Around the world, the reaction to the news that humanity could now create its own mana veins was anything but calm, as millions of greedy eyes suddenly turned towards the mana stone mines that had already been discovered. For many people, the announcement represented an opportunity to become wealthy beyond their wildest dreams, and they immediately began considering how they could get their hands on the precious resources. While most countries had little difficulty protecting their mines from potential intruders, they were beginning to encounter a different kind of headache. Protecting the mines themselves was one thing, but ensuring that the mana stones safely reached their intended destinations was an entirely different matter.
The universal cultivation initiative had been a noble effort, intended to give everyone the opportunity to cultivate and improve their lives rather than allowing a select few to monopolize the benefits of the new world. However, the initiative also came with certain complications, as approximately 90% of the population continued living their lives much as they had before. They followed the cultivation methods provided by their governments, slowly improving their strength while continuing to work, study, and participate in ordinary society. This was precisely what the governments and Gaia had intended, as they wanted humanity to become stronger without completely dismantling the foundations of civilization.
Unfortunately, not everyone was satisfied with that arrangement, as there were plenty of people who wanted to achieve their goals considerably faster. For these individuals, spending years cultivating through ordinary methods while occasionally exploring the wilderness was simply too slow. They wanted treasures, opportunities, and resources that would allow them to establish their own power and transform their lives as quickly as possible. While there was nothing inherently wrong with ambition, some people had decided that the easiest way to achieve their dreams was to take what other people had worked hard to obtain.
Until recently, however, choosing a life of crime had not been particularly profitable, as the opportunities for successful robberies were rather limited. People with considerable wealth generally possessed the means to protect themselves, while those without money rarely traveled far from the protection offered by their local authorities. Naturally, there were exceptions, but even those opportunities tended to come with considerable risks. Robbing a wealthy merchant who traveled with armed guards was hardly an attractive proposition when the potential reward could easily be outweighed by the danger of losing one's life.
There had even been someone foolish enough to attempt robbing a farmer who had purchased a piece of land approximately 100 kilometers from the nearest city. Unfortunately for the aspiring bandit, the authorities did not appreciate someone threatening the agricultural sector, which had become considerably more important after the arrival of mana. Rather than simply sending a few police officers to investigate, the government dispatched an entire battalion of soldiers to hunt down the perpetrators. After all, food production was one of the foundations of civilization, and allowing farmers to become targets for criminals would have created problems that no responsible government wanted to deal with.
Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on whose perspective one considered, the situation had now changed considerably. There was suddenly a target that promised enormous profits, and unlike isolated farmers or travelling merchants, this particular target was guaranteed to attract the attention of wealthy and influential buyers. A single successful robbery could provide criminals with an enormous quantity of money, while also allowing them to establish connections with people who were more than willing to pay extraordinary sums for mana stones. Naturally, the criminals who had been waiting for such an opportunity were rather excited about their newfound prospects.
Sadly for them, they had overlooked one rather important detail concerning the resource they intended to steal. Mana stones were no longer being treated as ordinary merchandise that could simply be purchased, transported, and resold to whoever offered the highest price. They had become a matter of national security, and anyone attempting to interfere with their transportation would be treated accordingly. Governments would protect mana stone shipments even more heavily than treasury ships belonging to major banks, which regularly transported enormous quantities of money between financial institutions and their vaults.
Furthermore, the governments were not the only ones interested in ensuring that their investments remained safe. The people and organizations that had purchased the mana stones were equally aware of their value and had absolutely no intention of allowing some ambitious criminals to steal their purchases. Many of them would dispatch their own personnel to accompany the shipments, providing another layer of protection on top of the military and police escorts. With so many interested parties involved, the chances of successfully robbing a mana stone convoy were considerably lower than most criminals seemed to believe.
Unfortunately, money had a remarkable ability to cloud people's judgment, especially when they believed that a single successful operation could change their entire lives. They saw the enormous profits waiting at the end of a successful robbery but conveniently ignored the consequences of getting caught. For them, the possibility of becoming wealthy was worth risking everything, and they convinced themselves that their superior abilities or clever plans would allow them to succeed where everyone else would fail. It was an unfortunate misunderstanding that would cost quite a few people their lives.
Even more unfortunate was the fact that eliminating these criminals would not solve the problem entirely. For every idiot who was cut down while attempting to rob a convoy, three more would appear, convinced that they were the chosen ones who deserved the opportunity to become wealthy and powerful. They genuinely believed that the world owed them something simply because they had decided to pursue greatness. What they failed to understand was that everyone was technically one of the chosen ones, as humanity had been given an opportunity that would have been considered nothing more than a fantasy just six years earlier.
As for the mana stone veins discovered so far, there had been six confirmed locations, with one situated within each of the great powers and another discovered in the People's Republic of Congo. The African nation was now beginning to sweat considerably, as it found itself in an extremely uncomfortable position. Possessing a mana stone vein was undoubtedly an enormous blessing, but it was also a responsibility that required sufficient strength to defend. Unfortunately, the Congo was not particularly confident in its ability to protect such a valuable resource from its considerably stronger neighbors.
After the press conference announcing the discovery, the Congolese government had immediately called for a meeting of the African Council. Its intention was to negotiate an agreement concerning the mana stone mine before the situation deteriorated beyond its control. The government understood perfectly well that possessing such a resource without having the military strength to defend it could quickly turn into a nightmare. There was little point in celebrating the discovery if the country ended up losing control over its own natural resources because it lacked the power to protect them.
As for the other mana stone veins that should exist throughout the world, most governments had reached a rather simple conclusion. If they discovered one, they should keep it hidden for as long as possible, provided they could conceal its existence without creating unnecessary complications. Nobody wanted to find themselves in the same position as the Congo, desperately negotiating with neighbouring countries simply to retain some degree of control over their own resources. After all, announcing the discovery of a mana vein was practically an invitation for every powerful nation and organization to start calculating how much they could gain from it.
If there was anyone who was particularly displeased with the existence of mana veins, besides the void and corrupted humans. As they had little interest in seeing humanity strengthen itself, especially when every improvement in human civilization meant that more energy would eventually be drawn from the Void. Their ideology was built around the belief that civilization itself was nothing more than a parasite feeding upon the great Void, and they considered humanity's attempts to improve its position an unacceptable development.
Unfortunately for them, their opinions were not particularly relevant to the governments dealing with the situation. These individuals were generally considered dangerous extremists who could either be shot on sight or captured if doing so provided an opportunity to uncover an entire branch of their organization. Nobody was particularly interested in listening to their philosophical arguments while they were actively working against humanity's survival. The governments had considerably more pressing matters to deal with than entertaining the complaints of people who wanted civilization to weaken itself.
No, the people who were genuinely suffering from the announcement were the finance ministers of various countries, who were already tearing their hair out while calculating the expenses that would soon be required. Protecting the mines, securing transportation routes, establishing additional military facilities, and ensuring that the mana stones reached their destinations would all require enormous amounts of money. Even countries that possessed their own mana veins were not entirely comfortable with the situation, although they at least had the possibility of recovering some of their expenses through the sale of mana stones.
The countries without mana veins, however, were facing a considerably more uncomfortable financial situation. Their governments were already approaching banks and financial institutions to negotiate larger loans, as they needed to secure enough resources to remain competitive in the developing world. Nobody wanted to fall behind the great powers simply because they lacked access to an important natural resource. Yet, as their financial ministers examined the numbers, an increasingly uncomfortable question began to emerge: would they ever actually earn enough money to repay all the debt they were accumulating?
Gaia, for her part, was not particularly concerned about their financial difficulties. In fact, the entire situation was rather beneficial from her perspective, as the competition between countries, the negotiations, the investments, and the inevitable political disagreements all generated considerable amounts of cultural energy. Humanity was once again demonstrating how remarkably quickly it could turn a new opportunity into an international competition. While the finance ministers were worrying about their national budgets, Gaia was perfectly happy to watch the resulting developments unfold.
Meanwhile, while the rest of the world was working itself into another frenzy over the possibility of discovering additional mana veins, the trade families and Great Houses were considerably less interested in participating in the chaos. They were all gathered within their respective ancestral lands, focusing on absorbing and refining the benefits that came with the establishment of a proper mana vein. For these old families, the arrival of a mana vein was not simply an opportunity to acquire another valuable resource. It was an opportunity to strengthen the foundations upon which their families had been built over generations.
Naturally, they were not the only ones benefiting from the changes taking place around their ancestral lands. As the mana veins continued influencing their surroundings, quite a few new resources were beginning to emerge throughout the surrounding territories. Some of these developments were particularly interesting, as they were producing materials and natural treasures that had previously been unavailable in those regions. It would not take long before the provincial-level Adventure Guilds began receiving new quests involving the discovery, collection, and transportation of these resources.
For the smaller families living near the ancestral lands, such developments could represent extraordinary opportunities. A newly discovered resource might become a family heirloom, the foundation of a new business, or even the defining characteristic of an entire family's identity. Something that initially appeared to be an ordinary natural treasure could become the foundation upon which several generations built their wealth and influence. Consequently, these smaller families were paying considerably more attention to the changes taking place around them.
The owners of the mana veins, however, had a rather different perspective on the matter. While they certainly appreciated the additional resources appearing throughout their territories, most of them considered such discoveries pleasant bonuses rather than particularly important developments. Their mana veins were already providing them with considerably more valuable opportunities, and the additional treasures were simply not important enough to warrant diverting significant resources away from their primary objectives. After all, when a family possessed a proper mana vein, a few newly discovered natural resources were hardly going to change its priorities.
For the smaller families, those same resources might become the most important discoveries of their generation. For the Great Houses and established trade families, however, they were little more than interesting additions to the wealth and opportunities already available to them. It was another example of how differently people could value the same opportunities depending on their circumstances. And while the smaller families were already considering how to turn these discoveries into their next family heirlooms, the major powers were busy deciding how best to exploit the far greater opportunities that had suddenly become available to them.