Shane never expected that his mission would be solved so easily.
Instead of having to fight with his precious life on the line, he had asked for the deamon killer fruits, and obtained them easily.
In exchange, his only task was to follow the old treant that walked slowly out of the valley, straight into the opposite direction from which Shane came.
Its strides were large, and with every step the treant took, Shane had to take dozens.
Nevertheless, he quickly followed the treant while jogging slowly.
Shane hadn't known how vast the secret realm he had entered was, and it was only after they had walked in a direction for more than an hour that Shane finally realised that everything was far more difficult than he could have expected in the beginning.
Not only was the number of old magi trees huge, but there were many more treants and other similar beasts with an origin in the world of plants.
This was extremely interesting, and Shane didn't think of wasting too much time to purchase the |Basic-Cultivation| knowledge crystal.
Thus, he quickly did it after receiving the funds and sent the knowledge crystal to Talia afterward.
With that, his job inside the secret realm was completed.
The only task left was to steal the egg of a King serpent.
Shane didn't think that this would be extremely difficult as long as his affinities would work underwater, and Talia procured the necessary items in time.
The latter would probably take a few more days and Shane decided to spend this time inside the secret realm, in order to allow Viridy to absorb enough mana and nutrition to evolve.
Meanwhile, he could also try to figure out a solution for the treants that seemed to be unable to leave the secret realm without anyone's help.
It was still unknown why this was the case, but the old treant's retelling of how Gaia had trapped them all made him uncomfortable too.
From the looks of it, the secret realm was directly connected to the four Primordial dimensions that had merged together.
At the same time, Shane assumed that this was more of an accident and that the secret realm was connected to only one dimension before.
As such, the merging process might have allowed Shane to enter the weakened secret realm while Viridy's call of nature might have attracted the deamon spatial treant.
Thus, through a stroke of sheer dumb luck, he was able to enter the secret realm where gigantic magi trees had grown for millennia.
Shane found this extremely interesting and his greed told him that he had to procure the rights to reign over the secret realm.
'If the secret realm was connected to a dimension, it might as well be possible to connect it to his soul world.'
At least that was what he thought, but there was not even a single evidence to support his theory.
It should be possible to make something similar, but Shane's strength was simply too low to even think about it.
He never had anything to do with runes, and now he wanted to artificially bind a secret realm to his soul world?
Shane seemed to have gone insane thinking about that, and he was fully aware of it.
A connection from his soul world to the secret realm would probably solve the majority of issues mankind and the beings living inside the secret realm had.
With the amount of mana the old, almost ancient magi trees could provide, Shane could absorb it into his soul world.
This would allow him to cultivate with the absorbed energy, liquefying his mana at a rapid pace.
Creating dozens of liquefied drops of mana in only a few weeks wouldn't be a problem, rather it would further allow his soul world to grow consistently too!
Unfortunately, it was never that easy, and Shane could only follow the old treant for another hour before it finally stopped.
They were now standing in front of a large mountain made of vines, moss, stones, and roots that held everything together.
It looked interesting but also as if it would collapse at any moment.
While observing the mountain, Shane saw a small entrance that allowed shorter beings like himself to enter it.
"Enter it, if you want to know the secrets of the secret realm!" The old treant said, trying to sound powerful and full of conviction that Shane would be able to save them.
However deep within, the old treant knew that the chances for Shane to be able to save them were negligible.
As such, his voice had been laced with his frustration and disappointment.
Shane could only smile dryly, somewhat understanding how all the treants were probably feeling right now.
Nevertheless, Shane was not some sort of messiah who would risk the lives of mankind in its entirety in order to use more time than necessary to help the treants.
He decided to take a look at whether his capabilities were enough to help them, or not.
This was everything he could do, and Shane thought that this was more than others would do in his situation.
Everyone wanted to reap the most benefits and Shane was no different.
However, he thought that the treants were worth more than the ancient magi trees, which was probably the biggest difference of opinion Shane had in comparison to others.
The ancient magi trees were worth a huge fortune, even more so in the degree of maturity they had reached.
They were worth several thousand times the price Shane and his family had to pay for the seedlings, as they purchased nothing but small seedlings that had yet to sprout!
As such, everyone would rather look at the trees and find ways of uprooting the trees whose roots were embedded several hundred meters deep in the ground, rather than focusing on the treasures that walked around them.
In order for the magi trees to grow to such great heights, the soil had to be extremely nutritious.
This would automatically require the soul world to be equally nutritious during the entire time they grow.
However, that was not possible because it was unlikely to rain in the secret realm let alone the sun to shine through.
There were many more requirements to replenish the nutrition inside the soil, but almost none of them were fulfilled by the secret realm.
This was exactly why the treants were so important.
Not only was it possible to transform nutrition and other materials into mana as the magi tree was doing, but the other way round was also possible.
The treants were doing exactly that, and Shane found that they could be the perfect solution to transform his soul world into a nutritious land where everyone could live freely.
As long as the necessities to live were present in addition to a huge amount of mana, this was likely to happen, but Shane didn't really care about other people.
Rather, he wanted to turn his soul world into a place where his soulbonds could reside, while the vast amount of mana would allow him to cultivate for the next few centuries without the need to procure any cultivation resources except nutrition serums to refine his body.
That was his main priority for the long-term and mainly caused owing to the fact that his soul world didn't provide him with the exact number of soulbonds he could bind to himself!
Before, his taming skill told him that he could tame a total of three beasts, but now the status panel only gave him a big question mark.
If the system didn't know the answer, only he himself would be able to figure out the truth. But, Shane didn't even know the requirements one had to fulfill to bind a beast to his soul and neither was he aware of how exactly it worked.
Was it different compared to a simple taming, or was it essentially the same?
This was intriguing and Shane could only think that he wanted to give his current and future soulbonds the best possible treatment, which included a vast amount of mana, along with a thriving habitat.
Shane dreamt of making his soul world a true 'paradise' that had an abundance of flora and fauna, and an environment that helped the inhabiting beings grow and flourish!
With these thoughts in his mind, Shane entered the small cave-like entrance in front of him.
It was dark, but after wearing the Mask of the Cursed Susurro, he had no problem, and everything in front of him was crystal clear to perceive.
Slowly descending the narrow tunnel, he saw a faint glow at the end of it.
However, what he saw, only ten minutes after he had entered the tunnel, caused his eyes to widen in shock.
"Isn't that the…?"
Shane never expected that his mission would be solved so easily.
Instead of having to fight with his precious life on the line, he had asked for the deamon killer fruits, and obtained them easily.
In exchange, his only task was to follow the old treant that walked slowly out of the valley, straight into the opposite direction from which Shane came.
Its strides were large, and with every step the treant took, Shane had to take dozens.
Nevertheless, he quickly followed the treant while jogging slowly.
Shane hadn't known how vast the secret realm he had entered was, and it was only after they had walked in a direction for more than an hour that Shane finally realised that everything was far more difficult than he could have expected in the beginning.
Not only was the number of old magi trees huge, but there were many more treants and other similar beasts with an origin in the world of plants.
This was extremely interesting, and Shane didn't think of wasting too much time to purchase the |Basic-Cultivation| knowledge crystal.
Thus, he quickly did it after receiving the funds and sent the knowledge crystal to Talia afterward.
With that, his job inside the secret realm was completed.
The only task left was to steal the egg of a King serpent.
Shane didn't think that this would be extremely difficult as long as his affinities would work underwater, and Talia procured the necessary items in time.
The latter would probably take a few more days and Shane decided to spend this time inside the secret realm, in order to allow Viridy to absorb enough mana and nutrition to evolve.
Meanwhile, he could also try to figure out a solution for the treants that seemed to be unable to leave the secret realm without anyone's help.
It was still unknown why this was the case, but the old treant's retelling of how Gaia had trapped them all made him uncomfortable too.
From the looks of it, the secret realm was directly connected to the four Primordial dimensions that had merged together.
At the same time, Shane assumed that this was more of an accident and that the secret realm was connected to only one dimension before.
As such, the merging process might have allowed Shane to enter the weakened secret realm while Viridy's call of nature might have attracted the deamon spatial treant.
Thus, through a stroke of sheer dumb luck, he was able to enter the secret realm where gigantic magi trees had grown for millennia.
Shane found this extremely interesting and his greed told him that he had to procure the rights to reign over the secret realm.
'If the secret realm was connected to a dimension, it might as well be possible to connect it to his soul world.'
At least that was what he thought, but there was not even a single evidence to support his theory.
It should be possible to make something similar, but Shane's strength was simply too low to even think about it.
He never had anything to do with runes, and now he wanted to artificially bind a secret realm to his soul world?
Shane seemed to have gone insane thinking about that, and he was fully aware of it.
A connection from his soul world to the secret realm would probably solve the majority of issues mankind and the beings living inside the secret realm had.
With the amount of mana the old, almost ancient magi trees could provide, Shane could absorb it into his soul world.
This would allow him to cultivate with the absorbed energy, liquefying his mana at a rapid pace.
Creating dozens of liquefied drops of mana in only a few weeks wouldn't be a problem, rather it would further allow his soul world to grow consistently too!
Unfortunately, it was never that easy, and Shane could only follow the old treant for another hour before it finally stopped.
They were now standing in front of a large mountain made of vines, moss, stones, and roots that held everything together.
It looked interesting but also as if it would collapse at any moment.
While observing the mountain, Shane saw a small entrance that allowed shorter beings like himself to enter it.
"Enter it, if you want to know the secrets of the secret realm!" The old treant said, trying to sound powerful and full of conviction that Shane would be able to save them.
However deep within, the old treant knew that the chances for Shane to be able to save them were negligible.
As such, his voice had been laced with his frustration and disappointment.
Shane could only smile dryly, somewhat understanding how all the treants were probably feeling right now.
Nevertheless, Shane was not some sort of messiah who would risk the lives of mankind in its entirety in order to use more time than necessary to help the treants.
He decided to take a look at whether his capabilities were enough to help them, or not.
This was everything he could do, and Shane thought that this was more than others would do in his situation.
Everyone wanted to reap the most benefits and Shane was no different.
However, he thought that the treants were worth more than the ancient magi trees, which was probably the biggest difference of opinion Shane had in comparison to others.
The ancient magi trees were worth a huge fortune, even more so in the degree of maturity they had reached.
They were worth several thousand times the price Shane and his family had to pay for the seedlings, as they purchased nothing but small seedlings that had yet to sprout!
As such, everyone would rather look at the trees and find ways of uprooting the trees whose roots were embedded several hundred meters deep in the ground, rather than focusing on the treasures that walked around them.
In order for the magi trees to grow to such great heights, the soil had to be extremely nutritious.
This would automatically require the soul world to be equally nutritious during the entire time they grow.
However, that was not possible because it was unlikely to rain in the secret realm let alone the sun to shine through.
There were many more requirements to replenish the nutrition inside the soil, but almost none of them were fulfilled by the secret realm.
This was exactly why the treants were so important.
Not only was it possible to transform nutrition and other materials into mana as the magi tree was doing, but the other way round was also possible.
The treants were doing exactly that, and Shane found that they could be the perfect solution to transform his soul world into a nutritious land where everyone could live freely.
As long as the necessities to live were present in addition to a huge amount of mana, this was likely to happen, but Shane didn't really care about other people.
Rather, he wanted to turn his soul world into a place where his soulbonds could reside, while the vast amount of mana would allow him to cultivate for the next few centuries without the need to procure any cultivation resources except nutrition serums to refine his body.
That was his main priority for the long-term and mainly caused owing to the fact that his soul world didn't provide him with the exact number of soulbonds he could bind to himself!
Before, his taming skill told him that he could tame a total of three beasts, but now the status panel only gave him a big question mark.
If the system didn't know the answer, only he himself would be able to figure out the truth. But, Shane didn't even know the requirements one had to fulfill to bind a beast to his soul and neither was he aware of how exactly it worked.
Was it different compared to a simple taming, or was it essentially the same?
This was intriguing and Shane could only think that he wanted to give his current and future soulbonds the best possible treatment, which included a vast amount of mana, along with a thriving habitat.
Shane dreamt of making his soul world a true 'paradise' that had an abundance of flora and fauna, and an environment that helped the inhabiting beings grow and flourish!
With these thoughts in his mind, Shane entered the small cave-like entrance in front of him.
It was dark, but after wearing the Mask of the Cursed Susurro, he had no problem, and everything in front of him was crystal clear to perceive.
Slowly descending the narrow tunnel, he saw a faint glow at the end of it.
However, what he saw, only ten minutes after he had entered the tunnel, caused his eyes to widen in shock.
"Isn't that the…?"
