The First Stage is when the corpse has just revived. At this time, the Vampire is relatively weak, with only two to three times the strength of an ordinary person. Although the body has the ability to regenerate, its resistance is not high, and it can be easily cut off by sharp weapons. However, ordinary weapons can no longer effectively kill it. But it can still be killed by dismemberment, burning, and other common methods.
Using a cross can effectively suppress Vampire; placing a cross on Vampire in the process of turning into a zombie can effectively prevent it from becoming Vampire. In addition, symbols or images representing God can also be effective against them. Piercing a wooden stake through its heart can cause fatal damage.
At this point, the Vampire's appearance is similar to that of a person who has been dead for about three hours. There may be some lividity on the body, and the eyes are cloudy, but overall, there is not much difference between them and a human. This is the best time for Vampire to hide in the city.
However, it also lacks most of the power of Vampire; its various physical stats have only received slight enhancements, allowing three Church knights to easily overpower it.
The Church also does not consider the corpses at this stage to be true Vampire, because they are not afraid of sunlight at all.
The Second Stage occurs a year after the corpse is revived. As time goes on, the corpse gradually begins to transform into Vampire. Their skin and flesh gradually dehydrate, their bodies gradually dry out, their teeth become sharp and long, and their eyes turn scarlet.
His teeth were sharp and his eyes were red; he was withered and unclean.
This process is extremely long. During this time, the Vampire's strength, agility, and even five senses will increase significantly over time, thus achieving an all-around amplification.
At this point, ordinary weapons were no longer effective against him, and dismemberment and burning could no longer cause him any real harm.
However, its vulnerability is also increasing significantly, and the sun will begin to cause it some damage. The cross can effectively suppress it, and even achieve a burning effect. Inserting the cross into the Vampire's heart will burn it to ashes, resulting in its complete death.
However, images of God and sacred objects imbued with God's aura have a much weaker destructive effect, perhaps because they contain too little of God's radiance.
Only at this stage will they be recognized as Vampire by the Church, because Vampire at this stage truly possess the ability to survive without bloodstains.
At this stage, Vampire truly possessed the power to rival the Holy Knight.
The third stage is when the Vampire's body completely dries up, and its abnormal physique becomes even more abnormal.
First, their bones will redevelop, gradually growing taller until they reach a height of over two meters, at which point they will slowly stop. During this skeletal development, the Vampire's sharp fangs will gradually fall out, and its withered skin will gradually ulcerate and peel off, leaving the inner skin extremely pale but still wrinkled, like a child who has been soaking in its mother's amniotic fluid for too long.
Even the scarlet pupils gradually begin to change color, turning reddish-brown, and the color seems to be gradually deepening.
Ultimately, it will appear as a slender, rotting, and bizarre corpse with festering skin and missing teeth.
This is the ugliest stage of Vampire discovered so far; their appearance resembles a rotting, deformed corpse, utterly disgusting.
However, the Church believes this may be the final stage of Vampire's transformation and rebirth: breaking free from the cocoon.
Pale and delicate, decayed and unbearable.
At this stage, Vampire are no longer mortal beings; no worldly monsters, swords, or flames can harm them.
Images of God and other sacred objects imbued with God's aura will cause less harm, or even only exert a slight suppressive force.
However, its resistance to sunlight weakens again, and exposure to sunlight can even cause severe burns.
At this stage, there is only one way to kill Vampire: to nail a cross into its heart!
At the end of the Third Stage, Vampire may usher in a completely new rank!
Unfortunately, the Church has no information about Fourth Stage Vampire. This is not due to information blockade, but rather because their research over the past thousand years, including their arrests of Vampire, has yielded no results regarding Fourth Stage Vampire.
Even the Vampire captured and trained by the Church itself for observation can only reach the Third Stage, stuck in the final stage of complete transformation.
"It seems that some kind of will is suppressing their transformation, or perhaps Bowser, the progenitor of vampires, occupies the highest position in the vampire race, preventing the remaining vampires from ever advancing further. Perhaps only when Bowser's will completely dissipates will fourth-tier vampires descend upon the world once more..."
A classic ending quote, leaving a hook to entice the reader to let their imagination run wild.
Perhaps when the Church members see this ending, they will indeed, as the book's author imagined, speculate about the so-called Fourth-Tier Vampire Fourth-Tier Vampire, worry about the dissipation of Kuba's will, yet also be filled with curiosity about them.
But to a true Second-Tier Vampire, this book is practically a forbidden book!
"Damn book! I should never have read it!" Norton slammed the book back onto the table, regretting it so much it hurt.
When he wasn't reading, he would only worry about his own survival, but he still lived happily every day.
But after reading this book...
Oh no! I feel like I'm developing jade syndrome!
With growth locked to its limit, not only is it eternally oppressed by God, but even the final transformation is impossible?
So all he could do was drag his stinking body along, pitifully waiting for Kuba's will to dissipate over endless years?
Before reading the book, I was ignorant but carefree. After reading it, I gained knowledge, but I also gained worries.
Norton simply couldn't believe that the secret of Vampire he had longed for for eight years would ultimately reveal that he was nothing more than a toy in the hands of a higher life form in this world.
While the Church couldn't be certain why the Vampire couldn't reach the Fourth Stage, Norton was certain!
Father Abraham knows, doesn't he? No matter how much Father Abraham evolves, he is still a product of Norton, and he can never rise to the same level as Norton.
So why can't Third-Tier Vampire advance to Fourth Stage? Is it even a question? It's definitely because Kuba, the Vampire Progenitor, is suppressing their advancement!
"This world is simply a giant pyramid system, I'm truly impressed!"
Norton felt like he'd been tricked by God.
God oppresses everything in the world equally, and Kuba oppresses Norton equally.
Norton almost died on the spot.
"Damn it, I, Norton, will oppress Abraham on equal terms! I will be a slave owner too!"
Today, all the secrets he wanted to know have been revealed.
"Wait, why isn't this book about Vampire ' ability to develop followers?" Norton's heart skipped a beat as he flipped through the books on the table.
While Existence Level represents everything in this world, and Vampire's thousands of abilities are less useful than raising their Existence Level, this is still Vampire's ability. The Church, having studied Vampire for so long, shouldn't have overlooked this power, right?
But this book definitely doesn't contain any of that information.
It seems as if Vampire never develop a family.
While Norton certainly couldn't do it, wasn't it also a way of developing a retinue by feeding his own flesh and blood to other creatures, raising them to First Stage lower than himself?
Neither the Church nor the Vampire have tried it? That shouldn't be possible!