So after fleshing it out a bit more this is what I have come up with for the magic of my early colonial period inspired setting.

Mana (placeholder) is a force similar to a form of energy which people can use to perform feats of magic. It appears to be tied to life, being more abundant and stronger in places of high amounts of life and fertility. Sentient beings are traditionally capable of using it in two ways: generating and manipulating their own, or taking and manipulating something else’s mana. Recently magicians in the region of Arov have discovered a process by which they can store mana and the use it via special devices. This has resulted in the beginnings of a technological revolution, but there is one issue, their lands produce only a certain amount of mana and their population is growing rapidly, making the ever increasing use of magic spread thin in taking care of everybody. In addition to this magic for sentients is like a drug, the more you are exposed/use it, the more numb to its effects you become.

Since ancient times magical devices have come from across the continent on the Great Golden Road, so the nations of Arov now turn their eyes that way, racing to discover lands they believe to be rich in mana in order to fuel their growing tech and empires.

I want the stored mana to be less potent than an actual magician casting spells. But obviously since it’s workable with the proper tools someone wouldn’t necessarily have to be a magician to use it. For actual magicians using the traditional methods, using something else’s mana would be easier and take less training but limit the amount of power they could generate, although still more powerful than using stored mana. Using your own mana is harder and takes many years of training but can produce the most powerful effects under a trained master. It does take a greater toll on the caster though.