Aboard the ship, Solanky studied the grand elder closely and noticed at once that his stature set him apart from every other elite he'd known. The other elites bore a lighter shade of red skin, their horns curving once from base to tip and measuring only thirteen inches, their height ranging between seven and eight feet.
But the grand elder before him wore skin the same color as Elisa's, only a shade darker, and his horns — two on each side of his head — stretched sixteen inches from shaft to tip. He towered far above the other elites too, standing at a staggering twelve feet, making even the tallest of the clan look small beside him.
The grand elder left the control room and beckoned Solanky to follow. They made their way into the ship's storage room — far more spacious than it appeared from outside, lined with shelves of books and scrolls arranged in neat rows. Solanky stared in wonder; he knew most elites had never so much as glimpsed scrolls like these.
"Do you want to know why you're different from the rest of the Bayoka clan?" the grand elder asked. Solanky nodded, and the old being began to explain why he'd chosen him for this journey. "You're an anomaly — something this plane has never produced before. You're weaker than any of our clansmen, and yet I haven't been able to divine a single thing about you since the day you were born into this clan."
Solanky said nothing, though the words struck him hard.
"My failure to read you," the grand elder continued, "can only mean one thing: that you are someone far more powerful than I am."
Solanky burst out laughing. "You saw what happened back at the clan. If you hadn't stepped in, those upper echelon elites would've crushed me like an ant. I couldn't have resisted them at all."
The grand elder regarded him in silence, then tossed him a manual. "Read this. It may prove useful. I believe your true power has been suppressed — by someone, or something. That's why I brought you along on this journey to the unknown region in the next star system."
He led Solanky to a lab across from the storage room. Solanky tucked the manuals and scrolls into his storage pouch and followed. The moment he crossed the threshold, every vial of godly and demonic blood lining the walls began to bubble violently — despite being kept at freezing temperatures, his presence alone seemed to plunge them into scalding heat.
The grand elder froze, stunned. He knew he wasn't the cause. Blood from powerful beings, he understood, could react to a superior bloodline even long after the being's death. He pulled out a syringe and asked if he might draw a sample of Solanky's blood.
Solanky nodded, and the grand elder drew the sample, then invited him to observe the experiment that followed. Before starting, he explained what he knew of bloodlines. "All beings are born with a bloodline, and bloodlines fall into three grades. The first grade is the evolutionary bloodline, split into three stages. The first is the high-level mortal, five times stronger than an ordinary mortal. The second is the half god or half devil, fifty times stronger than a high-level mortal. And the third — the elementary god or devil — is five hundred times stronger than a half god or devil."
Hearing this, Solanky finally understood why beings sharing the same bloodline could vary so wildly in strength. Curiosity got the better of him, and before he could ask, the grand elder answered the question for him. "I belong to the first grade. My stage is the early elementary god."
Solanky was stunned. No wonder the entire clan revered him.
The grand elder went on. "The second grade, unlike the first, holds four stages, and it's a qualitative leap beyond the first — the being's very genetic makeup transforms, attaining true divinity. Reach this level, and you're expected to ascend to the god realm, because our plane grows too fragile to sustain you. Even the lowest stage of this grade produces bodies tens of kilometers tall and wide."
Solanky's jaw dropped. He'd never imagined a living being could grow so massive. The grand elder laughed at his reaction, and Solanky quickly grasped that this was merely the entry point of the second grade — the divine bloodline.
"The first stage of the second grade is the high-level god or devil," the grand elder continued, "five thousand times stronger than an elementary god. At this level, a being begins drawing energy from the universe around them, though on our plane that energy is impure, making the process inefficient.
"The second stage is the god emperor — fifty thousand times stronger than a high-level god or devil, with bodies towering in the hundreds of kilometers. The third stage is god of gods, or devil of devils — the very peak of godhood, five hundred thousand times stronger than a god emperor, capable of erasing anything beneath them in a single blow. Their true bodies stretch across hundreds of thousands of kilometers, forcing them to shrink down just to walk our plane. Our founding ancestors recorded that body size plays a direct role in strength — the two of them stood at four hundred thousand kilometers tall in their true forms.
"The final stage of the second grade is the dimensional god or devil. These beings command the dimensional laws of our plane itself, five million times stronger than a god of gods. Legends say their bodies grow so vast they can shatter the very space of the god realm — even the weakest of them tower between one and ten light-years tall."
Solanky could barely process it. The grand elder then produced a vial of blood drawn from an ancient beast called the dragon ape, captured long ago by the founding ancestors — a creature of the second grade, second stage, bearing a god emperor bloodline.
He released a single drop of Solanky's ash-gray blood into the vial. The instant the two bloods touched, Solanky's blood tore through the dragon ape's, consuming it entirely, leaving nothing behind.
The grand elder went rigid with shock — the dragon ape's blood belonged to a divine bloodline beast. Something surfaced in his memory, something he'd read in the old manuals. "This," he breathed, voice trembling, "is the great bloodline taboo."
"What does that mean?" Solanky asked.
"The stronger the bloodline," the grand elder said, still shaken, "the greater its resistance — and the greater its power to suppress, erode, and absorb lesser bloodlines."
He looked at Solanky with something between awe and disbelief. "I never imagined a being with a third-grade bloodline was living among us this entire time. That explains your sister — why she's grown so powerful compared to her peers. She's the one closest to you. Because you've never held any hostility toward her, your very breath has been nourishing her blood all this time."
Solanky's mind reeled, but pieces began falling into place — why so many powerful beasts had refused to harm him or draw his blood.
The grand elder hesitated, then pressed on. "Legend says the blood of third-grade beings is treasure beyond measure — capable of empowering lesser bloodlines. But in the wrong hands, it becomes one of the deadliest weapons that could ever exist. You've just seen why: it doesn't just erode lesser bloodlines. It can seize control of them."
He gestured to the vial holding Solanky's single drop of blood — now swollen, having consumed the dragon ape's blood whole. "Your blood can absorb others and make their power your own. But you must never speak of this to anyone. Your bloodline hasn't awakened yet, and until it does, your body will remain weak despite everything it's capable of. And never — never — use the control ability of the great bloodline taboo unless your life depends on it."
Solanky nodded, understanding now just how much strength still lay dormant within him, waiting.