Chapter 935: Rank 4 High Human
Chapter 935: Rank 4 High Human
High Humans were many times stronger than ordinary humans. This was not a subtle difference or a matter of degree. It was a categorical gap, one that expressed itself across every relevant metric from physical capability to mana capacity to the ceiling of what they could ultimately achieve.
This was precisely why in the wider universe one’s race could determine one’s standing as much as one’s personal strength could. A person did not choose the body they were born into, but that body set the baseline for everything that came after.
The Starborn were perhaps the clearest example of this principle taken to its extreme. A human variant race by classification, they were not an impressive sight on paper. Their bodies were physically weak even by the standards of other human variants, and their lifespans were short, again even in comparison to races that were themselves not particularly long-lived. By those two metrics alone, most would have dismissed them as unremarkable.
And yet they had climbed to the status of a top race in the universe.
What they lacked in body and longevity they compensated for through two things that could not easily be replicated. Minds of extraordinary quality, capable of processing and understanding at levels that left most other races behind, and a racial talent tied to rare energies that most races never even encountered, let alone learned to wield.
The combination of those two advantages, applied consistently across generations, had allowed them to build themselves into arguably the most technologically advanced race in existence.
The gap between ordinary humans and High Humans followed the same logic, if on a smaller scale.
An ordinary human could grow powerful. History had proven that repeatedly. But a High Human began from a higher point.
The same effort, the same talent, the same years of cultivation applied to a High Human body produced a result that a regular human body simply could not match at its ceiling.
It was only when one started cultivating laws that ordinary races could begin to bridge the gap created by racial differences. However, if it were that easy, the concept of a great race would not exist, and great civilisations would have taken its place instead.
Michael had read somewhere in the academy library that races like Dragons and Phoenixes were so strong that it normally required someone of a higher rank to defeat, surpass, or at worst match them.
The saying that Dragons and Phoenixes had barely any equals was not wrong.
Michael felt that he and his undead were not a bad example of this principle in practice.
Though he did not know exactly how he compared to weaker Rank 4 superpowers if they were to fight with their lives on the line, he found it hard to believe any Rank 3 could force him into a desperate state. With the possible exception of facing a true dragon.
In any case, this only proved that a stronger race equalled a stronger starting point.
Though it would be a stretch to say a single evolution to High Human would make the undead demonic supernatural overpowered, it would surely make him at least fifty percent stronger than he was now.
And who knew, after further evolution he might even be able to match the undead Drakeblood in power.
He also did not need to worry about the undead advancing to Rank 5 through evolution. One hundred points was far too little to accomplish that. And when it came to intelligent races, his talent only evolved their racial baseline while their rank remained the same.
Michael theorised that this was because intelligent races with sufficient talent had no fixed limit if they pushed hard enough, while monsters did. Even those who cultivated laws and pushed themselves beyond their racial limit still had to find external ways to improve their race.
Since his talent evolved races directly, it made sense that it would strengthen them while simultaneously raising their ceiling.
Thinking this far, Michael knew his mind would not rest until he evolved the undead demonic supernatural.
Though in reality only a few seconds had passed.
Soon a bright light flashed in the coffin space, accompanied by a large amount of surrounding mana being consumed. Time passed and Michael turned to look at the undead in front of him.
For one thing, it had gained Michael’s characteristic green eyes that his other undead usually developed after evolving or merging with his blood.
The old man, though he still gave off a cold feeling that was simply the nature of what he was, looked noticeably more alive than before. That was perhaps an odd thing to say about an undead, but the difference was visible.
Before the evolution he had carried the flat, slightly hollow quality common to flesh-type undead. Now that quality remained, but it sat beneath a surface that had been considerably refined.
Long black hair fell cleanly around his face, dark and smooth in a way that suited the overall picture rather than clashing with it. His features were fine, carrying a mature and settled quality rather than anything youthful or soft. His skin was pale rather than the characteristic greyish tone of undead humans after revival.
Michael looked at him for a moment. "...Not bad."
Unfortunately, Michael could only tell through his senses that the demonic supernatural had grown stronger.
The change was there, present and real, radiating outward in a way that his perception picked up clearly. But he did not dare test it personally.
The honest truth was that to properly understand the ceiling of what his Rank 4 undead could do, he needed a controlled environment with appropriate opposition.
A monster nest with creatures of relative power would serve that purpose far better than anything he could arrange here.
The academy was the obvious answer. They had resources, connections, and access to locations that most people could not simply walk into on their own.
A request for access to a high-level monster nest was not unreasonable. Though he had a fairly clear picture of how that conversation would go.
They would surely want to know where his confidence was coming from.
Michael exhaled quietly through his nose.
He would figure out how to frame that conversation when the time came.
Of course, he could also have the two rank 4 undead go at each other but the shockwave will probably kill anything else in the coffin space.
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