Unfortunately, before Shane could ask the gigantic treant about what was going on, it had already bombarded the next set of questions on him.
[Don't you think you are too full of yourself? You will never be able to achieve what is demanded, with the puny strength of yours!... Just why would she have sent you to us?...]
Even though Shane felt a searing pain in his head, he couldn't help but squint his eyes as he heard the treat blabber what he felt was nonsense.
Unable to figure out the truth, he subconsciously blurted out the first thought that popped in his mind,
"Who the hell is the 'she' you're even talking about??"
This simple question caused the old treant that was about to continue complaining about Shane's weak strength to fall silent in an instance.
Seconds turned into minutes, and an awkward silence fell around them which continued to stretch for what Shane felt like eternity, making him wonder whether he should say something else or stay quiet.
He figured that he had been a little bit too hasty with his question but he truly didn't know who the 'she' they were talking about was.
Turning his head, he saw that the other treants seemed to have frozen in their place too, and Shane just felt like he should pluck the deamon killer fruits and leave.
There were hundreds of them hanging from the gigantic old treant, and by using his entire strength to jump in addition to his spatial affinity, he might as well be able to disappear quickly after collecting the fruits.
However, Shane had already realised that the spatial affinity of the golden treants was different, and could break through dimensions if necessary, making it extremely difficult for Shane to simply leave the secret realm.
He was also not sure if the Space Doors would work, while the same question applied to the other emergency tools he had purchased.
As such, Shane remained calm as he stayed on the same spot for a few more minutes until the old treant seemed to have regained his senses.
"So...you weren't sent by Gaia?? She didn't tell you to come and help find a way out of the secret realm?"
Shane was confused when he heard the words spoken by the old treant and explained,
"I was brought to the secret realm through the deamon spatial treant too. It's not like I specifically searched for you or the other treants either…
To be honest, I was just looking for the deamon killer fruits that grow on you, and some of your brethren…"
It might be better to not tell the treants the reason for him entering their territory, but Shane felt as if this would only worsen their situation.
The old treant was visibly confused, and even more shocked because the young human in front of them was ought to be their savior, only to figure out that he'd entered their realm by a fluke.
"We are not able to open spatial doors to the outside world without Gaia's permission..."
It was the old treant who said this, and his words shocked Shane, as his lips twitched.
'Does that mean I'm imprisoned?'
However, before he panicked, Shane took a deep breath as he manifested the portal towards the Hidden Paradise.
At the same time, he told Cosmo to emerge from the soul world and return before asking Talia to use the Space door to see whether it was working or not.
It took him merely two minutes to complete his tasks, but everything was working perfectly fine. To his surprise, however, he noticed that the mana utilized by the Space door was tremendous, and at least twenty times higher than usual.
Nevertheless, Shane was more than fine with this scenario, because it simply meant that he was not imprisoned!
It was only when he had completely calmed down that Shane recalled the name of the 'she', the old treant had been talking about.
"I'm sorry to ask this, but by Gaia, do you mean the primordial deity and personification of earth...that Gaia??"
He was not sure whether this was a bad joke or not, but if the treants were talking about the Gaia he recalled from the Greek mythological in his past life, then everything was much coplexer and even weirder than Shane could have ever expected.
The old treant seemed to have fully regained its senses, and hearing Shane's words, a tiny trace of hope could be heard in his ragged voice as he answered,
"We do not know anything about deity or personification….the being that brought us here after our old planet was just about to meet doom called herself Gaia…
She also asked us to never reveal this place to other beings, and to kill anything that enters the secret realm, except those that have an appearance like her!
Before she left, Gaia said that someone would come and bring us outside the secret realm...when the time is ripe…"
Pondering about the old treant's words, Shane couldn't help but feel that the Gaia the others were talking about might have only been a human, Argan, or whatever races that belonged to the humans.
As such, it could have been a coincidence that he had entered the secret realm, but it felt weird to Shane.
"If she brought all of you to this place, does that include the gigantic trees or only all of the sentient treants? And, how long has it been since Gaia brought you into the secret realm?"
Shane had to digest a lot of information, and even if his mission was easy to accomplish now, his entire being almost screamed to grab the huge opportunity that was right in front of him!
The entire secret realm seemed to be controlled by the treants, and every gigantic tree was like the magi trees he and his family had been looking for in the hidden shop.
Despite that, Shane had yet to find the best solution on how to employ the information he gained in addition to what he should do about the treants as he heard the old treant's answer.
"We have been here for a long….a very long time. The secret realm has been created by Gaia and everything you can see was brought in by her too…"
The treant continued to speak, but Shane was already back in his own train of thoughts, trying to comprehend what exactly was going on as he heard.
"Gaia told us to bring the successor she sent to a specific place….even if you're not sent by her, it might be fate that you were able to enter the secret realm...as such, I shall bring you to the place too!"
Shane felt that everything was going way too smoothly, and it was even weirder for the big treant to accept him and the situation in such a calm manner.
Because of that, Shane decided to be straightforward as he asked,
"Before I follow you, can I receive 10 deamon killer fruits from you, old treant?"
It was obvious that the question came across as rude because he had asked for something that was seen as a body part of the old treant.
As such, the other treants had already utilized their wood affinity and were ready to hit Shane with hundreds of wood logs, only for everyone to halt in their tracks.
Shane was ready to take the things he required by force, and the old treant knew that he was the only one who could fight against the young man.
Even if it said that Shane's strength was puny, this was only in comparison to Gaia's strength, and the amount of strength he probably required to rescue them!
Rather than finding Shane's request rude, the old treant knew that he had to give the young man something to be even eligible to receive something in return.
They had waited for millennia to encounter the first being that looked like Gaia and waiting for several more millennia didn't seem to be possible because everything was slowly starting to change.
It hadn't been long since changes occurred, but everyone noticed that they had happened, and being stingy was not something the treants could afford to be right now.
"You need 10, right? I'll give them to you, but please follow us!"
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