So for some professions and skills (Painting, Formation Setting, Battle skills, etc..) the protagonist only has to compile his version of the art and he starts using them like it’s nobodies business. For other professions (Apothecary, black smithing, etc..) the protagonist only knows how to do it but can’t use them without years of practice. So here’s the question - what bullshit criterion does this so called author use to decide which skills the protag can use right away and which require years of practice?
So far? Only apothecary and black smithing require time, and I'm pretty sure that is because it is more impressive to know them without practical experience. AND because they can't be used in combat, like the others.
It's only the hammering of smithing that he can't do, and that's because he's an idiot who only practiced the general Heaven's Path Blacksmith Art but not the specific arts like hammering. If he did end up compiling all the blacksmith hammer arts (and possibly some of the war-hammer combat arts) into a single heaven's path art or set of arts of even just 1 star, and cultivated it to mastery, he'd be able to blacksmith by himself without problem, as if he'd spend decades practicing, like when he first learned the Heaven's Path Spear Art and immediately unlocked Spear Intent. But the author won't let him do that because if he could make saint ranked weapons and armor at will, he could potentially end up with an army of thousand's of enchanted god rank swords fighting for him.
Well, I have a few things to say on this subject. First, if you want to have a proper and meaningful discussion so that the people involved will feel like they learned or contributed knowledge, you shouldn't phrase your question the way you did. your phrasing makes me unable to tell if you are genuinely curious and want to have a discussion with fellow readers, but are just frustrated that you can't figure it out on your own; or if this is just a rant to let off some steam because this aspect of the novel really pisses you off and made your opinion of the novel become negative. If this is a genuine discussion, then I would say that the answer is most likely something very simple. The way things are is how the author thought he could best make the plot flow, or the author didn't think of it for the other things, or the author might decide on a case-by-case basis on what it would/could do to the plot if he made a certain profession follow either set of rules.
The choice of rough terms is due to my frustration over having the same guess as yours, where the author is simply twisting his own world’s logic just to fit the plot. Though giving it the benefit of the doubt, I decided to start this discussion, so that someone might come along to prove my guess wrong. Which in turn will allow me to let go of my frustration and go back to enjoying the story. (as much as something so annoyingly repetitive can be enjoy)
This has been very insightful because after a while, my eyes kinda glazed over reading this. Thank you!