Celestes had been reading Ink’s thoughts the entire time, despite being kilometers away.

  To an Absolute being, distance meant nothing. Even if they were on opposite ends of the planet, Celestes would still hear his thoughts, as long as she could sense his aether.

  And Ink’s thoughts were very important.

  Celestes, despite her high rank in the Empire, had no real understanding of how the lower-level systems worked. She couldn’t help Ashes build his plan. Not directly.

  The real issue was what would happen after. When the reports of missing personnel reached the capital, an investigation was inevitable.

  Ink might’ve been a contracted official, but the Mine Head wasn’t. That was a problem.

  So Ashes made Celestes take control of the man who guided him to the quarters and had him spill everything he knew.

  According to him, the Mine Head was a beginner Elder. Rumors said he was stationed here to protect the mines from a suspected Grade-3 monster.

  Now, many abilities existed to detect and locate monsters. But this situation was different.

  These mines had been discovered seventeen years ago. Before operations began, officials had cleared them of all serious threats.

  Low-grade monsters weren't considered a big deal. They could kill humans, yes, but most of the time, they kept to themselves.

  It wasn’t worth the time or manpower to cleanse the mines of Grade-1 monsters. Their bodies weren’t valuable, worth maybe a hundred Rainbow Crystals each. A single miner could earn that much in ten minutes.

  They were hunted sometimes, but they always came back like cockroaches.

  But peak Grade-2s and 3s? That was another story.

  In terms of strength, they were equivalent to peak Novices and Seniors. Valuable creatures, prized for both their parts and, most importantly, their cores.

  Unlike humans, low-grade monsters lacked the intelligence to control aether. So, their bodies formed a core where aether naturally gathered.

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  That core could be used in multiple ways, consumed directly or processed into potions that helped transcendents grow.

  They were always in demand.

  Which made it strange that a suspected Grade-3 monster had been allowed to live.

  But the bigger shock was that the centipede Ashes had killed was a Chaotic.

  The transformation of a normal being into a Chaotic had been deeply studied in recent years. Researchers had discovered one consistent requirement:

  The creature had to cause suffering for amusement.

  But that condition was frustratingly vague. How much suffering? To how many victims? The results varied. Some beings turned Chaotic after a single kill. Others never did, even after dozens.

  And what did "amusement" even mean for a monster? Did they even feel enjoyment?

  Researchers theorized that it came down to intent. Killing for survival was natural. Killing for fun was different. Even low-grade monsters sometimes hunted not to feed, but to watch their prey suffer.

  As for humans — anyone who killed purely because they wanted to, without duty or necessity, had a chance of becoming Chaotic. Murderers. Rapists. Bandits.

  Soldiers were usually safe. Their killing was part of their job. There were exceptions, but rare.

  Researchers believed that malice, cruelty, and the urge to spread chaos created what they called chaos aether. It formed in the body part most responsible for the suffering, usually the hands.

  There were no warning signs. Chaos aether could form within minutes and completely overtake the victim.

  Once transformed, Chaotic beings became unstoppable killing machines. They had no thoughts, no goals. Only an overwhelming compulsion to spread chaos.

  That meant the centipede Ashes killed must have caused an enormous amount of suffering.

  Celestes confirmed it.

  Low mimic centipedes were Grade-2 at best. To reach Grade-3 while being a Chaotic… it would have had to kill well over a thousand.

  But the man under Celestes’ control said that only fifty to sixty people died around here each year.

  Ashes frowned. “What about killing its own kind?”

  There were plenty of Grade-1 centipedes in the mines. Thousands, at least.

  Celestes shook her head. “Impossible. If it had killed that many, the population would’ve gone extinct by now.”

  She added, “Chaotics don’t plan long-term. They can hunt and stalk prey, but they lack true intelligence. That’s why most of them get caught while fleeing, even when they could’ve easily escaped.”

  Ashes nodded, mind churning.

  She’s right. The centipedes are still thriving. That Grade-3 couldn’t have sustained itself on these mines alone.

  And besides, even if someone mined every crystal in the entire area, it still wouldn’t be enough to push a monster from grade-2 to 3. It might not be enough to even push a novice to senior.

  He would know.

  Because Ashes hadn't consumed the crystals for strength, but to introduce aether into his soul.

  The goal wasn’t power. It was to make his body believe that his soul was from this world. It was also to collect a little bit of aether in his soul so as to begin the linking process between his soul and the new body.

  The pain he felt was from aether trying to devour him. If the process had failed, he’d have been consumed completely.

  But it hadn’t.

  His soul had linked. His senses opened. And with that, he finally saw the damage.

  His 'True Name', his soul, was very damaged. To repair it, his body instinctively burned through its stored aether.

  Celestes told him the original had been at intermediate Monarch.

  Now, Ashes was at peak Elder.

  He had fallen a lot.

  But the mines had given him something else.

  A secret.

  Chaotic beings could absorb Chaos Aether from others — and convert it into normal aether.

  Their bodies acted like converters. Since chaos aether was useless to him as he already was a Chaotic being, his body converted it to normal aether to reabsorb. And because chaos aether was a special and more powerful type of aether, it converted to a vast amount of normal aether.

  Before, he’d barely touched the threshold of peak Elder.

  Now, after absorbing the centipede’s chaos, he was halfway through.

  He had been pleased, until Celestes told him the truth.

  He’d only gained that much because it was an intermediate Grade-3.

  Lower-grade Chaotics wouldn’t even provide half of what he got from a grade-3.