RWBY: A Knights Will (old)

Lore dump

-World during first life-

Middle Ages time period with magic, elf's, beastmen, dragons and similar stuff like that.

Every person born with either a aura or magic core that resides inside their chest, the amount of power one has is measured by each ring that goes around their core.

Rings go from 1 - 10
One ring meaning barely stronger than the average human, with ten rings being on pair with Demi-gods.

-Power level of each ring-

(1-3 rings)

barely a level above normal humans that have zero rings. Mostly civilians that did mandatory military service and didn't continue their career or children that are apprentices to official knights/magicians. (1 in every 100)

Aura cores would be able to strengthen the muscles slightly while a thin layer of aura would cover the skin like armor. Not very durable.

(Aura cores are more common in humans than magic cores)

Magic cores would be able to cast basic spells like candlelight or harden skin, although the type of spell may differ because of each person's elemental affinity.

(4-6 rings)

At this point they can proudly call themselves Knights/magicians. Once a person reaches 4 rings this means they have been painstakingly cultivating their power for years granting them superhuman power. They are a threat on any battlefield, and it's a common tactic to target these people first as they are the heavy hitters and can easily cleave through hundreds of armed soldiers. (1 in every 1000 humans)

Aura cores at this point output enough aura that a skilled knight can now layer not only their own body's with a protective sheet that acts like armor, but also their weapon as well. Taking their aura and covering their weapon in it making it sharper and significantly more deadly, aura used in this way can cut through most magic too, unlike normal weapons. Any great knight is easily recognized by their aura blade. Most countries won't recognize a knight until they can make an aura blade. At 4 rings or more an average knight should be able to basically channel their aura into separate parts of their body to strengthen it to superhuman levels on top of their already aura strengthened body. Aura knights can do this before the 4th ring but run the risk of crippling themselves. They can also inject their aura into the air sending a kind of air slash through the air but it starts to disappear a couple of feet away from the sender.

While aura cores specialize in gathering power inside their body's and improving the body itself, magic cores do the opposite, the more rings a mage has the more magic they can control from the environment, making ice spears appear from thin air, or gathering the magic onto their own body and condensing it to a degree that the skin is as hard as iron. Even flying isn't impossible if the mage has the right affinity, knowledge and talent. Mages at this level can also force some magic inside the body to strengthen themselves but only a limited amount.

(7-8 rings)

If a 4 ring fighter is a tank on the battlefield, a 7 ring fighter is basically a natural disaster, capable of going against entire army's without backup. Every powerful kingdom has at least one powerhouse of this level, even empires that span across the continent might only have 2 or 3. If a commoner gets seven rings most kingdoms will grant them nobility in exchange for loyalty. The only way of fighting against this kind of power is using a fighter of your own that's of similar power. No amount of normal soldiers is useful against a typhoon of sheer power, they'll just get blown away.

Aura cores basically can do whatever they did before but 10x better and more efficiently. Enough strength to easily leap across canyons, so much excess aura they can slash aura out their swords traveling hundreds of feet before dissipating leaving a trail of destruction in its path. So much aura is inside them that any extra aura available will heal wounds, pair this with the natural aura shield that covers their skin, this makes them almost impossible to kill unless they have completely drained their aura.

If aura cores at this level are comparable to a natural disaster, magic cores are one. Capable of summoning tornados and meteors. High tier magicians are a nightmare for any opposing force, fast as lightning flying through the sky berating the opponent with wind spears just out of reach. At the 7th ring, elemental affinity becomes less important allowing them to cast spells like teleport, even if extremely limited.
(Note: even though they can do more, summoning something like a meteor will drain like half of magic reserve.)

(9 rings)

In this state the line between aura and magic is blurred. Once the 9th ring is achieved they don't get an increase in power but the complete control over the energy possessed. Every action is only done with the required amount of energy needed, nothing is wasted. If the rings before grant massive energy boosts of energy, the 9th ring grants control over that energy.
(A human with the talent for 9 rings usually appears once a generation)

Humans with aura cores can now completely control aura outside of their body, even able to take in magic in the atmosphere and turn it into aura to get slightly a better recovery rate of aura. with enough practice they can even materialize aura outside of their body, making platforms to stand on to effectively fly or making a sword out of nothing but aura.

Mages can also take magic within their bodies and strengthen their muscles and get regeneration. The increasing and control over magic makes it so that they can cast more and better spells without being drained.

(10 rings)

So rare and unknown that it's basically a fairytale that you would tell the children.