With a single step, as Gaia's figure reemerged, she found herself at the entrance to her orchard. As the embodiment of the earth, such distances were clearly insignificant to her.
She surveyed the orchard that appeared to have gone untended for a long while, Mother Earth furrowed her brow once more, then she pushed open the wooden fence and slowly stepped inside.
However, after only a few steps, Gaia quickly realized something was amiss.
"Is this... moved by someone?"
"No, they left on their own."
As Gaia walked through the orchard, she couldn't find what she was looking for. The spots that should have been planted with vegetation were now empty, leaving behind only pits of various sizes.
Without a doubt, they had been dug up by someone, but this was certainly not the work of an outsider. Even if there really were external enemies, they would have been brought into the orchard by a nymph, otherwise, no matter how powerful the intruders might be, they would have been stopped by the force left by Mother Earth, and then awakened the ancient Primordial Deity.
This wasn't even coercion, but a voluntary act... After all, their essences were protected within the orchard, and as long as no one was willing to lead the way, outsiders would never be able to enter.
After a moment of silence, an ominous premonition rose in Gaia's heart. Previously, she had thought that the nymphs of the outside world had provoked a deity and were thus casually killed, which admittedly made her somewhat displeased, but not truly enraged—after all, the nymphs were not that important, and they had not died completely.
If only she found that deity and made him express his sincere apologies, Gaia felt she wouldn't really care much about it. However, the scene before her now proved that things were not so simple.
To deceive or seduce Gaia's maidens, to stealthily infiltrate the Golden Apple Orchard... If the intruders claimed ignorance of this inevitably bringing Mother Earth's thunderous wrath upon them, that would be an impossibility.
He knew too much, even aware of the barrier Gaia had left behind, and yet he dared to do so, which meant there must be some immense temptation worth the risk.
"Explain all of this... who has been here, when it turned into this... and what have you done?"
"...Your Highness, I do not know."
Shaking her head, the nymph did not know what to say.
Previously, the Oracle was managed by Moanda, so much so that when she disappeared, it was a long while before anyone noticed the missing Life Vase.
It was only after the situation in the Golden Apple Orchard was discovered, did they consult with everyone on the great plains about the matter, and then they shockingly realized that quite a few nymphs had silently vanished. Along with them, the Divine Artifacts within the Grand Temple had also disappeared.
"Not long after you fell into slumber, the Divine King His Majesty had gone to the Temple for sacrificial worship... After that, the situation in the orchard was discovered, the Golden Apple Tree seemed to have a problem, and many people went missing."
"Everyone was afraid, and many fled, but some stayed behind. We went to the Temple to investigate, and your Life Vase was gone——"
"—What did you say?!"
Boom——
The ground trembled slightly, causing all creation to shake along with it. The nymph did not keep her footing and fell back to the ground, while before her, Gaia's shock and anger could no longer be contained.
She had not noticed this before or rather, she thought it was because she had just awakened, so much so that she hadn't felt the lively essence from the symbiotic Divine Artifact. But now, as the nymph's words ended, Gaia nearly instantaneously searched for the Life Vase's aura.
However, the result disappointed her once more; in Mother Earth's perception, not only was the Divine Artifact nowhere to be found, but even the mysterious connection between it and the symbiotic Divine Artifact seemed to have been severed. She was like she had never owned the Life Vase at all, unable to detect the slightest trace of it.