A Must for Survival

I might have forgot to mention that the Blood Runic Stigma only allows for a single spell, and that spell is Restoration. It is a good spell, as any healing spell is a must for the sake of survival, especially without me around.

"Really? But that is kind of painful, man. Like really painful. Okay. Give it to me, Zander," Alex accepts, and I shrug before giving him the same instructions I had given to Jessica.

Alice approaches me afterwards, and I shake my head in response. "Sorry, Alice, but I honestly do not think you will be able to handle the pain. Jessica is different, and Alex is being Alex. It is not a big loss, so don't worry about it, but still, I would like to have your blood essence just in case."

She nods in understandings, as Alex comes back to me with his blood essence. I immediately sell it to the Shop System before buying it back. Since there is no limit to how many items on records, I will be doing that a lot just to be safe. Better safe than sorry.

"From you three as well," I call out to Debra, Teressa and Cindy before passing each one a bottle with semi-purified life essence. Strange that no one asks me why I need their blood essence, and I haven't bother bringing up the reason.

I can do a lot with someone's blood essence, but in this case, I have no ulterior motive. Not yet anyway, so it is good to have their blood essence on record, allowing me to do whatever I need to in the future.

Sure, it might be a malicious thing to do, but I like to have the insurance instead of not.

Once I have everyone's blood essence, I begin to inscribe Blood Runic Stigma for Alex. He screams like someone who is getting his balls kicked repeatedly, and I can understand. Sadly, his screams cause the whole area to rumble loudly. He also wakes up Jessica.

"Dude. Seriously. Jessica can take the pain, so why can't you? You're a man, aren't you?" I tell Alex off before continuing. Since I have insulted his manhood, he takes the pain much better. At least, he does not try to bring down the whole place anymore. I will need to do something about that.

Alex manages to remain conscious until I finish inscribing the Runic Stigma onto his forearm, and while he takes a long rest, I pay my attention to Jessica, who is examining her forearm. It is no longer glowing, and when it is not, it looks like a well-designed tattoo.

"Are you okay, Jessica?" I question and wait for her response before continuing. "I am going to teach you how to activate the stigma. It will be really difficult at first but after good practices, you should be able to get the hang of it. You pay attention too, Alex."

Learning how to channel mana without the help of the System is not that hard. It isn't that easy either, but if Jessica keeps trying, she will eventually get it. Of course, due to her incredibly small mana pool, she constantly becomes afflicted with Mana Exhaustion, knocking her unconscious.

Mana (or MP) recovers over time, and the rate depends on the Intelligence attribute. Therefore, those who relies a lot on powerful spells should have high Intelligence. High Intelligence alone doesn't really make them smarter. It does makes them comprehend things a lot faster.

Jessica eventually activate the Stigma correctly, allowing her to cast Restoration on her brother. Sadly, since her control is terrible along with several other things, Thomas only heals a little, but it is progress.

"I need to head out for a bit. Just continue what you are doing until I get back," I inform everyone.