Money as Mana

The way I look at money - above some basic mundane stuff like food, shelter and transportation - is like looking at mana. You know, the one you use to cast spells. In order to do something profound, you have to have enough mana.

From retiring and buying your way into a new cozy lifestyle running an Italian restaurant, to building cities, creating new technology, establishing retreat centers, and helping children on scale. All of these are incantations of varying difficulty, each of them requires some mana on top of advanced casting, and this mana is hard to accumulate and easy to expend. From this, various strategies emerge.

On the precautionary side:

• If you don't have enough mana for even one simple spell, you're not a proper wizard yet, don't stretch yourself. Find ways to accumulate it.
• If you have mana for only one basic spell, you probably should not spend it on a useless vanity spell.
• If you have mana for only one spell, you probably shouldn't spend it on a spell that will not produce more mana.
• Especially relevant if you want to cast an advanced spell and have mana only for the basic. Cast Mana Fountain first!

In all the cases above, you probably want to make sure that you either have steady mana regen or invoke a spell that refills your mana for at least one more spell, ideally a few more.

I would not recommend building a school if this is your only spell. First, it takes much longer to regen enough mana without casting. Second, some spells actually keep draining your mana long after you cast. You may find your spell fading prematurely if you underestimate the mana required to maintain it.

A few more suggestions on amplification.

• Pooling resources as a group can greatly increase the number of spells you can cast. And if you're not driven by ego, it shouldn't matter much who exactly conjures what, what matters is if the deed is done.
• Relatedly, having resources for just one spell, you might want to consider inviting fellow wizards to collaborate.
• Sometimes, broadcasting your desire to cast a specific spell may attract more wizardly help, but it's important to know where to do so and where not to (skepticism acts as a debuff to cast chance).