My Blood Legacy: Reincarnated as a Vampire

"Simon is with me, although he doesn't yet know that I'm Dante," Ziriel said, and Aaralyn seemed surprised. Despite keeping an eye on Ziriel, she hadn't yet checked who was with him.

"I understand. I recommend not involving him now," Aaralyn said, and Ziriel raised her eyebrows slightly, questioning: "Why do you say that?"

"Avalon is closed, no information comes in, and no information goes out. I tried to contact our private witches, but they denied any contact. Something might be happening during Simon's stay that prevents him from returning," Aaralyn commented. Ziriel, however, was curious about why this heartless Witch would raise such protections on the witches' continent.

"That's quite suspicious," Ziriel commented, and seeing Aaralyn's reaction, it seemed like correct information.

"Where are the other four shadows?" Ziriel asked Aaralyn, but she didn't get a concrete answer, only "Somewhere, I can't reach them."

"Can't, or won't?" Ziriel questioned, and Aaralyn smiled slightly. "It seems the Emperor is not alone in hunting Hellsing. Our sisters have no time to communicate lately. My last letter was unanswered, and the water messenger did not return."

"Do you think they might be in danger?"

"They would kill everyone before being in danger. I think what's lacking is time. Besides, the Strongest Shadow is currently with Vlad, awaiting Valentina's return."

"Is she with the key?"

"Yes."

"Can you tell me what this so-called key is?" Ziriel asked, but Aaralyn's eyes already said it all. She didn't need to continue. "I understand, it's a secret of my mother's."

"Not just that, we would die if we told what that box is. Valentina... doesn't like us talking about who she was in the past, before coming to this world," Aaralyn said, letting something slip.

'Coming to this world, huh? Of course... I knew there was something wrong with my Valentina from the start.' Ziriel thought. Several of her thoughts coincided with things she had already noticed in Valentina's behavior. Now, however, she had a vague confirmation of who Valentina was.

"What do you intend to do, master?" Aaralyn questioned, snapping Ziriel out of her vague thoughts about Valentina.

"I don't know, Aaralyn. I need to improve my core first before facing the Emperor. If he graduated from Kryoris, it means he's too strong for me now," Ziriel said, and Aaralyn analyzed her slightly and agreed.

"Ethan Smith, born and raised in the Imperial palace, lived his entire life in luxury and eventually reached the early stages of a mage, assuming the title of Golden Lightning King, one of the most powerful "King" titled students in Kryoris. However, compared to the top five in Kryoris, they would all kill him with a single blow."

"Believe me, even the you from ten years ago would defeat him. In fact, defeating him is probably the easiest thing you'll ever do in your life. Fortunately, Ethan Smith is a failure. When he was destroyed by you that day, do you remember what you did?" Aaralyn asked, and I nodded.

"I cut half of his body while showing him how insignificant he was," Ziriel replied, and Aaralyn nodded, continuing her explanation.

"Well, our dear little lightning bolt started having panic attacks and lost part of his power because of the incessant fear of dying. He spent the last six years trying to get rid of you in his dreams. Some still compared him to you, but he... He was different from the others. The fear he felt was so great that it created a psychological dependence on you.

Basically, this idiot stopped training because he was so afraid, and when the new magic theory, called cultivation, arrived, he started training again because you didn't know what cultivation was. So, how could you be better than him if you were dead?"

"My God, he really screwed up his life big time. That makes me very happy," Ziriel said, widening her smile. She just got the best information of all.

"So, could you tell me about cultivation?" Ziriel asked. She didn't want an easy path like Voralith could offer. She wanted to learn step by step without shortcuts.

"Oh, referring to the new magical theory in... Well, in simple terms, previously mages were very limited to their cores, which you created based on your talent. You already know this, but your core never expanded, right?"

"Yes, I could never exceed my capacity, so much so that I couldn't use almost any magic I knew, despite having a strong but small core."

"Naturally, that core would grow as you grew. In the past, the process a mage used was: Absorb - Refine - Store - Dissipate."

"Alice named this method she created 'Core Ascension'. Instead of storing, you will expand the energy within your core, creating new layers for it, inside and out. But from what I understand, previously our world didn't have enough mana to support this strengthening. We thought mana was abundant, but it wasn't quite like that.

In recent years, the global power growth has been increasing more and more, like an exponential growth of mana worldwide. You might have noticed this, but beasts are appearing more frequently, fighter people too, even Nighsphere's skies are clearer."

"Mana Core Cultivation, this is the method that Alice showed to the world," Aaralyn said, excited like a primary school teacher on her first day of class.

"Alice taught her mages first, then shared the knowledge with the Vampires and the Eastern Empire. Now she's negotiating with the other nations, so I can't offer a method right now. Although it seems like you already know a thing or two, that smile of yours doesn't fool me!" She said, excitedly, and continued: "Well, for now, what I can tell you about are the ascension realms she determined."

Mana Condensation

Advanced Realm

Specialist Realm

Master Realm

Grandmaster Realm

King Realm

Emperor Realm

"Anyway, I don't have any more information. You would have to meet with her to understand better, or find someone to teach you about it. I really can't help any further, master," Aaralyn, out of breath, finally stopped speaking, and even Ziriel couldn't bear to hear the voice of the lively girl, who seemed to have been plugged in with an instruction manual.

"Considering that in the past there really wasn't a method to measure a person's strength, only their abilities when facing each other, the 'cultivation' that Alice developed is truly effective. Now, with a nomenclature and realms, one can say that we are even more powerful. I wonder if it was really Alice who developed this.

After all, I've talked to Morgana about this hypothesis when we trained, about magic levels, but she never explained it to me, because she didn't know either. After all, she's a witch, she's blessed by mana and can learn anything."

These were Ziriel's thoughts. Now, however, she didn't have time to think about who created this. She should just move on and continue preparing to kill Ethan and take the royal throne.

"Alright, rest up. I need to go anyway, so please, work hard. I'll be back in five days with a plan to kill the Emperor," Ziriel said with a smile and patted the head of her new subordinate.

"Thank you for the work," she said and walked down the stairs, leaving only Aaralyn sitting, alone...

"Stupid master... Why didn't you ask me to enter your shadow? I am a shadow!" She grumbled. She wanted to take the initiative, but she didn't want to force Ziriel to fulfill her requests. It would be rude after she doubted her master's identity so much!

As Ziriel walked through the streets, she questioned something to Voralith.

'How much of what she said is true?' The thoughts were transmitted and in a second the draconian maiden appeared by her side holding the hand of a child as the three walked.

"Although the Cultivation Realms aren't named that way, condensation for core ascension does exist indeed. I'm concerned about why this sector doesn't know about something so simple," she replied, confirming Ziriel's theories.

"Are there more realms beyond the ones she mentioned?" Ziriel questioned, and Voralith nodded. "It wouldn't do a cockroach like you any good to know about realms above the Emperor. It would take a thousand years for you to get there," she said, sparking curiosity in Ziriel.

"Oh, so cultivation is a difficult path."

"It depends a lot on what you follow. Until you understand your own path, you're just a cockroach," she said again.

"So, what's your path?" Ziriel asked with a smile, and Voralith replied: "Stop dreaming, boy. I won't tell you."