Jack stumbled up the wooden staircase while clutching his head. A tal door stood in his path, but a simple thought and flick of his eyes manipulated the door’s lock, popping it open. Finding the headache developing into a terrible migraine, he resorted to pushing the door with his outstretched arm and forcing his way inside.
Compared to the sll of mould from the staircase, the room he entered was surprisingly fresh and clean. A grand oak desk dominated the far side of the room, with a leather chair fit for a king behind it. Fine art pieces covered the various walls of the room. Jack paid the lavish decorations no heed as he levitated straight toward the desk. Not even bothering to walk around it, he used his Phantom Form on his legs as he passed right over the enormous oak desk. Unceremoniously, Jack collapsed into the leather chair and closed his eyes.
A few other people followed behind him. linda looked around curiously at the out-of-place room before seating herself on a sofa in the corner. Leon O’Neill was shaking like a leaf as he nervously observed Jack. He didn’t dare sit down on the only other chair in the room and decided to stand as close to the door as possible.
Jack leaned back in the chair and massaged his temples with his index fingers. "Take a seat, Mayor Leon," Jack commanded while blindly gesturing with his hand to the only remaining seat.
Leon O’Neill was a large man with well-defined muscles that suggested a rough life on the fields. His large hands, covered in calluses, hinted at his intensive training with the sword. As he sat, he gripped the chair’s armrests, causing the wood to groan in protest.
Jack barely managed to open a single eye and snapped open his pocket watch.
[Jack Wilson]
[Noble Vampire]
Schools of Magic:
[Psychic Magic (B )]
Psychokinesis [B → A]
Levitation [C → B]
Clairvoyance [D → C]
Automatic Writing [F]
Telepathy [C]
Pyrokinesis [E]
[Space Magic (D → C)]
Phantom Form [D → C]
Spatial Movent [F] (New)
Control and move an area of space.
Space Inventory [F] (New)
Compress the size of objects and store them in a small tear in space.
[Blood Magic (D)]
Blood Contract [F]
[Darkness Magic (F)] (New, gained from Blood Contract)
=Null Spells=
Mana Control [C → B]
While he had been frivolous with his mana usage earlier, it didn’t explain his current condition. What did was the ssage flashing at the bottom of his pocket watch in red.
’Control over the body’s traits has resulted in new skills...’
Focusing on it made the information on the mirror change. The hardcoded traits that made Jack Wilson the villain he was in the ga appeared one by one, and to his surprise, there were new skills listed below them.
[Germaphobe]
Unable to learn lee skills /
Increased control over ranged spells by 100%.
Deflection (B) (New)
Automatically defends against threats deed unclean.
[Control Freak]
Increased affinity to control skills by 10%.
Soul Bind [D] (New)
You desire complete control over a person’s very soul, giving you outright control over their life and death. However, the caster requires access to their sea of consciousness.
[Lazy]
Increased mana regeneration while resting by 20% /
Increased EXP to learn new spells by 10%.
Sleep Casting [E] (New)
Allows the caster to use spells while asleep.
[Concentration]
Increased affinity with ntal spells by 5%.
Perception Field [C] (New)
Concentrating on the surroundings heightens your senses, allowing you to see through anything.
[Noble Aura]
Intimidation increased.
Suppressive Voice [E] (New)
Imbue your voice with mana, striking fear into lesser beings.
Notice: Your body is currently undergoing significant changes.
Jack just stared at the pocket watch, trying to comprehend everything. His body felt even weaker than when he had been hospital-bound back on Earth. His head was pounding like a drum, and his heart was going into overdrive. Was this all because of the significant changes his body was supposedly going through? Was it the new Darkness mana circuit that had chosen now to appear? Or was it because of his supposed control over his traits?
He snorted at the ridiculousness of it all and lay back in the chair. The sun cast a shadow onto his face from the window behind him, making him look like a true villain. With great effort, he wiped the sweat accumulating on his forehead with his sleeve. He could feel the new mana circuit for Darkness Magic crawling its way through his body, linking his heart and brain alongside three other pathways. During the Space Magic pathway creation process, he had been knocked out cold from fatigue and slept through the pain, but right now, he was awake to endure it.
Glancing at the pocket watch, a single line on its mirror’s surface stood out like a sore thumb to him.
’Control over the body’s traits has resulted in new skills...’
Traits were manageable to a certain extent, but they defined a person. For example, a person’s trait could be a "short temper" back on Earth. They could control their anger with counselling or breathing exercises, but they were temporary fixes. If a person was pushed to their absolute limit, their pseudo control would falter and regress back to old habits.
When he transferred into this world, Jack Wilson felt both foreign and a perfect fit for him. The traits, while amplified to the extre, were all ones he had back on Earth. The hospital environnt had made him a Germaphobe. He was incredibly lazy but able to concentrate on tasks when needed. Sotis, he wondered if he would have turned out this way back on Earth if he wasn’t bedridden, ignoring the vampirism and magic, of course.
’Control over the body’s traits has resulted in new skills... This suggests the body recognises my soul as the true owner. These skills all make sense.’
The more Jack read about the new skills, the more sense they made. Finally, placing his legs in a crossed pattern on the desk, he closed his eyes and further leaned back into the leather chair, ignoring Leon’s uncomfortable shifting and linda’s curious gaze. Jack decided he needed rest and ti to think deeply about his new skills.
’Deflection (B) — Automatically defends against threats deed unclean. Since this skill starts at the B grade, it suggests I have subconsciously been avoiding unclean projectiles like blood for a while now. Looking back, I developed a bubble of Psychokinesis to prevent the ghouls’ rotting flesh from hitting . I guess this is just that unique application of Psychokinesis being designated as its own spell.’
’Soul Bind [D] — Complete control over a person’s very soul, giving outright dominion over their life and death. This is a forbidden null spell discovered in a tomb located in the central continent during the storyline. Either the player could take it for themselves or let it fall into the hands of a fairy king, who uses the spell to enslave his race and later becos an end-ga boss. Since the runic language is English, I had no issues using a null elent spell by chanting its na. Interestingly, it appears the world’s system has designated it as a [Control Freak] spell. I could learn other null spells in the future, but none co to mind. I would rather linda learn lifestyle spells like Clean instead of . Waste of my ti.’
’Sleep Casting [E] — Allows the caster to use spells while asleep. Due to my anxiety, I maintained my Clairvoyance spell during the journey to Tarlington Fortress. I’m not certain how useful this skill will be during combat, except for preventing attempted assassinations. Considering my dear brother will be sending assassins after , raising this to A-grade will be imperative to my survival.’
’Perception Field [C] — Concentrating on the surroundings heightens your senses, allowing you to see through anything. I’m confident this is the primary source of my headache; whenever I open my eyes, it’s like my brain is receiving two conflicting information streams at once. My eyes tell there is a wall, but my perception field tells what’s behind the wall. It is bizarre and disorienting. Honestly, once my perception field upgrades, I may never need to open my eyes again to see the world around .’
’Suppressive Voice [E] — Imbue your voice with mana, striking fear into lesser beings. This must have been the spell that subconsciously activated earlier. I put mana into my throat to project my voice, as I didn’t want to shout, but it seed to have an exciting effect. I was baffled when everyone started prostrating themselves toward . Literature always spoke of vampires having the power to control others through speech, and it appears it’s true, at least for .’
Jack felt his body recovering at an astonishing rate due to his vampiric regeneration capabilities, so he decided to check out the skills one last ti. Due to the intense battle of Tarlington Fortress, his Psychic skills had levelled up substantially.
Psychokinesis [B ] → [A]
Levitation [C] → [B]
Clairvoyance [D] → [C]
His first-ever A-grade spell had appeared.
’But unfortunately, my Psychic school of magic is still cented at the B grade pending the absorption of a psychic affinity stone or contract with an elental. Increasing my Psychokinesis level should increase the mass and range of objects I can move. So, for another example, if I level my Psychic Magic to A grade, it would increase the number of things I can control. The limits of this spell will require further testing later. At the mont, my upper limit is around a hundred enchanted items or hundreds of non-enchanted ones. Although the limit on enchanted items may have increased as my Mana Control has upgraded.’
Mana Control [C ] → [B]
Jack took a quick note of these new Space spells after his Space Magic levelled up to C grade.
Spatial Movent [F] — Control and move an area of space.
Space Inventory [F] — Compress the size of objects and store them in a small tear in space.
Both are extrely useful when upgraded, but they are relatively useless for now, as they are both F-grade.
Deciding he would go mad if Leon kept shifting around nervously in his chair, Jack swung his legs off the desk and abruptly stood up. He instantly regretted his decision and leaned on the desk. His muscles had recovered surprisingly quickly from the mana circuit renovations, but his Perception Field skill was still ssing with his orientation.
Looking around the room with effort, Jack saw a beautiful mage staff made of black wood with a red gem secured on its top leaning against the wall. Its style reminded him of the Victorian era. Walking over with uneasy steps, he clasped the red gemstone and used the mage staff as a cane to lean on. Although the mage staff’s creator never intended it to be handled in such a way, due to Jack’s tall fra, the magic staff was the perfect height for him to rest his hand comfortably on its head. The wood didn’t snap or even creak as it supported his weight, a testant to the excellent choice of wood used in its creation.
Jack limped toward the room’s only window, cane clinking on the wooden floor as he went. His silver robes hanging lightly on his shoulders, signifying his Master Mage status, swayed as he moved.
The town hall, constructed from stone, looked out of place compared to the shabby wooden houses many others called ho. Yet it stood tall and proud in the center of Blackthorn. Jack tapped his cane and pressure-locked Leon in his chair, halting his annoying fidgeting.
"Leon O’Neill, or should I call you by your real na?" Jack slowly turned around on his heel, no longer scrutinising Blackthorn through the window.
"R-Real na? Whatever do you an, Duke Wilson?"
"You know exactly what I’m talking about, Mayor Dwight..."
Leon’s eyes beca terrified as he attempted to fight the pressure. "Dwight Lewis, bastard son of Baron Lewis from Velmira. Wanted man in both Velmira and Veranthos for slave trading," Jack narrated in a flat tone.
Slowly pacing across the room back and forth, Jack continued, "Both you and I know that vampires never stray far from their nest. So how co the humans have escaped so far south, fleeing the ’vampires’ under your leadership? Hmm?"
Jack then gestured toward all the expensive items in the room. "How could a simple village mayor possess such lavish items? Don’t bother answering, not that you can anyway."
"Those people outside stood beside you, pointing fingers at for the terror my race has caused them over the years. Yet little did those peasants know they stood beside the wolf all along."
Jack then grinned as he looked right into Leon Dwight’s eyes. He could sll the man’s fear. He chuckled.
"Obviously, I don’t care about any of that. I hate both vampires and humans. But, so long as the people trust you, I shall use you as my little pawn."
Reaching out his hand toward the struggling Leon, Jack muttered, "ᛋᛟᚢᛐ ᚲᚹᛁᛱ (Soul Bind)."
Golden chains shot out of Jack’s hands and drove straight into Leon’s skull, causing the man to scream in anguish.
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