I dont really care about profits with this s9 it got it for barely 100 bucks. i have good asics that i expect profit from. this s9 is a sorta toy to mess around with because i am interested in how bitcoin works on a technical level, from what i understand it that miners connect to nodes so that the nodes can tell miners what to mine without nodes the miners would be bricks.
But from what i am hearing is that bitcoin core nodes don't natively support just strait up miners connecting to them and mining right away. In this regard i am confused because how else would this be done?
Well, if you don't ever find a block, you aren't really doing anything useful solo mining - so profits are relevant

Your node being a node, with or without mining, is the same use to the network, unless you do find a block.
i.e. you aren't securing the network unless you do find a block.
Keeping the network alive by running a node is all you are doing with a low solo hash rate,
so your usefulness to the network is the same without solo mining.
... and if you do find just that one and only block solo mining to your own node, well, cool ...