After listening to Qi Maigu's proposal, Li Chen pondered for a long while before finally nodding in agreement.
"Knowledge knows no bounds, so we must seek it with better means. Ordinary methods will ultimately run out of road."
Li Chen suddenly felt rather fortunate that he had subjected his brain to Spirit-Particle Conversion. Had he retained his former level of intelligence, he would have been utterly at sea now, rather than merely finding the problem a little thorny.
Li Chen said, "An ordinary Puppet Master might spend over a hundred years, or even several hundred, accumulating enough knowledge to score eighty in his primary Dao Path. Perhaps he would already possess the skill of a true Grand Artisan, but that would be his limit. He would have no potential to advance further."
"If he cannot even pass the thematic assessment, there is even less chance of him getting through this path on luck alone."
"He might dodge the first assigned topic, but not the second. Even if he dodges the second, he cannot dodge the third."
"Then there are the elective topics. Related subjects are allowed, but they cannot duplicate his primary Dao Path, and the passing score is seventy..."
"All these measures seem designed to weed people out!"
"If we strip away the various forms the Grand Artisan assessment takes and look at its essence, it becomes easy to understand."
"This is clearly a mechanism for elimination, not selection."
"Survive the elimination, and you are formally appointed a Grand Artisan. Fail to survive it, and you can only remain an unaffiliated Grand Artisan."
"If someone truly has only the ability of an unaffiliated Grand Artisan, yet happens to storm five passes and slay six generals, forcing his way through, that is fine too. The system will not make trouble