Darius Supreme

"System, generate an Event for the Test of Mettle." Darius commanded while folding his arms behind his back. 

[Request received by System.] 

[Analyzing parameters… Establishing criteria… Setting rewards… done!] 

[Event generation completed!] 

[You have self-generated an Event. Please check the Event details below.] 

[The Desert King Trials - Event 

Duration: 24 hours. 

Description: The Desert King is a person who controls Ludo both spiritually and physically! With the power to control every inch of sand and sediment on the continent at will, his power puts him on the forefront of True Lords inside his domain. 

The selection for a new Desert King is quite tough and has stringent requirements on the mind of the successor, not their power or talent. That, they would get in spades when passing, so the only possible weakness of the future King must be a strength! 

Event details: Pass all the tests and become the new Desert King! 

Event rewards: 

- If Test of Mettle passed: 100 Ability Points, 100 Skill Points. 

- If Test of Will passed: 200 Ability Points, 200 Skill Points. 

- If Test of Fortitude passed: 300 Ability Points, 300 Skill Points. 

- If Test of Justice passed: 400 Ability Points, 400 Skill Points. 

- if Test of Vision passed: 500 Ability Points, 400 Skill Points.] 

Darius was slightly surprised. Was the Supreme System trying to say that passing the Test of Mettle was both objective and subjectively easier for him compared to discovering a new element? 

Well, Darius thought about it and agreed. As far as anyone was aware, the Test of Mettle was not fatal. You fail and you come out, but you don't get a second chance. 

Discovering a new element was fraught with danger. Without his Spiritual Senses or Miranda, Darius would have likely blown up 90 times of out a 100. 

Still, the way it had been hyped up by others, he had expected it to be more difficult than this if he was understanding things properly. His first disappointment was that there was more than one test, though he was not sure why no one knew about this. 

It could be that no one had truly passed the Test of Mettle, and so did not learn what came after because they did not need to know, but Darius doubted that. 

Sorry, it was hard to believe that among so many attempts, there was no one with enough Mettle to pass. Otherwise, how could previous Desert Kings have existed? 

Surely, they too must have been selected from somewhere? Exactly. 

So this led him to a second hypothesis. The Spirit inside the tower either erased the memories of those who failed when they came out, only letting them know of the first test, or it swore them to some form of secrecy that prevented them from talking about it. 

As for why, Darius did not know. 

His best guess was that it might want to prevent targeted preparation. After all, if one knew what the tests were called and what they were about, they could go on honing themselves for it. 

Just like how if one knew their final Economics test was on Demand and Supply, they would study for that specifically, forsaking all else in the hopes to pass. 

So the Spirit of the tower wanted someone with naturally/organically strong will, fortitude, justice, and vision. In that case, Darius doubted that the first test was hard, but the subsequent ones would surely trap all challengers. 

The fact that he was aware gave him an unprecedented advantage, and it was all thanks to his Itemancer class once again. Darius smiled as he patiently waited for the test to begin. 

Naturally, he informed Gunner and Xela of the same, giving them the same advantage as him. 

Soon enough, the remaining time passed. The candidates to enter the tower had been arranged by the time in which they had arrived. Their 'escorts' watched them walk in one by one, their faces calm and bored. 

They had harbored great excitement in the beginning for sure, hoping that just one of these fellows would be the one to come out the Desert King and turn their lives around. 

However, after so many years filled with nothing but failure as well as disappointment, they had given up. Their fathers, their grandfathers, and even beyond had all gone through the same thing. 

Their sons too would do the same, starting off nervous and excited as they led candidates in, thinking that they might break the chain and be the one. 

That naive hope would be crushed after years of witnessing failures, bringing them to the sobering reality that even if it were to happen, it would not be them, nor would it likely even be during their lifetimes. 

That was supposed to be the case, but there was one of them who was actually looking hopeful. This shocked the others as they approached him after his candidates had entered, inquiring on who they were and why they made him feel confident. 

Shamael stroked his mouth arrogantly and showed his HoloBrace. The others looked confused and mimicked him, showing their own HoloBraces. They thought he was going to forward some confidential information toward them, but he scoffed and insulted their Intelligence. 

He then pointed to his HoloBrace, then pointed to the tower. The group looked at the contraption then back at the tower. Shamael then pointed to all their HoloBraces, to his own, and then to the tower. 

At that point, they were able to clue in what he meant, and their faces greatly changed. Many hurriedly inquired from the Martin AI as to who the creator of the HoloBrace was and received the answer; the Lord of Safemoon. 

When they learned this, they were speechless then expectant. Could the Lord of Safemoon actually succeed where others had failed? They would rather bet on such an illustrious character than the random nobodies they shuffled in each time! 

As for Darius himself, after entering the tower he reached a floor where there were hundreds of cushions placed on the floor equidistantly from each other. 

In front of each cushion was an incense burner with a stick of incense within that was yet to be lit.