"The main purpose of the spirit world is to help spirits but there are some benefits the material world may receive from us. One of which is that the land gets a certain amount of nutrients from us. You see, the energy that we emit as spirits is passively transferred to the material land. Any ’excess’ from this world is nutrients.

  "The second purpose of this place is to help spirits ’refine’ their divinities. As you know, to obtain a human form and return, a spirit must obtain a divinity first. Most spirits have a common divinity related to nature and they can refine it however they want once they enter this place. That way, they can stand against those that try to hunt them down when they leave this place.

  "For Empresses, they gain their ’awakening’ in the Spirit World but it seems like your circ.u.mstance is a little different than normal so you haven’t gone through your awakening yet. Otherwise, you would have gotten your awakening quite early." Lamira sighed.

  "Well I did ascend without even knowing where most of the spirits are in my world. One of my spirit companions did tell me that most of the spirits have retreated to a Spirit Capital. It seems like they can move it though I’m not sure." Shiro shrugged.

  "Seems like the spirits in the outside world are having a harder time than us." Lamira forced a smile as Shiro nodded her head.

  "Yup. They’ve been oppressed by the other races so it’s to be expected. The other races have their queens to boost their race but for the spirits, I have only recently ascended. My companions did say that the spirits should have received a boost in power thanks to my presence so we should be able to make a comeback soon." Shiro chuckled.

  "That’s good news I suppose."

  "Oh right, speaking of the spirit world, what’s up with the tower and the things written on it?" Shiro asked while gesturing towards the Tower of Gaia in the distance. Since that was her main goal, she wanted some answers about it.

  "Mn…… think of this place as a reflection of the main world. While you can’t directly affect it such as ripping out a tree, you can at least affect it to some extent. As for the writing on the tower, that was because we’re connected to Gaia since we come from nature. Naturally, since we have connections, we can see what humans can’t in our world. For Gaia, she made the tower so that she can help us so naturally, she’ll give us some hints. But just because she gave up hints doesn’t mean they’re easy to complete.

  "Offer Nutrients to the Great Land, Cultivate the Blossom of Life, Nurture the Great Deity’s Child. The three tasks that are written on the surface of the tower are not so easily accomplished." Lamira shook her head.

  "Hm. Do you know what it means by Cultivate the Blossom of Life and Nurture the Great Deity’s Child?" Shiro asked.

  "I have an idea. To cultivate the Blossom of Life is to provide life essence and nutrients to the sapling that you will receive from the tower upon giving it the required amount of Nutrients. To Nurture the Great Deity’s Child is to keep it from dying. They may sound easy but I do not know of the hardsh.i.p.s that you may face since this is the tower of a primordial deity. Things are not so straight forward with them."

  "Tell me about it." Shiro sighed since she still remembered how much of a pain Ouranos’ test was. She almost died of hunger in there. Sure, the human body may be able to survive 60 days without food but since she was constantly fighting, she wouldn’t even survive a week, never mind 60 days.

  "What are your plans, your highness? What caused Ran to discover you in the forest?" Lamira asked.

  "Well I was curious about the tower so I released my aura in hopes of the dryad finding me so that I can get some hints. While it may not have been the dryad, I’ve gotten what I want along with some extra." Shiro smiled.

  "Mind telling me how I can awaken my Spirit Nature along with what the previous queen did as a ruler?"

  "With pleasure." Lamira smiled as Ran returned with some tea.

  "Have you finished talking granny?" She asked.

  "Mn, we have. We’ll be going to the awakening pool." Lamira replied.

  "Can I join?" Ran asked, feeling quite curious about the awakening of the one her granny called Empress.

  Looking towards Shiro, Lamira seemed to ask for her permission with her gaze as Shiro nodded her head since she didn’t see why not.

  "Yes you can come with us." Lamira nodded as Ran smiled.

  "Thanks granny. So what does it mean to be an Empress?" Ran asked, turning to Shiro.

  "Hmm…… I guess it’s to be responsible for the people as well as their happiness." Shiro replied.

  "Isn’t that what granny does?"

  "Yup. Being an ’Empress’ is just a title I suppose with proper acknowledgement." Shiro chuckled since that was the truth.

  To be the Queen/Empress of a race just means you get some bonuses to help the race out in general along with a ticket to participate in the age of demons and gods. It doesn’t prove anything since she was able to easily kill the Fire Queen.

  Talking to Ran for a little longer, the three of them started to walk through the castle.

  "The pool of Awakening is below the castle. This is where most of the power of this realm is concentrated and it helps the spirit become stronger/awaken." Lamira explained while on their way there.

  During this, Ran had told Shiro some of the powers that spirits have received when they go through the pool.

  Some gain control over fire which was rather dangerous and could only be found in spirits that have an aggressive temperament. Others would gain control over water or nature and this was the most common. There were other elements but water and nature were the dominant elements.

  Walking down a set of spiral staircases, Shiro noticed a change in her surroundings as her mind seemed to become clear. It was like she suddenly understood where to go.

  Pausing in her footsteps, Shiro breathed out softly as her warm breath became a puff of mist due to the low temperature of this place.

  Before Ran could say anything, Lamira smiled and placed a finger over her mouth before shaking her head.

  Stepping to the side, both she and Ran watched as Shiro walked the rest of the steps.

  Pushing open the gate, she saw a pool ahead with luminescent plants hovering above, occasionally dripping liquified essence into the pool.

  Walking up the pool, Shiro tapped her finger against the surface as a ripple spread outwards and ice started to crystalise in the air around her.

  Standing up straight, Shiro stepped out and placed her foot into the water.

  *KRRRR!!!!

  Freezing instantly, a small platform of ice formed beneath her.

  Taking another step, another platform was created. Walking to the centre of the pool, Shiro opened her mouth and muttered a word that seemed to have come from the Ancient Spirit Language.

  Just as she muttered this word, runes started to glow around the cavern as a stream of energy surged around her.

  As the energy wrapped around Shiro, she swiped her hand out and a pulse of energy bloomed from her.

  *KRRR!!!!

  Freezing the entire like, Shiro now stood in the centre with a black dress that was lined with a spiritual green that had blue hues near the edges. Around her was a thin veil that seemed like it wasa mix between cold mist and silk.

  Trailing behind her was a veil that faded into a crystalised crown that hovered above her hair.

  [True Spirit Nature unlocked.]

  [Due to the title: Creator of the Frozen Hell Series (Incomplete), it shall be integrated with your True Spirit Nature.]

  [True Spirit Nature – Frigid Soul Keeper]

  Similar to the power of Hades, your influences stretched to the soul so that none can escape your grasp. Your ice will seal them in an icy prison so that you may decide what you want to do with them.

  Due to the nature of your frozen hell series, so long as you can imagine the spell, it’s creation will be guaranteed as long as it is within your current scope of power.

  Reading this description, Shiro raised her finger and drew a circle in the air.

  Suddenly, a ring of green flames exploded out roughly 50 meters away from her with her in the centre.

  Soon, butterflies started to appear as they were made from this green flame. Leaving behind a faint trail, one drifted onto Shiro’s finger.

  [Soul Reaper Butterflies.]

  These butterflies are attracted by the scent of a ’soul.’ Should one attach onto you, it will refuse to let go and your body will slowly be chilled by its presence. Once enough Soul Reaper Butterflies land on you, you will be frozen in an icy prison and your soul will be dragged away by these Reapers and presented to their Empress.