Darius Supreme

{Darius Stone! Your objective to become a Journeyman is to infiltrate the Plains of Death and obtain the Resurrection Stone!}

{Before you ask, let me explain the details! The Plains of Death are a cross-level zone featuring foes from level 1 to level 100! It's the biggest danger zone of the Fallon Continent, and proximity to it shows how poor a state is!}

{This is why everyone looks down on the Andrato Kingdom, despite it not being too bad. As such, you are to head to the third band of the Plains of Death which is where Adepts usually reside, and steal the First Resurrection Stone held by the Stonekeeper, Marasmus.}

{Your foe is an Adept, your target is in an Adept-filled zone and your target is almost like a beacon to your victims, meaning that even after taking it, you will be pursued heavily.}

{Each Quest has a difficulty rating that is calculated based on your current loadout of skills, techniques, and items by myself. I run a minimum of 300 million scenarios with different choices and actions based on your possible location, possible actions, and possible allies/obstacles in each scenario.}

{Then I will present it to you, usually through the Supreme System, but since this is your first Quest, you have the honor of hearing it from me directly! Your chance of succeeding in this particular Quest is rated at the Impossible difficulty! The ratings are Easy, Medium, Hard, Very Hard, Nightmare, and Impossible.}

{Out of 1,298,075,834 possible endings, you've only succeeded 56. That means you have a 0.00000431% chance of success, hence the Impossible difficulty! It will be up to you to find one of the 56 paths to success on your own!}

Caesar's deep and dark voice returned to its usual chipper infomercial robot the next second.

{Darius Stone! Never lose heart, for the world of Faust was built for YOU to conquer! Forge new relations, charter armies, and connect with forces to assist you on your Quest, and you might see success!}

{Even in the case of failure, you will still have the pleasure of reminiscing on the bonds you've made during your journey!}

Darius was silent for a long while, waiting for Caesar to be gone so he could begin planning his next actions, but he heard the voice of the chipper AI once again, but with a grudging tone.

{Darius Stone! The Goddess Vena has taken pity on your plight and has sent me to deliver upon you three crucial pieces of advice that might steer you towards the path of the 56 successful outcomes.}

{I shall therefore share with you the three underlying actions or choices that all those on the 56 paths have made.}

{The first is NOT to waste time trying to gain quick levels by killing a higher leveled foe so that you can accumulate Ability and Skill Points while using the Dagger of Death. I have to assure you that you will need it where you are going!}

{The second is to not use the A Stitch In Time wastefully! Even on the brink of death, be absolutely sure there is no other way for you to recover before using it!}

{The third and final clue is your two Undead created by the System! Treasure them and prevent them from being 'destroyed', for they are crucial in all 56 paths!}

{Now, this is goodbye, Darius Stone! I hope you enjoy this Quest as much as I am going to enjoy watching you do it!}

With that, Darius was now sure that Caesar was gone after monologuing for so long. Gunner and the two Undead had heard him, Gunner because he was a Branded Servant and the duo because they could read Darius's Database at all times, so they were automatically updated with any relevant information.

There was a palpable silence in the group as they all digested these pivotal words to their existences, Darius especially. For the longest time, he had been hesitant to reach the level cap or rush to level up because he had sensed foul play.

Actually, anyone with sense would have been able to notice it. Which deity and AI would create a system where one could jump to the max level if they simply killed a foe ten levels higher, with plenty to spare?

If Darius had been rash and careless, he would have long struck someone like Shanks or Bistro with his Dagger of Death and become an instant Grandmaster or Supreme, whichever was possible.

According to Caesar though, this would have been pointless. Darius would have certainly gained a lot of AP and SP if he had done so, perhaps even reaching 20 points in each, but the rest would likely be wasted.

Right now, Darius needed to establish a detailed plan on how he would complete this Impossible Quest. Before that though, he opened his system menu to see some new additions to his list.

[Supreme System menu

A. Character

B. Quests

C. Inventory

D. Events

E. Database

F. Map

G. Statistics

H. Settings.]

Darius clicked on the Quests tab and saw that he only had one available. Clicking on it, he saw the details for the Quest plainly. Almost everything Caesar said was true, but he had left out one crucial detail.

The screen had revealed that the penalty of failure was death. This meant that should the Quest's time limit expire, he would perish. Of course, if he failed while in action, his likely outcome was death anyway.

That also led to another thing Caesar had failed to state in all his wisdom and kindness. It was the fact that the specific time limit for this Quest was 30 days, essentially a month.

Darius had 30 days to enter the Plains of Death, get through the first band full of Amateur Undead, the second band full of Journeyman Undead, and the third band full of Adept Undead where he would have to steal a precious item from all Undead in the first three bands from the guardianship of a powerful Undead Lord.

Assuming he would succeed up to that point, not missing any limbs or otherwise fine, he would then have to rush out of the danger zone with every single Undead honed in on him like a beacon.

Of course, if he could use Short Warp or House Portal scrolls this wouldn't be a problem. But if it would be so easy and simple, why would Caesar waste his time talking so much?