Of course, Riven wasn't speaking recklessly.
From the girl's description, he immediately realized that the Gold-tier Boss she mentioned was a rare and special type—the Golden Ghost Ship!
This Boss could appear at any level range.
Since it had spawned near a beginner town, it was most likely Level 5.
Its health and attack power were comparable to ordinary Gold-tier Bosses, but it possessed significantly more skills, making it extremely difficult to defeat.
Most importantly, this Boss dropped a highly valuable special item!
That item would be priceless in the late game, something that even a thousand years of lifespan wouldn't be enough to purchase!
"Encountering a Golden Ghost Ship this early in the game? That's some serious luck."
"Besides, a Level 5 Golden Ghost Ship is the easiest to take down."
"If it were a higher-level one, both its skill range and damage would be ridiculously overwhelming…"
A few minutes later.
After selling the last two items, Riven left Shell Town with the girl Black Yefa Nali. He took stock of his earnings. Altogether, he had made 650 days of tradeable lifespan from this sale, bringing his total up to 2,174 days.
However…
It still wasn't enough!
If he wanted to extract his level, attributes, class, equipment, and skills from Eclipse of Eternity into the real world, six or seven years of lifespan wouldn't cut it!
"I'm not far from hitting Level 10."
"Until then, I need to amass as much lifespan as possible."
And this unexpected discovery—the Golden Ghost Ship—would be a major turning point for him.
If he could kill it and obtain that special item, his growth would accelerate even further!
Riven and Lina departed from the town.
The beautiful girl's real name was Lina Faye. Her large, expressive eyes were still filled with shock…
She couldn't imagine how Riven planned to solo a Gold-tier Boss.
"Gold-tier Bosses must have wide-area attacks, right?"
"Even if he can turn invisible, it's impossible for him to take no damage at all…"
"With how fragile an assassin is, just one hit from the boss could be instant death…"
Suddenly, Riven slowed down and moved back to her side.
"You're a bit too slow," he said casually. "Also, we're being followed."
Lina's eyes widened. "Huh? What do we do?"
Being tailed was definitely not a good sign. If someone ambushed them while fighting the Boss, that would be a disaster.
Riven said, "Just keep walking. I'll handle it."
Lina didn't turn around.
Her slender figure, wrapped in a black mage robe, continued moving forward across the scorched land…
Meanwhile, Riven vanished into the shadows.
A few seconds later.
He had backtracked nearly a hundred feet into the trees, instantly spotting five players following them.
Shadow Step!
His figure flashed through the darkness.
A cold gleam of steel cut through the night—
-817!
-821!
-798!
…
Four damage numbers floated up—
Four players were instantly slain!
The last remaining player watched his teammates get annihilated in an instant. His face turned pale, and he tried to run—
But a poisoned throwing dagger shot through the air, striking the back of his head with deadly precision!
-948 (Critical Hit)!
Instant kill!
Unfortunately, these five guys were broke.
Riven looted their tradeable lifespan, but all five of them combined had barely ten days' worth…
"Oh well, consider it clearing some small mobs."
With that, Riven calmly walked out of the forest.
"We need to pick up the pace."
Returning to Lina's side, he reached out and lifted her up, throwing her over his shoulder.
"W-Wait, what?"
Lina was completely stunned. This posture…?!
It felt like she had been kidnapped by a thug!
But before she could protest, she was shocked by Riven's speed.
With 72 Agility, his normal running speed was already 8.5 meters per second.
At full sprint, he could reach 25 meters per second!
That meant he could run 100 meters in just 4 seconds.
It was far beyond the limits of human ability!
"Once I hit Level 10, I can use tradeable lifespan to extract my stats into reality…
"Then I'll have these attributes in the real world as well!"
Riven's mind raced with anticipation.
At the same time, he couldn't ignore the sensation of Lina's figure against him—
Her slender waist, her long, toned legs, and the perfect S-curve of her body… Though this was a game, it was exactly the same as reality.
In Eclipse of Eternity, player appearances were identical to their real-world selves. This was one of the reasons why people believed the game to be supernatural. Technology on Solara shouldn't be advanced enough to create something like this!
Right now—
Although Riven couldn't turn Lina invisible, carrying her at top speed meant no one could possibly keep up.
"I may be strong now, but I still don't have any anti-stealth detection skills."
"If someone invisible was tailing me, I wouldn't even notice…"
With that in mind, his best option was to simply outrun everyone.
Following Lina's guidance, Riven sped through the dark forest.
Any monsters in his way?
He casually threw a poisoned dagger—instant kill! Watching him move, Lina was left speechless. Riven was insanely strong!
After nearly ten minutes, they finally arrived at a cliffside. From here, looking down, they could see a swamp, shrouded in a thick, gray mist. And in the middle of the swamp—
A ship. It was tattered, ghostly ship, faintly glowing with golden light.
Even from over a hundred meters away, they could see its massive health bar. The bar stretched across the screen, outlined in gold, marking it as a Gold-tier Boss.
"Yep… that's definitely the Golden Ghost Ship!"
Riven's heart pounded with excitement.
He set Lina down on the cliff.
"Wait here. Keep an eye out for ambushes. I'll handle the Boss."
Before she could reply, he was already gone, following a hidden path down the cliff.
The moment Riven stepped into the swamp—
A system notification popped up:
[Due to the influence of the Ghost Ship, this area has become a Berserk Zone!]
[Lifespan loss rate within the zone: x100!]
Lifespan in this zone was being drained at 100 times the normal rate.
Which meant…
If he stayed here for 15 minutes, he would lose an entire day of lifespan!
Of course, this temporary Berserk Zone wasn't too concerning for this stage of the game.
But three months from now, when the Eclipse of Eternity phenomenon fully descended—
All of Solara would turn into a Berserk Zone. Even worse, there would be Catastrophe Zones and Nightmare Zones…
That would be the true beginning of humanity's nightmare. For now, though, Riven barely spared the notification a glance.
He had already gone invisible, moving silently across the swamp. His target was dead ahead.
As the mist parted, the Golden Ghost Ship emerged.
A five-meter-long, decaying vessel…
A skeletal figure clutched an old, broken oar—
And at the bow, a golden, ghostly bell burned with eerie flames.
[Golden Ghost Ship (Lv5)]
[Rank: Gold (Special)]
[Time Remaining: 45m 25s]
The hunt had begun.