Chapter 10: The Mana Map
**Carter** stared at the television screen as the news report repeated, the nervous testimony of Asia confirming his worst fears: his catastrophic arrival had fractured reality. He was the cause of the magic returning to this world.
*"Did I fuck up again?"* he whispered to the System.
*"Analysis in progress. Mana signature is localized to your impact zone, but the effects are spreading exponentially,"* **Earth** replied, its voice now laced with deep, digital concern. *"You are not just an anomaly, Carter. You are a **catalyst**. Your existence has created a new era for me."*
Carter sat back on the bed, rubbing his temples. "Show me, Earth. Show me what I did."
The television screen snapped to a complex, multi-layered visual only Carter could see—a System overlay that turned the motel room transparent and projected a terrifying, three-dimensional **Mana Map** of the planet outside.
At the center of the map, a dense, swirling vortex of **black and white mana** pulsed right where Carter had crashed. From this origin point, faint, luminous blue veins were rapidly spiderwebbing outward across the continental mass.
*"This blue layer represents the flow of raw, ambient magic being restored,"* Earth explained. *"It started as a trickle, but the energy of the Aurora Borealis and the phenomena at the cinema confirm the flow is becoming stable enough to interact with Earth physics. The mana levels in this city alone have multiplied by 500% in the last 24 hours."*
Carter watched the terrifying projection. The blue web was expanding rapidly around his current location.
*"At this rate of growth,"* Earth continued, the System calculating the data with brutal finality, *"the ambient mana will saturate the entire planet within a few months. The magical veil that kept Earth safe will be gone. Every movie screen, every electric circuit, every shared public emotion will become a potential magical anomaly."*
"The whole world is going to become... *magic*?" Carter asked, a flicker of both dread and a strange excitement passing through him.
*"Inevitably, yes. You have started the **Dawn of Magic**, Carter. And no one here—not the governments, not the scientists—has the tools to manage it. Only you, with your inherent dual affinity and my vast knowledge base, can guide this process."*
The realization hit Carter like a physical blow, stripping away his focus on simply surviving. He wasn't just hiding; he had a cosmic-level responsibility. He had to manage the very energy flow he had unleashed.
He stood up, walking toward the window to look out at the mundane street—the non-magical, unsuspecting world he was about to change forever. The fear was replaced by the icy resolve he inherited from Damien's training.
"We can't stop it, but we can control it," Carter stated, the plan forming rapidly in his mind, drawing from both his Drakain upbringing and the Earth System's knowledge of human logistics. "This world needs training, organization, and a place for the chaos to be managed before it kills everyone. It needs **Mages**."
He adjusted his voice, a faint, cold smile returning. "Earth, if this planet is going to have magic, it needs someone to teach it. And if I'm going to run this world's magical training, I'm going to need to blend in, build a foundation, and, most importantly, I'm going to need resources."
He snapped his fingers, his eyes blazing with renewed purpose. **"We need to get wealthy. This planet will need an Academy."**