My Apocalypse System Arrives 10 Years Early

”Congratulations, Host. You have slain a Tier Three Mutated Creature...”

”Congratulations, Host. You have slain a Tier Six Mutated Creature...”

...

Li Xiang’s head was ringing from the constant notifications, so he ordered the system to turn them off. Finally, he took stock of his gains: a staggering total of over three million Achievement Points and nearly ninety thousand Spiritual Medicines ranging from Tier One to Tier Eight. The main varieties included Blood Wing Grass, Night Pupil Flower, Frost Moon Dew Lingzhi, Star-Patterned Gentian Vine, Poisonous Gland Fruit, and Flame Heart Glaze Ginseng, among others.

He had also obtained three Extraordinary Items, though they were of a relatively low Tier:

One was the Tier Eight Shadow Cloak, which allowed the wearer to move as a shadow for 12 seconds (2-hour cooldown).

Another was also Tier Eight: the Blood Fang Blade, a sharp dagger that could drain 10% of a target’s health on hit.

The final item, however, was Tier Ten: the Night Wing Boots. They possessed the ’Stepping into the Void’ trait, allowing the wearer to walk on air for 3 minutes each day.

However, given Li Xiang’s current level of power, these three Extraordinary Items, while perhaps precious to other Extraordinary Beings, were of little use to him.

In his previous life, obtaining even one of them would have made him so happy he wouldn’t have been able to sleep for days on end.

’They’re not completely useless, though,’ Li Xiang mused. ’The three minutes of air-walking could be useful. If I shoot upward at hypersonic speed and then use this Extraordinary Item, I might be able to reach heights I never could before.’

Dressed in his Giant Whale Saint Armor, Li Xiang stood upon the still-warm rubble mixed with the corpses of countless bats. Surveying the boundless rewards in his system inventory, he felt a surge of heroic spirit and was suddenly inspired to compose a poem on the spot.

He was a college student, after all. His literature grades had always been pretty good, and he loved reading both classical and world-renowned literary works. So, in this fit of poetic inspiration, the first two lines tumbled out: ”Blood wings obscure the sun, heaven and earth go dark; the ground splits and mountains fall, the cavern collapses...”

And then... nothing.

’Crap, of all the times to get writer’s block...’ Li Xiang slapped his forehead, completely speechless.

’A proper quatrain needs four lines. What good are just two?’

But no matter how long Li Xiang wracked his brain, he couldn’t come up with anything he was satisfied with.

Jiang Cai’Er had previously composed poetry on a livestream using an alias. When the two of them were on a date later, she had naturally come clean about it. Li Xiang had seen how effortlessly she wrote poetry online, so he’d wanted to give it a try himself this time.

The result... a complete failure at showing off. ’Good thing no one else is here,’ he thought, ’or I’d die of embarrassment.’

It just goes to show, it always looks easy when you’re just watching from the sidelines.

’Forget it. How can I compare to my Cai’Er Baby? She’s a monster of a genius!’ Li Xiang gave up. Just as he was about to leave using Earth Escape, his Earth Vein Perception Ability detected a mineral vein deep underground.

An earthy yellow light immediately bloomed around him as he made his way toward the vein.

It wasn’t a special Spirit Vein, but a vein of vanadiferous-titaniferous magnetite, which might also contain other heavy metals or rare elements.

Li Xiang had been learning about mineralogy from Jiang Cai’Er for a long time, so he could now identify some ores on his own. While not perfectly accurate, he was usually pretty close.

The quality of this vanadiferous-titaniferous ore was excellent—a fine material for crafting Crystal Vein Armor. Li Xiang tried his hand at it on the spot. After about an hour, he had acquired a set of Tier Four Extraordinary Spirit Armor, two Tier Three Extraordinary Battle Sabers, and five other Mortal Weapons. Even for Mortal Weapons, their hardness and toughness were comparable to high-strength alloys, making their quality quite good.

Beyond weapons, using these ore veins to craft items like hoes, kitchen knives, chopping knives, and fruit knives was also an excellent idea, as they would be extremely practical.

Sensing the vast reserves in this ore vein, Li Xiang suddenly had a flash of inspiration and came up with the last two lines of his poem: