The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

AN: Sorry to put this up here, but just so everyone knows, the next two chapters will be heavily info-dumpy! Apologies in advance, I'll post these two chaps together since they're comparatively lacking in plot.

Otto was momentarily at a loss for words.

'So this whole plan wasn't just the Wolf King's plan?

Was there someone else working with the beast, like a shaman in the tribe?

Or is it a human who wanted to steal the gem for nefarious purposes?

Perhaps the meteors were really just a natural disaster?'

Otto could eliminate the final conjecture.

It was too much of a coincidence for meteors to rain down on the base as soon as the Wolf King was killed.

But now, he was at a loss for what to do.

Should he simply escape with the jewel? Or should he find the mastermind and try to fight them?

Otto looked down at himself and his still regenerating mana.

His mental power, which had been expended fully almost three times today, was also recovering.

He quickly made his decision.

'I'm in no condition to fight.'

'Plus, if the mastermind hasn't even appeared until now when the Wolf King died, either he can't or won't appear at all.

There may be some restrictions for him…'

It was likely that this final meteor storm was just the mastermind venting his anger at the failure of his plan.

'Well, if he does come out, I can just escape.'

His mission was completed, anyway.

And the base was made of some seriously sturdy material, such that Otto wasn't sure that even more meteor fragments would be able to blast all the way down to this level.

It did create some irritating shaking, though.

Otto rested for a while to continue his recovery.

The Wolf King's corpse soon disappeared amidst all the shaking.

In place of the corpse, a small jewel rested on the ground.

'A BOSS drop!'

Just like in games, in the [Tower], there were some monsters that could drop items after their bodies disappeared.

Typically, only the BOSS would guarantee a drop, though, and common monsters had a drop rate of 0%.

In other words, if one only ever hunted normal monsters, they would never be able to witness this scene in their entire lives.

The jewel dropped by the Wolf King was transparent and glowing with a pale colorless light.

It was even more transparent than a diamond, beautiful in a different way from the [Rainbow Corinth].

Otto inspected it.

[Colorless Corinth]

Fusion Item

Unknown effects when fused with the [Rainbow Corinth].

'So it was set up like this, huh?'

Otto understood, to some extent, how the [Tower] worked.

Under normal circumstances, after Otto completed the mission, the [Tower] would ask him if he'd like to offer the [Rainbow Corinth] to the [Tower].

Then, he would hand in the [Rainbow Corinth] for additional rewards of some sort, usually AP, an additional spell, a weapon, item, or more money.

It was only when he killed the Wolf King that he would be able to use the [Rainbow Corinth] by obtaining the necessary fusion item.

In order to use the [Rainbow Corinth], two monumental tasks had to be completed.

'What the hell is in this jewel that makes it so special?'

Otto turned it over in his hands, but other than the enormous amount of mana emitting in concord with the rainbow light, he couldn't find a thing.

It was also probably due to the presence of the [Colorless Corinth] that the Wolf King wanted the [Rainbow Corinth] so badly.

Otto 'analyzed' it also, just to be safe.

[Colorless Corinth]

Fusion Item

Fuses with the [Rainbow Corinth] to produce an unknown power.

Finding nothing wrong, Otto brought out the [Rainbow Corinth] and fused the two immediately.

Suddenly, a pillar of multicolored light appeared from the sky.

It pierced through the base without leaving a scratch, and shone down on the fused jewels.

Otto watched in surprise.

It looked like a 'gift from the heavens!'

He had never seen such a strong reaction from a mere item, let alone in the [Tutorial].

Otto hastily inspected the fused jewel.

[Complete Corinth]

Class Initializer

Only effective in the [Neutral Zone].

Use its power in exchange for a life.

???

Otto had no idea what this was. Even with all his experience in the [Tower], it was his first time seeing anything like this!

What the heck was a 'class initializer?' Did it grant him a specific class? Was that the 'power' it mentioned?

But he shelved his doubts and looked around.

The base was still intact, though certainly damaged by the rampage of the Wolf King.

A bitter smile arrived on his lips.

Otto decided it was time for him to go.

He had spent enough time in the [Tutorial].

[Would you like to turn in your mission?]

Otto mentally agreed, and his body turned into sparks of light.

He was quickly whooshed away.

***********************************************************

As Otto disappeared into a show of lights, the people on the Bront City wall were once again startled.

It was because the wolves, who had been relentlessly attacking until a minute ago, had started to flee in retreat.

And it wasn't even an organized retreat, which was completely contrary to their previous behavior.

It was as if they had deserted their status as the 'monster army' and returned to being mere monsters living for themselves.

Zeller gazed at the fleeing monsters with mixed emotions.

Had they won? Had they defended the city?

Somehow, his heart wasn't filled with the overwhelming joy he'd expected at their big victory.

There were just too many unanswered questions for him to feel at ease.

But that didn't mean he wasn't decisive.

"Kill them all!"

The soldiers roared and gave chase to the disorganized monsters, and they were slaughtered by the hundreds as they fled.

It was a decisive victory. The allied army cheered as the soldiers returned from their crusade, and even the nobles who had previously disdained participating in such a battle couldn't help but feel a smidgen of respect from the bottom of their hearts.

The battle had been grueling.

And it was the day the course of history was irrevocably changed for Bront City.

The Nosk Family was never able to regain their status as free men under Renora's reign, and she eventually resigned herself to spending the rest of her life working off her perceived 'debts to society' under Commander Zeller.

She even became his most trusted general.

The Brenner Family was resigned to become a fallen noble family after their heirloom was stolen and the patriarch received a severe injury in battle.

It was unknown whether by accident or design, but they also suffered the greatest losses on the battlefield.

Either way, the soldiers returned victorious against the siege, albeit with heavy casualties, and were greeted with cheers from the citizens.

None of them knew to credit their victory to a mysterious boy who appeared for six days, then vanished, leaving only a heavily shadowed fingerprint on the mark of Bront City's history forever.

****************************************************************

Otto opened his eyes to find himself standing in a solid grey room.

The room was well-lit, but completely empty.

Otto was no stranger to this scene.

To him, this empty room was particularly easy on the eyes.

As it contained mostly good memories for him.

How could it not?

It was where he received rewards for his missions!

His hand grasped the [Complete Corinth] tightly.

He waited for the [Tower] notifications to begin.

Instead, all he saw was one screen.

[Would you like to use the class initializer?]

Otto was a little startled.

'So this was what it meant when it said it only worked in the [Neutral Zone]?'

Otto closed his eyes and mentally agreed.

A warning popped up in front of him.

[Take note: Using the class initializer will cause you to lose one extra life. Proceed?]

Otto knew this.

But it had been such an arduous task to steal the jewel and then kill the Wolf King that he was expecting a lot.

Otto secretly crossed his fingers in hopes of obtaining a digit class.

If a digit class was possible to obtain, he felt his deeds were enough to prove himself worthy.

Since Otto couldn't think of a single tougher task than his own undertakings in the [Tutorial].

Still, he dared not expect anything above Silver Grade.

The [Tower] was often mysterious, and he couldn't guarantee that his achievements were enough for a higher grade class than this.

He tried not to get his hopes up too much.

Even in his past life, he had only known a single person with a Silver Grade class, and that girl was one of the strongest people he had ever met.

In his past life, he had felt blessed after receiving a Bronze class for his performance.

To him, that class was excellent, allowing him to rise well above his peers and complete up to the 69th floor of the [Tower].

He mentally selected 'Yes' and closed his eyes.

…

Otto had expected an agonizing pain that twisted his muscles and magic network. Or that broke his bones to re-forge them anew.

But there was nothing.

Only silence.

Then it began.

The jewel disintegrated in his hands.

His heart beat loudly in his chest.

A sudden feeling of nervousness overtook him.

Then, for a millionth of a second, Otto felt like he was omnipotent.

Power the size of an ocean poured into him all at once, threatening to drown him in its clutches.

He felt the upper limits of both agony and ecstasy at the same time as his body was indeed reforged.

The power continued to surge inside his chest.

His magic network was completely torn down and reshaped as his body sucked in mana to fill in the gap.

Otto felt he could take on the world right now!

The deluge quickly receded as the tide of power drew back.

Otto collapsed on the ground in a heap, panting for breath with his mind in a mess.

'What…was that?'

He received a notification.

[You have lost a life.]

[You have 2 extra lives remaining.]

[You have not failed a mission. No penalties added.]

[You have chosen a class.]

So he skipped that part?

[New Class: Rainbow Caster]

'Rainbow caster? Like in the [Rainbow Corinth]?'

Otto suppressed his skepticism.

Shouldn't it have been some incredibly domineering mage class? Like Grand Arcanist or Archmage of the Void?

Okay, fine, he was allowed to have chuuni moments even as a mentally 60+ year old man.

Otto checked the details.

Then he gasped.

[Rainbow Caster]

Pure Magical Class (Universal)

Single Digit #1 || Unified Single Digit #2

Base Attributes:

+5 All Basic Attributes per floor

+5 All Magical Attributes per floor

Effect of all basic magical attributes +200%

[Class Traits]

[Ethereal Network]

[Magical Prodigy]

[Perception-Reaction Link]

[Magical Equivalence]

[Walking Generator]

[Pure Magic]

[Tower Pioneer (locked)]

"!!!"

There were no words.

Otto's eyes widened and his jaw literally dropped.

An expression of surprise was pasted on his face for more than five minutes as he continually read, re-read, and verified the class information he had just received.

He had no idea what to say in this situation.

He was beyond shocked.

Let alone a 'Digit' class, this class was literally the second best class in the entire [Tower].

The same [Tower] that contained many trillions of life forms.

And each of these life forms had a class.

But HIS was the best! THE best! The best magical class that existed!

Well, the second best overall class, but at this level, that was merely semantics.

More than that, its effects were absolutely astonishing.

The basic attributes alone were just…damn.

Otto had met many people in his past life.

Each of these individuals had classes, and he gradually gained a general understanding of the merits and drawbacks of each one.

Growth in the [Tower] world was inextricably linked with one's class.

Since the [Tower] didn't have a metric like level, challengers grew the most when they completed missions to pass floors.

The higher the difficulty of the mission completed, the stronger the power they received from that floor.

Common classes, which were as their name suggested, very common, gave their users no additional attribute points.

This didn't mean they couldn't get strong, though.

On the contrary.

Rather, when they passed floors, the [Tower] gave them Attribute Points, AP, which they could then distribute to their attributes to increase them as they willed.

A more accurate interpretation was that their classes didn't give them any 'additional' AP for their growth.

Common classes typically also rewarded a challenger with a new skill or spell after every two or three floors.

There were even distinctions within common classes.

While none gave additional AP, the skills and spells they gave varied greatly, and some were known to be better or worse in the common perception.

Though it also depended on the difficulty of the missions they completed.

White grade classes were generally considered the 'elite' or 'premier' classes in the tower world.

Unlike White equipment or weapons, White classes were fairly rare, appearing in something like 0.1% or 0.01% of the population in the [Tower] world as a whole.

It was just, because there were SO many people, they didn't feel as rare as they actually were.

White classes started to give additional AP to challengers upon passing floors. They usually provided +5 AP to the primary attribute of the class, and +2 AP to the secondary attribute.

Plus, it was almost guaranteed to receive a skill or spell after every floor, though the quality still varied, usually based on the difficulty of the mission a challenger passed.

Bronze classes were extremely rare in the [Tower] world. No more than 1 person in 10,000,000 would boast of a Bronze class.

It was because Bronze classes were tough to get.

They required a challenger to complete a mission of 'Medium' difficulty of the [Tutorial] at minimum to even get a tiny chance to acquire a Bronze class.

The chance was higher if one completed a mission of 'High' difficulty.

Otto's class in the past was obtained through sheer luck, according to him.

It was called 'Wind Magister,' a rare class that amplified the power of wind magic.

Almost all of his spells were wind element spells, and his traits enhanced his wind magic as well.

Moreover, after every floor, Otto could choose two attributes to add an additional +5 AP to what the [Tower] had provided, and two more attributes to add another +2 AP.

At the time, he had thought he was blessed by the gods to get such an amazing advantage.

Even his spells were stronger than others at the same floor as him. If they could cast 'Breeze,' Otto could cast 'Gale.'

He had felt like a prodigy on the initial floors. Only after climbing as high as he could go did he feel his own limit.

Silver and Gold classes were even more incredible.

To get a Silver class, one must pass a mission on 'High' difficulty in the [Tutorial] at the very least. Even then, the chance to receive a Silver class was said to be extremely low.

It was much more likely to get a White or Bronze class even after a 'High' difficulty mission's successful completion.

A Silver class, meanwhile, added +10 AP to one main attribute, usually of the challenger's choice (though there were exceptions), +5 AP to a secondary attribute, and +2 AP to three additional attributes of choice.

A Silver class would also grant two skills or spells after passing each floor.

As for Gold classes, to Otto they had merely been hearsay. He had never met a person with a Gold class in his past life.

To obtain a Gold class, one must at the very least complete a 'Very High' difficulty mission in the [Tutorial]. Which, to the new summoned, was essentially suicide.

Actually, it wasn't that uncommon to initially choose this difficulty level. Some idiots thought they were hella strong or thought they would get damn lucky.

It was just, passing a mission of this level in the [Tutorial] was basically unheard of. Imagine an ordinary person with little to no strength being asked to kill ten of the main generals of the beast army.

The same ten generals that Commander Zeller had trouble fighting with. Even with a temporary class, it wasn't possible.

And unlike the lower level difficulties, missions of this grade wouldn't even allow one to form a team.

Of course, the rewards were likewise incredible.

A Gold Class supposedly provided +10 AP to two main attributes, +5 AP to two secondary attributes, then +2 AP to three additional attributes.

A Gold class would also grant three skills or spells after passing each floor.

And Otto didn't know a thing about any digit classes. They were not something the him in the past could even hope to come into contact with.

Maybe if he had made it past the 69th floor and into Area 8 of the tower world, it would have been possible…

On first glance, the basic attributes awarded to the unified #2 Rainbow Caster class were not all that impressive.

If a gold grade class awarded 36 additional AP per floor in total, then a measly '+5 to basic attributes, +5 to magic attributes' looked like merely 40 additional AP.

Definitely more than a gold class, but not all that impressive, right?

But Otto wouldn't have been even 1% as excited if that had been all.

No.

In fact, there were three nuances here.

First, 'basic attributes' also included magical attributes.

Otto was getting +5 to magical attributes from the '+5 basic attributes', then an additional +5 from the '+5 magical attributes.'

In other words, +5 to basic physical attributes, and +10 to basic magical attributes.

Second, the next line mentioned '+5 to ALL magical attributes.'

Magic consisted of more than just 'Mana Pool,' 'Intuition,' 'Magic Power,' and 'Regeneration.'

Otto knew of at least three hidden attributes he had learned about in the past:

[Psych] governed mental power. It allowed Otto to speed spells up and slow them down, twist them to target an enemy if an enemy dodged, etc.

[Control] governed the spell's power before it was released. This number gave Otto the ability to under- or over-charge a spell with mana to weaken or strengthen it to a certain point.

A higher [Control] stat would allow Otto to modify even higher level spells to suit his needs at any given moment.

[Fluidity] governed the fluidity of his mana. It was also an indicator for a mage's talent, and affected his cast times, cooldowns, ability to multicast, and more.

And he wasn't even sure that these were the only three hidden attributes.

In other words, all of these hidden attributes, which were universally regarded as impossible to increase via passing floor missions, would also increase by 5 on each floor.

Considering that his [Fluidity] must be upwards of 600 after drinking the transcendent grade [Talent Enhancement Potion], perhaps even higher, an additional five points would exhibit unbelievable effects.

But by far the biggest and most important nuance was the third.

If one looked closely at the description provided by the [Tower], there was no mention of 'AP' at all.

In other words, his attributes would increase by 5 no matter what after each floor.

This point also required a bit of explanation, *cough* since the author can't seem to avoid writing large blocks of information in each chapter *cough*.

For an attribute, each 100 points marked a watershed: a large change in the performance of the attribute.

Up to then, it required 1 AP to increase each attribute by 1 point.

After hitting 100 and going through a metamorphosis, this also changed.

From 100 to 200, it required 2 AP to increase each attribute by 1 point.

Another evolution was hit at 200 points.

From 200 to 300, it required 5 AP to increase each attribute by 1 point.

From 300 to 400, it required 10 AP to increase each attribute by 1 point.

And so on.

AP became less and less valuable on higher floors.

Of course, the [Tower] compensated fairly for difficulty, too.

As a challenger climbed higher and higher, more and more AP would be rewarded for the successful completion of missions.

For example, on the 68th floor, Otto had merely passed the 'Low' difficulty, and still received 300 AP as his reward. At the time, Otto still considered this quite a lot of AP.

There were also other methods in the tower world to get AP.

If one drank certain potions, completed certain training courses, or joined a specific competition, as long as it was approved by the [Tower], it was still possible to gain a few additional AP.

It was just that it was so little compared to passing floors, and even these little methods couldn't be used endlessly.

But Otto's class didn't mention AP at all.

Which meant even if an attribute surpassed 1,000 and required hundreds or even thousands of AP to raise it by 1, he would still get those 5 additional points just for successfully passing a floor!

This wasn't nearly as important now that his attributes were weak.

But, as he gained strength…this was the difference between night and day to Otto.

Finally, there was 'effect of all basic magical attributes +200%.'

It looked inconspicuous compared to the enormous growth guaranteed by the first two lines, but it was no less important.

This didn't mean that all his attributes were tripled.

No, it meant that while the numbers looked the same, for all intents and purposes, they would be treated as triple their actual value.

So, if his Mana Pool read '10,' for example, he would normally have '200' mana to use, as a pure caster class.

With the effect tripled, though, his actual mana value would be '600.'

It was the same with the other three. He would be able to learn spells requiring '30' intuition with merely a '10' stated on his status panel.

Otto couldn't help but let out a hint of delighted, shocked laughter.

If the attributes were this incredible, how would his traits be?!

His class's brilliance was certainly not limited to this.