1 Alvissa: You're channelling mana? There's mana here?
1 Kyros: Oh yes. Lots of it.
2 Alvissa: I thought mana was generated by life force.
2 Kyros: It is.
3 Alvissa: But that would imply...
3 Kyros: What?
4 Alvissa: I'm not entirely sure. But something potentially not very good.
4 Kyros: Always the pessimist, aren't you?

In fantasy gaming and literature, mana - or magical energy - is described as coming from various sources. Life force is a common one, and another common one is from the landscape.

Actually, now I think about it, changing Alvissa's line in the second panel to "I thought mana was generated by the landscape," would make this strip just as intriguing, but in a completely different way.

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2021-12-26 Rerun commentary: The word mana comes originally from Polynesian and Melanesian culture. In these cultures it is a concept of a spiritual life force energy. As such it is thought to be used for magical effect in some contexts, such as healing, but not quite as a general purpose "magical energy" as the term is used in gaming and literature.