Turning up at the village with Alena, Azrael was met with a mixed reception. Everyone greeted him respectfully, with deep bows and reverent voices, but a few of the ladies threw him a few furtive distrustful looks, before whirling Alena away into one of the nearby houses.

Seeing her vanish, he asked the chief for the mana stones. He took them all, even the ones that the spear group had hunted. Surprisingly, it seemed that the chief was actually aware of mana and mana stones, although nobody in the village could use it. He’d have to come back another day to quiz the chief on everything that he knew about mana.

A little while later and Azrael returned home with over thirty small mana stones. Checking that the stone ring around his property was one solid piece he got out his stone tablets and began to carve in the rune sequences.

The entire design was actually made up of four different rune structures, repeated in a circular pattern. The first, outer layer, was the most important one, the mana accumulator. This part was responsible for gathering ambient mana from the surroundings, drawing it in and then storing it in the mana crystals to be used later, or be used in maintaining the formation.

Using 32 mana stones he placed them spread equally apart from each other. This meant that there was a mana stone at each cardinal point, intercardinal point and then another in each space between those. Considering the diminutive size of each stone it meant he didn’t actually have much in terms of battery space, but it would hopefully be enough to make sure that the accumulator structure kept going.

Moving in towards the house, to the second ring, was the magic absorption barrier. This was created with the purpose of absorbing as much mana from a magic attack as it could and transferring it into the barrier itself. While this would temporarily strengthen the barrier. However, without the required mana supply and a storage space sufficiently large enough to store all of this converted , it would gradually be forced to give up most of that accumulated power over time, returning to base level functions.

The third layer was a physical barrier. It had the sole purpose of stopping physical force. Essentially it was a massive barrier created from the principle of [Reinforcement]. The only problem was that, just like [Reinforcement], the more force was placed on it, the more mana it would need to consume. It was sufficient to stop humans and wild animals, but it definitely wouldn’t stop a dragon. Unless, it was supercharged by either the first or second ring. It was a flaw to be fixed when he had better materials.

The fourth and last ring he’d added was more of a convenience than anything really. Having no defensive function, the final barrier simply stopped ambient mana from seeping out of the barrier. He’d added it to stop the ambient mana accumulators in the first ring from absorbing the mana near his house.

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During his earlier experiments he’d felt a subconscious sense of discomfort when he’d drained all the ambient mana from his house to power a ‘light’ rune. The fourth ring was just to stop that from happening. Essentially it sealed ambient mana in the dome. It allowed ambient mana in, but not out.

Finishing the rune script for the final circle he frowned. He’d split the rune structures into four, so that he could activate them one at a time and be able to replenish his mana in the meantime, but looking at the length of the script he was really worried. There was no way he had enough mana in the tank to complete even a single ring.

Pausing midway was equally as impossible, because as soon as the supply stopped the mana flow would stagnate and disperse. Briefly he considered redesigning it with multiple smaller barriers, but gave up on that soon after. The structural integrity of the barrier primarily came for its circular domed shape. Break it into pieces and it would be no better than a card house – full of holes and prone to fall at the slightest breeze. If only he could build an accumulator for himself.

Actually… sometimes his own genius amazed him. He thought back to one of the very first thoughts he’d had when he’d entered the game. Back then he’d tried to gain magic through meditation, similar to what cultivators did to accumulate ‘ki’ in cultivation novels and manga.

After discovering his own mana core and gaining [Soul Sense] he’d let it fall to the wayside. It seemed that the holy texts really did have some wisdom. He was a man of culture after all.

Finding a spot under a tree he settled in, letting himself sink into the leaf carpet. This time, unlike last time, he did not sink into himself, but instead let his thoughts drift away on the cool autumn breeze. He simply closed his eyes and focused on his breathing.

Breath in, breath out.

Inhale, exhale.

Thoughts ceased to matter. Time lost its relevance. He heard the wind rustle through the leaves and birds chirp to each other, in their search for food. A squirrel whipped down a tree, scurrying past him in its search for nuts to store for the coming winter. He heard all that and let it pass him by.

Turning inwards, he could hear his blood rushing through his head, his heartbeat, strong and regular. He felt his muscles ache from where he’d crouched all day and his arms and back relax, no longer needed. His lungs too moved in a slow steady rhythm.

Breath in, breath out.

Inhale, exhale.

And with the air came mana. Each breath brought mana flooding in, filling his lungs and each breath let it out again, to join the rest once again in the air. Azrael let all else fall to the side, simply focusing on his breathing. Each breath became deeper, each breath became longer, and each breath brought in more mana. It filled him, revitalising him and he felt his blood carry it along with the oxygen.

Inhaling once more, he guided that mana to his core, before breathing out again.

Inhale, exhale.

Breath in, breath out.

By now he felt alive and awake, like never before. Without even having to open his eyes he knew that he’d succeeded.

[Meditation]

Everything is connected. Know thyself and know the world.

While meditating you gain increased recovery in mana, stamina and health.