Being a Miner Could Really Kill You

After going up the mountain, Jiang Beiran quickly learned the content of his trial from the Daoist Priest.

"Beiran, cultivation is something that requires hardship and perseverance. Mining is what best tempers those two qualities. As long as you hold on and pass the Mountain Guardian's test, this poor Daoist will come and bring you into the sect."

Leaving behind those words and a Jiang Beiran brimming with fighting spirit, the Black Robed Taoist turned and descended the mountain.

Master, I'll definitely work myself to the bone to repay your kindness in recognizing my talent!

After secretly swearing this oath in his heart, Jiang Beiran followed a Mountain Guardian into the Mine Pit.

Yet this lofty ambition was completely snuffed out on the second day. The reason was simple: mining was simply too exhausting!

Before transmigrating, Jiang Beiran had merely been an ordinary second-year middle school student. He had barely attended any PE classes, and his physical condition could be called abysmal.

After transmigrating, this body of his had not improved much either. Coupled with the lack of nutrition in his food, calling him skin and bones would not have been an exaggeration.

Without any training whatsoever, early the next morning Jiang Beiran was taken to a mine shaft by two Mountain Guardians. After meeting several taciturn Fellow Workers, the Mountain Guardians gave him a basket and a mining pick, telling him to work hard.

In Jiang Beiran's imagination, mining should have been like in computer games—just go "clang," "clang," "clang" against a piece of Ore a few times.

But in reality, the stench, heat, darkness, and cramped mine shaft left him utterly dumbfounded. He had been attending middle school not long ago—when had he ever seen anything like this?

Yet the two Mountain Guardians clearly had no intention of giving him time to prepare himself mentally. They shoved him straight into the "nest tunnel" supported by wooden planks.

Because the "nest tunnel" varied in height, Jiang Beiran sometimes had to walk standing up, sometimes squat as he moved, and at times even roll along on his back like a scarab beetle. By the time he reached the mining site, his stamina had already been nearly drained.

There was no time to rest. The moment he arrived, the two Mountain Guardians urged him to start mining. As the saying went, watching someone carry a burden never felt tiring. When Jiang Beiran had watched workers swing hoes on television before, he had always wondered how much strength that could possibly take.

But in reality, after only a dozen or so swings, his throat felt as though it were spewing fire. His hands felt filled with lead, so heavy that he could not lift them at all.

"Ha... ha..."

With both hands aching, Jiang Beiran leaned on his mining pick and desperately tried to suck in a little fresh air. Yet the mine shaft contained only wave after wave of a gas-like smell, making him feel dizzier the more he breathed it in.

"Who told you to rest? Do you still want to pass the trial?"

Just as Jiang Beiran was about to pass out, a Mountain Guardian walked over and shoved him.

Hearing the word "trial," Jiang Beiran forced himself to draw another breath and tried to keep struggling, but he simply could not raise his hands.

Ai! I'm truly useless. I'm sorry, Master. Your disciple has disappointed you.

After berating himself in his heart, Jiang Beiran shook his head and said, "I... I really can't dig anymore."

"You've only swung a few times, and you already can't dig anymore? With the likes of you, you still want to enter the sect?"

"Yes... yes, I'm useless. I'll apologize to the Daoist Priest. I disappointed him. I'm sorry."

After speaking, Jiang Beiran let out a deep sigh. He lamented inwardly how the protagonists in all those novels he had read could clearly erupt with incomparably tenacious willpower for cultivation, yet he himself was so weak. This lousy system did not even know how to help him.

As Jiang Beiran admitted his weakness in his heart and prepared to calmly accept the outcome of failure, a sharp pain suddenly tore through his abdomen.

"Damn it! What a piece of trash. The few who came before you all struggled for months to enter that Bird Sect, but you little bastard can't make it through your first day."

As he spoke, the Mountain Guardian kicked Jiang Beiran again.

The two kicks left Jiang Beiran dazed. The world spun around him, his head buzzed, and an ominous premonition surged straight into his heart.

But before he could make sense of it, the Mountain Guardian squatted down, grabbed his hair, and roared, "Trash, listen the hell up! Do you really think you're some heaven-blessed genius who can enter a sect and become superior to others? Let me tell you, you're just trash. Now mine properly for me. If you can't mine, I'll take your life. Understand!?"

Jiang Beiran shook his head furiously after hearing this and shouted, "I want to see my master! I want to see my master!"

"Your master? Hahahahaha." The Mountain Guardian laughed wildly for a while, then asked, "What's your master's name?"

"My master is... my master is..."

Jiang Beiran was dumbfounded again. Over the past two days, that Daoist Priest had never told him his name, and he had never asked.

"My... my master is a Daoist from the Blazing Fire Sect. He was the one who brought me here yesterday. I want to see him! I want to see him!"

"Hahahahaha." The Mountain Guardian laughed even more wildly, then kicked Jiang Beiran in the stomach again. "Blazing Fire Sect? Keep dreaming your spring-and-autumn dream. I'm giving you two choices now: either get up and keep mining, or lie there while I kick you to death. You have three seconds."

The moment the Mountain Guardian finished speaking, three options appeared before Jiang Beiran.

[Option One: Continue lying down. Completion Reward: Azure Lotus Secret Record (Earth Grade Low Rank)]

[Option Two: Beg the other party to let you go down the mountain. Completion Reward: Earth Fire Skill (Mysterious Grade High Rank)]

[Option Three: Get up and continue mining. Completion Reward: Random Basic Attribute Point +1]

"Two!"

While Jiang Beiran was reading the options, the Mountain Guardian had already counted to two and kicked him in the stomach again.

At that moment, Jiang Beiran understood! He realized that the contents of the options did not matter at all—he only had to look at the rewards. The better the reward, the more dangerous the option!

Judging from the force of that kick just now, Jiang Beiran completely believed that the other man would dare kick him to death. If he kept lying there, he would certainly lose his life.

Thus, before the Mountain Guardian could shout "three," Jiang Beiran immediately chose option three and, driven by an intense desire to survive, stood up.

"Good. So you still have strength, don't you? If you don't want to die, hurry up and mine! Did you hear me!?"

Though Jiang Beiran was trembling all over, he still raised his mining pick with all his strength and smashed it down in order to stay alive.

[Option mission completed. Reward: Constitution +1]

Watching the system notification float up before him and feeling threads of strength well up from within his body, Jiang Beiran froze.

It was completed just like that?

When he had previously chosen [Ask the Daoist Priest to Accept Me as His Disciple], he had not received the reward immediately. Instead, it had become a mission. But now, he had simply done what the option said and received the reward right away.

The gap in difficulty was so enormous that it left him staring wide-eyed.

"What are you standing around for again!?"

Hearing the Mountain Guardian... no, the Overseer's furious shout, Jiang Beiran hurriedly raised his mining pick again and began hammering away.