"A scale is used to differentiate transcendents based on their Aether. This scale is not man-made. The difference when going up each class is something everyone feels."

  He nodded. If he came across another race, he could tell what level they were at and then plan accordingly.

  "The scale differentiates transcendents into six classes. They are—

  Novices

  Seniors

  Elders

  Monarchs

  Supreme Beings

  and Absolute Beings."

  He suddenly felt the urge to kneel when he heard the last class.

  He was shocked.

  The feeling of submission he felt wasn't superficial at all. He actually had the urge to kneel just by hearing their class!

  He looked at her, waiting for her to explain this strange phenomenon.

  He was sure she could read his mind. He even suspected she was one of those top-level beings.

  A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  She, of course, knew what he was thinking.

  "Absolute Beings are what you would call gods in your world. They are the peak of existence. Kneeling when you hear their name is nothing surprising," she explained.

  'So she CAN read my mind. Hmmm, so Absolute Beings are the gods here, and what would you do in front of a god? Kneel, of course!'

  "No one is safe near an Absolute Being. One mistake, and you are in for a very painful future."

  "Some Absolute Beings have lived for so long and become so strong that even other Absolute Beings aren’t safe in their presence."

  He was surprised. A god so high that even other gods were not safe just by being near them!?

  She paid no mind to his thoughts and continued explaining.

  "Each class, except for Absolute, has three subclasses: Beginner, Intermediate, and Peak."

  "When someone becomes a transcendent, they gain a Nature. Their Nature is simply what they are. If someone likes to play in water, they will gain a Nature related to that. If someone loves being a doctor, their Nature will be related to that—like healing or even cutting someone up."

  "To advance your subclass and your class, you have to revel in your Nature. You have to keep using the ability provided by your Nature—even invent a new one. The more you use it, the more you will advance."

  'So if someone had a Nature related to killing, does that mean they have to kill a lot of people to advance?' he wondered.

  'The nature of the original soul of my body must be something like that.'

  "But for advancing from a Supreme Being to an Absolute Being, your Nature gives you a ritual. The ritual is incredibly difficult, and many times you don't even get one because you didn't revel in your Nature and instead hastily advanced. That's why many high-level transcendents are very old."

  "If a Supreme Being had a Nature related to water, then the ritual might be to create a new ocean that can cover the entire world."

  She remembered her own ritual that she had performed 7 million years ago. It was to manipulate an Absolute Being into killing his most loved one. Then she had to appear before that enraged being and confess that she was the one who did it.

  Classes do not differentiate through strength, but through the amount of Aether. If it were based on strength, she wouldn't have survived even a second. She only lived because she became Absolute right when she told him.

  Fortunately for her, that Absolute Being was also a new one, so she barely survived. She had lost one of her arms—he had continued to hunt her until, 5 million years ago, she finally killed him and took his arm.