Staring up into the night sky, I slowly blinked before sitting up once more. Ignoring the pain all over my body from once again exploding, I brush the hair out of my eyes before turning my attention to Greyback, who had just pulled me from the 4th layer of the lake.

It's been 6 months since we arrived at this lake. I was forbidden from leaving until I got to the centre and by this point I had become used to being in my birthday suit. I'd forgotten how it felt to wear clothes…oh god I hope I haven't turned into a nudist. I don't have a beach!

"Say, Greyback? What are you reading now? That's a new book, isn't it?"

Every few weeks he'd have a new book to read. The only time he'd put it down is to fish me out of the lake…no, maybe he doesn't.

"Tsk, mind your business. Shouldn't you be meditating on why you failed this time?"

"I know why I failed, it's because I used too much mana at my mid section causing the layer of mana to become too unstable thus resulting in the kickback."

"If you know that much then get back in there! Gaia help me, girl, even a normal spirit could've made it by this point."

Standing and patting the dirt off my bare butt, I shake my head and giggle. I knew that was a lie. Greyback had been trying his best to hide it, but since the third layer he had started to become injured just fishing me out of the lake. Either the lake is too powerful for him or his mana control wasn't as good as mine.

There is one thing I knew though. Greyback is powerful, extremely powerful. Just his speed is astonishing, being able to grab me from the lake before I even collapsed, putting me here before I knew it. Not only that, but his magic when destroying the golem meant that he isn't a being to piss off.

"It's a book about two lovebirds who get into a fight. It's boring." As I'm about to enter the lake, Greyback spoke up and hiding a giggle, I began my preparations.

This lake isn't simple. Wrapping my body in a small barrier of pure mana, I stepped in. If I strengthened the barrier completely, it would drain my mana before leaving the fourth layer, so being precise with my timings was essential. If I used too much mana, it would cause the section to become unstable and explode, too weak and it’ll be easily destroyed. The lake attacked me with its mana and I had to defend against it.

The first two layers were easy, it took two months to get through. The third layer is far more different. I had to constantly adjust the barrier around me in different parts, forcing me to be extremely precise in controlling it. It changes often too, meaning that at one point I may need more mana at my hips then the next I need more around my shoulders.

Reaching the fourth layer fairly quickly, I pursed my lips. The third layer would heavily hit one random area every so often, meaning I'd have to sense the direction of mana coming towards me. It’s like a bullet of dense mana hitting me. To get through it, I had to learn how to sense magic then fine tune it to detect when these attacks came. The fourth layer attacked a random amount of time at several different spots at the same time. Sometimes one, sometimes six. I had nearly reached the fifth layer before and breathing out I stepped once more into the fourth layer.

***

"Hey, Greyback?"

"This better be important, I'm getting to a really good point."

Sitting up, I pursed my lips and looked at the lake. I had managed to reach the fifth layer, but after nearly four months I had only just gotten near the island, within arms reach, but two weeks later I'd made no progress. Not only that, a dense fog had also settled on the island in the middle, making it impossible to see it now.

The fifth layer wasn't like the third and fourth. The fifth layer heavily attacked all the time, everywhere. I was running out of mana before reaching the island. With all my knowledge, theories and maths, I knew it would be impossible to reach the island with my current mana reserves.

"Ah, no, it's just that…" Hesitating to just say I wanted to leave, I just stopped talking and continued sitting. My motivation had drained, I desperately wanted to finish so I could go see Rebecca again. Now I just didn't feel like getting up.

I didn’t know why I was here, a lot of time had passed and I had been able to make this mana barrier just fine, but other than that nothing really had happened. I had thought my questions about this world would be revealed, but each time I tried to make conversation with Greyback he had just grunted me off, telling me if I could talk I could jump into the lake.

Looking at my hand, at the blue ring on my finger, I felt an emptiness within me, one of longing. I miss Rebecca, we’ve been near inseparable and even if we were separated it wouldn’t be for long.

“If you want to give up then just give up, girl. Just know I took you as a talentless person the moment I saw you.”

Feeling my right eye twitch, I looked at Greyback with annoyance and a hint of hate. Greyback waved me off, but his eyes…perhaps it’s because it’s different for gorillas but they seemed…sad.

He’s right though. If I give up here, what’s the point? Standing, I threw one more annoyed look at Greyback and marched right back to the lake. As if second nature, I wrapped myself in a mana barrier which shone blue around my figure.

Quickly making my way to the third layer, I made sure to tune my senses carefully and with some practised ease I strengthened the mana barrier at certain points. Stepping through the fourth layer, I then arrive at the border of the fifth layer. With about eighty percent mana left, I breathed in and stepped into the fifth layer, strengthening the entire barrier around myself. I couldn’t just make it as strong as possible, it had to be precise, allowing enough mana to get through the layer and to the island.

Once again the fifth layer relentlessly attacked me. Gritting my teeth, I focused my entire being on keeping the barrier around me at the same strength; just enough to take the hits and reserve my mana. My mana continued to tick down quickly and as I passed the halfway point, I reached thirty percent mana.

I don’t have enough. Focusing my mind, I refined the barrier around me, cutting what little excess I could, trying to give enough leeway to make it. I barely made a difference, I knew that I’d run out of mana once more. Biting my lower lip as hard as I could, I focused on my output, trying to stop any overflow or waste of mana.

Desperately controlling every aspect of my mana output, my mind clouded over as I slowly perfected the barrier against the fifth layer. As I continued stepping forward, mere metres from the island, my mana dropped to ten percent. No, I can’t reach it…no, I have to! I want to at the very least prove that gorilla wrong.

From deep within myself, as if from my very soul, a crack resounded. A burst of energy flooded throughout my body, as if a second wind had been bestowed to me. My vision of the island disappeared, only to be replaced with a view of my mana world, of the island that sat directly in the middle, the Mana Island.

As I watched, the Mana Island’s lake was nearly dry, a large crack running down the centre. Just as the last little bit of mana disappeared from the lake, a surge of energy came from the very middle. Emerging from the crack in the centre, a huge island slowly rises, expanding the lake as it emerges. As if waiting for this, I sensed my body start to absorb the mana around my physical body, with large amounts of water…mana pouring into this newly expanded lake.

The island meanwhile bloomed with life, grass spreading out quickly from the centre, flowers and shrubs blossoming quickly as the island quickly became a thing of beauty. The lake filled to about half way and as the mana stopped pouring in, the flowers on the island started to release a small steady stream of energy. As soon as the rumbling of my mana world stopped, I felt myself dragged out of it.

Your Mana Island Tier has risen to 2.

Maximum Mana: 1,000 -> 4,000

You now passively regenerate mana faster (5 per second outside of combat -> 10 per second in combat and 20 per second outside of combat)

Staring at the System, I couldn’t believe the sudden change. Blinking, I turned my head to look behind me and received a huge shock. The lake…there is no longer a lake, the water completely gone, no mists floating around. On the shore, Greyback stood there, his book completely forgotten about on the ground. He looked shocked beyond comparison, as if unable to believe his eyes.

Turning my attention away from him, I looked at the fog in front of me, still present and hiding the island from me. Taking a deep breath, I stepped forward into it, expecting to be attacked like the lake, but nothing came. After a few steps, I passed the fog, finally able to see the island.

"You've done well, chosen of the spirits." Standing there, alone in the middle of a field of mixed flowers, is the silver haired girl that I had met on my first night. "You are the second person to have conquered the Mana Spring Lake."

"Mana spring lake?"

"Yes, it is a lake that requires absolute command over one's mana and they must possess the ability to further enhance their Mana World."

So they knew about the Mana World? Breathing out, I fell onto my butt before looking at the girl.

"Why was I brought here by the spirits? What do you mean I'm the second person? Who are you exactly? Why train me like this?"

"The first to conquer the lake was an existence like no other. They were the protector of this land, the one chosen by Gaia to lead the spirit race. Their rein saw the spirit race become the strongest and it is thanks to their sacrifice that we continue to live now.

The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

"You were chosen by the spirits in the hopes of becoming their saviour, becoming the one to lead the world to restoration. That is why they brought you here, so that you may be tested.”

“So I’ve passed that test?”

“No. What you went through is merely to prepare for what comes next. We do not have much time to train you perfectly. This next stage will be the hardest, most brutal part. If you overcome this, you will become something new…”

The girl raised both hands, revealing a small green orb. Looking at this orb, I couldn’t believe what I sensed. Thanks to the honing I went through to sense magic in the first place, I could tell this orb was beyond any type of magic I’ve encountered before. If this exploded, it would wipe out not only this island, but even Greyback behind us.

“What is that?”

“This is the seed.” Approaching me, the girl suddenly moves fast, slamming a palm into my abdomen, the green orb sinking into me. “If you overcome this, you will have passed the first trial. Either you assimilate this power, or it will assimilate you.”

Speechless that she’d left out such critical information before just feeding the orb into me, I felt a massive amount of magic burst throughout my body, trying to take me over. Instinctively, I knew what to do and as I closed my eyes, the girl placed a familiar looking orb on my lap.

“With this, that power will become stronger and it will be far more difficult to assimilate, but if you succeed…” Not hearing the remaining words from her as I sank into my mana realm, I realised where I had seen that orb.

It’s the mysterious orb from my office, the one I had received as a reward!

***

*This section is third person.*

“Are you sure she can do this?”

“It is the only way forward. If she fails, then so be it, we will simply find another. These strangers from another world…they grow stronger without any source of power, it must be the World Soul giving them their strength. But that is wrong, the more they rely on that power, the quicker the World Soul will die.” The silver haired girl turned around and looked at the cloaked figure. “How is the other?”

“She has soaked up everything I’ve taught her. It appears her biggest source of motivation is this one and knowing what is happening is causing her to only focus on training.”

“‘This one’ might become…she’s failing.”

The pair look down at Ruby. Her skin, once fair, had started to turn to wood, spreading from her abdomen and upwards, towards her face.

“It appears she isn’t the one. Nor is the other one.” As they watched, branches and leaves started to sprout from Ruby as the wood surged, feeding off the energy within the mysterious orb. “It was a surprise that she had the core of the late Spirit Queen, it must’ve been given to her by the World Soul. Though it doesn’t matter, since she’s failed then we simply just need to find another.”

“Do you have the time? You said that you only had th-” Stopping, the cloaked figure turns to look at Ruby once more. “This is…” The silver haired girl turns back to Ruby, her face showing a hint of surprise.

The assimilation had stopped and started to slowly recede, as if it’s being pushed back, the once wood-skin turning back to regular skin, a spark of what seemed to be fire and frost pushing it all back.

***

*Once again from Ruby’s perspective.*

“Urgh…” Looking at the monstrosity that had spawned from my Mana Island, I gritted my teeth, wondering what the hell I should do. A massive tree had shot up from the middle of the isle, with multiple branches that acted as arms. Its roots shot out into the lake before further shooting out of the bottom of the island, spreading throughout the void of my mana realm and into the darkness below.

It kept growing quickly, using my mana to keep spreading. The tree started to morph into a humanoid, with the roots that started to multiply, running down the chains to the Vision, Fire and Ice Islands, wrapping around them as if absorbing them.

“What do I do…I know I have to fight against it, but how…” Trying to calm myself as I watched this tree continue to grow bigger, assimilating my mana realm, my mind raced to try and figure out exactly what to do. This is too quick, the monster just kept growing, faster and faster.

“Ah! Mana control?” Landing on an answer, I looked quickly over the tree. “It’s using my mana…MY mana. Is the answer that I have to control my mana to limit its growth?” With a thought, I appeared on the FrostFire Island, the only island that hadn’t been covered in roots or vines, manifested an image of my body and closed my eyes, breathing out.

My instincts told me I didn’t have any time left, even though it had been less than two minutes, I had to act quickly. Doing as I did in the lake, I began to control my mana, the pitiful amount I had on the FrostFire Island, and started to control it to form a barrier. Unlike with pure mana, this one forms a barrier of pure FrostFire.

The roots quickly twist their way to the FrostFire Island. Controlling this barrier, I opened my eyes and pushed a palm forward, slamming it into the oncoming roots. They made contact, a sizzling sound could be heard at the point of contact. The vines threatened to destroy the barrier and biting my lower lip I yelled, pushing as much mana as I could scrape into the barrier.

As the vines and roots started to burn slightly, I sensed mana coming from them…my mana. Realising this, I took that mana and added it to my barrier, constantly burning the roots and adding the mana back. The entire tree grew from my mana, which meant if I destroyed parts of it, it would return my mana. Grinning, I pushed the barrier that’s protecting the island as much as possible, slowly burning more of the roots and vines.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the snowball started. I knew if the FireFrost Island was overrun, it would be all over. The barrier slowly grew stronger than the vines, completely halting the advance of the roots and as the stalemate played out, the roots and vines still burnt away slowly, adding more and more mana as I gained control over it again.

Then it happened. The tide started to ever slowly shift, the barrier started to win. More vines and roots sprung out from the Fire and Ice Islands that were connected, but the barrier started to freeze and burn them all and as they released more and more mana. The snowball quickly became a ball as the barrier became stronger, pushing back against the vines and roots and floating into the air, I pushed harder.

The barrier moved along the chains as I separated it into two, controlling them from above. With precision, I controlled the mana that’s released from the destroyed roots, adding them to the barriers as they quickly pushed back against the invasion. Quickly, it arrived at the Fire and Ice Islands, consuming all intruding plantations, allowing me to use more and more of my mana.

Sending another barrier, a third, to the Vision Island, events repeated as I freed the islands. With so much mana back, I pushed all three barriers against the main Mana Island, slowly weaving the mana between the barriers creating an encirclement, surrounding the monster tree in the middle. It started to rage as the Mana Island is covered by the FrostFire barrier which started to move in on the massive tree.

Again controlling some mana, I sent a new barrier down into the voice, freezing and burning all the vines along the way. I knew that wherever the void in here led to, it would affect the rest of my body, meaning the roots that ran down there had been taking me over. The mana returned by burning those vines returned to me, allowing me to further empower the barrier.

Soon, the tree on the Mana Island was isolated, a barrier surrounding the tree on the island. My instincts told me not to continue destroying it, that this tree is key to a greater strength. Teleporting myself onto the lake in front of the tree, I looked at it and finally saw the base of the tree, where a woman sat, her head in her knees, obviously crying. Surprised by this, I surrounded myself in a FrostFire barrier and entered the island, keeping the main barrier around it to suppress the tree.

As expected, the tree attacked me the moment I passed the main barrier, but the FrostFire around me, with my precise mana control, burnt the attacking vines and roots. Walking while ignoring the desperate attacks, I soon arrived by the crying girl at the foot of the tree. At the same time I arrived, the tree stopped attacking me.

“Who are you?” Looking down at the woman, I stood there, folding my arms over my chest.

Now that I’m closer, I could see who this is. It’s an older version of the silver haired girl, with a pair of wings on her back that held a spectrum of different colours. The woman slowly looked up at me, blinking slowly as she took in my figure.

“Me? I am…I am…no, I was the Spirit Queen.”

“The Spirit Queen?”

“Yes, the one who led the Spirit World and Race. Rather, I once did…I’m dead, aren’t I?”

“You don’t look dead to me.” As I said this, she shook her head.

“No, I’m only an echo of what I once was. It seems I was paired up with this Seed of Yggdrasil to either be reborn or to pass my title…onto you.”

“Me? Wait, you mean the title of the Spirit Queen?”

“Yes. I can guess why Yggdrasil did this to you. She used my core to empower this seed for two outcomes. Either I would conquer your soul, thus feeding the seed and my core with more power for the next candidate or you would conquer the seed and me, further empowering you. And well…” Glancing at the FrostFire barrier around me, the woman smiled bitterly. “It seems you won.”

Folding my arms across my chest, I frown heavily. “Isn’t Yggdrasil a tree? How could it…” Blinking, I realised something as I looked upwards. “It’s that girl?”

“I don’t know what form Yggdrasil would’ve taken for you. Yggdrasil is more than a tree, it itself is the lifeforce of the Spirits, without it the Spirit race would be no more. My life was tied to it, if I were to die it would survive but without another Spirit Queen it would start to die and once it passes a certain point, it can no longer survive…I see, so that’s why Yggdrasil gave the Seed to you.”

Without another word, the girl stood and turned to the tree, placing a hand on it before leaning forward and resting her forehead on it before whispering in a language I couldn’t understand. My mind still wondered just how she could understand and speak our language so easily.

“So Yggdrasil’s plan is for me to become the Spirit Queen? And what if I don’t want to?”

Not answering me straight away, the woman kept speaking to the tree before finally turning to me and smiling.

“The ‘Spirit Queen’ isn’t just a title. It’s a connection to this world. You will become one of four beings that are sworn to protect this world from destruction.” She walks over to me and stands before me. “That is if you want to.”

There wasn’t a real reason not to, especially since we were brought to this world to do that very thing. There is the fact that these Spirits didn’t answer any of my questions. I didn’t particularly like how all of my questions were dodged, ignored or straight up laughed at. Looking at the woman, I pursed my lips before speaking.

“How did you die?”

The woman shrugs. “I don’t remember. All I remember are the feelings I had at the time, hundreds to thousands of Spirits were being killed, so in an effort to protect them I gave my life.”

“Will my life still be my own?”

“Of course. You won’t be tied down to anything. I suspect Yggdrasil is dying, meaning it doesn’t have much time. It will want to birth a new Spirit Queen so the Spirits can have hope. I also suspect it gave you this Seed because you can use its power to give birth to a new home for the spirits.”

Letting down the FrostFire barrier, I shake my head with a small smile. “Well, in that case why not. As long as I’m not tied down to the Spirit World and can return to Rebecca then sure, I’ll take on that title.”

Smiling, the woman lifted a hand. “Take care of the Spirits at the very least. They chose you, after all. Create a new home for them, let them thrive under you. Once you accept me, you’ll likely change quite a bit, so be ready for that.”

“As long as I don’t suddenly grow wings.” Grinning, I took her hand as if to shake it. In the next moment, she started to disappear as I seemingly absorbed her. “By the way, what’s your name?”

“Stella. Stella Flores. It’s nice to meet you, Ruby Piper, the hero from another world.” Saying those words as she disappeared, I felt a heavy slumber overcome me as the monster tree started to fade away as well. Just as I’m about to fall asleep, I watched as the tree completely disappeared into mana, leaving behind a small sproutling in the middle of the island.

Entering a deep slumber to accept the power of the Spirit Queen.