. They had no way of approaching. However, they could sense that the scorpion was thrashing about violently from within due to the ground shaking under their feet.
They were all puzzled. Just what was going on?
About two minutes later, the sandstorm gradually dispersed.
"The sandstorm ended!"
"Quickly, find the boss!"
If something were to happen to Nie Yan while with them, they definitely could not bear this responsibility!
Silvery Night raised his head. The sight before him had him gaping in shock. The scorpion lay collapsed on the ground in a pile of sand with black blood leaking from its head. It was dead!
After the dust settled, Nie Yan leisurely walked over toward them. His body was only covered with a bit of sand and the scorpion's blood.
Silvery Night, Su Yue, and the others stared at Nie Yan, then back at the corpse of the scorpion. Their breaths stagnated, unable to describe the shock in their hearts. That was a Rank 7 flying creature! Yet it was dealt with by Nie Yan so easily!
Seeing Nie Yan walking over, Su Yue finally understood Silvery Night's words from earlier. This was the path of a Thief. Under my dagger, if I want you to die, you won't even know what killed you. This applied to both humans and monsters!
Nie Yan tossed the scorpion's Darkness Life Core to the Spectre Dragon in his pet space.
"Boss, Dark Mega Sandscorpions are creatures that move in swarms. There are probably more of them," Silvery Night warned.
Nie Yan nodded with a chuckle. "That'd be great. The more, the better." His stockpile of Darkness Life Cores was starting to run low. The Darkwing Dragon and Spectre Dragon were both gluttons. He needed to restock on them, and Rank 7 Life Cores were fairly decent.
Silvery Night thought for a moment. It appeared he was overthinking things. Nie Yan didn't seem to care about these Dark Mega Scandscorpions at all! He had always deeply admired Nie Yan, but today he was shocked once more.
Nie Yan started investigating the Violet Eye Dragon's den. He used the Web-Crawler Ring to scale up the cliff, observing the inside of the cave as he hid behind the protruding rocks. He watched the Violet Eye Dragons moving inside. They were quite close together. The cave was dark, only lit up by a faint red glow. Violet Eye Dragons liked to make their dens near volcanic regions, since that was the best place to raise their young.
Entering this place would be difficult. While Nie Yan was thinking of a plan, more Dark Mega Sandscorpions did come flying over, allowing him to replenish his stock of Darkness Life Cores.
After eating several Rank 7 Life Cores, the Spectre Dragon rapidly grew in size. Likely because it was a spirit, its absorption ability of the Darkness Life Cores was much better than that of the Darkwing Dragon. Plus, since it was only Rank 6, Rank 7 Life Cores were extremely effective for its growth.
Nie Yan could sense the Spectre Dragon's aura had already reached the peak of Rank 6. It was on the verge of breaking through to Rank 7. Once that happened, he would no longer have to fear the Vermillion Garudas.
The Spectre Dragon and Darkwing Dragon were different. The Darkwing Dragon was a close-combat flying mount. After ranking up, its defense and attack power would greatly increase. It rarely learned new skills. On the other hand, the Spectre Dragon would learn two new skills once it broke through to Rank 7! Nie Yan was filled with expectation.