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The post soon went off-topic. Looking at terms like "Association certification" and "spiritual power," Qi Chao seemed to understand something. He exited the post and began searching for keywords. The results were similarly vague, but after connecting the pieces, a rough outline formed in his mind.

First of all, on Blue Star, not everyone could become a puppeteer.

When creating puppets, puppeteers not only had to make the shell, but also construct meridians. The meridians connected a puppet's heart and body and were necessary channels for transporting energy.

When creating meridians, puppeteers had to infuse them with their own spiritual power. The higher the spiritual power, the higher the puppet's rank and the greater its intelligence. Conversely, low spiritual power resulted in low-ranking, foolish puppets.

Decades ago, a puppet made by a certain puppeteer sold at auction for an astronomical price. Countless people, tempted by the enormous profits, flooded into the industry and frantically produced puppets. Before the Association was established, Blue Star was filled with countless inferior puppets.

They were ugly and bizarre in appearance, stiff in movement, and unable to speak. Some could not even stand, capable only of rolling their eyes. These puppets had no market; the only thing awaiting them was filthy, stinking garbage dumps.

Yet those blinded by money did not give up because of this. Day after day, they mindlessly mass-produced puppets, dreaming of becoming rich overnight.

Later, Mother Stone resources, which nurtured puppet life, were nearly depleted and could no longer meet demand. Only then did people on Blue Star begin to address the chaos, eventually establishing the Puppeteer Association.

The Association certified puppeteers' qualifications, and when purchasing puppets, the public preferred works made by professional puppeteers. Unable to make money, the creators of inferior puppets gradually withdrew from the market.

Only the inferior puppets discarded in garbage dumps were left to fade away with time, forever sunk in slumber.

Today, the Puppeteer Association had established professional academies and hosted major competitions. It had countless puppeteers under its banner and held the power to dictate the market. A year ago, it had even banned all online information on making puppets, monopolizing the entire puppet industry.

If a puppeteer was not recognized by the Association, then that person was practically finished and would not be able to earn much money in the future.

Of course, there were also puppeteers who had not received certification yet still made a fortune, but they were a tiny minority—a one-in-ten-million possibility.

Qi Chao sorted through Blue Star's history with mixed emotions. His heart churned before finally turning into a sigh. The only thing in that history that saddened him were those puppets forever asleep in garbage dumps.

Created by people consumed by greed, their lives had not even had the chance to bloom before they were treated as garbage.

Qi Chao turned to look at the blond puppet beside him.

Lan Luo was staring brightly at the projection, his expression vivid and natural. If not for the spherical joints at his wrists and knees that differed from those of ordinary people, anyone would have thought he was an ordinary human child.

As if sensing Qi Chao's gaze, Lan Luo tilted his head, confusion showing in his innocent sapphire-blue eyes.

Qi Chao smiled and rubbed the little puppet's head. "It's nothing. Keep watching."

"Mm!" Lan Luo's eyes curved into lovely crescents as he nodded heavily in delight.

Compared with those inferior puppets, S-rank Lan Luo was far luckier—and much smarter.

At present, the highest-ranked puppets on Blue Star were only S-rank. It could be said that Lan Luo stood at the very pinnacle. Supposedly, every S-rank puppet possessed a special ability, but Lan Luo apparently did not. Otherwise, the original owner would not have been able to buy him for only a few tens of millions.

Qi Chao withdrew his gaze from Lan Luo and absentmindedly thought that the puppeteer who had created the kid must have had at least S-rank spiritual power.

That was seriously impressive.

Blue Star residents were born with spiritual power, and it was difficult to change afterward. Qi Chao still did not understand what this abstract thing even was.

The original owner's spiritual power had been A-rank, which counted as outstanding on Blue Star. It was said that only a handful of Blue Star residents had ever possessed spiritual power exceeding S-rank, while most people were C-rank.

He wondered what his own spiritual power was. Was it the same as the original owner's? If his rank was too low, that would be troublesome.

Qi Chao did not care whether the Association would certify his qualifications. His only concern was that if his spiritual power was too low, the puppets he created would have serious flaws.

Moreover, repairing puppets clearly required spiritual power as well. If his spiritual power was too low, he definitely would not be able to repair the crack on the back of Lan Luo's hand.

He could ask another puppeteer to repair it, but he only had thirty thousand Star Coins to his name. Repairing a crack on an S-rank puppet would cost at least a million. The more he thought about each problem, the more troublesome it all became.

Qi Chao told the system about his concerns in his heart.

The system was equally uncertain: [According to the system's analysis, spiritual power is related to soul strength. Your spiritual power should differ from that of the original owner. If you are worried, you may visit a professional institution for testing.]

Qi Chao unconsciously frowned, but quickly relaxed again. There was no point in worrying now. He would only know the result after going to an institution for testing tomorrow.

Going to an institution naturally meant leaving the house. If he left tomorrow, Lan Luo would be all alone in the villa.

Ever since Lan Luo had been bought by the original owner, he had been imprisoned in the villa. Let alone going outside, even going to the garden to bask in the sun had been a luxury.