Spirit Soul

Staring at the small tree seed that was growing inside the ginormous tree's center, Kyle couldn't help but feel both frustrated and confused.

The only hues he could see around him were radiating from this tiny tree seed that he had been unable to see before.

As such, it had to be something special, which he figured out only moments later.

[Enerrrgyyyyy!]

That was what the tree seed was screaming inside his mind, trying to further weaken Kyle, bringing him on the verge of death.

Yet, it was just a moment later that the thick three branches that had enveloped him tightly, loosened up, freeing him and Beatrice.

Slumping down to the ground, Beatrice stared at the seed in shock, trying to make sense of what was going on.

However, even after an entire minute had passed, she was unable to understand it.

From the looks of it, the tiny tree seed that was barely able to sustain its life was in full control of the ginormous tree, whose branches deprived them of their energy.

This was shocking enough as she hadn't heard of nor seen such a tree, even less a seed that could control the energy depriving tree.

Maybe, the small tree seed was the ginormous one's product, but that was not something she was sure, for now at least.

Meanwhile, Kyle was just staring at the hues he was barely able to perceive owing to the Nurture ability that was subtly activated.

While observing the hues, he realized that a few of them seemed familiar.

He had seen them around many beasts before. Amongst this was a hue that increased the potential of beings that we're able to cultivate.

Owing to this, he could tell that the tree seed was most likely sentient.

Though it was an interesting fact, it was also something he should have clearly understood the moment it spoke with him in his mind.

Nonetheless, it was better late than never.

Thus, he kept looking around, using the enhancement his eyes had received through his ability in order to figure out the given issue.

In the end, Kyle only did so because he wanted to figure out what exactly was going on.

He was clueless as to why the tree seed would deprive them of their energy, only to look as if it would perish and wither at any moment.

Because of that, he even ignored the fact that the seed had kidnapped him and Beatrice followed by depriving them of their energy.

He wasn't sure if it was his luck or misfortune to have landed on this particular tree that even the stronger beasts gave a wide berth to.

Despite that, he had never really felt endangered by it.

That was why he had no problem sleeping on the thick tree branch followed by staying calm despite being brought somewhere he didn't want to be.

It was not like this was the first time he had been dragged forcefully to an unfamiliar place, to begin with.

As he was able to keep his calm, Kyle could easily digest more information than Beatrice, who was confused and under the impression that they would be killed.

Despite that, she was also able to stay level-headed, which Kyle regarded highly.

Getting to know some of the necessary intel, Kyle stood up, forcing his weak legs to move as he approached the unmoving tree seedling.

Placing his hands on his knees, he peered at it to take a better look at the faint hues.

For this, he supplied a large margin of the soul force Arashi had just expelled inside his body. Due to this, the Nurture ability was empowered to a much higher degree.

Following that he simply said,

"Tell me which one feels the best!"

It was a confusing but also simple command if one knew what exactly Kyle meant.

As such, the tree seedling felt several different types of energy surges into its tiny body.

This indicated that Kyle was nurturing all the different hues one after another using the exact same amount of energy.

Through this, the seedling was able to tell which one was the most useful to help it end its predicament.

In fact, Kyle wanted to help the seedling even if it had both kidnapped and deprived them of their energy.

That was the case because it radiated a distinct loneliness Kyle was unable to shake off.

He was not sure why he was not able to ignore it, but, hopefully, helping it wouldn't bring him any disadvantage.

Kyle could also not forget that he was the weaker party right now as he was at the mercy of  the seedling that could kill them as long as it felt like doing so.

This was something Kyle wanted to prevent at all costs.

But at the same time, he didn't want to take out the Orb of Life, because that was something belonging to him, and nobody else.

Even if the seedling had spoken about the energy, Kyle could still mislead it, making it think that the life force it had sensed from him originated from his ability.

To his fortune, the tactic seemed to work.

And, it didn't take long before the seedling answered in its weak voice,

[Anotherrrr!]

When Kyle heard this, he just nodded his head before telling the seedling what were the things on which he had to exert most of his ability.

"If you provide me with the three cultivation energies, I can prevent you from meeting death…I think!"

He didn't want to promise anything from the get-go. It was even less because the entire situation was still somewhat confusing.

As such, he didn't say anything about souls. It wouldn't be helpful, to begin with.

After he said what he wanted to, not even ten seconds had passed before large currents of spirit force, primordial energy and mana filled the hollow space in the center of the ginormous tree.

This affirmed his assumption that the seedling was in fact, the product of the ginormous tree, caused by its sentience that had awoken.

There were all kinds of different ways for inanimate existences to gain sentience.

And, one of them was to accumulate the stored energy and forcefully create sentience.

From the looks of it, the energy devouring tree had done that.

It had created a seedling over a long course of time through which finally gained sentience.

Now, however, the issue seemed to be maintaining control of the ginormous tree that requires lots of mana to be sustained.

At least that was what Kyle believed because the tiny seedling shouldn't require much mana to sustain itself.

Rather, it should be brimming with energy owing to the sentience.

Through it, the seedling could absorb the three cultivation energies and convert them to everything it required, allowing the tree to cultivate.

Thus, the current issue was that the seedling was still connected to the ginormous tree.

However, Kyle could already visualize what would happen once the ginormous tree was to be separated from the sentient tree seedling.

He could clearly see the tree wither as it was only held together by the energy the seedling absorbed from other beasts.

With that in mind, he first wanted to nurture the seedling, before giving it the choice to cut it out of the ginormous tree.

Once that was done, he would leave with Beatrice.

What exactly would happen with the seedling was its own fate.

The only thing Kyle knew was that it had to be desperate enough to ask for help, otherwise it would have killed Beatrice and him long ago.

In fact, it was pretty obvious that the energy devouring tree was avoided by all kinds of living beings, and the lack of energy was clearly perceptible.

Because of that, Kyle was sure that he had the upper hand, even more so as he was in possession of the Orb of Life!

If the worst-case scenario were to occur, he would use the Orb of Life as the last resort to rescue himself. But, Kyle was confident that this was not necessary.

Instead, the seedling was merely sentient and not intelligent enough to scheme anything because its only desire was to stay alive.

Making use of that fact to his advantage, Kyle ordered Arashi to quickly transmute the absorbed cultivation energies.

Arashi did as asked before expelling the produced soul force which Kyle could annex.

Afterward, it was directly used to empower the Nurture ability.

Kyle then directed his ability to nurture the seedling that began to glow faintly.

Seeing this Kyle nodded his head in approval, while Beatrice was confused about how nonchalant Kyle seemed about the entire thing.

He was helping someone who had almost killed them a minute earlier.

Yet, when she thought about this she recalled something.

'Wait…I did the same, didn't I?'

At this moment she smiled wrily only to hear the seedling's voice that began to flash through her mind too, Beatrice couldn't help but smile faintly.

[Thannksss]

Nodding his head, Kyle showed that he understood it. His eyes were fixated on the seedling that gained more energy, and that its roots were slowly being detached from the ginormous tree, that was dying.

Now, it was merely the seedling's puppet that kept providing a steady supply of energy.

Once, the seedling would be fully detached from the ginormous tree, it would slowly wither.

Seeing that, Kyle wondered what he should do with the seedling. Its control over the branches was slowly deteriorating.

As such, it was possible for him to leave without being endangered.

However, the feeling of wanting to help the seedling returned and he decided to work on what his gut feeling told him.

After all, he wasn't someone to leave things hanging. If he had started something, he might as well finish it neatly.

With that in mind, Kyle asked himself if he should plant it somewhere near the dead ginormous tree.

Yet, after reconsidering this, he knew that the seedling would probably have to face the same problems as before.

'If it continues to devour and kill everything just to stay alive, and grow, every beast in the surrounding will avoid it..isn't it possible for it to gain energy from elsewhere, or to exchange it somehow?'

In the end, Kyle had no idea about the anatomy of a tree, let alone what kind of tree he was currently tending to.

Oblivious to the truth owing to his lack of knowledge, Kyle felt a little bit helpless.

However, even Beatrice had no idea what kind of tree they had encountered.

It seemed to be decades old and an extremely rare type of tree that would have probably been extinct if it had no use to the environment.

At least it wouldn't have been able to grow into a more than thousand-meter high tree by absorbing energy from its surroundings without returning anything in exchange.

Numerous thoughts about the tree rattled his mind, but instead of finding an answer to all the questions he had, his train of thoughts was shattered by a seemingly simple request of the sentient tree seedling.

[Plant me somewhere….please!]

He expected the seedling to be intelligent enough to figure out that staying in the ginormous tree was useless.

As such, he was not astonished about its request.

Yet, Kyle didn't want to be forced to do something he had no time for. Thus, he didn't even think about lying or saying anything just to please the seedling's simple mind.

"I can plant you, but that's either in the surrounding area or while on the go. I'm not planning to take a detour just to plant you somewhere."

Beatrice looked at Kyle in confusion, not sure how the seedling was supposed to understand him.

Even if it was sentient and more intelligent than one might expect from a sentient plant, it was still no more than a tiny speck.

However, contrary to their expectations, the seedling seemed to have planned something completely different.

[No…plant me..at your home…]

This request confused Kyle and Beatrice, and they exchanged odd glances with each other, unsure of what they were supposed to do right now.

It was not difficult to reject the seedling's request and say no flatly.

But weirdly enough, Kyle felt that it might be quite advantageous if he were to plant it somewhere close to him.

There was only one disadvantage that gave rise to quite a few problems- they had no home, and neither did Kyle plan on settling anywhere in the next few years!

As such, he was just staring at the seedling with confusion before he answered,

"Why not…that is if you can wait a few years!"