It was late in the afternoon when John made it back to his plot. Once there he immediately set about figuring out how the implements worked. First he took out the amulet and the raw shards. The shards were all mismatched shapes, and clearly not made for the sockets on the implement, but he decided to try placing one anyway.

To John’s surprise the socket reshaped itself to fit the shard. With a pleased grin he socketed the other four raw shards as well, then hung the amulet around his neck. He then fitted one of the Death stones into his new wand, which also shifted to accept the irregularly shaped stone.

“Alright, now how do I see the stats on these things? Uh… huh… I wonder if there’s a help function. Help Identify.”

[Would you like to purchase the Help module for 20 USD or 20 gold?]

“Okay, now that’s just evil,” John muttered to himself, then sighed. “Purchase the Help module for 20 USD.”

[Verifying Purchase]

[Purchase Approved]

“Help, Identify objects.”

[Answer: Objects, creatures, and even places can by identified using the Inspect skill.]

“Great… a skill I don’t have. Maybe I can learn it? How do you learn to inspect items…” John looked around, then sat on the ground and started examining the amulet in his hand.

Staring at it intently he started carefully cataloguing everything he could sense about it. He began with the color, it was an iron grey color, though the amulet was too light to actually be made of iron. The amulet was circular, with five irregular gems socketed into it. Around the edge was what appeared to be scrollwork in a Celtic Knot type pattern, though it was heavily scratched, making it difficult to see. He brought the amulet to his nose and sniffed, catching a faint metallic tang from it. Then he ran his hands over its surface, noting how the metal was smooth in some places and rough in others where it had been damaged or the scrollwork had been placed. Flipping it over he revealed a shiny smooth back without adornment. At the top of the amulet was a loop, running through which was a fine chain made of the same material.

John finished surveying and waited for a moment. When nothing happened he made his last ditch attempt. He licked the amulet, receiving a metallic taste for his troubles, followed by a much welcome popup.

[Skill Gained: Inspect]

John grinned. “Help, how does inspect work.”

[Answer: Using inspect on an object, item, or place will give an amount of information based on your rank in inspect, the quality and rarity of the opposing object, the level of the person, or relative level of the location.]

John nodded and then inspected the amulet again.

[Name: Battered Amulet]

[Type: Accessory/Implement]

[Quality: Poor]

[Socket 1: Poor Raw Mana Shard – 625/625 mana]

[Socket 2: Poor Raw Mana Shard – 625/625 mana]

[Socket 3: Poor Raw Mana Shard – 625/625 mana]

[Socket 4: Poor Raw Mana Shard – 625/625 mana]

[Socket 5: Poor Raw Mana Shard – 625/625 mana]

Finished eying the amulet he turned inspect on the wand instead.

[Name: Stubby Wand]

[Type: Implement]

[Quality: Poor]

[Socket: Poor Small Death Mana Stone – 2,500/2,500]

Getting up John wandered back over to the field and focused, trying to cast through the wand instead of just through his hand as he normally would. As usual he felt the spell flow through him, and then he felt the energy flow into the wand. The wand seemed to faintly vibrate, and the crystal at the end began to glow with a deep violet light. The next moment he felt the spell take hold, and carefully counted out the seconds, then cut it off. He looked at the wand and used inspect again.

[Name: Stubby Wand]

[Type: Implement]

[Quality: Poor]

[Socket: Poor Small Death Mana Stone – 2,410/2,500]

With some quick mental math he affirmed that it had only cost 3 mana per second, rather than the regular fifteen. As grandma Loren had put it, it was five times more efficient. With some quick math he determined he could get about 12 minutes out of the stone. It still wasn’t enough; even if he used all the stones he’d bought it’d only cover a fraction of the field.

“Help, how do I get more mana?” He muttered despondently.

[Answer: A person’s Mana Pool can be increased by increasing their intelligence, Mana Regeneration is increased with increases to Wisdom. Mana can also be drawn from natural or unnatural sources, such as Mana Wells, Ley Lines, Mana Stones, and in some rare cases people and beasts.]

“Help: What’s a Mana Well?”

[Answer: Mana Wells are artificial constructs that gather and contain ambient Magic which can then be tapped for later use either directly or to fill Mana Stones.]

[It seems you are interested in Mana Wells; would you like to purchase the Blueprint Interface and the Mana Well blueprint for 50 USD or 50 Gold?]

“Maybe later.” He muttered as he mulled the idea over. An artificial reservoir of mana sounded exactly like what he needed, especially if it charged passively. But perhaps he should check on Ley Lines first?

“Help, what are Ley Lines?”

[Answer: Ley Lines are naturally occurring pathways in which magic concentrates. They can be found almost anywhere, from the deepest of ocean trenches to the highest of mountain tops.]

“Help, how can I find Ley Lines?”

[Answer: A Mana Sight skill level of expert or greater can see Ley Lines in their natural state. Alternatively certain magical items, or rituals may make Ley Lines visible to the user or those nearby.]

“Great… so even if I were standing right on top of a ley I wouldn’t even know it.” John sighed and looked around. It was no wonder that certain stones were almost out of stock, people would go through them like crazy if they needed to do any continuous magic. He couldn’t imagine slinging fireballs would be any less mana intensive than what he was doing.

Sitting down at the edge of his field John pulled up the web interface and started browsing the forums. He started by looking up what people were saying about spellcasting. Most were calling it a trap, saying that the ridiculous mana costs were there solely to make sure mages had to buy mana stones, and that it was too hard to keep ahead of the purchases.

His next search was for Mana Well, which came up with only a handful of results, though one of them seemed more useful than the others, it even had pictures.

“The Mana Well is a structure built to collect and contain ambient mana. As you can see from these various pictures it can take any shape or form so long as the runes that cover it are precise and ordered correctly. Why, one may wonder, not just make mana wells out of bricks? The answer appears to be that certain materials have a higher Mana Capacity than others. For instance your basic rock might only be able to hold a small handful of mana, while an actual Mana Stone would be able to hold hundreds of thousands. Now, it’s unlikely that you’re going to find a Mana Stone that big, we’re not even through the first month of game play after all! But Mana Wells don’t have to be a large static item, despite their name. The runes for a Mana Well can fit on something as small as a 14 inch rod or wand, allowing you to create an Implement that recharges its mana stones from the ambient mana. One should be aware, however, that ambient mana is a slow way to recharge, though (for larger wells) admittedly faster than waiting for your own mana pool to fill up.”

John studied the pictures carefully, and even examined the closeups for the rune sequences. He was pretty sure that with this post as a guide he could build a Mana Well. Despite that, something at the back of his brain was nagging him, and it took a moment for it to resolve into an actual question.

“Help, can I draw directly from the Ambient Mana?”

[Answer: Through the use of Mana Manipulation ambient mana can be drawn in to refill your mana pool.]

John smiled and considered for a moment. Mana Manipulation was the key then. Closing his eyes he tried to find that place once more where his mana resided. It took several hours, each time he almost had it the sensation slipped away as a new thought or idea intruded. Finally something clicked and he had it. He could feel the gentle, pulsing warmth in his center.

Examining the feeling he realized he was full. Even if he knew how to pull in ambient mana, he couldn’t, there was no where for it to go. With an exasperated sigh John broke his meditation. Opening his eyes he received a prompt.

[Skill Gained: Meditation]

John got to his feet and quickly dumped all his mana into Hasten Decay, it didn’t take long. He then sat down again and tried to achieve a meditative state once more. It took less effort this time, and it was maybe three minutes before he was back to examining his core. It now felt faint, almost nonexistent and he could feel something else, a slight trickle of warmth and power that seemed to be slowly adding itself to the core.

With mental fingers John tried to reach out and grab the stream. Like last time he tried to interact with mana it slid away from him. He tried again, and again, and again. Eventually, on what he swore would be the (eighth) last try, he managed to grab the stream of power and hold it.

Alright John, he thought to himself, now that you have it, what do you do with it?

Hesitantly he gave the flow of power a tug. Nothing happened, so he pulled harder; still nothing. After a few frustrating minutes of trying John gave the sharpest yank he could, and felt a wrenching, tearing sensation that forced his eyes open with a gasp.

[Minor Ruptured Core Debuff: Unrestricted Mana Regen]

The pain started to fade, replaced by a dull throbbing and an ever-growing warmth in his chest. Quickly he checked his mana regen to find that it had rocketed up to 87. He considered the previous notification, puzzled. This seemed like a good thing, his mana would be fully refilled in just over three minutes. Aside from the throbbing he felt from his chest this seemed like exactly what he wanted.

He pulled up the forums again and did a quick search on Ruptured Core. Nothing came up, it appeared whatever this was he was the first to experience it. It was… it was getting hard to breath, actually. John clutched as his chest and checked his mana, 320/290.

Oh, he thought to himself, that seems bad.

He stumbled to his feet, vision starting to go dark at the edges. Drunkenly he made his way to the edge of the field once more and immediately started pouring his mana into Hasten Decay. It took almost half a minute for his mana to bottom out completely, but the pain and darkness receded the moment it came under his cap.

“Help, Ruptured Core Debuff.”

[Answer: A Ruptured Core Debuff occurs when your Mana Core takes traumatic damage either from improper Mana Manipulation or direct external attack. There are three levels of the Ruptured Core Debuff, Minor, Moderate, and Major. Failure to correct a Ruptured Core leads to unconsciousness and then explosive immolation. If left untreated long enough the severity will increase.]

“Explosive immolation? That sounds bad,” John murmured. “Help: How do I treat a Ruptured Core Debuff?”

[Answer: A Ruptured Core Debuff can be treated by Healing Magic.]

“Oh that’s just great. Help, what are the penalties for death?”

[Answer: The penalties for Death include the loss of a level, temporary reduction in stats, and loss of items.]

“Okay, allowing self-immolation is definitely not the answer,” John muttered as he cast Hasten Decay on the field again. “I need a healer… I wonder if…”

John opened the friends list and selected Excelsior.

[It appears you would like to send a Message to a friend. Would you like to purchase the Message module for 10 USD or 10 gold?]

John gave a groan. “Yes, purchase the message module for 10 USD.”

[Verifying Purchase]

[Purchase Approved]

[Calling Excelsior]

“Hey John, what’s up?” Excelsior’s voice spoke up a moment later.

“I need some help,” John admitted. “I uh… ruptured my Mana Core and need a healer before it kills me.”

“Ruptured your what now?” Ex sounded confused.

“It’s where you store all your unused mana. I was trying to figure out how to actively draw in ambient mana and accidentally ruptured it instead,” John explained.

“Alright, well, where are you?”

“My farm is straight east of town, I’d come meet you but if I let the mana build up too long I’ll explode violently. At least that’s what the Help module said.”

“Okay, violent exploding sounds like something to be avoided. Right… we’re in the middle of a dungeon crawl right now, it’ll be at least an hour before we can get away, think you can hold out that long?”

“Yeah, as long as I keep dumping mana I think it’ll be fine. Though apparently it can get worse if it goes on too long, so let’s not test the limits…” John said warily.

“Alright, we’ll make it as fast as we can. See you soon.”