As far as I know electric potential is a characteristic of a point in space and the difference in electric potential (voltage) is the difference between the electric potential of two points.
I was also taught that the electric potential of a point with respect to a charge depends on the charge and the distance from the charge. Also the electric potential of a point due to a system of charges is the sum of the electric potentials caused by every single charge of the system.
Now, in an electric circuit I assume that the Voltage of a battery is caused by a spot where there are more negative charges (negative terminal) and a spot where there are more positive charges (positive terminal). Since the electric potential as discussed above depends just on the system of charges and distances, I expected that the voltage would change just in base of the distance between a terminal, but Ohm's Law states that the voltage changes also because of the characteristic of the conductor (Resistance).
I can think of this drop as the potential energy transformed into heat because of the collisions with the conductor particles, but I find this contrasting with the definition of voltage I was given.
Can anyone help me to solve this doubt?