The First Magic World War

Whether it be genuine Blood Clan vampires or humans who cultivate Bloody Glory, those of intermediate rank or below can advance their strength by devouring the life force of others, but vampires looking to ascend to high order can only rely on condensing a Blood Core to advance.

The various clans of the Blood Clan are born with different physical structures, and although they can also cross family names to practice other clans' secret techniques, the speed of such cross-training is inevitably slower than practicing their own clan's techniques, thus, even though there are vampires who practice different vampiric secret techniques, they are not mainstream.

Most of the Blood Clan only condense one Bloody Vortex, and like human knights, are ranked by the strength of their Blood Energy, not in the manner of Protagora's Bloody Glory where one advances each time a new Bloody Vortex is opened.

For vampires, the process of ascending to high order is, in form, very simple: as long as one compresses and condenses the Bloody Vortex into a Blood Core, one can ascend to high order.

The Blood Clan divides high order into two phases: Ranks thirteen through fifteen are called barons, while sixteen through eighteen are called viscounts.

Byron truly bestows noble titles on those of his clan who reach high order, as it is the tradition within the Vampire Empire to not award honors to those who haven't entered high order.

After ascending to high order, Blood Clan members place greater importance on the purity of Blood Energy and will not recklessly devour prey of a lower Transcendent rank than themselves, only occasionally supplementing a small amount, like a dessert after a meal. Indiscriminate frenzied devouring of life force can easily cause them to fall into monstrosity; the reason the Blood Clan has the nickname of vampires is because they truly can fall into non-human monsters, losing their human form and all rationality.

There is a saying: A vampire that can think and converse effortlessly as a human is not actually the complete version; a completely fallen creature that has lost human form and all rationality, with desires in shambles, is the real vampire.

Not a single member of the Blood Clan wishes to become that kind of monster.

Contending with the fel energy within is the eternal fate of every vampire.

Cultivating Bloody Glory is different. Humans can practice Blood Clan secret techniques, but the biggest difference between humans and vampires is whether or not they have undergone the mysterious rites or have been given the First Embrace by a high-ranking Blood Clan member.

At the intermediate rank or below, whether one practices Bloody Glory or the authentic Blood Clan secret techniques, the difference from vampires isn't significant, but at high order, there is a clear marker—humans cannot condense a Blood Core and cannot elevate a Bloody Vortex to a vampire's Heart Core.

The Protagora Scrolls do not contain the secret technique for condensing Blood Cores.

As is widely known, although this Great Philosopher of the Human Race lived a long life, he still died of old age like an ordinary human.

No one knows why Protagora did not become a vampire. It could be that he never obtained the secret technique for condensing Blood Cores, or he possibly detested vampires and didn't want to become one of them, or there might be other reasons.

Charles possesses scrolls from both the Arthur Clan and the Adonis Clan, and both vampiric scrolls contain the methods for refining Blood Cores.

Lord Leo once said that if the Adonis Clan used the Arthur Clan's secret technique to condense Blood Cores, there would be slight issues that are detrimental to future growth, because the Bloody Glory opened using the Adonis Clan's secret techniques is essentially different from that of the Arthur Clan.

But Charles is not of the Adonis Clan; he is a human who practices Bloody Glory. With six Bloody Vortexes, he can choose any number of them to condense into a Blood Core; he even has the option to condense multiple Bloody Vortexes into Blood Cores.

Lord Leo had one more thing he did not say: Although using the life force of others to condense Blood Cores and ascend to high order is relatively easy, such Blood Cores are inherently of the lowest quality and almost certainly sever the path to further advancement.

After advancing to intermediate rank, Charles indeed wished to try condensing a Blood Core, as he had no psychological barriers! Whether he lived as a human or as a vampire made no difference to him.

In both the Old Continent and the New Continent, vampires could live under the sun with complete legitimacy, even establishing their own states. The temptation of immortality offered by becoming one of the Everlasting Kind was considerable for anyone.

Of course, becoming a vampire also had some non-negligible impacts, vampires could only perform the First Embrace, were unable to reproduce, were shunned by the gods, let alone the True God, even the Evil God disliked the Blood Clan. Only the ancestors of the Blood Clan would bless their descendants. Additionally, they would lose some of the desires of life and were prone to fall into depravity...

Charles jumped down from the city wall, arrived amidst the group of Hunchback Red Bear Warriors, and led them to a "marketplace" in Machu Picchu. This was a commercial area within the Westwind Knighthood, dominated by the trading corps of Louis Simi and Ross Bard.

Machu Picchu was only two hundred kilometers away from Strasbourg and was originally a commercial hub.

Far from inconveniencing the merchants, Charles instead called upon the members of the Westwind Knighthood to repair nearby houses and clean up a space that was very suitable for business. The houses were rented out to the merchants at very cheap rates, and it was declared that commercial activities conducted in this area—would be tax-exempt.

This policy was only published for a few days, and the area had already begun to thrive. There was even a rudimentary tavern.

Charles casually ordered a table full of food, inviting the dozen or so Hunchback Red Bear Warriors to eat, and had someone call over the Yellow Bear.

The Yellow Bear was a Demon Hunter. Becoming a Demon Hunter required a monster's Heart Core, and upon appointment, one's appearance would transform to resemble that of the monster. For instance, if one's appointment involved using a werewolf Heart Core, they would closely resemble a Werewolf, agile and very enduring. The Heart Core of a demon bear was used by the Yellow Bear when he advanced, so he was incredibly tough-skinned and strong in defense, as well as mighty in strength, serving a role on the battlefield akin to that of the Blood Butcher.

He knew how to disguise Beastmen as Demon Hunters.

No one knew the origins of the ancient Beastmen ancestors, but there was always a saying on the Old Continent, that the predecessors of the Beastmen were also Demon Hunters.

However, modern Demon Hunters simply could not rely on reproduction to pass along their powers; even their offspring had no difference from ordinary people, casting doubt on this claim.

Regardless, it was certainly feasible to disguise Beastmen as Demon Hunters.

The Hundred Bear Chief, Big Bear Tyrant, and other Bear People, who hadn't had a proper meal for a long time, finally had the opportunity to dine in a tavern, with unlimited supply of barley wine. This group of Bear People indulged in eating and drinking, downing over two hundred servings of food and averaging a barrel of barley wine per person.

Having eaten and drunk their fill, this group of Hunchback Red Bear Warriors didn't care where they were and just lay down on the ground, wanting to sleep.

Charles certainly couldn't allow this, so he kicked these dirty fellows awake and took them to an ancient abandoned military camp nearby. These Bear People slept snoring loudly, completely oblivious to being in enemy territory.

Thinking of Philedrica, Charles suddenly felt that the assassins from the Orc Assassin Alliance were completely different from this group of Bear People. The Orc Assassins he had met behaved almost indistinguishably from the Human Race, except for some Beastman traits, and didn't display any rudeness. Philedrica could even study at the University of Georgia.

However, this group of Bear People gave him the impression that they completely fit the depiction of Beastmen in fiction—uncouth, gluttonous, fond of drinking, without vigilance, and especially loud snorers.

Charles didn't bother with these Bear People because he had his training to attend to, so he returned to his own residence. He suddenly thought, "It would indeed be impressive to have such a guard unit by my side when I go out. It's a pity that Fars is now hostile to the Beastman tribes, who have joined Byron's side."

He pondered a few methods, but they all seemed unfeasible. He also didn't know whether he could rely on this group of Hunchback Red Bear Warriors, so he could only let it be.

Charles felt they ate too much and were not as easy to keep as Agile Cats...