Chapter 234: Life's Ladder

"Not a beast?"

"Not at all."

"Pure-blooded dragon descendant?"

"Pure, ultra-pure, and the bloodline rank is very high—at least above dyed diamond."

To show sincerity, Hela was quite friendly, even permitting a blood test.

The result showed no "beast" reaction; besides confirming her pure royal bloodline (despite the illegitimate child's potion), it also revealed her 100% dragon lineage. This meant she had rejected her mother's power.

"Not a magic girl, not a beast," Dainya plopped down, staring at her cheerful, relaxed "sister," with no reason even to yawn.

In bloodline, she and Hela were the closest, and in their relationship, they could even be called "bound by life and death."

"A sixteen-year-old dyed-diamond bloodline, and on the hardest-to-advance dragon line"—this alone was hardware of an absurdly extreme nature.

But considering her living conditions, it seemed perfectly natural.

"The dyed diamond has turned red; the flame of life is burning fiercely."

The real-world rank system is quite crude, only roughly distinguishing strength levels; professions are marked solely by ring count and class, while only bloodline and supernatural abilities (race) carry direct identifiers—this is essentially a species-level marker.

Some groups or races are inherently powerful, typically marked by their adult bloodline strength as their species level—for example, orcs are raw-stone species, while adult dragons possess diamond bloodline.

The most basic is raw stone (inferior stones are not included), meaning uncut ore; according to the Spirit Atlas records, species at this level are roughly single-digit in number.

Next comes not gold or silver, but "colored metal."

Copper, silver, and similar are categorized under colored metal, referring to ore that has been mined, refined, and turned into usable material.

This stage roughly corresponds to the core and backbone of each race; peak gold bloodline means the peak of colored metal.

This is a continuous refining process, during which the organism's food intake often increases dramatically, with heat and supernatural materials serving as fuel for "refinement," allowing life to accumulate "quantity."

The next step, "diamond," is a qualitative transformation; the transparent diamond signifies "purity," for at this moment the bloodline becomes even purer, and the path ahead becomes clearer.

From this stage onward, the organism's food intake generally begins to decrease; they gradually ignite their internal "flame of life," beginning to "radiate light and heat" on their own.

As non-humans, they no longer rely entirely on external sustenance.

Dyed diamond, colored diamond—these terms describe the "brightness" of life at this stage, gradually becoming more "vivid" along the solar spectrum.

Minor sub-levels like red diamond or blue diamond are not significant, as their distinctions are subtle; they are usually just called colored diamond. If all goes well, this stage tends to be brief.

But it is extremely dangerous.

Igniting the flame of life and the soul's fire—if one does not smoothly enter the next stage, when time runs out, one is utterly "burned out."

Yet "diamond warriors" at this stage, viewed purely by physical form, have already achieved a degree of "eternity."

They heal themselves naturally, can survive even with minimal food, and their stamina and sustained combat capability reach inhuman levels.

"Miss Hela is likely not far from Star Rank."

When an indestructible diamond begins to "radiate light" on its own, it naturally becomes an immortal star.

The brightness of the soul's fire slightly dims and becomes stable and enduring.

The most direct effect is a dramatic increase in lifespan.

There are minor sub-levels within this stage, but the differences are now quite pronounced; high-end "stars" and newcomers to "shattered stars" are on entirely different levels, yet to mortals, their strength is already comparable to legendary heroes—just go on a rampage.

As for what comes after—Sacred Spirits (Divine Envoys), Demigods, Eternal Thrones—these involve true eternity; there's no need to discuss them now.

Clearly, these so-called ranks actually indicate the degree of species evolution, a genuine hardware standard; supernatural professions naturally don't use this system, but bloodline abilities and supernatural traits rooted in the body and hardware can still draw from this evaluation framework.

Also, one can see the arrogance behind this system—it was never designed for ordinary people; the most numerous silver and gold ranks were simply lumped into colored metal. To them, diamond rank is probably just the beginning.