Reborn One Week Before the Apocalypse

Chapter 103: Chapter 95: Acquired Treasure

”If that’s the case, that would be wonderful!” Wen Jianshu laughed, patting Wen Ze on the shoulder.

He genuinely cared for his nephew. If Wen Ze also happened to like that girl from the Li Family...

...it would be a joyous occasion for everyone.

「Meanwhile, in the Li Family.」

Li Xian was in high spirits. He had just received a call from Wen Jianshu to discuss a wedding date for the two youngsters.

He called Song Qing over and informed her directly.

When Song Qing heard that Wen Ze had not only agreed but also had a favorable impression of her, an indescribable feeling bloomed in her heart.

Blushing, she agreed. ”I will follow your arrangements, Uncle.”

Song Feng happened to be home. When he saw his uncle call his younger sister in, only for her to emerge a long time later, he knew they must have been discussing matters concerning her and the Wen Family.

”How did it go? What was Wen Ze’s attitude?”

At that moment, Song Feng felt extremely conflicted. On one hand, he hoped Wen Ze would refuse so his sister wouldn’t be forced into marriage.

On the other hand, with his protective big-brother instincts, he felt his sister was the best girl in the world. ’Why should she be the one to get rejected?’

”He said they agreed. I suppose we’ll be engaged soon. Uncle’s intention is to get us engaged first; he said there’s no rush to get married.”

The blush on Song Qing’s cheeks had just faded as she spoke to her brother.

”How could they do this?! No, I’m going to talk to Uncle.” Whenever it came to Song Qing, Song Feng had a hair-trigger temper.

”Don’t!” Song Qing hurriedly grabbed Song Feng.

”I... I’m willing to do it,” she explained, before fleeing back to her room.

Song Feng stood there, scratching his head.

’If my sister is truly willing, then the Wen Family is a good match.’

’Still, I never would have thought... she’s always so mature, but it turns out she likes younger guys. Who would’ve thought...’

「At the Wen Family home.」

Lin Yi’s belly was getting bigger and bigger, and her due date was fast approaching.

Lately, Tang Mo had been working harder than ever, accepting missions from the Alliance Mission Center, heading into the forest to kill mutant beasts, and saving up Crystal Cores.

She had no choice but to work hard. She was staying at S Base specifically for the birth of her younger siblings. ’When the babies arrive, how can I, their big sister, not give them a gift?’

She had her eye on a pair of Life Energy Silver Bracelets in the Alliance Store.

Currently, item-type abnormal treasures were divided into two kinds. The first was naturally occurring, existing from the very moment it manifested in the world.

The other kind was artificially made by fusing a large number of Crystal Cores with an object using powerful spiritual power, thereby creating an Acquired Treasure.

The advantage of these was that they avoided the physical burden of absorbing Crystal Cores. Theoretically, a person could infinitely increase their Comprehensive Attribute Value by wearing more and more abnormal treasures.

Creating an Acquired Treasure was no easy feat. It required a vast number of Intermediate Crystal Cores and the combined, powerful spiritual power of several Spiritual Ability Users to even have a chance of success.

And even then, the success rate wasn’t high; data from the base put it at only fifty percent.

Almost no Spiritual Ability User would attempt this alone.

Their own spiritual power would be insufficient, they wouldn’t have enough Intermediate Crystal Cores, and they couldn’t possibly bear the consequences of failure.

Tang Mo was broke at the moment; she didn’t have that many Crystal Cores to squander.

Even if she did, she didn’t have the time to spend on researching and experimenting with it.

The most important thing right now was to spend her time improving her own strength.

Some time had passed since Tang Mo had last absorbed a large number of Crystal Cores.

Tang Mo hadn’t actually been slacking off and had been continuously fighting and killing mutant beasts, but her rank still dropped from 15th to 18th.

What did this mean?

’It means that while I’m working hard, I’m not the one working the hardest. There’s always someone out there who’s more dedicated, who will surpass you and slowly leave you in the dust.’ Tang Mo didn’t dare to relax for even a moment.

Her Spiritual Flower had already bloomed completely. She couldn’t take it out to use for cultivation, so her only option was to eat its petals.

Tang Mo counted them. There were about 18 petals.

She, more than anyone, could feel the physical difference between attribute values raised through external means and those she earned herself.

For example, if two people had identical attribute value distributions, the one who relied on external power-ups would never be able to defeat the one who had improved through steady, hard work.

The purity of the attribute values was different, and thus, so were their effects.

Therefore, unless it was absolutely necessary, Tang Mo planned to avoid using any more consumable abnormal treasures or Crystal Cores.

As for Jingjing, ever since it learned to use a dagger to dig out Crystal Cores, it was as if a whole new world had opened up.

That day, it had clutched the dagger and refused to let go.

In the end, Tang Mo had no choice but to capture a few slightly venomous Basic Level insect-type mutant beasts in the forest, take them to the Alliance Exchange, and pay a small fee to have a crude little dagger made to placate Jingjing.

Fortunately, Jingjing hadn’t yet evolved to the point where it could discern quality. Seeing the new dagger Tang Mo had gotten for it—complete with a sheath and a small strap—it happily slung it over its body.

The pair of Life Energy Bracelets was not cheap. Tang Mo toiled in the forest for a whole month. She killed two Intermediate Beasts, sold their Crystal Cores, the Crystal Cores she earned from missions, and every other valuable part from the beasts she hunted. Only then did she barely scrape enough together to buy the bracelets.

After buying the bracelets, Tang Mo was left with only two bags of Basic Crystal Cores and a dozen or so Intermediate Crystal Cores.

The Basic Crystal Cores were Jingjing’s rations. The dozen or so Intermediate Crystal Cores were Tang Mo’s emergency fund—rainy-day money that was not to be touched lightly.

After buying the bracelets, Tang Mo was finally free from her midday excursions into the forest.

Swallowing the pain of spending more money, she took a few more classes at the training camp to further refine her Sword Skill. Afterwards, during her free time, she could have secret dates with Qin Ling in the second-floor stands overlooking the 1v1 dueling platforms or the Alliance Beast Fighting Arena.

She wasn’t actually very interested in the betting. She still remembered that the period after she’d won a huge number of Crystal Cores here had been the time her guard was lowest, the most lax she’d been since the apocalypse began.

She much preferred discussing with Qin Ling which side would win, what their advantages were, and what weaknesses they showed.

Qin Ling, however, occasionally wanted to place a bet—not for the Crystal Cores, but just for the fun of it.

But whenever he tried, Jingjing would start to get angry and agitated, jumping on Qin Ling and ramming him with its head.

”It must have had a terrible past life because of gambling. That’s why it despises it so much in this life.”

Qin Ling could only give up in resignation and focus on chatting with Tang Mo while they watched the matches.

Tang Mo actually understood why Jingjing acted this way. Jingjing had originally escaped from an Alliance Beast Fighting Arena.

The Beast Fighting Arena was different from the dueling platforms. Human duels were over once a winner was decided, but beast duels were always fights to the death.

It had been forced onto that kind of stage far too many times, and although it had always managed to survive by being clever...

...it was like shoving a toddler onto a battlefield, thrusting a gun into his hands, and forcing him to fight.

For a cub that had only been in the world for a short time, such a fate was simply too cruel.