Nonexistent?

"What are you talking about?" The young woman looked confused and questioned Hades.

"Sorry, I mean, is this all you have?" Hades immediately apologized, then asked.

"These are all the scrolls we have here," the young woman replied, puzzled. "Didn't you find the scroll you wanted?"

"Ugh..." Hades sighed. "Why are they only first- and second-tier scrolls? What about tenth- or ninth-tier scrolls? Eighth-tier would do, if nothing else."

But then Hades suddenly thought of something. Perhaps tenth-, ninth-, and eighth-tier scrolls were rare. High-tier magic scrolls probably weren't as easy to obtain as they had been in YGGDRASIL.

Still, they'd only be harder to get. He just had to spend more money.

"Forget it, forget it." Hades thought for a moment and waved his hand. This wasn't a game, after all. Game resources were practically unlimited, but in the real world, scrolls were probably too precious to sell because of resource constraints.

Maybe only the larger Magic Caster Guilds had them. This guild looked shabby from the outside, so it was probably normal that they didn't.

However, he failed to notice the two young women staring at him as if he were an idiot.

"I'm sorry, but we can't meet your request here. I suggest you try somewhere else," Catherine Longman said with an awkward yet polite smile.

Who would bother arguing with an idiot? She and her younger sister, Quintina Longman, had worked at the Magic Caster Guild for years, and had never heard of magic above the sixth tier. As for magic scrolls, they only went up to the second tier.

As for sixth-tier magic, only Fluder, the Baharuth Empire's chief court magic caster, could use it.

Guildmaster Laxil had devoted himself to researching and improving scroll-making, but even he was only developing third-tier scrolls. Then this idiot showed up today and asked for tenth-tier scrolls right off the bat. Was he here to cause trouble?

Catherine Longman didn't directly contradict him. If he was here to make trouble, arguing would only make them look ridiculous and give him what he wanted. They just needed to send him on his way.

Catherine Longman was composed enough, but her younger sister Quintina Longman wasn't as restrained. She immediately burst out laughing.

"Ha! How could there possibly be tenth-tier magic? Forget tenth-tier magic—even ninth- or eighth-tier magic doesn't exist. You're... mmmph!"

Quintina Longman's expression changed, and tears instantly welled in her eyes. She looked at her sister, Catherine Longman, who had pinched the soft flesh at her waist between two fingers.

"I'm sorry. Please don't take offense. We really don't have what you're looking for. Why not try somewhere else? The Magic Caster Guild in the Royal Capital is our headquarters. They might have it there." Catherine Longman released her sister and smiled at Hades.

She had thought they might at least make a sale today, but instead, a troublemaker had shown up.

Magic scrolls weren't cheap. Even a first-tier magic scroll required gold coins to purchase. Anything related to magic was expensive.

Although E-Rantel had plenty of adventurers and mercenaries, magic items were costly, so they didn't sell well. The Magic Caster Guild also received no support from the state, and Master Laxil's research expenses were another burden.

Catherine Longman had been delighted when a customer finally came in, but now she felt that he had no intention of buying anything at all. He seemed to have come just to cause trouble.

Hades could tell that Catherine Longman's polite manner concealed a cold attitude. Normally, he would have turned and left in this situation, but he thought he had just heard some incredible information.

"Did you just say that those tiers of magic don't exist?" Hades stared at Quintina Longman, his expression grave.

"They really don't. As far as I know, among humans, only Fluder of the Empire can use sixth-tier magic. That's the highest tier of magic there is." Quintina Longman spoke. This time, Catherine Longman didn't pinch her.

"..."

Hades froze. Sixth-tier magic, which he hadn't thought much of, was already the pinnacle of this world—and only one person could use it.

The Sword of Damocles, whose weight he had already reduced, suddenly seemed to grow tens of thousands of times heavier, as if it were about to fall at any moment.

Did that mean the strongest people in this world were only around level 42? If so, why bother looking for allies? How could he possibly conquer Nazarick?

Hades's mood grew heavy. He remained silent for a long time, then furrowed his brow.

No, perhaps there was still a chance. From what Old Burke had explained, humans weren't the strongest on this continent. On the contrary, they were so weak that they had been driven into remote lands.

If sixth-tier magic was the pinnacle for humans, there should be powerful beings in the territories of the demihumans and heteromorphic races.

But could he work with demihumans and heteromorphic races? Nazarick was itself a nest of heteromorphic beings. Would the heteromorphic beings of this world cooperate with a human to destroy another group of their kind?

Hades's feelings were complicated. One of the reasons he had decided to assassinate Momonga was that Nigun and the others could use Tier Magic. At the time, he hadn't completely escaped YGGDRASIL's influence and was still thinking by the standards of the game.

It had never occurred to him that this world's power ceiling could be so low. That made things difficult.

Still, though he had miscalculated in some ways, it seemed that assassinating Momonga had been a rare opportunity. With the power of this world so feeble, he could hardly find any useful allies. Once Momonga retreated into Nazarick, Hades wouldn't be able to obtain any information.

And if Momonga learned just how weak this world was, that would likely be bad news.

At least the assassination had given Momonga false information. He probably wouldn't guess that this world's power ceiling was so low.

Hades took a deep breath, calming his restless mind. Fortunately, he had been cautious and hadn't chosen to fight head-on. The battle had ended quickly enough that Momonga and his three NPCs hadn't seen their faces.

The situation was grim, but there was still a chance. Hades looked at Quintina Longman and asked, "Then do you know what the strongest... um... creature in this world is?"

It was a world of many races. Since humans weren't the strongest, he needed to find out just how powerful the strongest creature could be.

"The strongest?" Quintina Longman thought for a moment. "Probably dragons, though no one has ever actually seen one. Master Laxil said that the Eight Greed Kings wiped out many of the dragons five hundred years ago. Even so, people still believe that dragons are the strongest creatures in this world."

"Dragons..." Hades suppressed his excitement at the news, nodded, and asked, "Where in the city can I find a bookstore?"