Discussion The "Ultimate Species"

[Cinera]

Introduction
The Princesses of Zahard are considered the "ultimate species" in the Tower:

Top 15 High Rankers Character Profiles: #3 Zahard

Zahard's daughters, who are invested with his powers are all categorized as the 'Ultimate species'.

Source

I decided to cover in detail, what exactly this means.

This post is intended to serve as a repository of all hype that SIU has provided (in the Webtoon or in blog posts) for the Zahard Princesses.



Durability
The Princesses acquire a body that is "tens of thousands of times stronger than ordinary people":

SIU further said that their physical abilities are incomparably greater than members of the 10 Families.

And that they have "a lot higher" physical durability than average Rankers:

Season 2 Chapter 213 Blog Post

Even the 10 Families cannot be compared physically with Zahard’s Princesses.

Most Regular Princesses have a lot higher physical durability than average Rankers.

Source


Basic Physical Ability
Aside from this insane durability upgrade, their basic physical abilities are also that much higher.

As Regulars, Princesses from the 10 Families regularly have basic physical abilities that exceed the average Rankers:

Season 2 Chapter 60 Blog Post

Although this doesn't fully apply to Androssi because she's not from one of the 10 Families, it is common to see a Princess who has the blood of one of the 10 Families and the power of Zahard to have basic physical capabilities that exceed those of a Ranker.

Source

While one might be tempted to believe that Regular Princesses can only exceed Rankers who don't use shinsu reinforcement, I am sceptical that this is the case. SIU said that the ability of Rankers to be overall more powerful than a Princess lies in their "shinsu control and technique":

Season 2 Chapter 213 Blog Post

Even the 10 Families cannot be compared physically with Zahard’s Princesses.

Most Regular Princesses have a lot higher physical durability than average Rankers.

As Quant said in Season 1, Rankers are superior in Shinsu control and technique so they can be overall more powerful than a Princess, but that gap is caught up rather quickly.

Source

So perhaps even after shinsu reinforcement has been factored in, Regular Princesses from the Great Families still have the advantage in physical ability. At least, SIU did not ascribe the ability of Rankers to surpass Princesses to acquiring superior physical ability via shinsu reinforcement.


Furthermore, shinsu reinforcement is a constant factor whenever evaluating the physical abilities in the Tower (even F Rank Anaak could use shinsu reinforcement), so it's already very doubtful that SIU's comments about the physical abiliites of Regular Princesses was excluding shinsu reinforcement from the equation.


Special Regulars
SIU further separated Princesses from other Regulars by categorising them as "special Regulars" when talking about Baam's potential opponents:

Season 3 Chapter 10

Since now that Bam can’t fight normal regulars anymore, we’ll see more “special” regulars like Akryung, Princesses, or Sorcerers.

Source

This was a comment that SIU made about Season 3 Baam (when he was already stronger than a Ranker). Considering that Akryung is capable of Shinwonryu (so at least a pseudo Irregular), perhaps special Regulars can reach or exceed the levels of Rankers? I will talk more about how Regular Princesses might compare to Rankers in the



Regular Princesses vs Rankers
SIU also seems to imply that Regular Princesses can match or even exceed the level of Rankers. Revisiting the S2 E213 blog post again:

Season 2 Chapter 213 Blog Post

Even the 10 Families cannot be compared physically with Zahard’s Princesses.

Most Regular Princesses have a lot higher physical durability than average Rankers.

As Quant said in Season 1, Rankers are superior in Shinsu control and technique so they can be overall more powerful than a Princess, but that gap is caught up rather quickly.

Source


SIU said that overall, Rankers can be more powerful than a Princess due to superior shinsu control and technique. However, the gap between a Ranker and a Regular Princess is "caught up rather quickly".


From the above, SIU does seem to imply that Regular Princesses can reach the levels of Rankers. Perhaps, Adori Zahard easily overwhelming an Advanced Ranker as a Regular is merely a manifestation of this. While one may be tempted to claim that this is an accomplishment that was possible for Adori alone, I would like to stress that Adori was the only one to perform this feat "officially". An untold number of other Princesses might have performed it unofficially. (Had Adori been the only capable of the feat period, SIU could simply have said that Adori Zahard is the only one in history to defeat a Regular as a Ranker).



Great Family Princesses
I think that Great Family Princesses like Yuri, Maschenny, Hagipherione, etc. may have performed such a feat unofficially.

A D-Rank Ha Yuri Zahard seems to have been on the same tier as an A-Rank Ha Cheonhee. While Cheonhee won their little spar, Yuri revealed that she held back to protect Cheonhee's pride. She wasn't confident that she would have defeated Cheonhee had she not held back, but she also didn't think she would lose either.

Thus, the only conclusion that we can draw is that A-Rank Cheonhee and D-Rank Yuri are on the same level.

Considering that Cheonhee is a member of the Ha Family who had the potential to become a High Ranker and rise to the level of a Division Commander within a few hundred years, it can be expected that she would have been a pretty distinguished A-Rank Regular and one on the higher end.

If D Rank Yuri was already on that level, then the possibility naturally arises, that when she was a B-Rank or A-Rank Regular, she surpassed the level of an average Ranker.


If this is true for Yuri, then might it not be true for other Great Family Princesses?

While Yuri is the most talented member of her Family:

She's not particularly unique in this regard. All Great Family Princesses can be expected to be the most talented members of their Families. Per SIU, the Princesses from the Great Families all have the potential to become the "central power" of their Families:
Season 2 Chapter 105 Blog Post

A Princess who is a direct descendent of one of the 10 House Heads is especially influential and powerful.

If a Princess is from one of the 10 Families, she will become the central power of that Family in the future

Source

(Before you claim that SIU was speaking only about influence and not combat power, I would point out that SIU separated the two, by saying that DD Princesses are "especially influential and powerful").

So we can expect that all DD Princesses have a potential that is incomparably greater than other DDs of the 10 Family Leaders.

This shouldn't come as any sort of surprise. Even before the Zahard Princess boost, only the most talented girls of each Family become a Princess in the first place. So the Great Family Princesses combine the ultimate talents of their respective Families, with the power of Zahard.



Conclusions
I fully expect that we will see Regular Princesses (other than Adori) defeat Rankers. Either we'll see it in real time via the Lo Po Bia Twins, Maria, Rose or Gladmerry.

Or Maschenny/Yuri/Hagipherione will have flashbacks that show them defeating Rankers of their Family while they were Regulars.

I have always believed in this, but AA and Rak reaching Ranker level just made me much more confident in it.

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[kkck]

Welp, in other discussions I've made the point that there are plenty of people around that could have presumably defeated rankers as regulars... had they simply bothered to do it. Or do it "officially". Hagipherione passing hon's test, urek, regulars who wield spells, I assume exceptionally talented A ranks... Of course, it absolutely takes BS character ot pull this off under any sort of circumstance. It's not something that can be achieved by average regulars. And princesses of course probably count among the absolute BS characters (to varying degrees of course). As they invariably are selected from among the most talented young females they can find. As in, the baseline talent is probably enough to become mid-high end high ranker even without the boost from zahard's blood. Living enough to realize that talent is of course a different issue. Or maybe a princess training hard enough during the climb to realize enough of their talent early on enough for this...

 

[lazybum]

If Zahard princess beating Rankers as Regular is pretty common place, wouldn't it become a rite of passage for them, with some slight competition and influence gain from trying to beat a Ranker the earliest you can?

Something like :

Eduan : My girl Maschenny is the best. She beat a Ranker at floor 70.

Yurin : What a small time player. My Yuri beat one at floor 69. Nice.

Random tower pleb : Yay Yuri is the new record breaker! Ha family is the new drip!

Though I'm not against the idea itself. It'll be nice someone like Endorsi make a show, even though AA and Rak got huge powerups, she still mean business by handling a Ranker on her own in future arc.

 

[King Dryst]

A wishful thinking 'no.' I don't care for the idea of seeing Baam's accomplishments watered down.

 

[kkck]

If Zahard princess beating Rankers as Regular is pretty common place, wouldn't it become a rite of passage for them, with some slight competition and influence gain from trying to beat a Ranker the earliest you can?

Something like :

Eduan : My girl Maschenny is the best. She beat a Ranker at floor 70.

Yurin : What a small time player. My Yuri beat one at floor 69. Nice.

Random tower pleb : Yay Yuri is the new record breaker! Ha family is the new drip!

Though I'm not against the idea itself. It'll be nice someone like Endorsi make a show, even though AA and Rak got huge powerups, she still mean business by handling a Ranker on her own in future arc.

It's in fact not common place, at least officially. To me the only wiggle room in this is that there are people who should have the capacity to pull this off but simply didn't for whichever reason. Be it indifference or the opportunity simply not presenting itself. I get the feeling that androsi will probably lag behind aguero and rak given that the two have not even fully developed their shinsoo attributes (which androsi did apparently) and they already were given a portion of white's power. On top of that rak's power is still at least partially sealed. I am guessing she needs some shenanigan to happen to her to keep up. or perhaps simply having her fully unleashed shinsoo attribute will be enough to torpedo her growth rate..

 

[lazybum]

There's something that struck me odd after reading a passage in last station that goes along in your theory.

Dorian's weapon (the frog ranker) analyzed that the self proclaimed White is a Regular with power that is above Ranker, and puzzlingly, Dorian wasn't shocked like "Oh em gee, a Regular having Ranker power, how amazing is that", he merely accepted it. Because Dorian is doubting the self proclaimed White is actually White as he was too weak to be the ancient Slayer, Regular having Ranker power doesn't seem too unusual to him that he didn't have further thought about it. Maybe that rule that "Regulars can't beat Rankers" isn't so absolute after all.

Tower of God - [Season 2] Ep. 318

What do you desire? Money and wealth? Honor and pride? Authority and power? Revenge? Or something that transcends them all? Whatever you desire—it's here.

www.webtoons.com

 

[Cinera]

There's something that struck me odd after reading a passage in last station that goes along in your theory.

Dorian's weapon (the frog ranker) analyzed that the self proclaimed White is a Regular with power that is above Ranker, and puzzlingly, Dorian wasn't shocked like "Oh em gee, a Regular having Ranker power, how amazing is that", he merely accepted it. Because Dorian is doubting the self proclaimed White is actually White as he was too weak to be the ancient Slayer, Regular having Ranker power doesn't seem too unusual to him that he didn't have further thought about it. Maybe that rule that "Regulars can't beat Rankers" isn't so absolute after all.

Tower of God - [Season 2] Ep. 318

What do you desire? Money and wealth? Honor and pride? Authority and power? Revenge? Or something that transcends them all? Whatever you desire—it's here.

www.webtoons.com

Oh, that's true:

@hblock, @Shadowlord123.

 

[hblock]

Oh, that's true:

@hblock, @Shadowlord123.

You should read the whole fight not just this part. Especially in White's case whose power varries greatly depending on how much soul energy he uses and emotions.
Season 2, chapter 317 : White unleashes a skill which effortlessly removed Dorian's mucus and killed two Rankers at the same time, allowing the train to move forward.
Season 2, chapter 318 : White said that he lost so much power after just one attack, implying that this initial attack weakened him a lot. Dorian measuring his power came in the same chapter, which means he only estimated White's strength when he was in a weakened state. In the end, Dorian only managed to repel a heavily weaked White.
Season 2, chapter 319 : a Hon flashback stimulates White's emotions which in turn built his power again. Once he returns to the battlefield, he kills a Ranker and repels Dorian with a swing. According to the latter, White's power is different, the same as what he sensed initially, which confirms that the White in chapter 317 is drastically stronger than what he became after unleashing his first swing in the same chapter and that this powerful swing was the only reason why his power diminished so much in chapter 318, to the extent of being considered not worthy of being a Slayer and being repeled by a low level HR like Dorian Frog.
Season 2, chapter 320 : White decides to unleash what he calls a "proper swing". He drastically raises his level of shinsu, to the point that his pressure alone already made Dorian feel unconfortable. Ultimately, the latter was saved by Choenhee who despite trying to block the blast couldn't prevent Pollak from losing part of his body and Dorian from being injured. This attack was deemed at "corps commander" level.

All in all, White is a solid HR level in average. Considerably stronger than low level ones like Dorian. This is also proven by his fight with Sharon (a division commander == being stronger than a vice-division commander), he managed to clash with her equally for several chapter on top of making her feel powerless once he unleashed a "stronger" swing.

--- Double Post Merged, Jan 11, 2022, Original Post Date: Jan 11, 2022 ---

Now, about the regular-Ranker gap, that's a wrong interpretation of this feat considering the tremendous amount of facts suggesting that A class regular/Ranker gap is bottomless. One of being Hwaryun's statement in the same arc :

 

[Shadowlord123]

Now, about the regular-Ranker gap, that's a wrong interpretation of this feat considering the tremendous amount of facts suggesting that A class regular/Ranker gap is bottomless. One of being Hwaryun's statement in the same arc :

I didn't know about this. Yet another one. Hold on, let me bring all the collection again (discounting this one):

"Still, from the eyes of Regulars like Baam, Rankers can seem like absolute beings” – Season 2 Chapter 327, SIU Blogpost.

"On Chang at the start, I wanted to show how the power/technique gap between Ranker and Regular actually brings anticlimactic deaths or results. It's sudden and very mono-directional, but this is the realistic version of what happens between Rankers and Regulars in a "fight" - Season 3 Chapter 16 Blogpost.

The context of this one is that Chang (a pretty talented Regular) just got instantly and casually killed in oneshot by a Ranker. This is how a realistic fight between a Ranker and a Regular goes according to SIU.

“The times may have changed, but there’s no way that a Regular could ever beat a Ranker” – Baylord Doom; Season 3, Chapter 22.

Doom is strong enough to be within the Top 300 High Rankers with one fang (which stand on a whole another level compared to the rest of the HRs minus exceptions) while basically slacking off his training for political purposes, which should make him easily one of the most talented Regulars to have ever climbed the Tower. He cannot even fathom the possibility of someone defeating a Ranker as a Regular, not even from people like Yasratcha who in his headcanon are far stronger than him.

“Ugh! Are you insane? Making a rugrat fight a Ranker? He’s practically throwing the game before it even starts” – Baylord Paul; Season 3 Chapter 22.

The context here is Baam going up against the Canine Ranker.

“Of course, for Regulars, Rankers are a big challenge and a mountain to climb” – SIU, Season 3, Chapter 42 Blogpost.

“Being able to attack and defend against Rankers properly is a sign that Team RaKhunBaam is becoming stronger as a whole. Of course, except for Baam there aren't any Regulars that can face off against a Ranker directly, but Rak and Khun both have abilities not often seen by Rankers. I hope this battle shows that they can be significant variables now” – SIU, Season 3 Chapter 43 Blogpost.

“This week, we have the fight between Baam and the Test Ranker ending. We had a lot of Rankers being shown lately so you may not feel the full impact, but it is huge in the Tower of God world that a Regular beat a Ranker. The moment that happens, you are essentially proving that you are of another world” – SIU, Season 3 Chapter 51 Blogpost.

SIU only used the feat of a Regular officially defeating a Ranker to hype Baam and Adori. And Adori herself was already an A-Class Regular when she did it.

"Is that guy really a Regular? He's holding his own against a Ranker" - Unnamed Rankers, Season 3 Chapter 52.

The context of this last one is Baam holding his own against Charlie (an "elite" Ranker).

All in all, the amount of evidence suggesting that Rankers are pretty much the equivalent of Gods to Regulars is far too big compared to the opposite (and the ones that could point towards the opposite, leaving the one posted previously aside, lie more at the beginning of the series and might be outdated already).

 

[hblock]

I didn't know about this. Yet another one. Hold on, let me bring all the collection again (discounting this one):

"Still, from the eyes of Regulars like Baam, Rankers can seem like absolute beings” – Season 2 Chapter 327, SIU Blogpost.

"On Chang at the start, I wanted to show how the power/technique gap between Ranker and Regular actually brings anticlimactic deaths or results. It's sudden and very mono-directional, but this is the realistic version of what happens between Rankers and Regulars in a "fight" - Season 3 Chapter 16 Blogpost.

The context of this one is that Chang (a pretty talented Regular) just got instantly and casually killed in oneshot by a Ranker. This is how a realistic fight between a Ranker and a Regular goes according to SIU.

“The times may have changed, but there’s no way that a Regular could ever beat a Ranker” – Baylord Doom; Season 3, Chapter 22.

Doom is strong enough to be within the Top 300 High Rankers with one fang (which stand on a whole another level compared to the rest of the HRs minus exceptions) while basically slacking off his training for political purposes, which should make him easily one of the most talented Regulars to have ever climbed the Tower. He cannot even fathom the possibility of someone defeating a Ranker as a Regular, not even from people like Yasratcha who in his headcanon are far stronger than him.

“Ugh! Are you insane? Making a rugrat fight a Ranker? He’s practically throwing the game before it even starts” – Baylord Paul; Season 3 Chapter 22.

The context here is Baam going up against the Canine Ranker.

“Of course, for Regulars, Rankers are a big challenge and a mountain to climb” – SIU, Season 3, Chapter 42 Blogpost.

“Being able to attack and defend against Rankers properly is a sign that Team RaKhunBaam is becoming stronger as a whole. Of course, except for Baam there aren't any Regulars that can face off against a Ranker directly, but Rak and Khun both have abilities not often seen by Rankers. I hope this battle shows that they can be significant variables now” – SIU, Season 3 Chapter 43 Blogpost.

“This week, we have the fight between Baam and the Test Ranker ending. We had a lot of Rankers being shown lately so you may not feel the full impact, but it is huge in the Tower of God world that a Regular beat a Ranker. The moment that happens, you are essentially proving that you are of another world” – SIU, Season 3 Chapter 51 Blogpost.

SIU only used the feat of a Regular officially defeating a Ranker to hype Baam and Adori. And Adori herself was already an A-Class Regular when she did it.

"Is that guy really a Regular? He's holding his own against a Ranker" - Unnamed Rankers, Season 3 Chapter 52.

The context of this last one is Baam holding his own against Charlie (an "elite" Ranker).

You can also add this one :

 

[Cinera]

You should read the whole fight not just this part. Especially in White's case whose power varries greatly depending on how much soul energy he uses and emotions.
Season 2, chapter 317 : White unleashes a skill which effortlessly removed Dorian's mucus and killed two Rankers at the same time, allowing the train to move forward.
Season 2, chapter 318 : White said that he lost so much power after just one attack, implying that this initial attack weakened him a lot. Dorian measuring his power came in the same chapter, which means he only estimated White's strength when he was in a weakened state. In the end, Dorian only managed to repel a heavily weaked White.
Season 2, chapter 319 : a Hon flashback stimulates White's emotions which in turn built his power again. Once he returns to the battlefield, he kills a Ranker and repels Dorian with a swing. According to the latter, White's power is different, the same as what he sensed initially, which confirms that the White in chapter 317 is drastically stronger than what he became after unleashing his first swing in the same chapter and that this powerful swing was the only reason why his power diminished so much in chapter 318, to the extent of being considered not worthy of being a Slayer and being repeled by a low level HR like Dorian Frog.
Season 2, chapter 320 : White decides to unleash what he calls a "proper swing". He drastically raises his level of shinsu, to the point that his pressure alone already made Dorian feel unconfortable. Ultimately, the latter was saved by Choenhee who despite trying to block the blast couldn't prevent Pollak from losing part of his body and Dorian from being injured. This attack was deemed at "corps commander" level.

All in all, White is a solid HR level in average. Considerably stronger than low level ones like Dorian. This is also proven by his fight with Sharon (a division commander == being stronger than a vice-division commander), he managed to clash with her equally for several chapter on top of making her feel powerless once he unleashed a "stronger" swing.
--- Double Post Merged, Yesterday at 7:31 AM, Original Post Date: Yesterday at 6:26 AM ---
Now, about the regular-Ranker gap, that's a wrong interpretation of this feat considering the tremendous amount of facts suggesting that A class regular/Ranker gap is bottomless. One of being Hwaryun's statement in the same arc :

My point was that Dorian Frog did not react with disbelief to the revelation that a Regular had power greater than the average Ranker. He took that revelation in stride. It wasn't something that he considered impossible.

A Regular surpassing a Ranker is a very rare and nigh unprecedented accomplishment (Adori Zahard was the only one to do it officially after all), but it's not something that's impossible.

And it's not something that Dorian Frog thought was impossible.

 

[hblock]

My point was that Dorian Frog did not react with disbelief to the revelation that a Regular had power greater than the average Ranker. He took that revelation in stride. It wasn't something that he considered impossible.

A Regular surpassing a Ranker is a very rare and nigh unprecedented accomplishment (Adori Zahard was the only one to do it officially after all), but it's not something that's impossible.

And it's not something that Dorian Frog thought was impossible.

Yes, it's not impossible considering Adori defeated a Ranker as a regular, but there's the fact that White's reatsu was that of a HR before Dorian discovered that he was in fact a regular influencing his judgement and despite this fact he was still surprised that he was just a reg'.
Considering all the statements listed above, it's not the first top 100 White Zetsu fodder who can accomplish such a feat and even in the case of the strongest non-irregulars (top 30 or above), they'd have to wait until the absolute upper floors to somehow start competing with the weakest Rankers in existence.