Wormhole Mana

When the government thinks they have a lead on an inexpensive energy source, they throw together a research project for it, disregarding some unfortunate occurrences with similar research previously. The theory is that they can create a wormhole that will constantly allow energy through, then they'll convert the energy into electricity and feed it into the grid. Maxwell Carter works a maintenance job at a government research facility. The research lab he works at has an accident, more energy coming through the wormhole than anticipated, enough to completely rupture the shields that were supposed to contain it until they finished determining how to convert the energy into electricity. Previously harmless animals are changed to nightmare threats and people are dying, seemingly due to incidents related directly to their interests. Max and his friend Ron make it out of the facility alive, although the rest of the people in the facility aren't so lucky. The strangeness that was surrounding the labs seems to be expanding, even reaching his home within a day or two. Now strange screens, reminiscent of some of the online games he's played, are appearing in his vision, and apparently Prometheus, the AI running on the supercomputer from the research lab, is the one in charge of it all and is dedicated to spreading this new energy worldwide.

Max has his home area protected now, with Maggie's help. He's trying to bring more people into the safe zone they created and while he does that, he's also fixing some electronics to work alongside the mana that's infusing everything. Despite the quarantine and its promise of danger, a number of people are intentionally trying to enter it after hearing the tales of what goes on inside. Meanwhile Prometheus has learned that radioactive materials can help open the wormhole further, allowing the mana to flow through and assimilate the Earth more quickly. With the influx of additional mana from Prometheus's actions, the overly large, mutated animals are showing up more often now. Because of that, the safe zone walls have to be improved, and while they're at it, they decide to enlarge the area within the walls since they're getting more people than they'd anticipated. With the number of people in the safe zone, and Max's depleting stock of beer, they decide that there needs to be at least one trip to a larger town, to scavenge things from the areas that were evacuated. Unfortunately, not everyone left when the evacuation was called, and now there are human dangers to face as well.

As the mana fields continue to grow, the numbers of mutated, and mana created, aggressive creatures grow right along with them. Even though Max is tired of teaching his skill, he accepts one more gig for it, training a double handful of people who have both mechanical and teaching skills. While Alex and Mark's guild has put out a call for members, they have a single qualification. Prospective guild members must make it to the guild hall physically in order to join. Max hasn't forgotten the dungeon, located where the research labs that started all this once were. It's been a tempting prospect to Max for a while. Prometheus's efforts to hasten the spread of mana are bearing fruit. His recovery of radioactive material allows him to keep pushing the wormhole open farther and farther, while stabilizing it to the point that physical objects can pass freely back and forth. As the mana fields cover the entire Earth, contact is made with the intelligence on the other side of the wormhole. Max discovers that while some of the people on the other side are peaceful, others are highly aggressive.