-Well. As it turns out, trying to make large-scale effects without the necessary amount of energy... has some interesting results.

The architecture is mostly solid. I mean, yeah, traps didn’t show up at all, and the ominous castle feel I had in mind when I tried to cast is kind of ruined by the fact that it’s only in small patches of proper building that were made in the middle of all the dirt and rocks, but at least the structural integrity of my dungeon hasn’t suffered.

But the monsters-

“...Is that kobold arm inside the wall?”

-Yeah, they kind of failed to form properly.

I try to preempt the lecture I can practically taste fuming off of Lana, and quickly send her some thought messages with a rough message of ‘Yes ma’am, I got it, don’t try to do things without enough energy again, I will double-check and do it slowly, ma’am yes ma’am.’

She seems still unamused, but not outright angry. “...Hmph. You’re certainly an odd dungeon. You’ve got some thoughts in that gem of yours and have a pretty good notion of what a dungeon should be, which is much better than most, but somehow you’re the worst one at actually managing your powers that I’ve ever seen. Am I going to actually have to explain how spells work to you?”

Why, yes, actually, that would be great.

”...Whatever happened to innate casting...” The fairy shakes her head, then perks up again and whips a finger straight forward at me. “Alright, listen up! A spell is formed from three parts: Core, Image, and Legend. The Core is pretty simple- it’s just the energy from which it’s formed. This is the part that gives the large majority of would-be wizards the most trouble, since it typically takes long period of training, cultivating, or even powerful magic items to build up a powerful core cabaple of generating decent spells. For you, however, this shouldn’t be a problem, since dungeons can gather energy from the territory they claim, then refine it into your actual core.” Tink, tink. “You know, this stone right here.

”The core is simple, but it’s also quite important. Depending on what kind of energy you use for a spell, it can change drastically. A fireball or a ball of lightning are practically the same spell, only with different elements.”

“Next is the Image. This doesn’t matter much with simple spells, but it becomes more and more important the more complex your magic is. It is, well... your mental image and commands of what that energy should do, and the organization of the spell. While it’s much simpler and quicker to just throw energy at things, it also is a drain on your core, and hard to do anything complex with. With a solid image, however, you can direct that image in different ways, to do more complex things- and also save some energy consumption, as the spell flows into the shape you’ve set for it, instead of just burning energy haphazardly everywhere. Oddly enough, you seem to already understand this part, which is usually the one that gives most dungeons trouble.”

“And then there’s Legend... but it doesn’t really matter too much right now. I’ll explain it to you later, when you’ve grow more... well, legendary.”

Well, that was an infodump, but at least it makes sense, and she isn’t making me work more... wonder what this Legend is about, though?

“Got all that? Good! Now go practice with magic! All that power isn’t worth crap if you don’t even know how to use that damn core of yours properly!”

Ah, there it is.

———At the Village———

Despite being a farming settlement of barely a couple hundred, living in small wooden shacks in the middle of nowhere grasslands, the village chief’s slightly-larger cabin the tallest thing in sight, the atmosphere in the village could have rivaled the bustle of the largest imperial capitals’ bustling merchant streets, if not in size, then at least in the excitement of the chatter.

Outside the chief’s house, nearly everyone who didn’t have something truly important to do was abuzz with conversation. Farmer Yang, who had witnessed the strange phenomenon in the field, and Li Gong had both returned a while ago, and while the chief called the village’s sole cultivator into the house for a talk, the farmer had staid outside and told the rest about the news.

Everyone was discussing intensely, no matter what they thought. Some believed that a Qi spring of this size was only going to draw the attention of some domineering sect in the area that would kill them all and raze the village to claim it, while some more optimistic villagers were of the opinion that this could be used to turn their settlement into a sect of their own, and others still argued that the world of cultivators was a far too dangerous realm, and that they were better off just selling off the spring to the nearest large organization and letting them take the mess away from their hands.

Old farmers had a fire lit in them at the thought of gaining some new strength. Their sole merchant who took the excess rice to the nearest big city wondered what this could lead to in their commerce. Dreaming youths were ecstatic with rampant ambitions to become a new great heroic cultivator.

But whoever they were, they waited with bated breath for the chief’s declaration on the matter. Until-

“EVERYONE!”

-Until the mustachioed giant of a man slammed the hut’s wooden door open with enough force to rattle the poor structure, bellowing at the top of his lungs over the hubbub.

“It has been decided!" The man gestured boisterously, narrowly avoiding whacking Li Gong in the nose. “We shall use this great treasure to the fullest! Tomorrow, everyone who can handle a tool and that isn’t busy tending to the fields shall go out there and dig up this Qi spring! When we have uncovered it, every man, woman and child in this village will cultivate at the spring in rotation, and we shall grow and attain GREAT! POWER!!”