Chapter 58 - 57 Return

Having survived the gauntlet of that was the monster festival Marcus exited out of the dungeon far stronger than he had entered it. Staring out at the beautiful sunset that seemed to be there just to greet his return to the world, Marcus thought about all of his experiences on Mirrion.

'It has been mostly one bad situation after another for me, the only good I have done is to bring to light Ivar's corruption and save Lilia. One of those things has already come back to bite me and the other is probably not far behind. But things are different now, I am much stronger than I was before and can deal with anyone who gets in my way. From now on I will return what people give, hurting those that hurt me and repaying those that show kindness.'

As the last streaks of light faded over the horizon Marcus felt it was time for him to get back to Loursend and track down Poulsen. Looking around Marcus noticed that he had exited the dungeon onto a cliff that overlooked the ocean and that the way back into the dungeon had already closed. Finding that there was no easy path to the top of the cliff Marcus simply reverted back to his ghost form before floating up.

When he reached the top, he noticed that he was deep into the wilderness and surrounded by trees. Looking towards the sky Marcus found the largest moon which he knew rose into the sky from the north and using the moon as a bearing figured out which direction Loursend should be.

'Since I appear to be somewhere in the Great Gome Woods Loursend should be south of here. Hopefully, I was not transported too far away since the longer it take for me to get back the more likely Poulsen will have left Loursend.'

Landing on the ground and activating his solid soul Marcus broke out into a run heading due south towards his destination.

With his new stats Marcus was able to run for hours before he even felt a hint of exhaustion and soon a familiar sight came into view. After traveling for around five hours and over seventy miles Marcus was able to see the guard station that blocked the entrance to the Ocean Bluff Temple.

'Damn, I knew that the dungeon was expansive, especially in the lower levels, but to think part of it extends over seventy miles away from the entrance.'

Having finally made it back to familiar territory, Marcus eager to get back to civilization, increased his speed by casting his lightning strider spell and infusing his body with mana.

Moving at an incredible speed Marcus blasted past the dungeon guard station startling the guard who was posted out front. In just a couple of minutes Marcus had arrived back at the city walls of Loursend and using his ghost form slipped in unnoticed. Finding a nearby inn Marcus rented a room for three evenings and crawled into a warm bed for the first time in over two weeks.

'Ah, nothing beats a good sleep after being awake for so long. While it is convenient to not need to sleep in my ghost form, resting the mind is important. Now the first thing I need to do, is find Mrazivý since she is the only one, I know who might have a clue as to where I can find Poulsen.'

…

Getting out of bed and switching his form over to Irene, Marcus made his way out of the inn and headed for the adventures guild.

Entering into the bustling guild hall Marcus made his way towards the receptionist booths and made sure to get in the line which had the most professional looking receptionist even though their line was long.

Waiting for nearly an hour Marcus finally made it to the front of the line where the old woman who was working the booth asked, "And how may I help you today."

"My name is Irene, and I am a friend of Mrazivý and was looking for her, would you happen to know where I can find her."

The receptionist's expression then turned cold before she reflexively said, "I am afraid that her highness… wait did you say your name is Irene."

The receptionist then carefully looked over Marcus' appearance before rifling through a stack of papers. When she found what she was looking for she carefully read it over and when she was done said, "I am glad to see that you have returned safely, her highness Mrazivý Borealia organized a search party when your group did not return. Though when they found the remains of the party you were with it was assumed that you were also dead, and the search was called off."

'So Wild Wind is dead, serves them right, they should have known to never let a scorpion on you back and not expect it to sting you.'

"I am sorry to hear that they died, they stayed behind to let me escape but I got lost and fell down into the second floor of the dungeon. I barley made it back alive after wandering around for over two weeks. So, since Mrazivý was looking for me could you tell me where to find her that way I can tell her I am alright."

"I am sorry miss Irene her highness is currently on an expedition in the dungeon with her party Royal Frost and are not scheduled to return for another eight days."

Marcus then sighed before saying, "Then can I leave a message for her here."

"Yes, that is certainly possible what would you like to say in your message."

"Tell her that I am staying at the Silent Wave Inn and that I am doing okay and would like to speak to her when she has the time."

The receptionist then intently wrote down Marcus' message before remembering something and looking up and saying with a slightly pained expression.

"I know that this is probably not what you want to hear right now but since you failed to return within the time limit of your chosen requests, they have all been designated as failures. Since you are a bronze rank adventure you will be put on probation, this means you can no longer take requests one rank higher than yours, and another failed request will result in guild membership termination. However, once you have completed ten request of any level your probation will be lifted."

The receptionist then asked for Marcus' adventure card and etched a large P in the bottom right corner.

Handing the card back to him the receptionist asked if he had anything else he needed, but Marcus had completed his goal and thanked the receptionist before heading off.

'This sucks, probation, and I am going to have to wait for over a week before I can talk to Mraz. I could just go around searching for Poulsen on my own, but I do not even know where to start. I could always just head to River Landing and find Wade but if Poulsen is still here I will have wasted nearly a month to do that.'

Thinking over his options Marcus decided to wait for Mrazivý since he felt it was his best option.

'I guess I can just complete some easy requests real quick, or tour around Loursend some. Or maybe I should register as Marcus, I am level twenty-six now so maybe the guild will automatically award me a higher rank. Certainly, people with a high level would not want to start off collecting herbs for next to no money.'

Hoping that the guild would allow for him to jump the ranks Marcus found a quite corner to switch his form before heading back inside.