The photo was blurry, but it was clear that it had been taken from a great distance.

The reason it was called a “sea forest” was because there was no land visible in the picture, or rather, the land was submerged below the water’s surface.

Given its ability to move, Yang Yi had reason to suspect that the thing was a Rotwhale, though it was hard to determine its size without confirmation from the source.

Using his moniker “One-Eye,” Yang Yi sent a private message to the person who had posted the photo.

“Hello, is that forest still near you? How big is it, roughly? Could you share the coordinates? I’m willing to pay you some Shell Coins in exchange.”

After sending the message, the person didn’t reply for several minutes, likely asleep.

Yang Yi didn’t wait around. Instead, he looked at the ocean map and confirmed the coordinates.

It was about a four-day journey from the location where he had previously discovered an island in the Bountiful Sea.

When the time came, he could save a scan for that area, that island might actually be a Rotwhale.

Using the sea map inside the crystal ball, Yang Yi could confirm the Rotwhale’s size and thereby estimate its strength.

Suddenly, his fishing rod dipped; something had taken the bait.

Yang Yi gave it a sharp tug. As expected, it was a Small Delicious Flesh Chunk, almost worthless in itself.

A couple of days before, Yang Yi would’ve immediately cut the line.

But knowing the Delicious Flesh Chunks could be used to make Growth Potions, and the success rate was much higher than making potions directly from white seawater, he wasn’t so scared. It was well worth collecting them.

He hoisted the Small Delicious Flesh Chunk up onto the deck and, like a crane, swung it over into a wooden barrel filled with salt. He then sealed the lid and pressed down firmly…

There was a loud thrashing sound from inside, but after a dozen seconds, it subsided and went quiet.

The round, pancake-like chunk of flesh had dehydrated into a shriveled, dark little ball.

Yang Yi buried it in salt and continued fishing... Discover more novels at novel-fire.net

By noon, he had harvested over twenty such balls, along with several edible Abyssal Fish Species and a few inedible monster fish.

Yang Yi sorted the catch by type and use.

The edible ones were roasted and made into salted fish; the inedible ones were all sent to the laboratory.

But after several days of fishing, there was one thing that continued to bother him:

Why weren’t there any floating meat chunks on the sea anymore?

Back when he first entered the Bountiful Sea, he had seen many meat chunks drifting on the water, some even attacked passing ships. But after spending this long in the same waters, he hadn’t seen a single floating chunk. (Fishing catches didn’t count.)

Even if the earlier phenomenon was due to the tsunami, it had already been days. He should’ve encountered something by now.

Could they all be ahead?

Yang Yi had no answers, just the growing sense that there was something deeply strange about the Bountiful Sea.

He sent the inedible fish and shriveled Delicious Flesh Chunks to the Witch’s Lab.

Inside, Su Na was methodically crafting Growth Potions. The process was intricate and required precise control over digestion time, which varied depending on the composition of the material being processed.

Yang Yi couldn’t be much help. All he could do was keep supplying her with raw materials for potion-making. That way, even if a batch failed, there would still be enough to try again.

After all that was handled, he checked on the salted fish. Including the freshly roasted batch, he had exactly 6.5 kg

If he kept fishing daily, he could produce half of that in dried fish per day; a wide range.

But that was fishing, something entirely random. The final weight depended heavily on the species caught.

If he reeled in long-legged sardines, for example, the dried version of each fish weighed just over ten grams, while larger fish would yield more.

Yang Yi decided to sell some of the salted fish, as once they left the Bountiful Sea, the price would almost certainly drop.

To catch buyers’ attention, Yang Yi listed it at 999 coins and started selling under the name of a Demon Hunter.

"Bro, why does your fish have legs?"

"Long-legged sardine jerky? I’ve never even heard of that!"

"Red-lipped eel jerky, ugh, that fish head is disgusting!"

System transactions couldn’t be faked or hidden, so buyers could view full item details before confirming the deal. If they weren’t satisfied, they could cancel at any time.

Yang Yi couldn’t be bothered to explain, if someone cancelled, he’d just sell to the next person. There was always someone who knew the value.

In less than half an hour, he sold off all 6.5 kg of fish, earning a tidy sum of Shell Coins.

He then used the proceeds to buy stone and steel, completing the material requirements to upgrade the Nightmare Star to level 4.

By the time he was done, it was already afternoon.

Yang Yi felt a bit hungry.

But after what happened the previous night, he had a psychological aversion to eating. Just putting food in his mouth triggered a gag reflex, likely a lingering effect from the dream.

Even so, he forced himself to eat a canned bread ration.

Afterwards, he used the lookout tower to scan the surrounding sea for any signs of Rotwhales or islands but came up empty.

The tsunami might have raised the sea level, causing previous islands to sink beneath the waves.

He took out the Eye of Greed, paid it 1000 Shell Coins, and stood on the lookout tower to perform a visual sweep.

Compared to the crystal ball's basic sea chart, the telescope allowed for much more detailed observation.

As he was scanning, a private message notification popped up; it was from the player who had posted the image of the sea forest.

“You really are One-Eye? Holy crap!”

The sender was clearly shocked. But that was exactly why Yang Yi used the One-Eye alias.

By using the name, he increased the chances of being taken seriously, which would lead to more reliable and detailed information, and that’s exactly what happened.

“The forest drifted away, it was moving pretty fast. So, I can only give you its previous coordinates. It was located at…”

Yang Yi checked the ocean map and saw that the coordinates were behind and to the left of his current position, roughly 4000 nautical miles away. Quite far. It would take several days to get there.

“What is that forest, anyway? Is it some kind of killable monster? Is it easy to kill?”

The other player continued asking, clearly intrigued by the forest.

Yang Yi didn’t hide anything because he didn’t actually know what it was either. He simply suspected it might be a Rotwhale.

“If you're interested, you can try following it. If you find anything, contact me, I’ll pay you for intel.”

Yang Yi sent the reply and transferred 1000 Shell Coins to the player, then didn’t think much more of it.

The distance was too great, and the target was mobile. By the time the Nightmare Star arrived, the thing might’ve already left the area, it simply wasn’t worth the effort to chase a monster that far.

The other player was thrilled by the payment and posted about the transaction with One-Eye in the chat channel, though not many people believed him.

Still, there was a benefit.

Thanks to his chatter, more players now knew that One-Eye was interested in that drifting forest. If someone else came across clues, they could just reach out.

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