Logging in the next morning John immediately when out to where he’d built the storage cellar. Taking a deep breath, John drew directly on the Mana Well, and aspected the mana toward earth. It was much easier than he recalled, no doubt the increase in Mana Imprint was at work, and he felt like he’d be able to easily hold it and cast a spell.

Testing his new found proficiency John used Move Earth to uncover the top of the storage. Finding it little harder than casting the spell on its own, he felt confident moving forward. He peeled the stone out of the hole in large chunks, until he had a large boulder next to him and an empty hole 21 feet to a side and 10 feet deep. Then with a sigh he began to dig yet deeper. A little less than a minute later saw the hole expanded downward by another 14 feet.

Satisfied with the new depth, John began to move the stone back down, first creating a three foot plug at the very bottom that would become the foundation. He then started building the walls up, making each one a foot thick, and adding a two foot by two foot square pillar in the center. Once the walls were seven feet high he capped them off with another foot of stone.

Examining the bare top of the shelter, John decided to build the stairs against the side of the shelter this time, so that they would hug the wall, instead of sticking straight out. Quickly he dug out the new stairwell and filled it with stone steps. Moving down them he stopped midway, walking out onto the barren stone. Finding the approximate center he got down on his hands and knees and started using just a trickle of Move Earth to carve into the stone, his fingers leaving intricate runes and patterns in their wake.

John worked for much of the day, covering a large portion of the surface in runes of strength and immobility. Finished he took out all of his earth stones and began breaking them up to line key portions of the runes with them. Finally he finished and began to push power into it from the Mana Well. As it lit up John inspected it.

[Name: Ward of Obduracy]

[Quality: Common]

[Description: Crafted by a journeyman enchanter this ward will increase the strength of the attached structure by 50% when powered. Due to being crafted by a Master Builder all bonuses have been multiplied by 100%]

[Connected Devices:

Stone Monolithic Mana Well]

[Current Charge: 0/42,500]

[Current Charge Rate: 28/Minute]

[Active Discharge Rate: 264/Second]

With a frown john quickly did the math and then grimaced. Running at full capacity the ward would last slightly more than two and a half minutes, that was barely worth anything at all, and how much was it draining from the well? John walked over to the Mana Well and inspected it as well.

[Name: Stone Monolithic Mana Well]

[Quality: Poor]

[Description: Crafted by a novice enchanter this Mana Well actually came out surprisingly well. Due to being crafted by a race that specializes in crafting megaliths, all abilities have been enhanced by 25%]

[Connected Devices:

Unknown Megalith – 25% Capacity And Regeneration Reduction Stone Charging Plate – 25% Regeneration Reduction (when active) Ward of Obduracy – 25% Regeneration Reduction]

[Total Capacity: 1,620,000]

[Current Maximum Capacity: 1,215,000]

[Total Collection Rate: 1,125/Minute]

[Current Collection Rate: 562/Minute]

[Current Charge: 1,215,000/1,215,000]

John sighed, the ward would be basically worthless, it’d take almost 25 hours to fill completely and would hold for less than three minutes. With a thought he disconnected it from the Mana Well, reclaiming the lost regeneration rate. With an effort of Move earth he stripped out the earth stone and smoothed over the runes and sigils to leave the stone blank once more. He then began filling in the hole. He put down dirt in layers, making sure to flatten each one as firmly as possible before moving on to the next. By the time he was done he’d used a significant amount of the enormous dirt pile he’d started with.

With a quick shift in spells he gave the stairwell a sloping roof about a foot thick, and made sure to run an edge of stone entirely around the opening, giving him something to anchor a ward on. This time the ward needed only to cover the entrance, instead of the entire construct and he finished it in only a couple of hours. As he worked he considered what types of mana stones he would need. This ward needed to repel water, so water stones, he had plenty of those. Heat also needed to be kept out, so fire stones, he had four of those, and could probably make a few more if he needed them. The final one was interesting as it appeared that force was the domain of raw mana, meaning it was actually fairly cheap to maintain.

John paused in his work and considered. Currently he was making three wards, water, heat, and force. But couldn’t a field of force repel water just as easily? And what was heat except the movement of energy through particles, shouldn’t a forcefield be able to block that as well? He tried envisioning what the ward he was imagining would look like, and could just barely grasp the runes and lines he’d need for it. The construction would likely be poor, but it’d save him mana stones, and make the ward relatively cheap to maintain.

Smoothing out the current runes and sigils John got to work once more, and by the time the light had completely faded he’d completed his ‘door of force’ ward. With careful concentration he made a new mana stone, dumping half the well’s capacity into it, creating a stone with almost 61,000 mana. He then proceeded to line the critical portions of the ward with it.

[Name: Door of Force]

[Quality: Common]

[Description: Crafted by a journeyman enchanter this ward will repulse water, heat, and creatures of a size three feet and under.]

[Connected Devices:

Stone Monolithic Mana Well]

[Current Charge: 0/60,750]

[Current Charge Rate: 281/Minute]

[Mana Discharge Rate: 21/second]

John shook his head as he examined the ward. The door could stay active for only 48 minutes. That was a far cry from the continuous use he’d imagined. Was he just expecting too much from wards? Or was it just the poor quality of his combined with the low regeneration rate of the well?

“It is what it is,” he muttered to himself as he entered the house, laid his avatar down, and logged out.

When he logged in the next more, John could instantly tell something was wrong. The air was chill and his ears popped, looking outside the sky was clear to the west but looking east across the plains he could see a dark, roiling mass of clouds that seemed to be bearing down upon his farm. As he watched he could see bright flashes of lightning within the clouds and striking the ground under the thunderheads.

John looked at the approaching clouds, and then at his corn. The clouds looked to be miles off yet, however some light reading last night told him that could be deceptive. He really didn’t have time to pick any corn, but he could, at the least, till the stalks and ears under, putting them back into the soil to help enrich it. With a firm nod he began to draw from the well, quickly ripping up earth and pulling plants under.

With the full power of the Mana Well behind him John managed to plow the entire crop under in only a few minutes. In fact, most of the time it took was him running the length of the field so that he could easily see where he was casting. However, by the time he was finished the storm was almost upon him, and errant gusts of strong wind were already blowing past, prompting him to run quickly for the shelter.

As he rushed down the stairs he reached up and turned on the force ward. It would last a grand total of 48 minutes, but that was better than nothing. He then retreated into the interior. The dark interior. The one he was supposed to light up, but hadn’t.

Sighing John took out the light stone, letting it shed feeble, shadowy illumination into the room. The glow wasn’t bright enough to see the full interior, but occasional flashes of light from the stairs (accompanied almost instantly by thunderous booms) showed him the stark stone walls, ceiling, and floor. From the entrance he could hear the drum of heavy rain up above and knew that once the force door fell it’d start to flood the cellar. He paused and briefly considered the merits of just blocking the stairway entirely. He decided against it; there was no air flow other than the doorway, which meant that he’d suffocate if he sealed it.

Making a note to sink ventilation shafts, John went back to contemplating the light stone. It wasn’t very big, and he decided that first thing he’d make it a bit bigger. He began drawing from the well and in a few moments had doubled the capacity of the stone, making it about twice the size of a golf ball. After a moment of consideration he decided to flatten it out into a square or disk he could then inscribe and mount in the ceiling. The only trouble was that the inscribing would have to be very fine on something so small, and he wasn’t sure he could move bits of stone that fine. Shaking his head, he decided there was only one way to find out.

He began by taking the sphere and deforming it into a plate about a half-inch thick and six inches in diameter; making it approximately the size of a dessert plate.

Well now I wonder what happens if you ingest mana stones, John thought as he examined the plate and tweaked its shape until he was satisfied.

The next part was going to be difficult, but he was thankful he’d grown used to the sudden booms of thunder by this point; It wouldn’t do to have his work ruined because he was surprised into making a mistake. As he looked at the disk he decided that was he needed was a stylus, but his wand was too big to make a good tool. As he pondered the problem he began to wonder if the stylus needed to be physical at all. All he actually needed was a way to visually indicate where material should be shifted, he didn’t need anything that would physically touch the plate. With a gesture and a thought he created a block of stone to sit on, and got to work.

Activating Mana Sight, John pinched out a thread of mana and spooled it down to his hand. He’d let mana pool in his hand before, but he’d never tried to actually shape it, so this would be a new experience. He imagined what he wanted, a simple, slim, pen-like object that came to a fine point. Carefully he fed mana into the image and slowly the pen began to take shape. Despite his careful concentration he slipped multiple times and had to start over. On the fifth attempt, when it seemed like he might succeed, the force door finally gave. Water started pattering down the stairs, accompanied by a loud boom of thunder and the howl of wind over the now exposed doorway. John’s concentration slipped, and he growled in annoyance at the interruption before starting again.

On his eighth try john finally stabilized the shape, though it took all his concentration to maintain, then something clicked, and suddenly the rough form smoothed out and took on a streamlined appearance.

[Skill Gained: Mana Shaping]

Grinning, John took his new stylus in hand and noticed that, for something with no physical presence, it certainly felt real. Imprinting earth on the tip of the stylus, John pressed it to the plate and began drawing.

John had thought it would be awkward to use an intangible stylus to draw, but he’d been wrong. The tool of mana seemed just as responsive and tangible as the real thing might have. It was only after a few minutes of work that he realized why. Pure mana was the realm of force magic so, in effect, he’d created a tool of pure force. The resulting grin and wandering of his thoughts ruined an entire section of work, and he had to smooth it over and start again, but that didn’t dissuade him.

By the time he was done water had started to puddle on the floor in earnest, and the storm didn’t seem to have abated at the least. If anything the lightning and wind were becoming, in turn, more frequent and ferocious. Still, John was determined to wait it out, and now he would do so in a lit room. He hoped.

Standing on his stone seat John sunk the new light into the ceiling. He placed it in the center of the southwestern quadrant, and pushed it into the stone until it stuck out just slightly from the ceiling. He then inspected it.

[Name: Light Plate]

[Quality: Great]

[Description: Crafted by a journeyman enchanter this device, made of good quality materials, was crafted with care, despite poor conditions.]

[Connected Devices:

Stone Monolithic Mana Well]

[Current Charge: 60,750/60,750]

[Current Charge Rate: 28/Minute]

[Mana Discharge Rate: 2/second]

John grunted in annoyance as he examined the light plate. At the rate of mana consumption it could only stay active for eight hours, and then would take 36 hours to recharge. How was Theodore keeping his store lit using these things? John turned it on and the entire area was suddenly lit brighter than day. With a wordless cry he flung up a hand to shield his eyes even as he deactivated the device.

“Limiters, that’s how he keeps his store lit, limiters!”

Removing the plate from the ceiling John quickly added a new set of runes and sigils, designed to limit the output of the plate. Given how bright it had been he decided he only needed a fourth that much power, at best. Finishing quickly he put it back in its slot and examined it again.

[Name: Light Plate]

[Quality: Great]

[Description: Crafted by a journeyman enchanter this device, made of good quality materials, was crafted with care, despite poor conditions.]

[Connected Devices:

Stone Monolithic Mana Well]

[Current Charge: 60,750/60,750]

[Current Charge Rate: 28/Minute]

[Mana Discharge Rate: 30/Minute]

John grinned, averted his eyes, and turned the plate on. This time a tolerably bright white radiance shone from above, and john blinked against it, his eyes still adjusting. After a few moments he looked around, and found the storage space to be mostly well lit. The area opposite the light, on the other side of the pillar, was still a bit dim though. Deciding to create another light plate, John moved to the darkened corner.

Holding out his hand John began to draw from the well to create a new light stone, fully intending to dump half the well’s total capacity into it. Grabbing the mana he began to aspect it toward light, and then to feed it into the spell. As the stone in his hand began to grow another brilliant flash of light came down. Before the roar of thunder, however, John felt the mana in his grasp twist and buck like a live thing, flailing wildly out of control. For a brief moment John knew something was terribly wrong. Then the roar hit.

John blinked and looked around; he was in his blank home room.

“What just happened?”

[You have died due to Mana Overflow, all of your coinage and equipped non-clothe items have been dropped along with two randomly selected items from your inventory. You have lost Five Hundred (500) Ears of Corn and Eleven (11) Small Death Mana Stones.]

[As this is your first death, penalties are reduced. You have lost all experience toward your next level.]

“That’s the reduced penalty? What’s the normal death penalty look like…”

[Loss of all accumulated experience toward the next level, and the most recent level attained.]

“Wait, does that mean that if you die over and over again you can de-level all the way back to 0?”

[Yes.]

“Note to self, never die again,” John muttered. He then moved forward and tried to access the door for Limitless Online, only to receive another prompt.

[Respawn location currently locked due to Inclement Weather, remaining duration: 2 Hours 52 Minutes 10 Seconds. We suggest taking this time to see to personal health necessities.]

John sighed, and then logged off.