Mining with the Myriad Realms Clone System

"Smack!"

The whip cracked against Ning Fan's back, sharp and piercing. He gritted his teeth and didn't make a sound. Blood seeped through his tattered clothes, mingling with sweat and dust and leaving dark red streaks across his skin.

"Useless! You failed to meet your quota again today. You think the Qingyu Sect hands out spirit stones for free?" Overseer Zhao Hu sneered, raising the iron whip high once more.

Ning Fan lowered his head, a calmness that didn't belong in this world flashing in his eyes. Three days ago, he'd been an ordinary geology student on Earth. During a mineral survey, he'd slipped and fallen off a cliff. When he woke up, he'd become the lowest kind of mine slave in this cultivation world.

"Master Zhao, the vein was acting up today. I really did my best," Ning Fan rasped, subtly shifting his body so the next lash would land on a spot that had already gone numb.

"Your best?" Zhao Hu kicked Ning Fan in the leg, sending him to his knees. "You wretches need to be taught a lesson! No dinner for you tonight, and tomorrow's quota is doubled!"

The mine slaves nearby hurried past with their heads down. No one dared so much as glance over. In the Qingyu Sect's mining district on the farthest edge of the Xuanhuang Continent, the overseers were absolute rulers. They could beat a mine slave to death without even having to file a report.

Ning Fan staggered back to the dim, damp mine-slave barracks and lay down on a straw mat that reeked of mildew. By the moonlight filtering through the gaps in the boards, he looked at his hands. They were covered in calluses and wounds, nothing like the hands of a twenty-year-old.

"System activation progress: 98%... 99%... 100%."

Suddenly