Basically it just shows if your character is a Novice, Journeyman, Artisan, Master, or Grandmaster in their magic or skill. I used to use a number system, but I'm moving away from that to a quest based completion system. Basically if your character makes it through to a certain point in the quest, or finishes, they can move up tiers in magic or skills, to be used in/stronger with for later portions of/quests