Looking at the Soul Reaper Butterflies with a small smile, Shiro flexed her fingers and shattered them all into shards of ice which melted soon after.
Breathing out softly, Shiro dismissed her Spirit Nature and she returned to her normal form.
However, just as she did this, she noticed that a new bar had appeared on her system.
[Spirit Nature ā 95/100]
Tapping on the numbers, she saw what they meant.
[When you enter your Spirit Nature form, this energy will drain at a rate of 1 energy per second regardless of spell use. It recharges at a rate of 1 energy per hour.]
[In this form, you gain the same benefits of an additional divinity.]
Raising her eyebrow, Shiro was quite happy with her Spirit Nature. Not only did it give her some interesting abilities of being able to cast a spell so long as she can imagine it and that itās within her scope of power, but itās also able to give her the benefits of another divinity.
Which meant that when she has this activated, itās similar to having completed a third tower for additional power.
Feeling rather happy with herself, she walked back to where Lamira and Ran were since the pool was still frozen thanks to her previous action.
Thinking about it for a moment, Shiro entered her form once more and quickly thawed the ice before returning to normal.
āHmm just a simple move like that took me 2 energy. I need to be careful of when I use this since itāll take 7 hours to regenerate everything that I had used.ā Shiro thought with a sigh.
"Congratulations your highness." Lamira called out with a smile as Shiro looked back to her.
"Thank you. This will come in handy in the future." Shiro chuckled.
"Wow what do those butterflies do?" Ran asked curiously.
"They steal your soul." Shiro grinned as Ran tilted her head.
"Can you do that?"
"Of course I can. Iāve even got Hadesā weapon to help me." Shiro shrugged before summoning Nivlim.
"This weapon here can help me steal souls." She explained.
"Can you drag out my soul? I wonder what I look like." Ran mused as Shiro couldnāt help but laugh.
"You donāt want people to drag your soul out since itās the same as them killing you." Shiro sneaked in a pat on the head as they walked back up the stairs.
"Now that you have awakened, is there anything you wish to do in this realm?" Lamira asked.
"Not really but do enlighten me on what I could do that may boost my power. Iāll be needing it." Shiro shrugged.
Thinking about it for a moment, Lamira shook her head.
"There arenāt many ways for Spirits to get stronger aside from enhancing/awakening their spirit nature. Since youāre the queen, your spirit nature is different from common spirits as yours is powerful from the start. Further enhancements are difficult and not something you can achieve in short periods of time. Perhaps youāll have more success when you go back to your world." Lamira replied as Shiro nodded her head.
"Hmm... in that case then are you able to help me with the first task on the tower? The one that says provide nutrients." Shiro asked.
"Oh that, we provide nutrients daily so weāve long completed that task. You just need to complete the last two and you can do that in here so that we can help you in the process. Plus, if you do it in here, thereās less chance of the sapling dying since there are no predators here." Lamira said as Shiro paused in her footsteps.
"You can do that here?"
"Yes. Remember, I told you that this world is connected to the main world. Our actions here do indeed have some effects. Plus, with our connection to Gaia, itās only natural isnāt it?" Lamira tilted her head.
Thinking about it for a moment, Shiro nodded her head.
"Well that just makes my job easier. If you can, donāt tell people about my identity as the Empress ok? Also, how did you know even though Ran didnāt?" Shio asked since if the spirits of this place knew that she was the Empress they might try to force her to stay and fighting against spirits isnāt high on her list.
"Ah I understood your identity because I worked closely with the previous Queen. There is a faint difference in aura between the Queen/Empress and common spirits. This difference is quite small but since I have experienced it, itās easy for me to understand who is and isnāt the Empress." Lamira explained.
"However, rest assured. Iāll keep this secret and you will too, right Ran?"
"Yup. Secrets are important." Ran nodded her head.
Smiling softly, Shiro sneaked another head pat in as they arrived back at Lamiraās office.
"So how do you think we are supposed to do the second task? Plus, Iām not sure if the tower allows you to transfer progress between people." Shiro shrugged.
"This one is different. It gives the sapling through participation. But since you werenāt here, you may need to redo the first step. Though itās not too difficult since we have quite a bit of liquified essence since weāre near the tower." Lamira explained.
"How long do you think itāll take? Plus, isnāt taking liquified essence bad for the environment?" Shiro raised her eyebrow.
"It shouldnāt take long. With how much liquified essence we have, itāll take a day at most. As for it being bad for the environment, donāt worry since this is all excess." Lamira reassured as Shiro nodded her head.
Since Lamira had been taking care of the spirit world for quite a bit, Shiro didnāt need to worry too much and focus on the task instead.
"In that case then Iāll be needing your help then." Shiro smiled.
"My pleasure."
Telling Ran to go collect some Liquified Essence, Lamira gestured for Shiro to follow her to the roof.
"Since you donāt want to be known, itās probably bad for you to be seen with me. Weāll go through the air so that they donāt see us. Donāt worry, I can camouflage us but itāll be a bit hard if we walk near them so flight is the best way for us." Lamira smiled as she waved her hand.
Suddenly, a sphere of water appeared around them before disappearing.
"That should do it. Shall we go?"
Nodding her head, Shiro activated her divinity and jumped into the sky.
Seeing this, Lamira was about to cry out in shock but when Shiro was hovering, she understood what divinity she had received.
"You surprised me. I didnāt think you would have obtained the Primordial Divinity of Ouranos. Why are you going for Gaiaās tower if you already have a Primordial Divinity?" Lamira asked as Shiro shrugged.
"For collection purposes." Shiro replied since that wasnāt too far from the truth. However, it was still good to hide some information from her as they havenāt known each other for a long time.
In simple terms, Shiro couldnāt trust Lamira just yet.
Accepting this response, the two started to fly towards the Tower of Gaia.
As Shiro flew closer, she realised that the spirit world was somewhat like a mirror image of the real world. Similar to how her rift acted.
She could see the city but not the people. Spotting Berilās store, Shiro raised her eyes and wondered if she could interact with it as normal.
"Do you think I can open a door if I wanted to?" Shiro asked.
"If it is unlocked and slightly ajar, yes because the wind could have opened it. Otherwise, no. Think of your actions in the spirit world as actions of nature.
"If the wind could possibly open this door, you can open it and the wind will act in your place. Of course, there is the possibility of getting stuck in a house so we make sure to warn the spirits before they go messing around a place." Lamira explained as Shiro nodded her head.
"What about the spirit city? Since itās made in this place, what influences does it have on the real world?"
"No influences so long as there is space for us. Think of it like this, we can kind of interfere with the real world but they canāt interfere with us unless we build on a tree and they cut it down." Lamira shrugged as Shiro nodded her head.
Getting some more information about the spirit world, the two eventually arrived at the base of the tower.