Leilin found himself somewhat exasperated to discover that while the Ouroboros Ring was an ancient and powerful organization of considerable strength, its internal rules and complex regulations had reached an almost absurd level of intricacy.
This rigid hierarchy — perhaps inherited from the habits of the Coamoin serpent race — was especially inflexible beyond measure.
Before, although they were all Coamoin Giant Serpent Warlocks, Kasha had already reached the Vaporization stage and generally didn't bother much with Leilin. But now that he had broken through to that very rank, her attitude shifted immediately, catching Leilin off guard.
As for Lucy, who held the highest strength at the Third Rank Crystallization stage, she sat quietly to the side drinking wine, wearing an aloof and proud demeanor — and yet everyone considered this perfectly natural.
Leilin silently rolled his eyes but could only play along with the rules.
"Senior Brother Lucy has always been like this — he's paid the price for it many times, but he just can't change!"
"Actually, he's quite pleased about your breakthrough. For most banquet invitations, he wouldn't even glance at them!"
As
"Don't worry! I understand!" Leilin said with a wry smile.
Even if the other party gave him no face, there was absolutely nothing he could do about it.
In his current state, even with every trump card laid out, he could at best deal with a Third Rank Liquidation warlock. In the face of such a disparity in strength, words meant nothing. If Lucy hadn't come on account of Master Gilbert, and because this was Leilin's first invitation, whether she would have shown up at all was genuinely uncertain.
"Oh! Right! Let me introduce you all — this is my apprentice! Slubby!"
Leilin waved a greeting. A somewhat nervous young man stepped forward, acne dotting his face, dimples appearing when he smiled.
"Everyone… Honored sirs, greetings!" Slubby stammered through his words.
The several Third Rank warlocks merely gave a reserved nod and paid him no further attention. Even Kasha's two juniors looked down on him somewhat.
As for Leilin's apprentice, they could see at a glance the Holar Black Serpentine bloodline within him. While a bloodline capable of reaching the Third Rank warlock was considered quite impressive in the Central Continent, it appeared rather modest to these bloodline nobles.
Putting two and two together with Leilin's chief subordinate Pike, they believed they had roughly guessed Leilin's motivation for taking on an apprentice, and naturally did not devote much attention. A single nod was already done as a courtesy to Leilin.
Fortunately, Leilin had only brought Slubby out to broaden his horizons, and after the young man had offered his bows, he promptly sent him away.
Slubby agreed very quickly and withdrew even more hastily, with such an air of embarrassment that Leilin almost thought he was fleeing for his life.
"So this is the hierarchy among warlocks!"
Leilin sighed inwardly. By comparison, although Kasha's two juniors were equally feeble in actual strength, their noble bloodlines gave them the potential to break through to the Fourth Rank. They were immediately treated with great importance — even their Third Rank elders considered it perfectly natural.
For warlocks, bloodline might not determine your minimum achievement, but it could certainly determine your ceiling.
Take the two Comorin Giant Serpent warlocks that Kasha had brought along — with just a little effort and some time, reaching Third Rank would be child's play for them. Vaporization and liquefaction wouldn't be too difficult either. Crystallization, however, would depend on talent. As for breaking through to Morning Star? Talent alone wouldn't be enough — they would need a measure of luck as well.
After all, they were not first-generation Comorin Giant Serpent warlocks. Their bloodlines were no longer pure enough to grant them Fourth Rank upon reaching adulthood.
In truth, within the entire Ouroboros Ring, there were no longer any warlocks with absolutely pure Comorin Giant Serpent bloodlines. Warlock bloodlines would gradually degrade over the passage of time. The three Elders had consumed vast quantities of resources and shed untold blood and sweat to break through to the Fourth Rank Morning Star stage — plus a stroke of luck.
Leilin himself didn't know how pure his own bloodline was, but judging by the attention Frey, several of his senior and junior fellow apprentices, and his teacher had shown him, it couldn't be too bad.
In fact, he had tremendous confidence in the Chip's bloodline purification technology.
During his time at the Ouroboros Ring, he had discovered that even in the Central Continent, there were no microscopes precise enough to observe things at the atomic level, to identify genes and map them out.
Their research was still stuck at the cellular level at most — even their best microscope facilities could only see down to cell structures.
But the Chip had been able to extract directly from the Holar Black Serpentine bloodline essence every gene fragment belonging to the Comorin Giant Serpent, then reassemble them!
Leilin even suspected that the bloodline in his body could rival that of a first-generation Comorin Giant Serpent warlock!
That would mean a bloodline purity pushed to its absolute limit — the kind of terrifying warlock who could break through to Morning Star based on nothing more than the passage of years!
Of course, Leilin had progressed far too quickly. At barely over a hundred years old, he was still in the juvenile stage by Comorin Giant Serpent standards. So he didn't yet have a deep understanding of just how terrifying the potential of his bloodline truly was.
But the Comorin Giant Serpent's maturation period was absurdly long. If he had truly followed the pace dictated by his bloodline, Leilin would probably still be at the First Rank warlock stage right now. Over vast stretches of time, even if he spent every day sleeping, his Spiritual Power would still rise incrementally, allowing him to cross the thresholds of elementalization and substantialization one after another, climbing ever higher. By around five hundred years of age, he could probably touch the Third Rank warlock realm where he currently stood. As for Morning Star? Perhaps at around nine hundred years old, he might be able to sense that level through his bloodline alone.
In other words, Leilin had matured far too early — to the point where even his body's bloodline could barely keep up.
"Even though the Chip's projections say I'll have close to nine hundred years of lifespan, the risk is still far too great!"
Leilin rubbed his chin. He simply didn't dare gamble that his bloodline concentration was high enough to break through to the Morning Star rank after nine hundred years.
Which meant he still had to keep pushing himself, without rest!
At least, the Comosian bloodline shackles wouldn't pose any problem whatsoever before he reached the Fourth Rank — he could advance smoothly all the way without a hitch.
"Leilin, what are you thinking about?"
His contemplative expression had clearly caught Robin's attention across the table.
"Oh! It's like this..." Leilin shared his speculation about bloodline growth, naturally concealing the fact that his bloodline might be extraordinarily pure, and steering the conversation toward how to nurture bloodline development.
"So, you want to know whether there are any potions or materials in our Ouroboros Ring that can accelerate bloodline growth?"
Robin looked at Leilin with an expression caught somewhere between amusement and exasperation.
"Most Warlocks rely on bloodline growth to slowly push forward their Meditation Method advancement and rank elevation. Someone like you, whose actual strength far exceeds what bloodline growth would provide — that really is an exceedingly rare case..."
"Rare! That means it's not impossible!"
Leilin's heart settled. The Central Continent was a hotbed of geniuses, and the Ouroboros Ring was the gathering place for Comosian Giant Serpent Warlocks. There had to be a way!
But such methods were surely extremely precious and classified at a very high level — which was why Leilin had never seen anything similar in the trading hall.
"Yes! In fact, Warlocks like you, Leilin, who achieved remarkable strength at such a young age — there have been several throughout our organization's history!"
Kasha chimed in from the side: "And some of them utilized an exceedingly rare, top-tier material to accelerate the growth of the bloodline within their bodies. In the end, they all achieved very impressive accomplishments!"
"What material?" Leilin's eyes lit up.
"Snake Maiden Hair!" Kasha had no intention of keeping Leilin in suspense and immediately gave him the specific name.
"Chip!" Leilin called out silently in his mind. "Search the database — keyword: Snake Maiden Hair!"
Every time he arrived somewhere new, collecting information and books had long since become a habit for Leilin, and his several years at the Ouroboros Ring headquarters were no exception.
The Ouroboros Ring was one of the major powers of the Central Continent, with a public library overflowing with resources. Leilin held the Marquis rank, giving him considerable standing and no small amount of clearance — enough to freely access the majority of its contents. As for the small portion of paid material, that was hardly a problem for someone whose coffers were bulging.
As for his current self, while it couldn't be said that he knew everything about the Central Continent, the sheer breadth of knowledge he had accumulated was no less impressive than that of scholars who had lived for hundreds of years.
"Snake Maiden Hair: A rare ancient material — a single strand of hair belonging to the ancient creature known as the Snake Maiden! It contains terrifying levels of energy. Grade: Three! Rarity: Four! Description: The Snake Maiden was an enormously powerful creature of antiquity. Beyond their eerie illusion arts, they were especially adept at commanding serpents in battle and were often the rulers who controlled entire serpent races! Legend holds they carry the direct bloodline of the Mother of Ten Thousand Serpents! A fully mature specimen is comparable to a Lunar
Leilin looked at the description the Chip had produced, and a bitter smile involuntarily tugged at the corner of his mouth.
The grades and rarity ratings mentioned in the description followed the standards of the Central Continent. A Grade Three meant this material was effective for Third Grade Wizards, while a Rarity Four indicated that such materials were often only obtainable by Dawn Star Wizards!
Not to mention, the subsequent evaluation—that a fully mature specimen was comparable to a Lunar Wizard—left Leilin completely stunned.
A Lunar-level Wizard was a Fifth Grade Grand Wizard! Their standing was yet another tier above Dawn Star Wizards, and in the Central Continent, forces that possessed such Wizards were exceedingly rare.
How could Leilin, who couldn't even afford to offend a Dawn Star Wizard, dare to set his sights on a Lunar Wizard?
Of course, a creature's strength was one thing, and its materials were another entirely.
"Could it be that Senior Kasha said that because the teacher actually possesses Snake Maiden Hair?" Leilin's eyes lit up. The ancient Snake Maidens had naturally gone extinct countless years ago, but it was entirely normal for some of their remains to have been discovered by Wizards, yielding usable materials.