Start Grinding with Mining

A quarter of an hour later.

Before dawn had fully broken, Qin Yao followed the numb crowd, collected a rusty iron pickaxe, and headed toward the mine tunnel gaping like the maw of a colossal beast.

Inside the mine, it was dark and damp, the air foul.

The crack of whips slicing through the air mingled with shouted abuse, echoing through the tunnels.

Before long, Qin Yao saw the burly overseer holding a leather whip.

"You're the new replacement? That so-called 'Top Scholar'?"

The man cocked his head and sized Qin Yao up. Toad Mouth split his lips in a grin, revealing two rows of big yellow teeth. "Heh heh, look at that pale, tender skin of yours, those skinny arms and legs.

"Now that you've lost your title, you could probably still earn yourself a hot meal by becoming some rich man's plaything. Hahahaha..."

Qin Yao showed nothing but numbness in the face of Li Gang's insults.

With his current frail body, he would never mindlessly rush in to fight someone to the death over a few insults.

That would not only get him killed—it would drag Grandpa and his little sister down with him!

Qin Yao knew well that when the person controlling your life and death was so much stronger than you that you had no chance of winning—

Temporary forbearance was nothing shameful.

But while he could swallow his anger, his backbone could not break!

Qin Yao had engraved every one of these debts deep in his heart. Sooner or later, he would settle them all!!

"My name is Li Gang. You call me Foreman Li."

The burly Toad Mouth continued, "Don't even think about slacking off under me, or my whip won't spare you!"

"Get to work!"

Li Gang flicked his long whip. The mine slaves shuddered on reflex and hurriedly began working.

Qin Yao drew a deep breath, raised the heavy iron pickaxe, and smashed it down with all the strength he could muster—Clang!

Sparks scattered from the rock wall.

The tremendous recoil made Qin Yao's entire arm go numb, splitting the web between his thumb and forefinger.

Yet the rock wall bore only a faint white mark.

An old mine slave beside him glanced at Qin Yao, curled his lip, and shook his head. "This young man is way too useless!

"Working like that, he won't be getting any food today!

"Tch, what 'Top Scholar'? The moment he lost power, wasn't he still lower than even me?"

The old mine slave secretly gloated.

Qin Yao, on the other hand, was not discouraged at all. His eyes instead lit up!

Because the moment he swung that pickaxe, the system panel changed—

Ding! Detected that the host's current labor meets the standards for skill generation.
New skill generated: Mining, Beginner Realm (1/100)

"Beginner Realm?

"Then once I swing it a hundred times and the skill realm rises, I should receive upgrade feedback, right?"

Qin Yao was secretly delighted. He raised the pickaxe again and struck down with all his might—Clang!

Mining skill proficiency +2
Mining skill: Beginner Realm (3/100)

"Ha, the proficiency really did rise—and by more than just one point!

"Could it be because I put more effort into that swing?

"Keep going!"

In his excitement, Qin Yao barely even felt the pain in his split hand.

Right now, he only wanted to grind enough swings as quickly as possible, raise his skill realm, and obtain the upgrade feedback.

Clang! Clang! Clang...

One strike, two strikes, three strikes...

Every time Qin Yao swung his pickaxe, he gave it everything he had.

Even when both arms were numbed by the vibrations, he paid it no mind.

His gaze remained fixed on the translucent attribute panel before him.

Mining proficiency +2
Mining proficiency +1

Mining...

The progress bar steadily crept upward.

But most of the numbers were +1 or +2.

After only five swings, Qin Yao was already dripping with cold sweat, and his heart sank. "Still too slow!

"With this incredibly weak body of mine, I'll reach my limit after another dozen or so swings.

"I need to find a way to improve my efficiency, or I won't last until the upgrade at all..."

With that thought, Qin Yao slowed his pace and carefully observed the old mine slaves beside him.

He quickly discovered that these old mine slaves did not rely solely on brute strength.

The angle of their strikes and the way they exerted force all faintly contained a certain rhythm and technique.

It seemed they were borrowing the power of their waists and legs?

Qin Yao decisively adjusted his movements. He began imitating the old mine slaves, sinking his waist and settling his stance, coordinating the strength of his whole body instead of relying only on his arms.

Clang!

This time, the pickaxe landed precisely, and a basin-sized chunk of ore fell away at once!

At the same time—

Mining proficiency +5

"Five points in one strike?!"

Qin Yao's spirits soared. "It really worked!"

Having found the trick, he became even more focused with every swing, striving for maximum efficiency.

Clang! Clang! Clang...

Sweat blurred his vision, and his arms trembled so badly that he could barely grip the pickaxe handle, yet the youth still gritted his teeth and persevered.

His entire mind was fixed on the constantly jumping numbers—

Mining skill: Beginner Realm (17/100)

Mining skill: Beginner Realm (23/100)

Mining skill: Beginner Realm (30/100)

Just as Qin Yao's strength was about to run dry and even his consciousness began to blur—

Mining proficiency +5. Current proficiency: 101/100

Ding! Skill "Mining" has risen to Entry Realm (1/300)

Buzz!

In an instant, a faint warm current emerged from deep within Qin Yao's body and flowed through all four limbs and every bone!

The bone-deep exhaustion that had plagued him was also dispelled by more than half.

Insights into mining, muscle memory, and all manner of experience flooded into his soul without instruction!

Most importantly, Qin Yao could clearly feel that he had grown stronger than when he first entered the mine!

Where he had previously struggled tremendously just to lift the pickaxe, the tool in his hands now felt no different from an ordinary shovel.

"Th-this... could this be the legendary 'upgrade feedback'?"

Qin Yao was delighted. "It may not be like some games, where a character levels up and instantly returns to full health and mana, but it's still pretty good!"

He opened the attribute panel to take a look—

Host: Qin Yao

Realm: None. Physical condition of an ordinary adult male.

Cultivation method: None

Skill: Mining (Entry Realm, 1/300)

Available points: 1

"What are these 'available points' for?"

Qin Yao wondered. "Surely they can't be used to add one point of proficiency to a skill for every one available point? That would be far too useless!

"Forget it. I'll study it when I have time.

"The urgent thing is to keep grinding experience and obtain even stronger upgrade feedback!"

With the system panel as his safety net, Qin Yao no longer viewed the bitter labor of mining as punishment.

Instead, he treated it as a different kind of cultivation. His pickaxe flew up and down—Clang! Clang! Clang...

Mining proficiency +6

Mining proficiency +5

Mining...

Inside the mine—

Li Gang, the overseer carrying a long whip and pacing back and forth, once again turned his gaze toward Qin Yao.

Seeing the youth work harder and harder, he could not help thinking, Hmph, I originally planned to give this damn 'Top Scholar' a taste of my power, but who would've thought he'd perform pretty well.

Then I can only pick someone else to make an example of today!

His gaze swept across the workers, and he casually raised his whip—Crack!

The heavy lash struck an old mine slave viciously across the back.

"Ah!!"

The old mine slave let out a miserable cry and collapsed to his knees in pain.

As it happened, this old mine slave was the very one who had secretly gloated when he saw Qin Yao's weak body earlier.

"Zhang Er, you've worked under me for over half a year, yet you can't even compare to a newly arrived slave?

"Slack off again, and I'll whip you so hard you won't get out of bed for ten days!!"

"Foreman, sir, I-I wasn't slacking off."

The old mine slave Zhang Er spoke with a face full of grievance.

"You still dare talk back?!"

Crack!

The long whip lashed down mercilessly again.

"Ah! Foreman, spare me! Ah! Master Li, spare me! I won't dare again, I won't..."

"Hmph, worthless bones!!"

Only then did Li Gang sit back down on the stone stool and close his eyes to rest.

After groaning for a while, Zhang Er got back to his feet and cast a covert, venomous glance toward the youth in the distance...