Chapter 13:

Shane slowly awoke from his brief period of sleep feeling very relaxed and refreshed. The knowledge of what had transpired earlier resurfaced within his mind whilst Shane concentrated on his surroundings. The bright light was gone and he was once more back in the pits of darkness.

"Hello darkness my old friend, I've come to talk to you again"

The only solace within the unfathomable darkness within his mind space was the illuminating soul core which far out shone its previous form. It hovered unrestricted within his mind space as light waves radiated outwards which contained far more power. Shane could sense that this time not only did he evolve as a soul beast but he also evolved his soul.

Shane quickly exited his mindscape making sure the large reaction had not alerted something. As he emerged from his mind space, he found himself seeing far further into the forest. His sight seemed to have double from 500m to 1000m. The extra sight was great as it would make dangers far easier to detect.

As Shane observed and found no changes in his surroundings, he turned to observe himself.

After a quick inspection of his body, Shane found he was no longer a plant. He seemed to have become a tree. His new form stood at 2 metres in height almost exiting the hole due to the lift from his massively thickened roots.

The only peculiarity was he had no branches and leaves so Shane didn't know if he evolved successfully or not. After all he seemed to have mutated. Being a tree with no branches or leaves made Shane feel quite naked. He was just a long shaft of wood, no pun intended and connected to a vast system of roots. His new from was dull grey in colour accompanied with a rough texture. His body was more similar to a pole than a tree, the only thing separating the two being his 50cm thick trunk. At least his knew form was far more stable.

Sighing, Shane returned into his mind space to observe his inner changes. First, he inspected his soul ring. It had now become 1000 years old and was far denser releasing powerful spirit undulation. As Shane inspected the ring he was pleased that his spirit abilities had been strengthened and seemed to have changed.

The spirit concealment ability had become soul concealment and became stronger; it might be able to hide from soul beasts 2 evolutions higher than himself. That meant he would be safe from 100,000-year-old beasts, the weak ones anyway if any of them were weak.

His second ability had become soul roots. His roots had become thicker and stronger but Shane had no idea about any special characteristics. It obviously had something to with the souls but Shane would have to experiment to figure out. It was a good thing he was in a forest surrounded by specimen ehm soul beasts.

The new third ability brought Shane the largest feeling of ecstasy as its uses could be infinite. The ability was called soul growth, and as the name suggested it would be related with growing souls. Shane would need to experiment with the ability to figure out its effects but the name did sound useful.

Although it was not an attacking ability, Shane new a plant would be lacking when it came to fights. Although he did enjoy a good brawl as a Human he no longer was, and the same mindset would get him killed.

It was better to use the versatility brought by being a plant and exploit its benefits, he already had a concealment ability so he was sure he could always hide. After all his roots could only restrain and kill beasts one evolution below himself, that is if they were normal beasts not unique bloodlines. Against a similar 1000-year-old beast Shane had no hope in defeating them, but now he had the chance to escape and stop them from eating him long enough to disappear with soul concealment.

Shane then moved his excited gaze towards the new Jewel core as he now called it. This was because its jewel like exterior had deepened whilst its density and size had increased. Shane observed the inner working of the Jewel core and found it far easier to access, the previous invisible wall which seemed to separate him and the soul core had faded to some extent.

After observing the Jewel core he knew he had successfully evolved and know called himself a Soul Tree. The name sounded cool and Shane was fully geared up to exploit any new benefits the evolution had brought. Being a tree did make him far more durable and although he lost the possible evolution pathway to become an immortal herb, he didn't fancy being eaten as they all did release a scent, at least in the novel.

Shane began to reform plans for the future and test out his new abilities and limits. Shane resurfaced out of his mind space and commanded his strengthened roots to move out of the hole and once more back into the world. As Shane emerged from the deep pit, he was very quickly greeted with the soft humming's that represented the forests life and with that he integrated himself back into his society or plantciety as they were all plants.

Shane first looked for the left overs of his earlier devastation but was surprised to find the 500m barren land had been covered with gently swaying blue silver grass.

This grass truly had great tenacity and growing abilities as he did bleed the ground dry. This could also mean he had slept for a while as it would have still taken time for all this to grow. As to how he knew this specific area was the area of his previous work, well that was simple he had hundreds of roots spread underground and could feel the area.

It worked very similar as a hive mind but he could not communicate with his own roots, maybe he should experiment with this in the future. After all, managing everything was quite stressfully and setting automated commands sounded useful. A brilliant idea for his bright future of world domination ehm world experience and growth.

Shane quickly began to organize himself as there was much to do and plenty of time to do it. The passage of time didn't seem to have an effect on Shane, he knew this wasn't because he was mentally strong but rather to do with being a soul beast.

Shane pulled in spirit energy into his vastly grown spirit tank and began to go through his abilities one by one.

(A.N - Hi guys Chowder here. The story is gonna pick up again in the next chapter. Also there where comments about which timeline this takes place in. Easter eggs will be revealed within the next few chapters so keep your thinking hats on.

Don't forget those soft smooth stones)