Talk:WN/Chosen Hero/@comment-25192437-20190218165356/@comment-10330822-20190219095532

Believe me, I understand your confusion. The reason they are listed as species is because there is enough difference between say a True Hero and True Demon Lord and their standard species to consider them a seperate species, but in reality, they are more a title than a species. For example, Rimuru is both a True Demon Lord and a Demon Slime, he has all the physical qualities you'd of both.

A Hero, or Hero Candidate, "specifically" is someone who has a "Hero Egg" as a result of the Voice judging them to be a character suitable, and having A-Rank level skill. This is why World Travelers, who are significantly more powerful than regular "Inhabitants" are more likely to become Heroes, like Leon; Chloe; and Hinata. That why summoning is seen as so important, to bring Hero Candidates. True Heroes emerge from the "eggs" when that potential is realized and the candidate's willpower "cracks the egg" and the Voice acknowledges the individual as a "True Hero" and usually they gain Ultimate Skills like True Demon Lords do. They also get extremely large life-spans, Leon holds the record at 300 years. A Demi-God is supposed to be a heightened empowered Hero, a spiritual existance. Chloe became a Demi-God after an indefinite number of time jumps continously honing her skill over an indefinite amount of time to the point when she emerged she was far above a True Hero in terms of power. Meanwhile, Leon was also incredibly empowered after being healed/reconstructed by Ciel.

The Sage and Saint titles has little to do with the person's character, rather their dedication and strength of spirit. Anyone can become a Sage/Saint granted they have the strenght of spirit. But this alone doesn't do it. Rather, Inhabitants go through "reincarnation cycle", which causes their souls to strength and attain knowledge by surviving the cycle without their soul dissipating. That is how one becomes a Sage, however, a Saint is someone who undergoes dissipation and scatters away and still manages to maintain a sense of self.

So the quick answer, is no, they are not mutually exclusive, but they are different enough that you will usually never see someone who is both. Rudra Nam Ul Nasca is the only individual who is known to been both a Hero and a Saint. Problem is Saints get their power from constantly recovering from soul dissipation, which causes potential their strength as Heroes to fade over time. In short, its sort of a counter-balance. The stronger one gets as a Saint, the weaker they might get as a Hero. Rudra for example eventually lost his qualifications as a Hero over constant reincarnations and simply became a Saint only.

This is presumably because Rudra didn't have a means to become a Demi-God, so he reincarnated multiple times as part of his goal to guard Justice King Michael, become a Human Saint instant in the process. Had he become a Demi-God he couldn't have needed to reincarnate and he would have become a species stronger than either a True Hero or a Human Saint.

It's also worth nothing that the Heroes are supposed to be insanely rare because the qualifications for them are strict and the actual achievement of the "egg hatching" is even rarer. So to find a Hero than can become a Demi-God or a Human Saint has to be even rarer still.

However, it worth noting that a Demi-God is a spiritual existance, so if it is reached they don't undergo the reincarnation process and they don't die as long as their cores remain intact, its also questionable if they even have an age. As a result its impossible for them to reincarnation with the knowledge to become Sages or Saints over multiple lifetimes. Or rather, its questionable if its even possible to kill them period since they are beings that rival True Dragons.

So the process is:

Hero (w/ Egg) < True Hero < Demi-God

Human < Human Sage < Human Saint

But you can do Hero (w/ Egg) < True Hero < True Hero/Human Sage < True Hero/Human Saint; because you may be able to retain True Hero status as long as your soul is strong enough and retain enough power.

Still, the Human Saint is only about as strong as a True Hero. Meaning that even if one gains the qualifications of both, you won't necessarily be stronger. The Demi-God is above both beings, so becoming one kills any real incentive to become a Human Saint. And Sainthood is really only something that should be pursued if you can't become a Demi-God.

Ideally, if you can't become a Demi-God in your first life;

Hero (w/ Egg) < True Hero < True Hero/Human Sage < True Hero/Human Saint < Demi-God.