I noticed an inconsistency in the creation of Mana Crystals. It is supposed to be a material transmuted with Neutral Mana, and only then infused with Elemental Mana. Sorry! -Author

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Lan's Domain

For the past day or so, it was really hard to tell without looking outside, Lan was experimenting with newly unlocked water mana.

Obviously, it was primarily contained in the water. Who would have thought? But water is not the only vessel for water mana. Some other obvious examples would be moisture in the air, the sap of plants, and even the blood of Beasts as well.

'Well, they do say that the body is made mostly of water...'

So theoretically by mastering Water Mana Manipulation one would also be able to dry a place or a living being, turning it into a dried husk. The same could be applied in reverse, making things overflow with moisture, bursting bodies from the inside.

But that was only the destructive side of things, as water was just another type of mana, its nature depended on how the manipulator used it. Just as it could be used to devastate, It could also be used to nourish.

Water mana could be said to be invaluable in, for example, farming. Imagine if you could grow crops even if the ground hadn't seen rain in years.

But, in Lan's case, it had valuable uses unique to him.

For example, he could now solve his issue with water on lower floors. It could also be used in the shaping of various ecosystems. No longer did he need to play plumber, trying to use various pipes and channels, he could summon more water.

And he followed the idea. He didn't really want to have his Domain to be connected to the surface too much, as he wanted it to be an independent ecosystem. Also, it made the Domain prone to outside interference because if something happened to the water on the surface, the water below would get contaminated as well.

'But, if I close it off now, will I lose a chance to get aquatic creatures from that river?'

Lan did consider the possibility of various fishes possibly wandering through the connecting channel.

In fact, it did happen a couple of times, they could be seen swimming in the stream. But most of them returned to the river from the opposite end, and others were promptly eaten and hunted by inhabiting Beasts... Some Beasts were even counter-hunted.

Nevertheless, none of the fish, predatory or not, stayed. There was simply no place here for them. And if he needed them further below, he would need to carve the channel to the needed floor.

One way or another, the current channel leading through the Second Chamber, was useless.

So, Lan closed it off, filling it out, and sealing it.

While the remaining water was still running, Lan already began thinking about how to use his water mana to replace the inflow of water.

'...To be honest I should have thought about this BEFORE I sealed it off. Oh well.'

The simplest way would be to simply gather water mana, in turn gathering water. But that would need continuous conscious effort. In other words a no-go, since he wanted it to passively work by itself.

The obvious way that presented itself soon after amidst Lan's thoughts was Infusion and Mana Crystals.

As always, Lan immediately acted, testing the Infusion of mana into the rocky wall where the channel entrance used to be.

He was prepared to be disappointed, but he still wanted to see what would happen. Soon, water mana gathered into it, and that rock became covered in water droplets, and dirt around it became moist. The gathering water then began to stream down from the wall and into the carved channel.

Just as Lan was celebrating, the streaming water slowed down into a trickle and soon stopped completely. The cause was apparent, as although the dirt and rocks remained moist, the excess water already flowed down.

'Well that was an obvious outcome, and I was ready for disappointment, but still, it got my hopes up for a second. I need something to gather water mana, which is quite obviously a Mana Crystal... Should use my bra- Core sometimes.'

So Lan began the all too familiar process of creating a Mana Crystal. He didn't want the Mana Crystals exposed, so he created a hidden niche in the wall, making a small empty space. He then created the neutral Mana Crystal by transmuting pre-made pure material. He then infused it with Water Mana.

Not long after, a fist-sized Crystal was created, shining in weak blue light. Water droplets gathered on its surface, soon enveloping it in water. The water then began to spread through the sealed niche, and making its way out of it and then down the wall the niche was carved in, and down into the channel carved in the ground.

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Lan succeeded, but not completely.

'Isn't this a tad too little?'

Although Lan wasn't aiming to create a raging river, what trickled down the wall was a trickle of water, the amount of it reaching the stream being unnoticeable.

Apparently, that single crystal was not enough. It simply gathered too little water.

The solution was to either increase the amount of Water Crystals... Or to make that single crystal bigger.

'As I learned earlier, size matters! A bigger size it is.'

Not at all biased, Lan continued infusing mana into the already formed crystal, the amount of mana being so extreme to the point that swirls of water formed around the growing Crystal. That kept going until the Crystal nearly filled the entire niche, glowing with blue, the blue light shining out of the niche.

'...I think... I overdid it a bit... Oh is tha- Shit!'

...With the size of the crystal increased the water generation. Instead of the slowly flowing trickle of water, the niche that was now too small was quickly filled, and water began shooting out of it under pressure, some of the wall giving way and crumbling. Instead of a trickle, there was now close to a waterfall.

'I definitely overdid it.'

The water was now overflowing from the channel, and flooding the dark forest. Lan didn't just sit there, soon rectifying the problem by dissipating the crystal by absorbing its mana.

After stopping the flood in its tracks, and looking at the soaked part of the forest, Lan slowly started creating a crystal from zero, and again enlarging it.

'Okay, infuse slowly, little by little, and know where to stop. You can do this, Lan.'

After 5 minutes of slow Crystal growing, Lan finally found the size he was comfortable with. Now water gently streamed down the wall and into the channel, not too much and not too little.

'Okay, that came out a little awkward. Still, mission accomplished!'

Mentally wiping his mental brow, Lan turned his attention back to the entire Second Chamber, and then to the exit point of the channel. Lan did possess a source of water, but if it had nowhere to flow to, then the Chamber would be flooded soon enough.

Lan removed the exit channel along with the entrance channel, so he needed to carve a new one. He then scanned the surface and settled on the river from which his original channel got its water, but he decided to build the new one further downstream.

And since the water was pushed out from there, there was a low chance of anything nasty coming through that 'pipe'. He then reinforced the whole 'pipe' with earth mana, turning earth into stone, and then more, to prevent any would-be erosion.

'Water system of the Second Chamber, done! Now let's see what's down below...'

And after a brief glance, things were pretty bad.

'Oh boy... You really need some water, do you?'

Last time Lan checked, the First Floor was covered with lush ferns, some of them were even towering like trees, but now the things were not as green. Some ferns were partially wilted, hanging low and not looking good.

Although they didn't die due to residual moisture and mana underground, they didn't do well either.

'Don't worry, little greens, you'll get your water soon.'

Compared to the Second Chamber, the First Floor was more than double the size, so a stream wouldn't cut it. Lan would need something bigger to water all of this. He would need a river.

As the mechanism to create it was already discovered and simple, Lan only needed to plan out the layout of it to cover the floor.

He decided on it flowing from near the end of it, where his Core was, and it would flow toward the passage leading up.

'Wait, doesn't this mean that people could just follow the river?.. I just had this problem, I already know the solution!'

A devious idea popped into his head, the river would replace the Path in the previous Chamber, and just like the Path, it would wind through the whole floor. If the traveler tried to move without following it, he would need to cross it multiple times, as it would flow in a serpentine pattern, similar to multiple letters "S" stacked on top of each other.

Lan then carved the riverbed. It was approximately 4 meters in depth, and 10 meters across. More space on the First Floor truly removed some of his limits.

But, just as he began making a place for Water Crystals and the Crystals themselves, a problem became apparent.

'The water doesn't exactly flow... up? I can't link it to the river as it is. And if I dig a channel from here and into the river, it's going to flow down instead... Ugh, physics is a pain...'

But, Lan saw salvation in the form of the ferns which lacked water. The very ground near them was dry, and whatever moisture got there was quickly absorbed. Apparently, the plant life was rather thirsty. Immediately, an idea formed.

'What if I don't need to let it flow somewhere out after all? What if it's just going to be cycled here, flowing and getting absorbed by the plants? It would still be a rainforest, wet and all, and no need to make some complicated pipe system!'

Still, the water would need to go somewhere, otherwise it would flood the endpoint of the river. As such, a lake near the entrance to the First Floor needed to be formed.

It would not be that big, just enough to contain the flowing water.

Lan decided on a lake 5 meters in depth at its deepest, and around 50 meters in diameter. So, he got on with carving. With his control, it didn't take him long, barely 10 minutes. Compared to when he was digging out the First Floor, it was nothing.

And just like that, Lan had a water system up and ready to go. All that remained to do was the source of water. The Water Crystal.

At the river's start, on the side opposite the entrance of the Floor, Lan carved out a cave, enough for a Water Crystal of a size sufficient for a river, and probably even for another creature guarding it. It was around 40 meters in size, carved out of a wall, its entrance opening unto the riverbed.

'A guard huh? Why not make it a boss room later? Seems like an interesting idea.'

Still, he wondered where to place the crystal after digging out such a wide room. Making it on the floor would be kind of... Lame. If this was to be a boss room, then it would look grand.

After nearly an hour of thinking, Lan finally settled on a plan. As the cave was U-shaped, he would hollow out the floor of the frontal and a bit of a central part, connecting it with the riverbed.

And then, he would place a Water Crystal on the ceiling.

Engraving the plan in his mind, Lan quickly dug out every needed nook and cranny. And then, up in the ceiling, water mana began to gather around the stalactite-shaped neutral crystal, turning it into something looking like an icicle glowing in blue.

And then, all around it, water began to gather. Around the 5-meter-long crystal, water gathered and then dripped from it. The dripping turned into a trickle, and the trickle turned into rushing water.

And that water turned into a vertical waterfall, crashing down into the beginning of the river, splashing and then rushing along the dugout path.