"Before, I was worried that staying in the lab long-term would bore a Pokémon, so I didn't choose one."
"Now all the Pokémon that could be picked have already been picked over."
"Forget Ralts—even Jigglypuff is gone."
"But Sister Yan told me Ralts has already been taken by Sister Leng and the others."
To angels, Pokémon are nothing less than the treasures of a world. There isn't an angel alive who can resist their charm.
The Angelic Civilization chose Pokémon not only for their adorable looks and pure dispositions, but also for their tremendous potential.
The bond they form with a Trainer gives them endless possibilities.
Perhaps the cooperation between angels and Pokémon could give birth to something novel.
But the Angelic Civilization can't purchase Pokémon without limit; the points required would be astronomical. So they buy a certain number of Pokémon to breed and multiply, slowly forming a new Pokémon society.
Under those circumstances, not every angel has the qualification to choose a partner Pokémon; as for ones that are rare and brimming with potential, even less so.
The last Ralts that could still be chosen was picked by Angel Leng.
In the short term, Angel Zhixin had no chance.
"Angel Leng? And Ralts?"
Brandon White's expression turned a little odd. The chuuni frost war-goddess paired with a shy Ralts did make for a curious combination.
"Mm-hmm. You probably don't know this."
"Sister Leng is one of the commanders of our Angel Legion—a Guardian-class angel."
"Not long ago, Sister Leng advanced to Third-Generation God. If Sister Yan becomes Angel King in the future, Sister Leng should inherit my position as Holy Angel Right Wing."
Hearing Brandon's doubt, Zhixin explained carefully.
"Third-Generation God? Was Angel Leng originally Second-Generation?"
"What's the relation between super-soldiers and god-bodies?"
Brandon's understanding of Super God was actually not that deep—especially the relationship between super-soldiers and god-bodies.
"A super-soldier is just that—a super-soldier. They are not gods, so there's no such thing as a 'god-body' for them."
"From First- to Third-Generation super-soldiers, they're all super gene warriors. The abilities they possess are granted by their super-soldier genes, and their lifespans have an upper limit."
"When a super-soldier reaches the peak of Third-Generation, they can begin to break through to demi-god, then rely on god-body tech to upgrade and become a god-body."
"After upgrading to a god-body, it's fair to call them a god."
"God-bodies don't differ by 'levels'—only by generations."
"Whether Second-, Third-, or Fourth-Generation god-body, the difference is generational."
Angel Zhixin answered at once.
It's actually easy to grasp: even if super-soldiers are strong, they still fall within the category of humans. They have finite lifespans, and even the abilities endowed by their genes have ceilings.
After upgrading to a god-body, their combat power doesn't jump up, but their lifespan, regenerative capacity, resistance to cosmic radiation, and so on all improve markedly, and the ceiling of their gene potential rises as well.
Put it in computer or phone terms: the warrior is software, the god-body is hardware—they're fundamentally different.
Genes determine what abilities you have; the god-body determines the upper limit of those abilities.
All gods in the Super God universe occupy one overarching tier, and the only thing that separates their strength is one factor—generational gap.
It's like the old brick phones and the earliest bulky computers compared to modern smartphones and PCs: all of them are "phones," all of them are "computers," but are they the same? Not at all—there are vast differences in every respect.
So it is between god-bodies—except the gap is several times more exaggerated than between those devices.
The reason the Angelic Civilization holds such stature in the Super God cosmos—beyond Holy Kaisa being the public "God-King"—is that the number of their god-bodies is likewise staggering.
Among the Fourth-Generation god-bodies are Holy Kaisa and Tianji King He Xi; Angel Yan has also been upgraded to a Fourth-Generation god-body, and not only does she possess a Holy Body, she also bears a Spacetime Body.
Three Fourth-Generation god-bodies—no other civilization in the universe can match that.
As for the Holy Right Wing, Angel Zhixin, and the Frost War-Goddess Angel Leng, both are Third-Generation god-bodies. That doesn't sound like many—even adding the previously not-yet-advanced Angel Yan makes just three.
But you must remember: at regular intervals, some angel warriors retire and choose a civilization bathed in justice to pursue their own lives.
Among them—might there be Third-Generation god-bodies?
Even if not, there must be plenty who are Second-Generation, right? If they were all to step back onto the stage, how many civilizations could withstand it?
What's more, in the wider universe, a Third-Generation god-body is already sufficient to serve as the chief deity of a civilization. As for Fourth-Generation, outside of the very top civilizations—the Angels, the Demons, the Styx, the Burning Sun—there are almost none who possess the technology and resources to upgrade to Fourth-Generation gods.
As for Second-Generation gods, not even counting the retirees, there are many among the Angels' active roster.
Nearly all High Guardian angels are Second-Generation.
Angel Lingxi, Angel Azhui, Angel Stars, Angel Moy—
As for the "defeat" of the Angelic Civilization in the anime, the root cause was Holy Kaisa going offline.
Add to that the Angels' unwillingness to wage nebula-level wars…
Brandon shook his head. How the anime played out no longer mattered. The present Super God universe's Angelic Civilization will not repeat its old mistakes.
Holy Kaisa will not die. Hua Ye is already dead.
They've also strengthened research on the Secondary Biological Engine; in the short term, even Death God Karl will find it hard to crack.
What Brandon was curious about was this: if Death God Karl and Morgana tried—as in the anime—to lay a scheme against Holy Kaisa and then found their plan failed, what sort of expressions would they wear?
Previously, there'd been no move against Death God Karl partly because he's extremely cautious in that area, never leaving the Angels an opening to nail him for violating the order of justice; and partly because he has a Phantom Body, which existing tech can't threaten.
But if he dares to move against Holy Kaisa and fails, then even with a Phantom Body he will pay a grievous price.
He truly won't die—but the Styx Civilization will have no reason to exist.
Like the Demon Civilization, they'll do nothing but flee across the cosmos.
Death God Karl is strong, yes—but what's strong is his intellect, the Great Clock, and his Phantom Body, not his civilization. He may not die, but his civilization can be wiped out.
He may not particularly care—but that doesn't mean he wants to end up like Morgana.
Being hunted by the Angels would cripple his research and everything else.
So he will inevitably choose to negotiate, paying a price that satisfies the Angelic Civilization so he can continue his research on the Void.
(End of this chapter)