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.