While Zhao Yunxiao was still reconsidering what he should say to this seemingly slightly abnormal junior martial sister of his, Bo Fei who was looking on from the side quickly answered on his behalf.
"You might not know this because you are new, Junior Martial Sister Lu, but the jobs at the ore mines are only for masochists like him who love suffering in pain!" Bo Fei explained. "You will spend the entire day either burning under the hot sun or suffocating in narrow tunnels. Not only will it give you bad sunburns, it is also physically demanding enough on your body to tire you out for an entire week!"
"Really?!" Lu Zhiying's eyes widened in surprise. "Wow it sounds really bad! I can't wait to go take a look!"
Bo Fei: "..."
Zhao Yunxiao saw the strange glance that Bo Fei was shooting towards him, and let out a helpless sigh.
Even without Bo Fei saying anything, Zhao Yunxiao could guess what he was thinking. Unfortunately, it was not like he had an explanation for Bo Fei.
He couldn't possibly just tell Bo Fei to just accept the fact that Lu Zhiying seems to be wired a little differently, could he?
Well, he technically could...
"I-I think I have something to attend to so I will be leaving for now," Bo Fei said in an awkward manner, seemingly having understood Zhao Yunxiao's sigh.
"Farewell, Senior Martial Brother Bo," Zhao Yunxiao waved goodbye to Bo Fei, who hurried away as though he was running from something.
"Senior Martial Brother Bo really comes and goes quickly," Lu Zhiying commented while watching Bo Fei's disappearing back.
That's all because of you!
Zhao Yunxiao kept his thoughts to himself before letting out another sigh.
"Forget him, let's get on our way," Zhao Yunxiao led the way and Lu Zhiying obediently followed.
Yellowshell Mine was located relatively further from the canteen, so it was quite a long walk for the duo before they arrived at their destination.
"Wow."
Lu Zhiying exclaimed in marvel when they finally arrived.
The crater in front of her stretched so far into the ground that one could imagine fitting a small mountain within. The walls of the crater were expertly cut to form stairs and walkways that went round and round, leading all the way down into the deepest depths. Cave-like openings could be seen at regular intervals on each of the different levels, with people busy moving in and out.
There were also numerous elevators made of wood and thick ropes, powered by essence energy and designed to carry cartfuls of ore from the lower levels all the way up to the surface.
This was the Yellowshell Mine – a place that was already extremely busy despite the early hour.
Disregarding the fact that it was bustling with human activity, the natural beauty of the spot was undeniable. From where she was, Lu Zhiying's mind was filled only with thoughts about how grand the Yellowshell Mine looked.
"There are so many tunnels!" Lu Zhiying pointed around at the walls of the Yellowshell Mine. "I bet it would be fun to explore each of them one by one!"
"Don't get your hopes up, these tunnels are all the same – dark and narrow with nothing inside but soil and rocks," Zhao Yunxiao decided to burst her bubble early. "Come on, I will bring you to meet the administrative deacon."
The Yellowshell Mine comprised more than the huge crater where sect members spent most of their time mining ore.
At the top of the crater lay the administrative building of the Yellowshell Mine. It was a huge building made up of giant chambers where the ore would be transported to and stored for processing. Apart from that, the building also contained multiple rooms with various purposes – one of which was naturally the office of the administrative deacon.
"Disciple Zhao Yunxiao, reporting for duty!"
The tanned and burly man seated across the room slowly put down his pen on his desk, then looked up at the duo with curious eyes. "So who's this little beauty, little Zhao?"
"Reporting to Senior Fei, this is Junior Martial Sister Lu who just joined the sect a few days ago," Zhao Yunxiao explained. "She would have to choose her job soon, so I brought her here to take a look at how the ore mines operate for reference."
"Disciple Lu Zhiying greets Senior Fei!" Lu Zhiying promptly added.
"Oh you are new here? Welcome to the Black Tortoise Sect," the tanned and burly Fei Weng said with a smile. "Feel free to show her around the mines, little Zhao. But be careful, I don't want her getting hurt in the mines during my shift."
"Does that mean it can get dangerous here?" Lu Zhiying asked.
"Hahaha, don't worry little girl, everything will be fine as long as you follow the rules that we have established here," Fei Weng laughed.
"Oh!" Lu Zhiying exclaimed in surprise. "So there will be danger if we don't follow the rules?"
"That's right. " Fei Weng nodded. "You will be fine as long as you keep that in mind."
Zhao Yunxiao felt the corner of his lips twitch when he noticed the excited look on Lu Zhiying's face.
Will this young lady really be fine...?
"Don't worry, Senior Fei. We will make sure to stay out of trouble. Then we will get going first, farewell," Zhao Yunxiao forced a smile as he left the room. "Let's go, Junior Martial Sister Lu."
"Farewell, Senior Fei!" Lu Zhiying called out brightly before quickly following after Zhao Yunxiao.
Fei Weng had a smile on his face as he waved goodbye to the young duo.
Now that they were done greeting the administrative deacon, Zhao Yunxiao led Lu Zhiying out of the administrative building and down into the crater, casually pretending not to notice the many disciples along the way who turned their heads at the rare sight of a beauty in the mines.
"There are four main pillars that make up the duties of working at the ore mines – search, report, plan, and excavate," Zhao Yunxiao explained as they entered one of the many tunnels. "Searching for concentrations of ore deposits, reporting the discoveries to the administrative staff, planning the excavation approach, then finally performing the excavation itself. This much should be easy to understand, right?"
"Yes, Senior Martial Brother Zhao," Lu Zhiying answered while her eyes continued to wander around the dark tunnel.
There was no one else in this tunnel that Zhao Yunxiao chose, so Lu Zhiying did not feel restrained at all.
"As I have mentioned before, there are several ore mines within the sect grounds. This is the Yellowshell Mine, where we excavate both iron and grimiron ore," Zhao Yunxiao continued.
"Grimiron?" Lu Zhiying finally turned her attention towards Zhao Yunxiao. "What is that?"
"Right, you are still new. Grimiron is basically a precious metal that is widely used to forge equipment. Just know that it is much more precious than ordinary iron. If you end up choosing to work at the ore mines, always prioritise grimiron ore over iron ore. This applies for other precious metals as well."
"Here," Zhao Yunxiao picked up two pickaxes from an equipment rack and handed one over to Lu Zhiying. "The special thing about working at the ore mines is that a fixed amount of sect points would be awarded as long as you are able to turn in enough ore to hit the monthly target. So if you get lucky or are hardworking enough, you can clear your monthly dues within a shorter frame of time as compared to other sect jobs."
"Oh?" Lu Zhiying blinked blankly as she looked at Zhao Yunxiao. "It is mid way through the month now, has Senior Martial Brother Zhao already cleared your monthly target?"
"...No, but that does not mean I'm not hardworking! It's all about time management!" Zhao Yunxiao immediately understood what this disrespectful junior of his was trying to ask. "Anyway! One more thing about working at the ore mines is that if you manage to mine more than the monthly target, you have an option to either exchange the balance for additional sect points or keep the excess ore for yourself. This means that there is always an incentive to keep working at the ore mines since there is effectively no limit to the potential returns every month!"
"You sure like to emphasise on the pros," Lu Zhiying rubbed her chin in contemplation. "But doesn't that also mean that if I do not hit the monthly target for some reason, be it due to a lack of luck or anything else, all that I did in the month will be for naught since I won't get a single sect point?"
"...What are the chances?" Zhao Yunxiao casually brushed off a question that he did not want to answer before heading deeper into the tunnel. "Come, follow me."
"So what's the common practice?" Lu Zhiying asked while following Zhao Yunxiao's lead.
"Common practice?"
"You mentioned that we are allowed to either exchange the balance for additional sect points or keep the excess ore for themselves."
"Oh, that. Most people exchange the balance for sect points since they can do a lot more with sect points. This is especially because the metal component is only a certain percentage of the ore, and processing the ore is not the easiest job in the world. Just so you know, I've heard that there are other ore mines with more precious metal ores deeper within the sect grounds. For disciples working in those mines, they have to turn in every bit of metal ore they mine from there."
"So that's the case," Lu Zhiying nodded. "Anyway, Senior Fei talked about following the rules earlier, or there might be danger. What are-"
"Let's leave the specific rules for next time, and just hear out the general information for now," Zhao Yunxiao promptly cut her off.
He had a feeling that with Lu Zhiying's personality, telling her about the rules would end up doing more harm than good.
However, Lu Zhiying did not give up easily.
As they made their way deeper into the tunnel, Lu Zhiying continued to ask more questions. Zhao Yunxiao promptly cleared her doubts no matter what she asked, except for the many times when she circled back to asking about the rules of the mines.
"Try digging here," Zhao Yunxiao suddenly stopped walking and pointed towards a corner of the tunnel.
Lu Zhiying was surprised for a moment before letting out a confident smirk.
She carefully raised the pickaxe in her hands and aimed carefully at the spot that Zhao Yunxiao was pointing at.
Thud-!
The pickaxe fell smoothly and struck the ground at the exact spot that Lu Zhiying had been aiming at, but she could not bring herself to feel happy about the result at all.
"This ground is really hard!" Lu Zhiying complained while looking at the wall that was without a single dent.
"Hahaha, don't worry. This is only to be expected," Zhao Yunxiao laughed. "For grimiron to form within the mines, the surface of the walls and ground is naturally much stronger than normal. But as you get stronger, doing this will become much easier."
Zhao Yunxiao raised the pickaxe in his hands, and swung it down in one smooth motion.
Bang-!
Unlike Lu Zhiying's attempt that failed to create even the slightest dent on the surface of the wall, Zhao Yunxiao's pickaxe plowed right through the wall, crushing the surface into mere smithereens.
The difference between the two was apparent for all to see.
"Just like this!" Zhao Yunxiao said in satisfaction after he saw the result, and turned around to look at Lu Zhiying.
Zhao Yunxiao could not help but let out a confident smile when he saw the look of awe on Lu Zhiying's face.
Damn, I'm cool!