Alec swiftly packed away the monster cat into its cramped cell. He couldn't really blame it for trying—and succeeding—to escape. But he did not tear his eyes away from monster Milo.

He could not look away from the hope that he had found after all this time.

All the monsters he had encountered so far, whether it be monster Milo or any of the animal ones, the one thing they had in common was the emptiness of their eyes. The windows to their souls were empty like there was no one home.

There was nothing going on in their heads.

But right now, Alec could see a faint light shimmer weakly in the depths of monster Milo's eyes.

He would have ignored it and chalked it up to being a reflection of the glowing glass bead in the ceiling if not for the fact that the monster had stopped the monster cat from tearing into him while he slept.

Clearly, monster Milo was different from other monsters and from before.

"Milo? Are you in there? Please react if you are. Blink!" Alec pleaded with monster Milo on his knees while grabbing the iron bars.

Monster Milo blinked after several long minutes.

Alec slumped and rested his forehead against the cool metal.

The monster hadn't blinked because Alec asked it to. It had blinked because of muscle memory or something. It didn't matter why.

Only the fact that the light in its eyes had gone out mattered.

Still, Alec couldn't just give up.

"Blink," He said again with a weak voice.

The monster stared straight ahead without blinking.

"Blink!" Alec begged.

The monster didn't move.

"Blink!" Alec ordered.

The monster's gaze remained empty and unbroken.

"BLINK!" Alec shouted, his voice breaking.

He was pretty sure Rita showed more of a reaction than the monster before him.

It was to the point where he wondered if he had just imagined it. But he knew what he had seen.

'I'm not giving up on you, Milo.'

Alec set Rita aside for the moment and put Milo to sleep. He scanned the monster's brain. Now that his spell packed more of a punch, thanks to his second circle, it was easier to get through his magic resistance.

The feedback also gave him a clearer image than usual of the monster's brain.

It was minimal, but Alec noticed it. He noticed the change.

It was undoubtedly the brain of a monster, but the unnatural bloating had gone down a little. The pathways in the brain had cleared up a little.

There was still no activity in the brain, and it didn't look anywhere close to the brain of a thinking human, but Alec knew he wasn't wrong.

There was hope.

He didn't know why, but Milo might recover from being a monster.

It was an even greater discovery than figuring out why and how monsterification happened.

Now, he just had to figure out how to speed it up and help Milo.

Unfortunately, since he didn't know what had provoked the change, he didn't know what he could do to promote the change further. He could only continue what he had been doing until now while monitoring Milo like a hawk.

Fortunately, he had two great minds working for him.

One could do what he usually did, whether it be modifying spells, reading runes, Scanning monsters, condensing mana, or eating. The other part of his mind could monitor every last one of his actions, big and small, while also keeping half an eye on Milo.

Keeping an eye on Milo didn't do anything, since he never showed a reaction.

But getting an 'outside' perspective on himself helped him figure it out.

In the first place, there was only one answer.

What had he done differently, compared to Shim and every other monster researcher? What had he done that no one could replicate?

With [Reader], Alec could re-read anything he had ever read. It was a skill that transcended mere memory. He could re-read things he couldn't even remember or comprehend.

Until now, that was four things. Three spell formations he had an idea of when he encountered but no memory of seeing with his own eyes, and the Poem of Neverlasting Wisdom.

Re-reading the Poem silently didn't do anything. That was why he had recited it out loud whenever he could while alone.

Of course, he hadn't bothered counting the monsters as people. So when he had been 'alone,' he hadn't actually been completely alone.

The monsters, starting with monster Milo, had heard him use the Poem many times. Dozens and dozens of times.

The effect probably wasn't as strong as it was for Alec, but he was amazed that it even worked for his surroundings, assuming he was right.

Like drops of water breaking down stone to draw a river, the Poem had eventually worn down the non-intelligence of the human monster, opening up a path to clarity.

As long as he continued reciting the Poem to monster Milo, his brain would slowly but surely regain its sharpness and become a home once again for thought and intelligence.

It didn't matter how much longer it would take.

Alec was in no…—

He was in a rush to figure out monsterification, but he would wait as long as it took for Milo once he figured it out. Besides, he could only use the Poem once a day, and it took only a few seconds.

The rest of his time was spent researching.

Except for one thing, he continued like usual. He moved Rita into the workroom so that she could also enjoy the benefits of the Poem.

He wasn't sure if she could hear anything from inside the glass box, but he had a feeling that proximity was more important than actually hearing the words of the Poem.

Moving her closer also meant he didn't have to take a walk every time he wanted to test something on her or her glass coffin. He hadn't gotten that far in the process yet, but he was close.

He just had to devise a spell to look for hidden spells first. Who knew what Shim had done to Rita's coffin?

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