The Meaning of Ranks

On Monday. Yu Xian waited for Nora by his front door. In his hand, he squeezed an elastic bubble, occasionally tossing it outside of his spatial bubble. The elastic bubble struck the ground, bounced off the gate drum stone the next second, ricocheted toward the eaves, rebounded off the gate drum stone behind Yu Xian, and just as it shot toward his back, it suddenly teleported back into his hand. A close inspection revealed that the surface of the elastic bubble was coated with a thin layer of red energy. This energy was not Spatial Blood Energy, but a distinct energy formed after the Dragon Shield's core absorbed Spatial Blood Energy. After returning home the previous night, Yu Xian had spent the whole night studying the Dragon Shield. He discovered that every dragon scale was actually coated in a layer of red energy; it was just that because the dragon scales were red themselves, the energy was difficult to detect without careful scrutiny. After discovering this energy, he tried infusing more Spatial Blood Energy into the core and then extracting the energy that the core had transformed. The result was this red energy. This energy was not as scarlet as ordinary Blood Energy, nor as transparent as Spatial Blood Energy; it was simply a faint red glow. Yu Xian found that as long as an object was coated in this energy, he could freely manipulate it to traverse space, just like those dragon scales. He had spent all night experimenting, coating all kinds of objects with it. In the end, he found that every teleportation consumed a portion of the energy coating the object, but compared to Spatial Blood Energy, its greatest advantage was how effortless and convenient teleportation became. It was essentially a streamlined version of the Spatial Jump Art, or an item teleportation technique. While activating the Spatial Jump Art required a tiny sliver of casting time, using this energy to coat an object or himself had zero startup frames—a sudden, untelegraphed shift that was virtually impossible to defend against. He came up with countless tactical ideas. For example, throwing a bomb head-on at an enemy; when the foe dodged, the bomb could teleport to their evasive landing spot, causing them to crash straight into it. Or throwing daggers: throwing them from the front, then teleporting them behind the target to strike from their blind spot. After practicing through the night, Yu Xian realized that what truly bottlenecked his abilities now was his own reaction speed. As long as he could react in time, he could effortlessly evade any attack and strike any enemy. His sole vulnerability was whether he could keep up with the enemy's speed. Just like when Yu Lie struck thousands of times in an instant—Yu Xian hadn't been able to react in the slightest, rendering even the swiftest spatial abilities useless. Right then, Nora, dressed in her school uniform, walked over with brisk, light steps from the right. The uniform, which looked rather drab on other students, appeared vibrant and bursting with youthful energy on her. As expected, it was never the clothes that were unattractive, but the person wearing them. “Good morning, Classmate Big Salty Fish.” Seeing Yu Xian lying inside his bubble, she blinked and stepped forward to greet him. “Morning, Big Silly Goose.” Yu Xian smiled faintly as he looked at Nora's blonde hair. Nora stepped forward, curiously poking Yu Xian's bubble with her finger, and protested, “I’m not a silly goose! Don’t you think that lying there so lazily makes you look just like a big salted fish drying in the sun?” Yu Xian finally understood. No wonder Nora had called him Big Salty Fish today; before this, she had always called him by his name. He briefly explained why he had to stay inside the bubble, reassuring her that he would be fine after a while, which finally dispelled her worries. On the way. Yu Xian spoke up, asking, “Nora, what do you think if... I apply for Yanjing Vocational and Technical College with you?” “Really?” Nora's face lit up with visible delight. Yu Xian nodded. “Yeah, I’ve made up my mind. I'm going to test into Yanjing Vocational and Technical College too, so let's do our best together!” “Then once we get to school, I’ll set up a review schedule for you. Since you never attended the Superpower Academy, there must be a lot of knowledge you need to catch up on,” Nora said enthusiastically. The thought of attending college with Yu Xian filled her with boundless motivation, her head already spinning with key test topics. Though her combat training grades were abysmal, her academic scores had always been among the very best; she was more than capable of helping Yu Xian fill in the gaps in his knowledge. Yu Xian chuckled. “Then I’ll tutor you in combat class. By the way, can I still apply to take the Superpower Academy's combat classes now?” “It should be fine. During the break, we can go ask Teacher Wang together,” Nora answered. At the same time, she was mentally recalculating how much money it would take for both of them to enter Yanjing Vocational and Technical College together in case Yu Xian’s exam scores fell short. Having never worried about money in her life, she actually felt a pinch of financial strain for once. She secretly resolved that she had to budget her weekly allowance of several hundred million more carefully from now on and stop splurging on online shopping. When the two arrived at school and entered the classroom, Nora retrieved her textbooks spanning from seventh grade to twelfth grade out of her storage ring, turned around, and said, “Look through these books first. Later, I’ll highlight the key points for you.” “Thanks!” Yu Xian took the books, set them on the desk, and picked up the first volume. As expected, the textbooks from the Superpower Academy were entirely different from those of an ordinary high school. The first was the seventh-grade book *Transcendent Common Knowledge*. He turned to the first page and read carefully. The very first page detailed the division of ranks and the characteristics of each rank. Only after finishing it did he realize that the system of ranks was not arbitrary; there was actually sound reasoning behind it. Insect rank was named as such not merely to remind Transcendents of their insignificance, but also to carry the metaphor that an insect marks the beginning of metamorphosis. Everyone who became a Transcendent held the potential to transform into a butterfly. Ant rank. It meant being like an ant—possessing strength that far exceeded one's body weight. Weight and size were no longer benchmarks for measuring strength. In the mortal world, if two competitors had comparable skill levels, the heavier one held the advantage, which was why weight classes were necessary. In the world of Transcendents, however, a little girl could possess the monstrous strength to shatter a mountain, and an infant could effortlessly wrestle a full-grown adult to the ground. Weight and size did not matter. That was the true meaning of Ant rank. Just like an ant, capable of lifting objects over four hundred times its own body weight! Bee rank. It could be considered one of the major watersheds. Most Transcendents could only be said to have truly come into their own upon reaching Bee rank. Just as a wasp possessed a venomous stinger as its trump card, most Transcendents only gained their own true trump cards and lethal finishing moves after attaining Bee rank. Such trump cards could even allow them to slay higher-ranked foes or turn the tables against overwhelming odds. Reading this passage and reflecting on his own situation, Yu Xian had to admit it was true. Though his exceptional talent had allowed him to awaken Silver Blood back in Ant rank, his true rise to power had only come after consuming Pangu's Blood and reaching Bee rank. Originally, fighting Zhou Tai had been an uphill battle where he tasted defeat twice. Yet after reaching Bee rank, he could effortlessly handle Zhou Tai Five, who had been enhanced by Death Curse Blood, and captured Zhou Tai Three alive with nothing more than a simple trick. After all, capturing an enemy alive was vastly more difficult than killing them. That was more than enough proof of just how monumental his leap in strength had been.