Chapter 18:

A.N- Shout out and a big thank you to Eakamdeep Brar for supporting the novel.

You can support the novel or read ahead at www.p.a.t.r.e.o.n.com/MSChowder

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Shane slowly awoke within the darkness. The ever-glowing Jewel core continued to radiate warm comforting lights as Shane remembered what had transpired.

After reassessing the situation, he wasn't pleased with the action he had taken, the soul bone had been far too risky and had he been caught it would be game over for him.

Still Shane smiled widely within his mind space. Afterall the mission was bountiful. Shane slowly churned his spirit energy as he exited his mind space whilst searching the surrounding for any disturbances.

After Shane spread his senses covering the full 1000m distance did he relax and begin to go through his recent haul.

Shane first pulled out the eggs, the main purpose of the mission and unfortunately saw that 7 were destroyed. It seemed when Shane had been running away due to the severe depletion of spirit energy which he was not used to the eggs within his roots were crushed.

The soft exterior only required slight force before breaking and his top speed gave them heavy impacts along the way. Though thankfully from the 24 he had stolen 17 were still intact. Missing the larger eggs was unfortunate but Shane was more than happy with what he had acquired.

After sorting out the eggs Shane turned to the soul bone. Attempting to acquire this had been very difficult but Shane was happy the risks paid off. As Shane removed the bone from within his trunk, he was relieved at the disappearance of the chill that had been nagging him.

A delicate bone small in size dazzled with blue lights as Shane placed it before himself. After sending a wisp of spirit energy within the soul bone he very quickly found what it belonged to.

It seemed to have come from a 1000-year-old ice fox soul beast. Shane however was perplexed by this as the climate around the forest was anything but cold and he was certain he wasn't near the extreme north. The most likely case would have been a mutation or that it arrived here by some means.

Unfortunately, it was now some biomass or excrement along with the other hundreds of soul beasts. Shane was glad he found no signs of the Ants near himself; he must have put enough distance between them to not be able to find them through his sense.

Shane activated his soul root's ability attempting to find out more about soul bones. He was very quickly rewarded as he saw an intricate system like a circuit snaking within the bone emitting a strong undulation of purple spirit energy. A sign of a 1000-year-old soul beast.

After a quick glimpse over the circuit, he found it gave the user the active ability ice fur. This seemed to cover the user in a gentle layer of ice that looked like fur whilst being rigid and strong. It was definitely a defensive ability.

Unfortunately, Shane was unable to find a soul core within the bone and instead decided to store it for future purposes. After thoroughly wrapping the elegant soul bone within his thick roots to avoid the ice permeating through, Shane stored it with the rest of his treasures.

Now it was time for the grand finale. The Lion was roughly pulled out from under the ground before being thrown Infront of Shane. Having it suffer anymore would have minimal affect. It seemed the time had come to try his luck.

Sending a quick prayer to gather any extra luck Shane crushed the Lions heart which was intwined with his roots. The Lion flinched before all signs of life ceased. A bright purple soul ring shot forth from the Lion releasing strong spirit undulations as it bathed the area around it with a purple brilliance.

Shane tore its flesh asunder letting his roots drain the nutrients from the strewn around pieces. Then Shanes non-existent eyes gleamed above a beautiful bone. Shane entranced by its golden splendour stood still.

One must now that three Eyed Golden Lions were rare and there soul bones even rarer. It contained a strong bloodline and golden attribute, definitely a top tier soul bone. A streak of tears would fall from Shanes eyes if he had any.

Shane had killed hundreds of soul beast so far and only now acquired a soul bone. Of course, he gained another from the Ants but that was far inferior to this current peace.

Not wasting time Shane shot his sense within the dead Lions decaying mental space. As he evolved, he could stay within mind spaces which were on the verge of collapse safely. Although it did add a strong mental strain and he could not hold for long.

Shane reached within its mind and saw a dead black soul hovering lifelessly within the dark void. Spreading his senses within he covered the lifeless orb with his own spirit energy before pulling it out of the soul beast.

From what Shane had learned soul cores where different from soul rings and bones. The soul ring contained soul beasts' cultivation and an ability with a slight wisp of the soul hence the stronger attack in higher aged soul rings however they did not contain a soul core.

Shane could not have removed the soul whilst the Lion was alive after all the suffering, its mental space was shut off through the agony and Shane new pulling out its soul would be far harder. It had a similar cultivation to himself and thus its spirit cultivation would offset the difference within souls.

Shane brought the decaying soul core out of the Lion nourishing it with his own Jewel core. This seemed to have halted the decaying process for the time being.

Shane then moved to the soul bone and began to integrate the soul with the bone. The soul was not alive anymore but Shane wanted to confirm if dead soul cores could be put within soul bones if they came from the same place. A sudo body to say.

The soul core entered the bone with no objections guided by Shanes own core as he brought it towards the centre of the circuit.

Unfortunately, due to the fact that Souls decayed quickly Shane had not inspected the soul bone yet. Shane moved the soul core to the centre of the circuit and began attempting to connect the two. The process continued smoothly until the soul began to rapidly decay. Shane tried offsetting the decay with his own Jewel core but as the pull to his own core became larger Shane had to stop the process.

If he had continued his own soul would have been used as an energy supply and it would have made it weaker and smaller. It was not worth this simple test. Shane sighed observing the dull black orb decay to nothingness.

It seemed the experiment had failed, but Shane still took this as a learning opportunity. It seemed the dead soul cores would need more energy if they were to successfully bind to soul bones which as of now his own soul could not supply.

Shane was not dragged down by this failure and reassured himself with that fact he gained an amazing spirit bone. There would be plenty of future opportunities. Shane observed the golden circuit and found this spirit bone had a passive ability.

The circuit did seem to glow brighter now that it absorbed the soul core but Shane wasn't certain as it wasn't a large difference. Another thing for him to test in the future.

The soul bones ability was golden glory. This ability reinforced defences and giving a significant buff to strength. It seemed to give a rough 20% increase in defence and a further 35% into strength. Although not huge it also added the golden attribute affect which in turn reinforced the users bone as well as conditioning muscles. Not everything could be attributed through percentages buff increases.

Shane exited the soul bone after observing the ability and placed it along with his other treasures. Of course, Shane could have tried moving the soul into the eggs but he quickly dismissed this thought.

The reason was simple, Shane was smart not a God. He knew the soul core and soul bones came from the same source and thus may have an effect if joined, but the eggs contained and Ants genetic material how was he going to change it to a lion.

He didn't possess any genealogy equipment at hand and also seemed to have miss placed his golden godly fingers. Although these ideas where amazing there were far from reality, a simple dream which he still planned to try.

He may not be God, Yet. But time would tell whether he could accomplish such a feat.

"Alas so many ideas and so much time. Time to get to work, isn't that right my future slave ehm buddies"

Shane cackled within his mind space as he looked at the 17 eggs, which seemed to shake but only for a split second.