Thanks, hacker. I do realize that more than one certification might often be necessary, but how much is enough? It seems like a single Apprentice certification from a Master should be sufficient to get certified as an Apprentice; I've seen one Journeyer certification from a Journeyer make the person in question qualify as a Journeyer. Those first 9 certifications seem like they should have been enough, but somehow they weren't.

Now I'm wondering if each additional certification somewhere else in the system that doesn't connect to you dilutes the value of the certifications that you did receive, allowing you to fall back below the threshold...