25 Rune Marking
"Hmm... three magic circles is not enough, I need a lot more if I want to go down multiple paths. Even though I never hear about skeleton magic warriors, since magic warriors exist, then it should be possible for a skeleton to be a magic warrior!" Char thought.
"The skeleton's third magic ability is too rare to be replaced, so I can only change the first two which limit me to a normal number of magic circles. Maybe it really is impossible to do so," he lamented.
But he did not give up, he did not become a genius by giving up easily, one of his best traits was his unwavering will and his stubbornness.
"If only I could increase the number of magic circles owned by the skeleton," he thought while laying on his bed.
Char raised his right arm at the ceiling, trying to grasp at it as if he was grasping his dream. It was then that he looked at the tattooed mark on his hand.
He quickly sat on his chair, and examined his hand, or to be exact, the soul container on his hand. The tattoo is the soul container he used to bond with the skeleton.
"They actually make this soul container from magic runes!" he realized as he had some of them in the library while searching about his third magic circle.
The soul container was made of advanced runes, that's why he did not recognize them at first.
"This soul container is the reason why humans can summon creatures they contracted with! In essence, it is a magic circle too, while other magic containers are made of weapons or accessories, this tattoo is proof that we can actually add a magic circle to one's body!" his mind went into overdrive as he went toward his table.
He started to make a blueprint of the soul container on paper. While he did not know most of the rune, he still could understand how it works.
What he wants to know is how it works with a human's body as a medium, the tattoo can work even if the body part gets hurt or the tattoo got damaged. Once they heal, the tattoo will still be there, so there must be magic at play.
"Unless the body part gets destroyed or cut off, then the tattoo will return to its rightful place, that means it's bound to our body. If I can do the same to magic circles them and bring it a step further, it might be possible to give the skeleton additional magic!"
"Even if it can't be both a mage and a warrior, I can just choose warrior path and add magic circles to its body so it can use mage's magic!" Char excitedly thought as he drew one after another magic circle.
"This is like making a magic weapon but using creatures' bodies as its medium, but there is one problem!" he realized.
"I need mana crystals to make the magic circles! I can't just make it from nothing! The magic circles need to be carved by pure mana!" he lamented.
"In the end, I need to win the tournament first before I can, try this theory," he got dejected.
"It is actually true that being strong requires money, I thought I can be the best just with my talents and hard work. It turned out that money is the most important thing if I want to get stronger," he lamented.
"One mana crystal for one magic circle is too much! I will need a lot of trial and error to accomplish this, and I will only get 5 if I get the first place! There is no way it will be enough!" Char got depressed.
"Where can I get so much mana crystal?" he wondered when he suddenly got a brilliant idea.
"Mana! That is the only thing I'm not lacking at all! The mana absorption gathered pure mana from the surrounding, the only trouble is to carve using it!" he realized.
He quickly ran down from his dorm and went to an empty place he usually trained the skeleton in. He did not even care that it was dark already.
He summoned the skeleton and stood there waiting for an order, without saying anything, he yanked one of the skeleton's bones.
He used an ink pen he brought with him and drew a magic circle on it; it took him fifteen minutes to draw a familiar magic circle on it.
Char had drawn the physical resistance magic he used before. He chose the magic because of his familiarity with the magic circle.
"Skelly, use the mana absorption magic, but only on the magic circle, I drew on this bone. Try to redraw it with the mana," he instructed before he threw the bone away.
The skeleton could still control the bone from a distance as Char was being careful in case the bone exploded.
He did not wait for the skeleton to finish and yanked out another bone to draw on. He drew the same magic circle as he knew that the skeleton would fail multiple times before it could finally make progress.
Thirty seconds had not passed and the bone already exploded, "Looks like I will not sleep tonight," he thought as he continued to draw on the bone.
After three hours of trial and repeated explosion, the magic circle finally completed, it had been craved on the bone.
Char picked it up and examined the magic circle before he gave it back to the skeleton, "Try to activate the magic in this bone, see if it works," He ordered.
Soon mana covered the skeleton's body, Char picked up a tree branch then activated his physical boost, and cut at the skeleton.
"It works! But it's not as powerful as its original magic circles. It seems the magic using the tattoo can't be as strong as the real deal," he thought.
"Well, this is the first step, now the second step," he thought as he destroyed the bone and told the skeleton to regenerate the bone.
"Damn! It disappeared!" Char cursed. He continued to experiment with modifying the magic circle so it will not disappear even though the bone gets destroyed or the skeleton gets re-summoned.
