The difficult path of cultivation for a grassroots female practitioner

Xiao Han swallowed the food in his mouth and asked, "How long have you been working here?"

The male apprentice said, "Two years."

Xiao Han asked again: "So what do you do every day now?"

Male apprentice: "Besides helping the master swing the sledgehammer and doing odd jobs every day, what else can I do?"

Xiao Han: "Then your master won't teach you anything?"

The male apprentice curled his lips. "The master can only teach you the most basic smelting, impurity removal and other basic early work. It will take ten or twenty years to learn any real skills here."

Xiao Han nodded, "This is normal, just as I expected."

The male apprentice looked at Xiao Han, whose face was calm, and said this, and he couldn't believe his ears. "What did you say?"

Xiao Han really wanted to pat the man opposite him on the shoulder and comfort him: Young man, you are still too young and you imagine life to be too beautiful.

When she signed the contract, she was interested in the fact that it would provide two meals a day, a salary of 100 spirit stones, and that she would learn the basics of refining without spending any money. She had never imagined that she would ever become a master here. If she could just learn to refine a few small items, that would be great.

If an apprentice in the mortal world wanted to learn a master's craft, they first had to find a way to become his apprentice. Then, they had to serve tea and water to the master, do all the rough, heavy, and dirty work, and even give gifts during the four seasons and festivals. Then, for three years, they would learn nothing. Only after these three years would the master slowly teach the apprentice some techniques, allowing them to learn the basics.

This kind of large weapon forging workshop recruits outsiders who have no connections at all as apprentices and pays them wages. If the boss doesn't expect the apprentices to pay more than they do, then he must be crazy to spend money to teach you real skills.

It's not that the weapon forging workshop is all about profiteering. If there's a truly talented apprentice who can continue working here, they'll definitely put some effort into nurturing him, then win him over and make him one of the workshop's master craftsmen.

These were the conclusions Xiao Han came to after visiting the weapon refining workshop and carefully reading the contract.

For someone like her, who had low expectations and only wanted to establish herself, and was mentally prepared, the male apprentice's words had no effect on her at all. At the very least, the book on the complete collection of refining materials had already begun to yield results for her.

After all, if she hadn't come here, bookstores outside wouldn't necessarily sell books like this, and even if they did, the prices would definitely be shockingly high. But now, she can read them for free and learn a lot of new knowledge.

Of course, she didn't bother to give a long speech to an unfamiliar stranger, so she just smiled and said, "I'm saying, don't be discouraged. Just hold on for another year, and your contract will expire. If you don't want to continue studying, you can leave."

The male apprentice said unhappily, "Then I've wasted three years too."

Xiao Han finished the rest of the meal in two mouthfuls, stood up and said, "Take your time, I'm leaving first."

She also wants to make good use of this break time to read. There is a saying that goes, "The teacher can only lead you to the door, but the practice is up to you."

This wasn't a modern factory where skills learned were completely useless once outside. Even learning to identify the value of refining materials alone was incredibly valuable to Xiao Han. After all, if he were to venture out into the world and not recognize the value of a treasure, that would be pathetic.

There is a half-hour break at noon, and the afternoon working hours are from the beginning of the day to the second quarter of the day, that is, from 1:00 to 5:30 p.m. Four and a half hours in the morning and four and a half hours in the afternoon, for a total of nine hours of working time per day.

For Xiao Han, who used to work almost twelve hours a day during the day and night shifts in modern times, nine hours is completely acceptable to her.

In fact, which office worker is willing to go to work? Everyone is forced to do so by life.

With a book to read, the lunch break goes by faster.

In the afternoon, Xiao Han continued to chip stones. He was working alone in the warehouse, with no one around to gossip with, but Xiao Han didn't mind at all.

Because she has now found a new fun point in her work, which is to study the various methods of performing wind blade techniques.

Ever since Grandma Yuan taught her the technique of winding spiritual power into threads, Xiao Han also understood a truth.

A spell is not static. As long as you understand the core principles of the spell, you can make some small changes to the spell and play with it in some ways.

It was like the Fireball technique used to start a fire. Xiao Han had tried to transform it, but ended up turning a small flame into a cluster of sparks. This meant that what she had learned was only a castrated version of the Fireball technique, not the large, offensive Fireball technique.

If it's a big fireball spell, she can make it look like fireworks.

Of course, not all spells can be changed. She couldn't make any changes to the Golden Arrow Spell at all.

In the past, she had limited free time, and she hadn't been able to fully explore every spell she had learned. Now, using Wind Blade to cut stone, she could work while figuring out how to modify Wind Blade.

For example, now, she tried to reduce the wind blade to a tiny blade, gently scraping off some residue from the blue topaz.

At the end of her experimentation, she could even transform the wind blade into a sharp silk thread.

Xiao Han was immersed in the fun of experimenting with magic. When Manager Cao came to inform her to get off work, she was shocked to realize that the afternoon had passed too quickly.

Fortunately, there was still a lot of work to do, and Manager Cao seemed satisfied.

The weapon refining workshop provided dinner in the evening. After Xiao Han finished cooking, he put the food directly into his storage bag and took it home to eat.

Probably because the handymen and apprentices in the workshop were big eaters, the cook always filled the bowls with food, and Xiao Han's was no exception.

Xiao Han had eaten too much at lunch. She decided to put an extra large bowl in her storage bag tomorrow so she wouldn't have to finish it all at lunch. She could save some for dinner, too. That way, she wouldn't have to cook breakfast at home anymore.

This not only saves spirit stones for buying rice and vegetables, but also saves time. It is equivalent to the workshop taking care of her three meals a day.

However, tonight, Xiao Han didn't start practicing right away. Instead, she postponed it for an hour to focus on reading the complete book on refining raw materials. She had to memorize all the contents of the book within a month.

There are very few opportunities for casual cultivators to acquire skills and knowledge, so Xiao Han cherishes his current apprenticeship opportunity.