"Right, it seems that I will need to step in further than I initially anticipated," Gaia thought as she observed the situation unfolding across Europe. The newly established mana veins were drawing enormous quantities of mana from their surroundings as they were being nurtured, using the absorbed energy to stabilize their internal structures. Under normal circumstances, this should not have been particularly problematic, as the ambient mana concentration was supposed to be sufficiently high to support the formation of several mana veins without causing any significant disturbances. However, what was happening now was considerably different from what she had expected, and the situation was beginning to become rather troublesome.
The mana was being drawn towards the developing veins from an increasingly large area, with the affected radius already reaching approximately 300 kilometres and continuing to expand. That was considerably more than what should have been necessary, as a disturbance extending approximately 20 kilometres in every direction should have been sufficient to provide the energy required for the establishment of a mana vein. Once the vein had stabilized, it should have started emitting mana into its surroundings, gradually improving the local environment rather than continuing to drain it. Unfortunately, things had not gone according to plan, and Gaia was beginning to understand precisely why.
The problem was that the trade families and great houses had chosen some particularly rare mana attributes when establishing their veins, which was possible because the mana stone veins had been created during special periods. Consequently, those veins contained unusually high concentrations of certain mana attributes, far beyond what would normally be expected in the natural environment. While this had initially appeared to be a wonderful opportunity, it was now creating an entirely different set of complications. The developing mana veins were attempting to absorb mana that simply did not exist in sufficient quantities within their surroundings.
As a result, Gaia had found herself in the rather unpleasant position of having to supply the missing energy herself. Otherwise, the mana veins would continue drawing mana from increasingly distant regions, potentially creating disturbances throughout entire countries and eventually across the continent. The problem was not that the veins required enormous quantities of mana in general, but rather that they needed specific attributes that were particularly difficult to obtain. Even though each mana vein only required one particular attribute, finding sufficient quantities of that attribute could become extraordinarily difficult when it was naturally rare.
The Sonnenbergs, for example, had chosen nature-attributed mana, which was frankly an insane decision from the perspective of natural mana generation. Gaia could hardly blame them for making that choice, as nature mana was extraordinarily valuable for their particular circumstances, but that did not make the consequences any less troublesome. Humanity had very little understanding of how mana was naturally generated, and most people would probably have assumed that it simply appeared through some mysterious process within the environment. Gaia, however, knew considerably more about how a planet was supposed to develop its natural mana reserves without interference from the universe or an entity such as herself.
Under ordinary circumstances, the development of a planet's mana reserves was an extraordinarily slow process that unfolded over countless generations. Plants would gradually come into contact with mana in their surroundings, absorb it through their natural processes, and refine it using their own free will. This refinement would gradually transform the absorbed mana into something more specialized, allowing the plants to produce mana that possessed attributes corresponding to their nature. Although the process was relatively slow for individual organisms, the combined efforts of an entire ecosystem would eventually produce considerable quantities of refined mana.
When those plants eventually died or released the mana they had refined, the accumulated mana would return to the surrounding environment. However, the process was not entirely free, as the free will contained within the refined mana would be consumed during its release, allowing the mana to become a stable expression of its particular attribute. Through this process, the planet would slowly accumulate increasingly diverse concentrations of mana. Over millions of years, the available mana would gradually increase until the conditions became suitable for the emergence of a cultivation civilization, allowing the planet to advance towards its next stage of development.
Of course, that was the natural process, and it was considerably more complicated than most humans would ever realize. Gaia had knowledge of how that should work, and she understood just how much time and biological activity were required to establish a healthy mana environment. The development of specialized mana attributes was particularly dependent on the organisms inhabiting a planet, as different ecosystems contributed to different types of mana. Consequently, some attributes were considerably easier to produce than others, depending on the planet's natural environment and the organisms living within it.
However, Gaia was getting somewhat distracted by the explanation, and she still had an immediate problem to deal with. The natural generation of nature-attributed mana was particularly demanding, requiring an enormous ecosystem to produce even a relatively small quantity. Under normal circumstances, a healthy forest or wetland ecosystem covering approximately 300 square kilometers would need around ten years to generate enough nature mana to fill a single mana stone. That was already a remarkably slow process, but the situation on Earth was considerably worse than it should have been.
The planet she was currently supporting was far from being a healthy ecosystem, as centuries of environmental damage and the consequences of humanity's previous development had severely affected its natural ability to produce nature mana. Instead of generating enough nature mana to fill a stone every ten years, an ecosystem covering the same 300 square kilometers would currently require approximately one hundred years to achieve the same result. The difference was enormous, and it demonstrated just how far Earth still had to go before its natural environment could properly support the development of a cultivation civilization.
Fortunately, things were improving, although the recovery was not progressing equally across the planet. The oceans were recovering considerably faster than the land, as their enormous ecosystems possessed a remarkable ability to regenerate once the conditions became favorable. Marine organisms were gradually returning to healthier population levels, and the surrounding environments were beginning to show signs of improvement. Unfortunately, the terrestrial ecosystems were still struggling with the consequences of their previous deterioration, meaning that Earth had a considerable amount of work ahead of it before nature mana could be generated at a reasonable rate.
And now, just when the planet was beginning to recover, the newly established mana veins were creating another disturbance. The families had chosen attributes that were particularly demanding to generate naturally, and the developing veins were pulling mana from increasingly distant regions to satisfy their requirements. Gaia could hardly consider that helpful when she was already working to restore the planet's natural balance. Unfortunately, the other mana veins were not particularly less demanding either, meaning that she would have to intervene in several locations if she wanted to prevent the situation from becoming even more chaotic.
Consequently, Gaia began supplying the missing mana attributes herself, drawing upon her own energy reserves and converting them into the specific forms required by the developing veins. This was not an inexpensive process, as exchanging one type of energy for another required considerable resources, particularly when dealing with such rare attributes. Nevertheless, she did not have much choice, as allowing the mana veins to continue draining their surroundings would create far more problems than the temporary expenditure of her own energy. It was an investment she would have to make if she wanted the veins to stabilize without causing unnecessary disturbances across the planet.
Still, Gaia was not particularly unhappy about the situation, despite the complaints she had been making about the additional workload. In fact, she had a rather noticeable grin on her face, as she understood perfectly well that the current difficulties were only temporary. Once the mana veins had completed their formation, the situation would change considerably, and the benefits would far outweigh the energy she was currently spending. She was essentially enduring a temporary inconvenience in exchange for a much more efficient method of managing the planet's energy.
The greatest problem with her current method of supplying mana was not necessarily the amount of energy required, but rather the amount of attention it demanded. Whenever Gaia converted her own energy into a particular mana attribute, she had to perform the process herself, carefully directing the transformation and spending a considerable amount of mental energy to ensure that everything proceeded correctly. This meant that she had to dedicate part of her attention to a relatively repetitive task, preventing her from concentrating fully on the other projects she wanted to pursue. While she could certainly handle the additional workload, it was hardly an efficient use of her abilities.
The completed mana veins, however, would provide her with an excellent solution to that problem. Instead of having to perform every conversion herself, she would simply need to supply the veins with her own energy, allowing them to handle the transformation into the required mana attributes. The veins would effectively become tools that could perform the conversion independently, freeing Gaia from having to constantly supervise the process. This would allow her to distribute her energy more efficiently while also reducing the amount of mental attention required to maintain the planet's developing mana environment.
More importantly, it would allow her to concentrate on several other projects that promised considerably greater returns. One of the most interesting possibilities involved drawing secret realms from the surrounding space and settling them onto Earth. These secret realms were valuable for several reasons, particularly because successfully claiming them would allow Gaia to obtain additional Void energy. Naturally, the process was not particularly simple, but the potential rewards made the effort worthwhile, especially when considering how much more energy she could obtain through successful claims.
Unfortunately, claiming a secret realm required considerably more than simply finding one and dragging it towards the planet. Gaia had to invest enormous quantities of energy and concentration to establish her authority over the realm, while also demonstrating to the universe that she was capable of dealing with the intruders occupying it. These secret realms drifted through the internal space of the universe without any civilization taking responsibility for them. Consequently, the universe had sealed them away, preventing them from participating in the ordinary flow of energy and development that connected inhabited worlds.
A single secret realm was generally not enough to attract much attention from the universe, meaning that claiming one would not necessarily provide Gaia with the recognition she wanted. The planets that wished to assume responsibility for such realms first had to overcome the restrictions placed upon them and demonstrate that they were capable of managing what they claimed. However, there was an important distinction between actually removing the restrictions and obtaining the solution required to overcome them. The planets were not simply handed the ability to unseal a secret realm, but instead received the solution to a complicated puzzle that they had to work through themselves.
The difficulty was that solving this puzzle required cultural energy, and the amount needed could become rather substantial. The more effectively a planet concentrated its attention and resources on the process, the less cultural energy it would ultimately need to spend. By focusing its efforts on understanding the restrictions and applying the correct solution, it could unseal the realm considerably more efficiently than if it attempted to solve everything through scattered efforts. This was why Gaia wanted to free up as much of her attention as possible, as every additional task she could handle without direct supervision would make her future projects easier to manage.
For the moment, however, those plans would have to wait. The mana veins were still being established, and allowing them to destabilize the surrounding environment would be an unnecessary setback for both humanity and her own development. Gaia therefore continued supplying the missing mana attributes, carefully balancing the energy demands of the developing veins while preventing the disturbances from spreading any further than necessary. She might have preferred to spend her time claiming secret realms and accumulating more Void energy, but ensuring that the foundation for Earth's cultivation civilization was properly established was considerably more important.
After all, the mana veins were a long-term investment, and the benefits they would provide once completed were well worth the temporary inconvenience. With a satisfied grin, Gaia continued overseeing their development, already looking forward to the day when she could finally leave the repetitive energy conversions to the veins themselves. There were far more interesting things waiting for her attention, and she had no intention of spending the next several years doing work that a properly established mana vein could handle on her behalf.