Following the golden treant that had a vile aura, Shane ordered his soulbonds to return to the Soul world if something were to happen.
However, contrary to his orders, Viridy showed its desire to stay outside.
As such, Shane decided to allow it to remain with him on his shoulder while Cosmo and Umbra returned.
It was still unknown what kind of effect the spores Viridy had released earlier had.
Nevertheless, it was something that awoke nature and it was extremely interesting to witness.
Shane would have loved to figure out more, but that was unfortunately not possible because he stepped through the dark-blue portal, entering the Hidden Valley.
Emerging from the dark-blue portal, Shane first noticed that he was still in a forest, but the trees around him were ginormous, with every single one having the size of the enormous tree inside the Soul-Onyx-Jungle.
This was already intriguing, but what astonished him further was the fact that the trees released strong currents of mana that were enveloped with the vile aura that permeated the air.
Shane wondered if those trees were old magi trees because the wood's faint blue tinge and the leaves had a similar feel to it.
If that were to be the case, it might as well be a good solution to call over the Artisans and tell them to uproot those trees.
However, that would take several months if not years and the Hidden Paradise was way too small to accommodate the entire forest within his sight.
He was not sure what kind of place he had entered just now, but it felt different to the Primordial dimensions.
This sensation was mostly different because the mana in his environment was much stronger than it should be in the Basic Primordial dimensions.
As such, Shane could only ask himself if he had entered a place similar to a dungeon.
'Maybe it's a secret realm? But in that case, was it really created by the creator? Why does it feel like none of this is making any sense?'
Shane scratched the back of his head before following the tall golden treant, who had at least three deamon killer fruits, hanging from its branches.
He had felt the urge to pluck them instantly but refrained himself knowing that he would still be missing seven more.
Furthermore, Shane felt as if the entire situation was way too interesting for him to just finish his mission before letting it disappear once again.
His adventurous spirit had ignited, and Shane wanted to figure out more about the place he had entered, and what exactly was going on.
Viridy was similarly interested in everything around it, but instead of staying idle, the young lesser forest spirit seemed to be absorbing huge amounts of mana and the surroundings' nutrition.
Apparently, the realm they had entered was a place with unimaginable dense nutrition that allowed Viridy to accelerate its growth dramatically.
This was extremely useful and Shane estimated that it would only take a few days for the lesser forest spirit to reach the limit in its racial limit.
After that, Viridy would be able to evolve which was what Shane awaited.
For the underwater mission, he was unlikely to require Viridy's unique ability, and even if that were to be the case, Shane had learned to control the wood and nature affinity to a certain extent.
Thus, the more time they spend inside the secret realm, which he named this place, the better.
Several minutes passed in which Shane quietly followed the treant before they found themselves in front of a small valley whose center was less than a kilometer in length.
This was smaller than Shane had expected due to the gigantic trees he could see everywhere around him.
The only difference was that the valley was void of gigantic trees but instead had smaller golden-colored trees.
Shane predicted them to be golden treants, and when he saw the trees' subtle movements, he knew that he was correct.
Other than golden treants, there were all kinds of colors, representing the basic and intermediate elements.
Due to this, Shane assumed that the treants were all variants with various elemental affinities in addition to their wood or nature affinity.
This was probably the case, but owing to that prediction, the vile aura of the treant that led the way, couldn't really be described.
'Did it undergo two mutations?' Shane wondered, only to sense Viridy's emotions that were like a roller coaster.
It seemed to be happy, and curious about everything, but also hesitant about its surroundings the moment it noticed the aura of thousands of treants.
Shane couldn't help but feel a little bit tense too, but his passive ability [Hunter's mind] that originated from [Artemis' blessing] helped him get a grip on himself.
Owing to his high combat prowess there was not a single beast in the valley that could endanger him, and the strongest treant was the one in front of him.
But even the deamon spatial treant, which Shane decided to call it owing to its spatial affinity and the fact that it bore deamon killer fruits, was not strong enough to turn into a threat.
Its strength was, at most, comparable to an Overlord.
Recalling the Overlords' dung which caused Shane to curse Viridy once again, he noticed that there were still no beasts in sight.
As such, he began to wonder what could have happened to the Overlord beasts, and if he was truly in the right valley.
Right now, there were only three deamon killer fruits right in front of him, and Shane had been unable to spot another deamon spatial treant yet!
Because of that, Shane remained vigilant as he descended the Valley.
His steps were careful and there was no danger around him that Shane or Viridy missed on noticing.
Through this, he realised something that was hidden from his eyes only a few seconds before.
Right in the center of the valley, there was one single gigantic tree that released the vile aura that permeated the entire secret realm.
However, what Shane realised was not the vile aura, but the fact that the gigantic tree was a huge treant!
At least, that was the only thing Shane could assume by looking at the tree that suddenly began to turn around to face him.
Shane couldn't clearly read the gigantic treant's mana fluctuations which made it impossible for him to evaluate its strength.
This should have worried him, but even after the vile aura swept through him, Shane didn't feel a trace of worry!
Whether it was because of his gut feeling or the fact that Viridy was reassuring him that nothing would happen, Shane was not sure of the reason.
Despite that, he remained calm as he entered the center of the valley, only to stop less than 50 meters away from the gigantic treant.
At that moment the voice of an elderly being echoed in his head as he held it in pain, trying to listen to the voice that spoke slowly.
[So...you are a Hyumen? And you say that you've been sent to save us? Are you sure you're capable of achieving such a feat?]
After asking this, the voice stopped for a moment, giving Shane enough time to question himself just what kind of bullshit the treant was talking about.
__________________
Following the golden treant that had a vile aura, Shane ordered his soulbonds to return to the Soul world if something were to happen.
However, contrary to his orders, Viridy showed its desire to stay outside.
As such, Shane decided to allow it to remain with him on his shoulder while Cosmo and Umbra returned.
It was still unknown what kind of effect the spores Viridy had released earlier had.
Nevertheless, it was something that awoke nature and it was extremely interesting to witness.
Shane would have loved to figure out more, but that was unfortunately not possible because he stepped through the dark-blue portal, entering the Hidden Valley.
Emerging from the dark-blue portal, Shane first noticed that he was still in a forest, but the trees around him were ginormous, with every single one having the size of the enormous tree inside the Soul-Onyx-Jungle.
This was already intriguing, but what astonished him further was the fact that the trees released strong currents of mana that were enveloped with the vile aura that permeated the air.
Shane wondered if those trees were old magi trees because the wood's faint blue tinge and the leaves had a similar feel to it.
If that were to be the case, it might as well be a good solution to call over the Artisans and tell them to uproot those trees.
However, that would take several months if not years and the Hidden Paradise was way too small to accommodate the entire forest within his sight.
He was not sure what kind of place he had entered just now, but it felt different to the Primordial dimensions.
This sensation was mostly different because the mana in his environment was much stronger than it should be in the Basic Primordial dimensions.
As such, Shane could only ask himself if he had entered a place similar to a dungeon.
'Maybe it's a secret realm? But in that case, was it really created by the creator? Why does it feel like none of this is making any sense?'
Shane scratched the back of his head before following the tall golden treant, who had at least three deamon killer fruits, hanging from its branches.
He had felt the urge to pluck them instantly but refrained himself knowing that he would still be missing seven more.
Furthermore, Shane felt as if the entire situation was way too interesting for him to just finish his mission before letting it disappear once again.
His adventurous spirit had ignited, and Shane wanted to figure out more about the place he had entered, and what exactly was going on.
Viridy was similarly interested in everything around it, but instead of staying idle, the young lesser forest spirit seemed to be absorbing huge amounts of mana and the surroundings' nutrition.
Apparently, the realm they had entered was a place with unimaginable dense nutrition that allowed Viridy to accelerate its growth dramatically.
This was extremely useful and Shane estimated that it would only take a few days for the lesser forest spirit to reach the limit in its racial limit.
After that, Viridy would be able to evolve which was what Shane awaited.
For the underwater mission, he was unlikely to require Viridy's unique ability, and even if that were to be the case, Shane had learned to control the wood and nature affinity to a certain extent.
Thus, the more time they spend inside the secret realm, which he named this place, the better.
Several minutes passed in which Shane quietly followed the treant before they found themselves in front of a small valley whose center was less than a kilometer in length.
This was smaller than Shane had expected due to the gigantic trees he could see everywhere around him.
The only difference was that the valley was void of gigantic trees but instead had smaller golden-colored trees.
Shane predicted them to be golden treants, and when he saw the trees' subtle movements, he knew that he was correct.
Other than golden treants, there were all kinds of colors, representing the basic and intermediate elements.
Due to this, Shane assumed that the treants were all variants with various elemental affinities in addition to their wood or nature affinity.
This was probably the case, but owing to that prediction, the vile aura of the treant that led the way, couldn't really be described.
'Did it undergo two mutations?' Shane wondered, only to sense Viridy's emotions that were like a roller coaster.
It seemed to be happy, and curious about everything, but also hesitant about its surroundings the moment it noticed the aura of thousands of treants.
Shane couldn't help but feel a little bit tense too, but his passive ability [Hunter's mind] that originated from [Artemis' blessing] helped him get a grip on himself.
Owing to his high combat prowess there was not a single beast in the valley that could endanger him, and the strongest treant was the one in front of him.
But even the deamon spatial treant, which Shane decided to call it owing to its spatial affinity and the fact that it bore deamon killer fruits, was not strong enough to turn into a threat.
Its strength was, at most, comparable to an Overlord.
Recalling the Overlords' dung which caused Shane to curse Viridy once again, he noticed that there were still no beasts in sight.
As such, he began to wonder what could have happened to the Overlord beasts, and if he was truly in the right valley.
Right now, there were only three deamon killer fruits right in front of him, and Shane had been unable to spot another deamon spatial treant yet!
Because of that, Shane remained vigilant as he descended the Valley.
His steps were careful and there was no danger around him that Shane or Viridy missed on noticing.
Through this, he realised something that was hidden from his eyes only a few seconds before.
Right in the center of the valley, there was one single gigantic tree that released the vile aura that permeated the entire secret realm.
However, what Shane realised was not the vile aura, but the fact that the gigantic tree was a huge treant!
At least, that was the only thing Shane could assume by looking at the tree that suddenly began to turn around to face him.
Shane couldn't clearly read the gigantic treant's mana fluctuations which made it impossible for him to evaluate its strength.
This should have worried him, but even after the vile aura swept through him, Shane didn't feel a trace of worry!
Whether it was because of his gut feeling or the fact that Viridy was reassuring him that nothing would happen, Shane was not sure of the reason.
Despite that, he remained calm as he entered the center of the valley, only to stop less than 50 meters away from the gigantic treant.
At that moment the voice of an elderly being echoed in his head as he held it in pain, trying to listen to the voice that spoke slowly.
[So...you are a Hyumen? And you say that you've been sent to save us? Are you sure you're capable of achieving such a feat?]
After asking this, the voice stopped for a moment, giving Shane enough time to question himself just what kind of bullshit the treant was talking about.
__________________
