Chapter 94: A myth.
Taking regular breaks wouldn’t allow an athlete to keep running indefinitely. Exhaustion would catch up with them eventually and their bodies would shut down and force them to take proper rest.
Mark remembered Ramsay teaching him that the Mind stat affects the speed at which MP is recovered and so he immediately understood why he would get a debuff.
Simply put, by continuously consuming his Mind Power he exhausted its natural recovery. He was tired to begin with, and without getting a good night of sleep it was only logical that the speed at which he recovers would decrease.
After learning that much one would think he would drop everything and get some sleep, but instead, Mark kept going, and by the time Lara came over the debuff reached -20.
The entire time Mark was hoping for it to be a mistake. Just when he thought he had found the solution to his Gold troubles, another rule revealed itself and forcefully slowed his progress.
Now that he learned it’s possible for the speed at which MP recovers could decrease, he had to reevaluate his plans, but no matter the results, Mark had an inkling that he wouldn’t be able to get past the obstacle, which left him absolutely livid.
’So it was true after all...’ Mark sighed wistfully. ’Passive income really is a myth.’
In a way, it could be said that he had just reached his natural limits. Even if he was a Level 5 with a mind far more powerful than most people, his stats showed that he had a 151 in Mind, not an ∞.
He also arrived at a different understanding of the first rule of Awakened taught to him by the Sergeant. Having a low Mind stat meant a slower MP recovery rate. With consumed MP taking far too long to recover, it wasn’t strange to put greater significance on preserving it.