"I haven't opened the Path of the Believer yet, so I can't offer you any advice based on personal experience. I'm sorry."
"What? You still haven't opened the Path of the Believer? Don't tell me it's because of your atheist beliefs that you've refused to break through?"
"Of course not because of that," Li Tianming said with a smile, "'Wine and meat pass through the intestines, but Buddha remains in the heart.' My atheism doesn't conflict with my desire to grow stronger and walk the Path of the Believer."
"Fair enough. You've always been all about pragmatism. I'll admit I overestimated you just now."
"You really have a terrible way with words."
"No wonder you keep drinking my sequence potions. Turns out you're stuck at sequence level five and want to raise your strength," Qin Siyang continued, "Old Li, is it that you haven't gathered any decent offerings? I can…"
Li Tianming placed a hand on Qin Siyang's shoulder, his face full of relief, "Thank you, little Qin. Especially after I just told you I'd had thoughts harmful to you, and you still treat me like this. But offering materials aren't difficult for me to obtain. It's just that I've chosen not to open the Path of the Believer."
"And why is that?", Qin Siyang pressed, "Old Li, you're not like me, running around outside the safe zone hunting gods every day. Your main enemy is Guo Jiuxiao. Opening the Path of the Believer would give you a better chance of beating him! So why haven't you opened it yet?"
"Because it's not time yet."
"Not time yet?", Qin Siyang lowered his head and thought for a moment, "You're waiting for your research results?"
"Yes."
Hearing this made Qin Siyang even more worried, "If your research doesn't succeed, then you won't open the Path of the Believer?"
Li Tianming smiled indifferently, "If my research doesn't succeed, then even if I open the Path of the Believer, I still won't be able to beat Guo Jiuxiao."
"You mean only the results of this research can let you defeat Guo Jiuxiao?"
"More or less."
"But you told me before that a living person won't be held in by his own urine. If this research gets stuck because of materials, you can still pivot by pushing other research projects."
Li Tianming ran a hand over the sparse hair on the top of his head, "I lied to you. Back then, I was short on materials by too much, and success was a distant dream. You're a kid with a bright future, and I didn't want you to waste too much time and energy helping me gather materials."
"Now, the materials have been mostly collected by you, and I can tell you the truth."
"This research project is my final trump card, and also my only chance."
Hearing Li Tianming talk about hanging himself on a single tree, Qin Siyang couldn't help but sound anxious.
"Old Li, you're incredibly capable, famous among the professors, and ranked near the top among the tiger cards. Surely you won't be stuck for a lifetime by one research direction? If this project doesn't work out, just switch directions and keep researching."
Li Tianming let out a sigh, his eyes filled with exhaustion. Like an old farmer who toils diligently, yet whether there is a harvest still depends on heaven's will.
"Little Qin, you're thinking about research too simply, and you're also overestimating me."
"How so?"
"The research you're exposed to now is nothing more than us publishing some papers to help you earn research points. And just by looking at the titles, you can tell those papers are crudely stitched-together filler. That's why you think research is something you can do at will, right?"
Qin Siyang neither agreed nor disagreed, but shrugged, indicating that was more or less what he thought.
Li Tianming shook his head, "Looks like we've all been too casual and lazy in front of you, giving you the wrong impression. Filler is filler. Research is research."
"Suppose there were no apocalypse or gods or all this messy stuff. If a researcher wants to achieve something in a field, then for at least five or even ten years, they can only cultivate that one small plot of land."
Qin Siyang didn't think much of it, "You reap what you sow. Isn't that perfectly normal?"
"The problem is that research doesn't have a progress bar, and planting melons doesn't necessarily yield melons."
"Usually, when doing research, the researcher doesn't know whether their efforts will yield any return. For a researcher, earnestly doing research carries an enormous sunk cost."
"True research explores the unknown and provides scientific answers to that unknown. But when you're dealing with the unknown, how can you be sure that the line of reasoning you propose is correct?"
"If ordinary gamblers bet on their luck, then researchers bet on their thinking."
"Years of time-consuming, labor-intensive focus can very well be wiped out by the slightest deviation."
"Even if you succeed in those five years of research, in the next five years you'll have to conduct even deeper studies to keep yourself at the top tier in that field. And once again, you'll fall into confusion about the unknown. And so it goes, over and over."
"Researchers spend most of their time wracking their brains to explore and seek knowledge. True researchers, like workers in all professions, live very hard lives."
'Hard lives?'
'Why does this feel different from my impression?'
Qin Siyang frowned and recalled memories from his previous life after getting into graduate school.
Back then, after enduring countless hardships, he finally passed the entrance exams. At that time, he too had a research dream, planning to read for a master's, then a doctorate, and become a researcher admired by all.
But because his undergraduate research experience was weak, he failed to get in touch with high-level advisors who seriously pursued research.
Left with no choice, he settled for second best and joined the group of an advisor with only average research ability. That advisor relied on broad connections to live comfortably in academic circles.
Throughout his entire graduate program, there were few opportunities to seriously engage in research. Because he was articulate and good at socializing, he was taken everywhere by his advisor, north and south. He became a marginal scrap of research, a pillar of social engagements, and completely lost the chance to pursue a doctorate.
Still, it could be said that when one path is blocked, another opens.
The job he found after graduation came from a CEO introduced through social engagements with his advisor.
As for what happened later, when the company's boss changed and carried out ruthless, inhumane reforms that got him "optimized" in middle age, and when he was beaten to death by security guards during a wage dispute, those were stories for later.
That experience made Qin Siyang deeply realize that researchers also come in all kinds, high and low. At the very least, they're not all miserable people grinding away at technology.
So he asked, "But in my impression, quite a few researchers seem like winners in life. They have money and free time, live carefree lives, and enjoy themselves. It doesn't seem like all researchers are the kind of ascetic, trailblazing monks you just described."
Li Tianming snorted in disdain, "The people you're talking about can't be considered true researchers. At best, they're bosses who've set a research direction."
"Their students are the ones who truly pour in their time and energy as researchers."
═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═❀═
[email protected]/AmbitiousTranslator
🥳Joining P@treon keeps me motivated and eager to work diligently, so please consider joining.🥰 You can access upto 20 advance chapter through P@treon.