Chapter 11:

Shane was observing his own soul core as he thought over the possible pathways of evolution. His experience with the Tree soul core had been informative. Through its soul core he observed its abilities, the first ability was called steady grow, it allowed it to grow unrestricted despite the insects latched on its body and the second was detoxify radiance. Shane found this ability far more appealing.

Shane was captivated by the second ability, of course since soul rings acted like circuits, he thoroughly analysed the ability and was confident enough to mimic its properties. He didn't need to know the ability per say to add it to his own soul ring in his next advancement he just needed to replicate the circuit, and bang he would have it.

He already had a few other self-made abilities like spirit needle and a flash bang type ability where he released a large amount of light. It would work well with his concealment if he ever needed cover to hide. But they weren't advanced or complicated enough for him to want to dedicate a whole circuit to. That just seemed wasteful.

Shane wasn't planning to replicate the circuit to have insects leech of himself, no he planned to break down the process to use the radiating part and change what it was he would radiate. Unfortunately, he lacked elemental proficiency so again it would not be an attack ability. He didn't really fancy fighting whilst in a 1cm thick stalk, not if he didn't have his death pits anyway.

Shane thought to revolve his third ability around souls. He knew he would have to change his current cultivation technique which stole souls from other soul beasts. The positive was that he had reaped a plentiful harvest through this, his own cultivation was already 800 Hundred Years, an amazing growth and confidence boost to his previous pathetic self. His soul however experienced the biggest growth. Souls didn't evolve and its process was different in terms of cultivation.

Simply put if he didn't actively try to grow his soul it would remain as he started besides being slightly stronger. He didn't have adequate evidence to prove this as he would need another living soul beast, but the Trees own soul was not that much bigger compared to a 10-Year-old soul beast.

Shanes own soul however had experience dramatic changes; the grey had become far more prevalent as it blanketed the surface of the jewel like soul giving it a dull grey radiance, as opposed to the previous white.

It wasn't desirable as it felt contaminated but it would get the job done. His soul had become far denser and the grey brilliance far more eye catching as it levitated In front of Shane. The grey had made it far more captivating if eeriness was anything to go for.

Shanes current soul had a quality 50x better than the Tree soul beast and just over double what he stared with. By absorbing other souls he massively inflated his own soul, however Shane choose to compress his soul instead of letting it grow freely.

By compressing the energy it become denser and more concentrated and would be able to support a higher quality being, but its size and power was sacrificed through this method. Doing this now would be far better as it solidified his foundation and if the novel was anything to go of a strong foundation was needed to grow even stronger.

Shane also planned to rapidly change his species. During the previous evolution the soul became venerable and would allow him to alter its formation, this would be very dangerous but Shane new that if he wanted to survive he had to take risks.

Shane current plan was to absorb a part of the Radiance tree soul core as he now called it. Unfortunately to absorb part of the soul core the soul beast had to be killed. Shane moved his consciousness into the Radiance trees. After all what better way to kill the creature than from the inside.

For this process Shan planned to experiment with the collection of souls. First Shane moved his own soul core closer to the Radiance tree to act as a type of support. He then covered the Radiance Tree soul core with his own spirit energy and planned to solidify the connection over time.

Shane wasn't at the 1000 years cultivation point yet so he planned to develop a bit more. Thankfully he pre prepared meat bag, ehm nutrients to speed up this process.

Being an 800-Year-old soul beast Shanes body and roots became far more reinforced and he began to move boldly within his territory. Through the lush green landscape many death pits interceded with vicious poles lay dormant to catch there next prey, and most of them were full.

Shane returned back into his own mind space and began preparation for the 1000 year break through. He also needed to kill the Radiance tree in one fell swoop to avoid any repercussions and alerting the insects on it. Shane had already made a plan for this.

Over time his roots invaded the soft underbelly of the tree in guise of delivering spirit energy and mover closer to the area occupied by the insects. He simply needed to command his roots to strike forth and a 1 m whole would appear interlinking the vulnerable mushy inside of the Tree with the cruel outer world.

"What a shame it would be if a few poisonous insects fell in and destroyed the place. That wouldn't be my fault, right? I simply want to give the tree some air. Isn't that right old buddy old pal"

Shane snickered maniacally as he began to greedily devour the lives of the beasts within the pits. The atmosphere was perfect, a cold moon less night as black as raven helped paint the perfect picture. Whilst shrill screams of pain tore through the soft undergrowth and out into the world.

The cries filled with pain and fear of the darkness. Yes, the screams came from the captured soul beast who became impaled by the devouring roots. If someone saw they would see vapours of red twist out of the dark holes like snakes painting the green marsh with a blood red. Good thing it was too dark to see.

"Its show time"

Shane grinned and began to work.

(A.N - Hi guys hope you are enjoying the story so far. Don't forget to leave an honest review, (better be 5 stars or ill drop this) and your power stones.

Chowder out.)