It was time to take some time I felt. I had been rushing, then I took a break, and then I rushed again. So, it was time to take a moment to consider what I was going to do. Pyra had her hunt for the System along with Yana. I was sure they would make things work out, but that would leave the Realm without a controlling force. Would people grow stronger? The shaman Remus had said he was the strongest in the Realm, and I had a feeling he meant the highest level.

The levels of the System were a complex mix of energy saturation and patterns stitched into the Life pattern of a person. Which could mean that everyone wouldn't be able to progress as smoothly as before, but could reach higher levels of power with time or experience. Which brought my mind back to the conversation from the other day.

Perhaps lecture would be a better word for it, but the ghost had explained some concepts that had been floating in my mind for a while. Allowing me to set them down in my stone tablets within my library, and right now I was going over them again. I had forcibly balanced the core mana types in my core after I noticed the drastic imbalance that was pointed out.

I felt a lot freer now that I had so much less on my mind, and far less stressed and hurried because of it. Though the amount of work needed to balance it out was a strain on my mental abilities by itself. If I hadn't made Kalos I couldn't imagine doing anything.

Which was another question to ask myself. Was it a factor in the dumb attitudes of the other dungeons? I had suspected that Dungeons, being only found in places near the edges of the Realm or dense mana, were balancing forces. Working to smooth out the weave of mana across the Realm, and maybe even expanding it.

The writings of Rasputin that Yana had gotten me had a whole section on theories about Dungeons somehow expanding the borders of the Realm itself. Apparently, he had been alive long enough to visit the far western borders of Lalogas several times. Each time he noted the distance from the fort's walls until you reached the distortion wall, and each decade it seemed to have moved a few feet if not more. The larger jumps began after a Dungeon was found and opened its gates nearby.

The book noted that these were only theories, but they had enough information that I was able to draw a few conclusions based on what I knew about myself. The depth of that Mana Well wasn't shrinking as I have focused on it. If anything it was staying exactly the same no matter how far I was able to dig using my Will.

Looking back into my core room, there was a wide spiral staircase going down into the shimmering waters of the Mana Well. I had written some scripts along the edge to act as a barrier. I liked my neat little room with it's arched ceiling supported by flared columns. Having a pool of water across it all seemed to be unsightly.

According to the books I had read all dungeons had some kind of pool below their Core. Yet, they weren't all identified as Mana Wells, but Rasputin, again, had a theory that all dungeons create similar structures as they grow. I was under the impression it was the opposite, dungeons formed above these wells and pools as a way of using the pure energy to convert it into mana. In a way it was similar to how the System converted the normal flows of mana into something it could control, but was still mana others could use at the same time.

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If Yana hadn't found those ruins under the Hold, and I hadn't taken them over. I would have thought the System was actually a dungeon's Will and we were all living inside of it. Yet, the bronze core found was too simple by function and acted too much like the System. It was some kind of magical engine and machine. Similar to that contraption that the mages were making in the Hold right now.

They had been building it above the false level I had built for them underground. Reducing the size of the complex they could access to a third of what it actually was. The rest I had converted into a way for the ants to gather information. Not having enough warning had almost gotten me invaded before and I wasn't about to be surprised in the future.

The magical machine they were creating in the depths seemed like it would do something similar to my own core actually. It would gather and compress the mana into a liquid form then further compress and condense it along with silver dust to create a solid mana ingot. It was actually a pretty process to watch since the silver dust would shimmer the same rainbow light I had seen within the torn sky.

The mages were doing a lot more as well in the Hold, but it was mostly making the walls stronger. Which was a dumb move since I could just tunnel up from below if I was keen on invading that little town of people. Which was something to consider though. I had been looking at the humans in the town after reading "Affinities and You" a book on how certain people had specific affinities which could be enhanced.

I had three more patterns in my experiment room I could turn into my children. However, the book gave me a hint that I should try to find people with naturally strong affinities in Light, Air, and Water. I didn't know what these looked like, but I had an idea of Earth with Kalos. It looked like a series of boxes and sharp lines near the center of the pattern. Though that was likely due to his Elemental nature. That affinity was basically his essence now, and thus would make sense to almost be his core. A part of my mind snapped off to consider what giving him the mana system would look like.

While I continued to go over the writings again and again. You would think that my crystal core would have a perfect recollection of information, but it kept shifting around and getting lost. Perhaps a consequence of the mana imbalance and the amount of focus needed to correct it currently. If my study was right I wouldn't be my self until I got the remaining three children.

This drew me back to the reports in the memories of the scouts that watched the town. It was a stroke of luck that many mages had arrived in town lately. They displayed their elemental magic quite often, and it was always tied to their affinities. So far Earth, Fire, and Air had been on full display due to the uses of that kind of magic. Earth was used to shape and reinforce walls and the like, with Fire used to keep things warm or even cold in the case of food. Air for communication over distances, and apparently was used to communicate with the Capital through a series of towers in major cities.

Then I paused. The ant I was focusing on began to shake from my hungering Will. In it's memory was a powerful and strong mage with a Water affinity. She would be the perfect subject for the transformation. I could create it from scratch but it would take far longer and a previous pattern seemed to create a more developed mind and Will.

"I will have to make a plan for this Mirabella."