Tier Seven Spellcraft

"I am indeed somewhat surprised," Lude said, looking at the Mandrake.

"After all, while the Mandrake is considered a relatively expensive botanical material, it shouldn't be rare enough to warrant an entire display case to itself, right? I mean... it is only a low-level material."

"Hahahaha..." The Collector laughed heartily. "Yes, yes, yes, you are absolutely right! How could a small Mandrake possibly qualify to occupy an entire display case on its own!"

As she spoke, she yanked open the door beneath the display case, and a massive pile of dried Mandrakes came clattering out onto the floor. "Only a pile of Mandrakes like this is qualified to occupy a display case on this floor!"

"That one was just a better-looking specimen, so I took it out to use as a display piece!"

"That is certainly a lot..." Lude couldn't help but exclaim.

"Isn't it?" The Collector said with a smile. "Materials are like that. After all, things like materials are born naturally, and the vast majority are not rare enough to be one-of-a-kind."

"Look, like the antiques in the room we just left; the cabinets beneath them don't contain identical items, but their intrinsic value might not even compare to certain materials!"

"Of course, I mean value, not price. After all, mortals recognize antiques, but they don't recognize materials."

Just then, the Collector suddenly said in a mysterious tone, "Young man, don't be surprised when we enter the next room in a moment, because you are going to see something interesting."

"I haven't added many new items to the gallery over the years, but that thing is definitely my pride and joy."

Lude nodded with a polite smile, though he didn't pay much mind to it, assuming this was just a collector wanting to show off her most prized possession.

Yet, the moment he stepped into the third room, he still couldn't help but gasp.

A massive head lay in the display case in the center of the room, with iron-gray scales possessing a metallic luster, razor-sharp teeth like daggers, and a length of at least one meter—all of which announced the identity of this trophy.

"This is..." Lude leaned in close to the head. "The head of a Dragon Beast?"

"To be precise, this is a Bohemian Forest Dragon."

The Collector smiled and walked over to the dragon, placing her fist against the dragon's head to compare them. There was a deep depression on the massive skull that matched her sandbag-sized fist perfectly.

"Did you..." Lude hesitated for a moment before speaking. "Did you hunt this?"

The Collector was quite satisfied with Lude's playing along. She nodded and patted her stomach. "Oh, not entirely, I suppose. Its wings had already been shredded by anti-aircraft machine guns at the time; I just picked up the scraps."

"After all, while I can't compare to a [Fifth-Rank] caster like President Don Juan, my Secret Art is quite special, granting me the strength equivalent to a [Fourth-Rank] caster specialized in combat."

Hearing this, Lude was slightly stunned. Fifth-rank, fourth-rank—are casters divided into levels?

"Fu-fu-fu..."

Seeing Lude's expression, the Collector let out a soft chuckle. "It seems you didn't know? But that's fair; casters themselves aren't divided by rank, so it's normal for you to be surprised."

"Casters aren't divided by rank, but the arts themselves are."

"Illumination Art, Spiritism, Silence Art, Ritualism, and the Alchemy you wish to study—they are all divided into levels."

"In 1728, the Arcane Society gathered a group of scholars and unified these extraordinary skills into seven levels. Level six is the peak of arts a mortal can master, while level seven is a skill beyond the mortal realm."

"Take Alchemy, for example. It originally had its own four-tier classification, but it was forcibly divided into seven levels: levels one and two are Nigredo, levels three and four are Albedo, levels five and six are Citrinitas, and the seventh level is Rubedo, which is said to have not been reached by any mortal for hundreds of years."

"However, this knowledge is quite difficult to learn, and only the major organizations possess it. Most importantly, they hoard it like a treasure, almost never teaching it to anyone outside of their core members."

"For instance, our current president, Don Juan, is a Fifth-Rank user of [Illumination Art] and [Spiritism]."

"That Miss Siana is a Sixth-Rank user of [Ritualism]. However, Ritualism is the study of ceremonies, yet her strength is no less than President Don Juan's, so she must be proficient in other arts as well."

"Then there is Professor Beshe; he is also a user of [Illumination Art] and has even touched the edge of the seventh rank, just like his Alchemy."

"It's just that he studied Illumination Art purely to assist his study of Alchemy, so he barely researched the combat aspects of it. And Alchemy itself is not an art that directly increases combat power. I suspect that is why he died so ridiculously, hahahaha..."

"He didn't research the combat aspects?" Lude asked curiously.

The Collector smiled and patted her belly. "Yes, after all, these disciplines weren't invented for combat, but to understand the world more deeply and find a path to transcendence. Take Illumination Art, for example; it is the art of illuminating and dispelling darkness. Radiance, healing, enchantment, amplification, dispelling, protection, and prophecy—all of these fall under it."

Lude nodded. He basically understood now; Illumination Art, like Alchemy, was a broad category.

And, judging by the sense of danger Lude could feel from the Collector, he estimated that his current body was roughly equivalent to a third-rank caster—though that was just his intuition.

Seeming to notice Lude's contemplation, the Collector smiled and patted Lude on the shoulder.

"Don't sell yourself short. Although we haven't studied those difficult-to-understand arts, when it comes to combat, you have to look at Secret Arts. Take that kid Aleppo, for example; he has assassinated several high-ranking scholars."

Lude nodded with a smile, giving the impression that he was standing on the same side as the Collector.

However, he was secretly pondering in his heart.

Lord Hypnos is so strong; what rank of caster must he be? At least seventh rank, perhaps even a level beyond mortals.

As for Malinkov, why he could rival him—someone who had injected the first Wyvern Blood Essence—without any Secret Art, that question was also easy to explain.

Malinkov is definitely a practitioner of [Iron Ferrule Art], and he is likely quite proficient in it!

This made Lude look forward to it, as [Iron Ferrule Art] was the purest form of combat skill.

But that was a matter for after he took Malinkov down.

Returning to the present, looking at the dent in the dark gray dragon's head, Lude felt his own forehead ache slightly.

Draconic Genealogy is a common interest among the casters of this world, and Rupert Hercules, the author of Draconic Genealogy, is a leader among them, having recorded many short pieces on the comparative strength of Dragon Beasts in his book.

In the book, the Bohemian Forest Dragon is rated as [slightly inferior to the Lion Dragon], and this "slightly inferior" roughly means a forty-sixty split.

In other words, perhaps the Collector's fist couldn't shatter Lude's skull, but it wouldn't be much of a problem for her to punch a hole through his chest instead... This woman's Secret Art must be purely physical; otherwise, she couldn't have achieved the feat of killing a dragon with a single punch.

"And what are these?"

Lude looked at the surrounding display cases curiously, for he saw a familiar object. It was the Silver Dinner Knife that Lord Hypnos had used. Since it wasn't particularly precious, Lude had handed it over to Sally.

Why was this thing placed alongside animal specimens?