Chapter 26：The Slow Descent

Over the next few days, Marius went through an evolution. His grinding speed went through the roof and his ability to clear Maps reached a speed that could only be called blinding.

It was like he was a man possessed.

While Super Nova and Cold Mist were in the Beginner Village, Marius was left to fend for himself.

He kept to his word, playing only a short time per session. But what he did in that time surpassed anything that Super Nova could have expected.

The final two Maps in the Iron Mountains were the level 40-45 and Level 45-50 Maps. Yet in the first day of being alone, Marius swept through them like a plague.

Neither the Grade 3 Demon Ranked Monsters or the Demon King Ranked Feild Bosses of each map could suppress him.

Marius could not be restrained.

In those two days, he was free to fight as he had not in weeks.

When he had traveled with Super Nova he had held himself back. Super Nova had needed to Gathered Materials. So, Marius had stayed back to guard him whilst his Pet cleared the map. They had chatted while the effortlessly leveled up.

He missed the chatting.

But without the responsibility of watching out for Super Nova, Marius could run wild.

Instead of being at the back, he dashed ahead of his Pet and it's Wolfpack. He was the spearhead and the Wolves were his support. In his fury, he became an avant-garde. An artist in the way of destroying every monster in his path.

It was in these moments that Marius was filled with a clarity and strength that led him to develop strategies and tactics for conquering the Entirety of the Iron Mountain Maps.

but it was not enough.

His short sessions extended to and beyond his 2-hour limit.

On the fourth day of playing alone, Marius took his first steps into a region.

Frost Gate.

The Level 45-50 Map of the Iron Mountains had two paths one could follow. One was to the East which took Players to the Blackwood Region, the home of the Light Elves. But to the South was the Land of the Ice Giants, Frost Gate.

If Marius had taken the Blackwood route he would enter the Level 50-55 grinding Map of the Region. The southern route, however, led to the Level 55-60 Map of the Frost Gate Region.

Each Region had an upper limit for their Maps. Iron Mountains was Level 50 while the Blackwood Region was Level 60. To the far East, the Fire Mountains were Level 75 while the Great Falls Region had the highest level at 100.

Frost Gate went up to Level 90 and was considered the second most difficult Map to clear. Marius accepted that Challenge.

Due to his rapidly increased grinding speed, the subsequent sweeping of the Iron Mountain Maps and the there-by slaughter of the Feild Bosses, Marius had grown to Level 25.

This progress had left the rest of the Players in awe.

As such, when he entered the level 55-60 Frost Gate Map, he had a 30-35 Level suppression. But Marius didn't see it that way. He saw the 30-35 times multiplier for each Monster he slew.

For the next two days, he lost himself in the pure ecstasy of exploring the Frost Giants Homeland. The scenery was beautiful. Enough to full the old man with both awe and fear at the vast icy land.

As he slaughtered his way through the Monsters, he took in the sights.

He felt more alive than he had in weeks. It was like a drug and he was slipping closer and closer to becoming a dependant addict.

It wasn't just the Maps he explored. He found his way to Frost Gate City, gaining the ability to Teleport to Frost Gate City on a whim. He even collected a bunch of Combat Missions from the Ice Giant Lordess.

Marius did not bother learning her name, though she was a beautifully designed character.

If Marius were a citizen of this Region, he would have been given quests to familiarize himself with the City and thereby opening more side quests. But as an Adventurer from another City, he was given Combat Missions.

Many of these Missions were to find certain enemies of the Ice Giants and destroy them. The Giants and the Trolls warred for dominance in this region. So Marius found himself fighting with hordes of Trolls.

He even took some time to Tame a few of the more interesting Monsters, but many he simply discarded when found they did not suit his means. He had no time for a pet that only added debuffs to the enemy, slowing their speed. He was already swifter than most Monsters on the map and what he could not outrun, his Howling Wolf could.

Amidst Marius' battle frenzies, he had Refined His Howling Wolf Pet to Demon Rank. Now he was busy Refining and Taming more Demon Ranked Monsters so he could Rank his Pet up to the Demon King Rank.

On the third day of his conquest of the Frost Gate Region, Marius got a message.

"Marius. We've arrived at Iron Mountains and are doing the quests as you said," it was Super Nova. "Will you be able to come and help us with the Stone Gollums?"

Marius frowned. The two of them should be more than capable of dealing with the Stone Gollums. But Marius couldn't refuse.

"I'll be there soon," Marius replied.

He was currently out of Combat so he used his Teleportation Ring to instantly return to the Iron Mountains.

When he returned, he saw the awe-inspiring Mountains again. It had seemed like a lifetime since he'd last seen it and it still took his breath away.

Shaking himself back to reality, Marius went about the tasks at hand. In no time, he had met up with both Cold Mist and Super Nova. They had both retained their original Classes.

Both were clad in Grey Wolf Equipment, with their dazzling Customized Weapons the only valuable thing on them.

Super Nova had his Dual-swords again. Marius could see that once again he had equipped them with Level 5 Lighting and Wind Stones. Level 5? He had been busy.

Cold Mist had a Battle Staff in his hands that he held like a cherished treasure. It too was equipped with two Level 5 Lightning Stones, but also with two Level 5 Fire Stones.

Marius smiled. That extra Fire Damage would be good when he took them to Frost Gate and Blackwoods.

"You really did Level up quickly," Super Nova said smiling. When they had traveled together they had only gained 10 levels in two weeks. Yet Marius had claimed more than half of those in just half the time. The old man was already closing in on Level 30? Had he really held the old man back that much? The thought made him curse his old Occupation.

Marius laughed. "I found some good training Maps. Once we're finished here I will take you guys to Frost Gate. You'll love it there."

Both the young men were surprised. He'd already started conquering another Region?

The Beginner Village and the Cities were disconnected from the other, preventing notifications such as first kills and other announcements from being transferred. Though Private Messages could be sent, Marius had been busy and so had the two younger men. They had no idea that he had already swept his way through all but the five Highest-Leveled Maps.

Well, let's go take down those Gollums. We won't Party up. I'll debuff and restrain the Gollums, you two Kill Steal until you have enough. If we trigger Schollic, I'll let you guys get the final hit. Take these."

Marius had been preparing for these two to return and had purchased a 'Ring of the Shade' for both of them, including multiple sets of bronze silver and gold equipment.

In moments, both Super Nova and Cold Mist were equipped with Level 10 equipment that exceeded anything else in Iron Mountains. They also Refined their Customized Weapons to Gold Grade.

"Midnight Solitude, this is awesome." Cold Mist had never had had a Gold Grade weapon before, let alone a Customized Weapon.

Its stats had shocked him, let alone the additional skills the weapon could learn.

"Haha, you are the best Soli," Super Nova laughed.

Marius smiled. "I have better news for you. I've found the Skill Stones."

Cold Mist did not know what Marius was talking about but Super Nova's eyes widened in joy.

"Where? How long do you think it will take to farm them?"

Marius took a Stone out of his inventory and handed it to Super Nova.

Skill Stone - Thundering Assault.

"A magic skill?" Super Nova asked, handing it to Cold Mist.

Marius nodded. "It looks like they drop from Level 60 and Higher Adversary Bosses. That one was from Frost Gate. I'm pretty sure that they don't drop in the Iron Mountains, but they can only be embedded by a Dwarven Smith. Make sure you complete the Durorin quest when we're done with this."

They both nodded, Cold Mist tried to hand the Skill Stone back to Marius.

"Hold onto it," the old man said. "It's yours."

"Soli," Super Nova asked, "How long have you been playing today?"

The young man had been worried about Marius. Though he had been playing a lot more with Cold Mist, he had still kept track the times Marius had been online.

He couldn't help but notice that the old man had stopped playing by his usual schedule. The two-hour sessions that Marius had lived by had been skewed, reflecting periods where the old man had played for longer and shorter periods.

It had worried him.

Cold Mist was unaware of Marius' schedule and had thought nothing of it. But he sensed the importance of Super Nova's words. The two had gotten to know each other very well over the past week.

Marius shrugged. "A couple of hours. Dealing with the Gollums will take no time. I'll log off after that."

Super Nova was shocked. When they had first meet Marius was religious about his playing times. And now he carelessly exceeded them? He couldn't accept this.

"Log off Soli. Take a break. Cold Mist and I should be able to take out the Gollums" Super Nova spoke adamantly.

Marius looked at the young man, feeling a stab of stubbornness. This kid was trying to tell him what to do? Marius felt an instinctive urge to resist. To fight back against someone that dared try to control him.

Then a wave of fatigue struck him.

Marius grit his teeth. The exhaustion had been sapping him of his strength more frequently as of late. Even his instinct to resist was weakened by it.

"Ok," he conceded to the younger man.

He gave them his strategy of how to beat the Gollums ambush tactics and then logged off.

Marius woke the next day and knew something was wrong. He could hardly keep his food down and even sips of water made him feel ill.

"It's starting," He felt a shadow of resignation fall upon him.

First would be the inability to eat. Without sustenance, his body would weaken further. Soon he would not be able to get out of bed.

Then the depression would set in. The inability to move and the lack of food would drive him into a state where he would become numb to the world.

The rate of his decline would only speed up from here. But so long as the third thing didn't happen, Marius knew he would still have some time. Just a little longer. A little more time to do something.

Marius would not expend any more strength on his daily routine. He would not stretch nor practice his forms. Most days he would struggle even to wake up.

But still, he persevered. He had never been one to simply let himself be thrown around. Not by any person. Not by any situation.

And especially, not by some damned disease.