The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

"Next is enchanter."

"Enchanters are similar to magic arrayists in that they work with runes."

"But enchanting is an entirely different system than magic arrays. An enchanter will put runes directly onto objects."

"Their primary goal is to enhance one part of the nature of said object. For example, enhancing a sword to make it sharper, enhancing a block of wood to add hardness, lightening objects, etc."

"Some of the best enchanters make these."

Otto held out his ring.

"This thing would be incredibly cost-prohibitive to create if I were to try to infuse an array into this ring, but an enchanter only needs to add a few runes to get a small space inside."

Otto's eyes twinkled.

Honestly, if no one wanted to be an enchanter, he'd consider taking this job himself.

"Unlike magic arrays, which can only be drawn by those who are able to wield mana, there is a special field of enchanters known as energy enchanters."

Ramesthes quickly interjected, sensing the opportunity for a lesson,

"Why does this make sense that magic arrays can't be drawn with energy but enchantments can? One of energy's major properties is…"

It was Julia who immediately answered. Despite being slightly more hot headed, Ramesthes considered her his best student.

"Energy is more stable and efficient to use compared to mana if it is bound to an object or a person. It also excels at direct enhancements."

Ramesthes beamed at her and nodded while Otto looked slightly amused at the exchange.

Otto continued,

"Exactly. If you don't need a specific element tied to an object, it's much better to directly use energy."

"Energy enchanters tend to produce more powerful enchantments at smaller cost, while typical enchanters who use mana can produce more versatile, if less efficient, effects."

"Either way, whether you use mana or energy, you can become an enchanter."

Then, his face became stern once more.

"However, talent does play a bigger factor in Enchanting compared to as a Chef."

"It also places higher demands on one's comprehension or intuition, the same as for magic arrays."

"You have to know where the runes would produce the best effect, how deeply to engrave them, whether your rune should be curved or straight, which direction the mana should go, how much to place, how fast it should flow, etc."

"I would prefer you have a yellow color or above to become an enchanter."

Otto brought the cube around the room once again, this time setting it to test for an Enchanter.

Jason was yellow, Jeremy was red, Julia was orange, and Elliott received a yellow color.

All four of them shrugged.

None of them wanted to be an enchanter, in any case.

Otto then shined it on himself for good measure.

Hopefully, his talent for drawing arrays would make a difference, and he would get a green or blue color…

The cube glowed red as he pointed it at himself.

No talent whatsoever.

The kids saw Otto's hopeful expression and laughed loudly.

Hmph. Otto wasn't good at everything!

He brought the cube over to Mirabelle.

It shone a brilliant blue.

Mirabelle's eyes twinkled and she tapped a few times,

"Yes! I will be an enchanter!"

Otto's expression was vaguely sour, but he still handed over the card for enchanting to Mirabelle, causing all the kids and even Ramesthes to laugh again.

Mirabelle tapped vigorously on the table and gestured with her arms to Otto,

"I'll definitely become the best enchanter!!"

Otto smirked.

"We'll see about that."

"The next profession is related to metal."

Julia's ears perked up.

"Right now, it won't seem like a big deal, but most solid teams in the future will have someone that can make and repair the team's equipment."

"Normally, I would recommend having a blacksmith."

Julia immediately raised her hand.

"Yes! I can do it…"

But Otto smoothly interrupted her,

"However, how many of our team members tend to use metal equipment?"

Julia looked around.

Her suit was finely woven with metal to add additional defense, but out of the rest of them, Jeremy and Jason were wearing light armor which was often made of leather, and Otto and Elliott's suits were entirely cloth.

Well, reinforced cloth, but it was cloth all the same.

Cloth wasn't typically made by a blacksmith.

However, that didn't mean that the team didn't need metal at all.

Other than equipment, there were machines, technologies, array materials, and even jewelry that contained some metal.

Otto had pondered long and hard over this issue.

Did his team need a blacksmith? Was there another profession that would suffice instead?

"Not too many, right?"

"So the profession we needed was a little different. The bread and butter of a blacksmith, forging swords, weapons, and equipment, would be rendered largely unnecessary by our team."

A small smile graced his face.

"At first, I thought it would be better to have a 'blacksmith' who could also repair and work on light armor and cloth armor."

Jeremy's face scrunched up slightly.

"Is there even a profession like that?"

Otto shook his head, then thought for a second,

"Well, technically, yes, there are a few. The problem with that would be that they would lack the auxiliary tools that help other professions improve the quality of their crafted goods."

"So my thoughts turned to what we, as a team, would really need on any given floor."

"In terms of metal, we want a metal worker who can craft certain types of over-armor, repair our equipment, and even use rare metals to create some small accessories or supportive machines that would aid in clearing floor missions."

Otto raised his hands,

"Turns out, there is a blacksmith sub-profession that specializes in the small aspects of metal working."

"This profession is called a 'Precision Smith.'"

Otto smirked lightly,

"The evaluator doesn't support this profession, so we'll have to wait another day for the higher grade evaluator to be delivered."

"But, if you want to work with metal,"

He shot a pointed look at Julia,

"See if you can use the virtual network in your virtual pod to find some information about it."

"Okay, moving on, next profession is called the Pathfinder."

"It's a profession I personally prefer to the slightly more common 'Scout.'"

"The Pathfinder specializes in tracking, searching, and finding efficient routes no matter where you want to go. It's similar to the scout in that the pathfinder will also be alerted to enemies in the vicinity, and one's perception will also be improved the further up you ascend as a Pathfinder."

"It's an excellent role for almost any circumstance we find ourselves in on a floor."

Jeremy and Jason still looked slightly confused.

"Is this profession mostly for getting lost?"

Otto shook his head.

"No. For example, back on the first floor, a pathfinder would have been able to reach a safe zone based on the Throskarts' own migrating patterns."

"Or a pathfinder would have discovered an enemy Throskart who had previously escaped, and noticed that perhaps the escaped enemy brought a hundred people to ambush you, giving you time to run away and counter-ambush them."

"An extremely good pathfinder would have been able to directly sense the poison in the surrounding air and used it to find a safe zone."

Their eyes widened. Otto nodded,

"It's a profession that places a heavy burden on one's senses, knowledge of tracks, and requires extreme attention to detail."

"Talent is somewhat important, but so is diligence."

Otto went around and used the talent evaluator.

It revealed a green color when it came to Jason, and he firmly raised his hand.

"I want to be a Pathfinder."

Otto glanced at him,

"It requires a lot of studying. Like, you would feel that you were in school all over again."

Jason groaned but eventually relented.

"Fine."

"Give me the card."

Otto gazed at Jason with hidden amusement and handed over the card.

Inwardly, he rejoiced at having something else to use to 'torture' his brother…

Now, there were only two 'necessary' professions left.

"The penultimate 'very useful' profession is called the Spymaster."

Otto chuckled lightly at the way all of their eyes lit up.

Well, he couldn't blame them.

It was indeed a cool name.

"I debated between this profession and the 'aristocrat' for a while: both involve managing relationships with others."

"There are floors that last for quite a long period of time, where our team will eventually need to manage relationships or even an organization."

"The Spymaster needs to have their finger on the pulse of the population. From large movements to small movements, you need to pay attention to all possible sources of information to understand absolutely everything that happens in the city."

"A good Spymaster could discover that a tycoon's wife is cheating on him from an unexpected reservation to an out of the way restaurant."

"An excellent Spymaster would be able to predict a revolution in a kingdom from an uptick in purchases of alcohol over many cities at once."

"The profession helps you keep track of the information you receive, but getting such information requires you to build relationships."

"But where the Aristocrat tends to favor making connections with the powerful and well connected, the Spymaster taps into the lower class and those in need of money."

Everyone but Mirabelle raised their hand almost immediately.

This profession was the coolest so far!

Otto laughed inwardly.

It might sound cool, but he also knew that it was quite a large amount of work.

No matter how talented the Spymaster, it always took time and great care to build a large network of informers.

He quickly used his talent evaluator.

The evaluator revealed an orange glow over Jason, then a brilliant blue over Jeremy.

But Otto continued to test. Julia got a red glow, causing her to pout, Mirabelle's was yellow, but then the evaluator glowed blue once more as he placed it over Elliott!

Otto raised his brow.

Two genius-like talents as a Spymaster?

He looked at the two of them.

Jeremy was busy glaring daggers at Elliott while Elliott ignored him and smirked.

At that moment, Otto felt his communicator vibrate.

His eyes narrowed.

The team shivered as an unknown chill swept through the room.

Otto stalked rapidly out of the room.

His eyes hard, he left three final words in his wake,

"Decide amongst yourselves."