Chapter 8:

Looking at his progress over the past year Shan felt very satisfied. He was able to make his roots far more durable and recently finished the first pit of death. Or p1 for short. Shane rigorously cleared roots and overturned the earth in order to make a deep ravenous pit reaching 15 metres into the dark undergrowth.

Being a plant gave Shane massive advantages as he no loner needed sleep nor felt tired. Clearing dirt for 18 hours a day finally paid off as he peered into the death pit. At the bottom of the pit Shane erected various bones with jagged edges facing the entrance.

If any beast was to fall into these, they would meet a very painful and bloody end. The bones were mainly recollected from the massive Bull. The 3 eyed Lion already cleared the flesh from most bones and Shane simple moved them into the pit. The monstrous horns were the centre piece of this death trap imposingly erected in the middle.

Shane was able to find two more spirit grasses over the year. He planned to use one to attract his first pray and the second as spare. Excited and hopefully Shane completed his preparations, mainly covering the top of the whole with a thin layer of dirt intervened with his roots. Shanes roots were not that powerful, even with a spoon anyone could make a hole like this with a years' worth of rigours effort.

Setting up his trap Shane waited alternating between cultivating and watching his surroundings in hope for a creature to meet its unfortunate demies.

-----5 Years Since Soul Rebirth-----

Shane spread his mental sense observing his 5 pits as an evil grin emerged on his stalk. After the first successfully hunt Shane began making more death pits in different areas of the forest. The idea worked brilliantly; many unsuspecting spirit beasts entered never to emerge again.

After they were impaled Shane waited patiently for the last signs of life to leave his food. Then greedily spreading his roots through the punctured whole he easily invaded deeper inside the beast through thin needle like roots. He latched them onto the most nutritious part first mainly the brain, liver and other vital organs. Finally using his own spirit energy through the roots, he stole the nutrients in the body whilst also taking there more condensed spirit energy.

At the start Shane was rather disgusted by the whole process but in order to survive he had to continue. He reused most of the beast after devouring there flesh which tasted If plants could far better than the nutrients from soil. He would then remove the bones and reuse them on other pits.

During this time Shane new about maintenance cost far too well. After many hunts the bone would snap after impaling the beast for the umpth time or simply wear out not causing fatal damage.

Because of this he had to regularly swap out bones and fix the pits after the beasts finished their death throws. During one hunt a 1000-year-old beats also fell into the pit, however the bones were crushed under its weight unable to penetrate into its thick hide.

This wasn't a one of occasion as sometimes stronger spirit beast survive the fall and thoroughly destroyed Shane's trap. Due to this Shane stayed closer to areas were 10-year-old beasts were seldom hunting older beasts only by accident.

Aside from the obvious negative aspects the rewards he reaped were gigantic. His already impressive speed was further sped by the introduction of high-quality nutrients and thick spirit energy.

Thanks to this Shane was on the verge to become a 100-Year-old beast. A great milestone for his future success. He had already chosen what to make his next ability as well as his growth direction. If he could continue to grow at this speed, he had hope in easily becoming a 100,000-Year-Old beast and even beyond.

The thoughts of being a peek predator truly mesmerized Shane. After all he would finally be able to move unrestricted then and explore the world.

Focusing within his mind space Shane saw it lighten up starting from the edges and rising like the soft glows of an emerging morning sun. Double checking both the nutrients supply and spirit energy Shane concentrated on the evolution. The previous 10-year evolution was simply to fleeting and Shan really wanted to understand and breakdown the process, after all knowledge is power and so far that had proven correct. Being enveloped in the glow Shane saw the changes take place within his body.