"Oh, just four hundred points? And a simple pay instead of a burn method?!!" John's eyebrows shot up.
He recalled his stats from the first time he held this parchment. Back then, his total Mental Points had hovered around a meagre one hundred and fifty. By comparing the two requirements, a new realisation about the system's logic dawned on him.
"So, when I don't have enough Mental Points to satisfy a requirement, the system offers the burning method as a high-risk alternative?"
He was mostly talking to himself, but the system, ever-present and literal, took it as a direct inquiry.
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[Ding! That is indeed true!]
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"Sure, you won't miss a single chance to skim a little off the top for yourself, will you?" John rolled his eyes. He turned his gaze toward the nearby outposts where the quiet forms of his friends lay inside.
"Tell me then, since you're in a talkative mood, for how much longer will they keep sleeping? It has been many hours already since I extracted those essences!"
