17 Chapter 17:

Opening his eyes, Xander squinted as the bright light cascaded through the open window, signaling that it was daytime. Xander took only a moment to gather his thoughts as he sat up to observe his surroundings.

He had expected to feel tired and fatigued as his body had not moved or eaten since had had gone, but he felt no pain or discomfort. It was probably due to the strengthened body of a spirit master.

Looking around the room, Xander found himself back in his dormitory. Many beds extended throughout the hallway that was his dorm, numbering 10, each of them empty. No doubt there occupiers already going about their day-to-day lives.

Enjoying the serenity, Xander moved into a meditative position eager to assess the changes in his mind space.

With practiced ease, his consciousness was pulled into his inner world, guided by his mental energy. Before Xander the scenery quickly changed, from the brightly well lit room, to a vast space of darkness, illuminated only by the golden hues radiating from the sephiroth grail.

Xander's gaze, however, focused on the object lazily floating above the sephiroth grail. Sighing in relief, Xander moved closer, guiding his mental energy into the egg in order to observe if any changes had occurred.

The egg provided little resistance, and with the lack of reaction and depth which Xander sensed, meant that the egg would need more time before something would emerge.

Xander was unsure if this egg would contribute to a spirit ring, but, it seemed that as there was no truly developed soul present, as the creature was not truly born yet, it simply occupied the space. Thanks to the blood from the sephiroth grail, there was a connection between the egg and Xander's martial soul.

After finalising his investigation, Xander was eager to try his new cultivation technique. Xander knew he had to meet the dean as well, but he could push it off a bit longer.

The demon eye tree, although situated in Xander's mind space, took residence further away from his martial soul.

The opposing energies between the grail and the tree didn't clash thankfully, but, the tree didn't seem to enjoy basking in front of the ever-glowing chalice.

Xander moved in front of the tree, before he once again sat down in a meditative pose. His back against the rough bark, Xander began to stimulate the mental energy within his mind's space. Stimulating the Jedi meditation technique, Xander found the technique to be more difficult. After all, the force was easier to mold as it had invited him, guided him, but that ethereal energy was now replaced with the more limiting spirit energy.

Thankfully, the results were still adequate, as Xander's mental energy felt reinvigorated.

Xander felt the Demon eye tree behind him churn to motion as it began filtering the metal energy through itself, something Xander only aided by directing his own mental energy to it. 

The energy that entered the tree through its branches where refined. With stronger and more concentrated energy emerging back out from the branches. The tree worked like a converter, fusing the spirit energy absorbed from the outside world with Xander's own mental energy and releasing it back as more condensed and refined mental energy. Now both greater in quality and quantity. 

Each cycle didn't massively boost Xander's mental energy, but as they cumulated, the results would only get better.

Xander could once again feel the tree taking some energy for itself through each cycle, but its help was more than worth it. 

In fact, Xander now noticed that the Tree was also processing mental energy even without him mediating. The results were not as good as when Xander joined the process, actively pulling spirit energy into his body, but it would be continuous, a passive albeit small stream of mental energy.

Pleased with the technique and the Tree, Xander's thoughts wandered.

'I can't keep calling it Tree, can I?'

The partnership, though unexpected, was frankly quite good! And Xander had no plans in releasing his new sla… ehm, colleague and as such he would need to refer to it with something other than just a tree.

'Now then, is it male or female, wait do trees even have genders?'.

Even though Xander was confident in his acumen, naming something proved far more difficult than he had initially thought.

He didn't want to name the tree something meaningless. After all, names carried power or something like that. So instead, Xander, using his vast intellect, decided to leave this mentally gruelling challenge for another day.

'I don't think it'll mind being called Tree for a while longer'.

With a sigh, Xander rose within his mind space. He churned his mental energy to convey emotions of happiness to not only the tree but also encompassed the egg.

He didn't know if the egg would even feel it, but care before birth should yield better results, right?

Exiting his mind space, Xander effortlessly moved off the bed, walking over to his wardrobe where he removed his clothing. It had seemed someone had changed his clothes before putting him in bed, but Xander wasn't bothered by it. He wasn't an immature child after all, well, he was, but that was beside the point.

Donning his robes, Xander once again moved, leaving the room making fast progress to the dean's office. Stopping by a few passing teachers to ascertain wether the Dean was till in the school, and getting a positive response, Xander continued his journey.

Throughout his short travel, Xander went through the plan he had come up with. Xander had decided not to reveal his abilities.

Sure, the Dean seemed trustworthy, but that wasn't what Xander was worried about. His ability to summon the soul of spirit beasts that he had killed in their entirety. Even the fact he possessed a spirit soul would be something that would shock the current world of soul land.

Now, sure, the dean might not spill the beans, but a secret was no longer one when known by two people. Something Xander had learnt the hard way in his previous life.

Why leave it to the possibility of being found out, if he could avoid it entirely!?

He trusted the Dean, but he knew their current relationship wasn't just due to him being a hard-working student. There were many hard-working students in this academy, but what set Xander apart from the rest was his martial soul, and more importantly, his ultimate attribute.

Throughout his time at this school, Xander had come to learn as to how this school would benefit from him. After all, they were not a charity and helping teach children out of kindness.

Add to that, Xander knew that around this time, the evil attributed soul masters were many and would even have organizations.

Not only would a spirit master with the ability to summon and grow the spirit beasts he killed be incredibly powerful, but the mere attributes he possessed would no doubt be perceived as a threat.

Also, the many hegemons and noble clans would want Xander's and his abilities as one of their own or dead! After all. What if he joined an opposing faction? Which there were many of in this world!

No! As of right now, Xander didn't need the world's attention. He would progress safely and when the time was right, he would show his true power to the world.

Because of this, Xander planned to water down his abilities, to cover them in a way in which even the egg when it hatched could be explained.

Smirking to himself as he arrived in front of the large wooden doors, Xander quickly hid his smile. Moving forward, he pushed the door open, revelling the Dean's office and the man he hoped to fool.

'Its show time'

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