Vampire Overlord System in the Apocalypse

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As Noah explained and taught his subordinates about magic and its usage, he also explained what he had figured out about the levels of magic that could be attained, and about the power of a mage, which increased through Levels or Ranks.

Such "levels" consisted in the level of magic user's understanding of magic, their mana capacity, and their ability to construct magic and spells through runes ad magic circles.

The more a mage amassed mana improved their understanding of mana, and became better and faster at creating runes and magical inscriptions, the more chances it had to undergo a breakthrough and increase its Level.

…

[Noah Luna Noctem]

[Class(es): Warlock (I)]

[Patron(s): Bloodshot Eye]action

[Bloodline: Vampire (Evolved)]

[Blood Core Rank: Level III: Noble-Born Vampire Viscount] 

[Vitality: 610]

[Mind: 610]

[Force: 610]

…

As Noah checked his Status after making a pact with Bloodshot Eye, he realized that he had now a "Class" which appeared as Warlock (I), signaling that he was still a Level I Warlock.

Perhaps as he poured more Skill Points into the Skill Tree of the Warlock, he could be able to cheat the long and slow progression that a magic-user needed to undergo and instantly ascend to Level II.

He explained such things to his subordinates and wife, and they slowly began to understand.

"So it is like the Blood Core Levels anyways?" asked Iris.

"…Indeed. I had not thought about such a comparison because I was delving too much into its complexity. But… you are right, Iris. It could be said to be similar to the Level of a Blood Core Rank, but this time it would be related to your usage of magic," said Noah.

Around Noah all of his subordinates sat down as if they were meditating, within a large hall inside of Scarlet, everyone was obeying his instructions and trying to harbor their inner Mana not to activate Skills but to use Spells.

It could be said that Skills were just Spells which were conjured by the System itself through its amazing powers and that it always responded to their users as long as mana was poured directly into the System.

But to conjure actual Spells, the user needed to use their own mana and not pour it into the System, but pour it outside of their bodies, while shaping them through their intent and imagination, so the magic could take the form they desired.

Affinities were very important through this step, as those with an affinity would have an incredibly easier time conjuring that attribute magic than others.

In fact, at the level that everyone was currently, it was completely impossible to conjure any type of magic outside of their very affinities.

Using his own knowledge and teachings, Noah spent the entire day teaching his subordinates about this, it was already night, and everyone was still profoundly meditating to sense and feel their own Mana.

Thanks to Bloodshot Eye, Noah was able to immediately learn these things, but for the rest, he had to teach them slowly and steadily.

Nevertheless, everyone showed outstanding talent from the get-go, and with the help of their smaller Blood Cores, they were somewhat managing to control the flows of Mana to a greater extent.

The meditation techniques that each one often used when they absorbed Attribute Value Cores were coming into good use now, as the principles of energy control were the same for Mana.

After many hours, and thanks to their vampiric physiology, Noah and the rest were able to push for some more time until Iris spoke to Noah just recently when she figured out the similarities of Blood Core Levels with Magic-User Levels.

As everyone concentrated and Iris went back to shape her mana, Noah was slowly practicing his two magic spells.

Noah had the Blood and Dark Attribute as strong affinities.

If he pushed himself enough, he should be able to conjure at least one spell for each of the two magics.

If they could be stronger than actual Skills was unknown to him.

But if the spells themselves bypassed the system, Noah began to figure out that they could disrupt Skills themselves.

If he were to fire a spear of darkness towards an enemy hunter who created a shield using some Skill, the spear of darkness that existed outside of the system could be able to ignore part of the defensive power of the skill, which was fueled by the system.

As stats and other powers always applied and matched when they were within the system when a system power was hit by a non-system power, rules about stats and other things could be slightly ignored to an extent.

However, this was but a theory for now, as Noah needed to delve deeper into magic understanding and knowledge, alongside practicing a lot.

If he could not advance through Attribute Value Cores in the meantime, Noah was planning to push himself through other means to grow stronger through this time. And it was not as if he were not being productive, as the Robots and Blood Servants had already marched inside another dungeon tonight, and would soon bring more Ability Cores.

"Concentrate… Mana… Shape…"

Noah recited these words as he glanced with his crimson eyes the bluish essence coming out of his hands, Mana.

The mana gathered into a magical cloud of pure essence, formlessly moving around.

He used his intent and will over it, shaping the mana to his will.

It was rather hard, but a magic circle emerged and runes once more appeared.

The first time he tried to show his subordinates how to conjure a spell, he only managed to create a floating blob of blood, which quickly dissipated into nothingness a bit afterward.

Noah began to think that although such a basic spell was too weak compared to his Skills, that it held the potential to be more than that.

And as he practiced this, the Blood Progenitor guided him.

Interestingly enough, he had begun to be less aggressive and more willing to help Noah.

It seems that Noah had finally destroyed a bit of his spirit, and he had become more serviceable.

It took some time, but even an old and cunning Vampire was slowly succumbing to his fate.

At the very least, he wanted to cooperate with Noah so Noah could have a good impression of him and the threat of being erased or eaten by his new and stronger soul reduced…

If he made himself useful, Noah would stop considering eating him, and he could at least keep existing.

There was even the chance that one day Noah could let him become some kind of summoned being or even to temporarily take over a Blood Servant's body, being able to go to the outside world once more.

But it all depended on his willingness to help Noah and how useful he made himself to be so he could become someone that Noah could not consider part ways from (or eat).

"Although this magic is of low level, you seem to be quite talented. Keep the incantation going, like a river, let the mana flow through your hands, and then… conjure the runes," said the Blood Progenitor, who was rather good at magic.

Noah silently did as the Blood Progenitor guided him to suddenly generate a small speck of darkness out of thin air, which began to grow and grow, reaching the size of his palm.

"This is… the Level I Dark Attribute Spell, Dark Bullet," said Noah, his eyes glowing with surprise.

Conjuring Magic felt completely different than using mere Skills, it even held some mystical feeling, as if Noah were shaping the very nature of the world through it…

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