Once she was back in Asharia, Shiro sat down and looked at the timer counting down until the coming of the second age. With only less than a day left, Shiro leaned back and sighed heavily.

  On the table were the notes she had written for Isvelger's research.

  Sitting next to her, Nan Tian placed a cup of juice in front of her.

  "I've already sorted out the new residents. The staff are showing them around and living areas have already been prepared. Though some of them seem to be a little… 'out of it'. But it's not too surprising given what had transpired." Nan Tian said as Shiro nodded her head.

  "Feeling nervous about the second age?" He asked curiously since Shiro was rather quiet now that her little rampage had finished.

  "Not really. It's hard to describe I suppose. Though don't worry, I'll figure it out eventually." Shiro smiled.

  "I see… Well just remember to take a break. You are overworking yourself quite a bit. It's hard to 'take a break' when the fate of the world is at stake but not taking a break will just break you faster. From what you said, achieving proper creation energy will be difficult but we've already made a lot of progress. Aarim has already started to interact with that side of the universe and it's only a matter of time before a portal can be made." Nan Tian smiled while picking up some of her research notes.

  "Mn, true. All I need to do is to put the theory to the test when everything is sorted. As for the second half, I just need to make sure I don't die and the gods don't mess with us. Most of them are busy looking for the destroyer anyways, they won't bother little old me when they don't know my identity. There's no rush." Shiro chuckled while leaning against Nan Tian. Closing her eyes for a moment, its her first proper rest in the last week without feeling millions of eyes staring at her from the shadows. Her fear of her friends being killed by powerful beings washed away momentarily.

  Blinking his eyes in surprise, Nan Tian didn't expect Shiro to lean against him as he pulled out a blanket.

  "Thanks, wake me up in two hours or so. One of the administrators told me to be there when the egg in the North Pole hatches so I want to see what kind of changes the second half brings." Shiro said, accepting the blanket.

  "Sure."

  Allowing Shiro to rest for a while, Nan Tian checked the recent reports of the egg in the North Pole while making sure not to move too much. That way, he wouldn't wake up Shiro earlier than expected.

  Checking the report, he realised that there was a small increase of crystal production even without 'feeding' the egg life energy from monsters. The absorption rate of the crystals decreased while the egg's production increased.

  It was a small change, barely noticeable but since Shiro brought up the advice of the Administrator, Nan Tian couldn't ignore this change in data.

  Looking at the other reports, there wasn't much else except for this.

  'The reports are a day old so there are probably some other changes as we approach the time limit. Perhaps the changes will increase the closer we get.' He thought to himself.

  Suddenly feeling movement on his arm, he glanced down only to realise that Shiro was adjusting her position to keep herself comfortable.

  Chuckling for a moment, Nan Tian continued to work.

  ###

  Blinking her eyes, Gaia found herself laying down on the floor. The last thing she remembered was finishing the trial and getting the 'upgrade'.

  Quickly looking around her, she saw that the others were also starting to wake up now.

  Just as she was about to muster some divine energy from her body, she realised that she was completely drained. Not a single speck of energy could be mustered as her regeneration wasn't activating either.

  "Don't be concerned, it's just your body adjusting to the changes. The upgrade from Rank 3 to Rank 4 is a rather big step and I suppose you can say that you're in 'debt' of energy right now. The system is draining your energy until this 'debt' is gone." A voice rang out as Gaia quickly jumped up and looked towards the source.

  "Shiro? No, wait. You're not Shiro, the feeling is different." Gaia muttered with a small frown.

  She could see two figures sitting on the bridge while waiting for them to wake up. One looked like Shiro while the other was slightly different but had similar features.

  "Yeah I'm not Shiro. I'm Anima, a shard of her old self. And she is a fruit lady, she's a spirit of the fruit that I used to give out." Anima said as the other woman frowned and smacked her on the head.

  "I prefer the name Ria." Ria said as she floated down next to Gaia.

  Placing her hand on Gaia's shoulder, a flood of energy rushed into her body as Gaia realised that Ria was helping her 'clear the debt'.

  Feeling the weakness leave her body, Gaia thanked Ria.

  "So since you're a shard of Shiro's old self, is there something you need from us? We don't have much to offer but we can try to help." Gaia asked as Anima shook her head.

  "I don't really need anything from you. If anything, it's more than me and fruity will be helping you five improve a little. I'm sure you know the First Borns are waking up, while quite a few of the High Primordials have already started to regain their power. If you five cannot match them, I'm afraid you'll just be a hindrance to Shiro. So we figured that we might as well give her a helping hand and help you five get used to your new power and even raid some of the old domains of other First Borns. I'm sure most of them are looted but a few should still have some decent stuff in them." Anima smiled while projecting a map of their universe, highlighting the old domains of a few First Borns that she had killed during her final fight.

  "I'm sure Shiro would love to train you lot properly but since she's unavailable I'll be the one to train you along with fruity. So while fruity wakes up the others, I'll need you to help me do a few tasks so that me and fruity can actually leave this place without the domain trying to kill us." Anima shrugged as Gaia nodded her head.

  Furrowing her brows, Ria sent a telepathic message to Anima.

  'Are you not going to tell her that when we get out, some of the High Primals will sense our power and come knocking for our heads?'

  'Nah, perfect time to train them no? What better way than to fight through literal hordes of Gods. I'll make sure they're identities are not discovered to make their lives a bit easier after the training. Shiro will figure out a way to either mask or take away our destructive aura anyways.' Anima replied with a laugh.

  Shrugging her shoulders, Ria stopped bothering since it wasn't as though she could convince Anima anyways. She kind of just did whatever she wanted when she wanted.

  Suddenly, Gaia felt something wrong but couldn't put her finger on it.

  ###

  "How are you feeling now?" Vuldrin asked as he watched Lyrica stand in the middle of the desert of the Beyond. After obtaining a new class, Lyrica had immediately started to consolidate her power, entering a meditative state to understand her body and energy.

  Opening her eyes, Lyrica glanced back.

  "Better than before. Though it's still a little unbalanced. I did force it into my body so it's to be expected. I think if I were to do a few fights, I should be able to sort things out." Lyrica replied as Vuldrin nodded his head.

  "Chances of reaching level 1000?"

  "Not enough. Reaching the max level requires a divinity of sorts. I may be the Empress of Samsara right now but it's still not a divinity." Lyrica shook her head.

  "So what's the plan then? Seeing your reaction, you probably have something in mind."

  "Yep. Samara is the cycle of death and rebirth. Naturally, that means we need to travel to the land of the dead then experience rebirth. Only then can I fully understand what I'm ruling over and it should help me grasp the divinity linked to my class. Though I may have to piss off the realm ruler a little since she did say I'm not allowed to keep opening portals haha." Lyrica laughed as Vuldrin shrugged.

  "Then you better do it fast before she catches on."

  "Quite audacious of you." A voice rang out as they both saw Juri walking out of a portal with a frown on her face.

  "However, I can make an exception for you. I will open the portal myself since your method of opening is too violent." Juri offered as Lyrica raised an eyebrow.

  "Well that certainly makes things better. Care to explain why you're suddenly feeling so helpful?"

  "A small agreement between me and your friend. Plus, I'd rather you not brute force your way through my realm." Juri shrugged as she stomped her foot down and a portal opened up.

  [Pathway to the True Realm of the Dead.]