The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

Jeremy was on Erkolls-13.

Which was a great relief for Otto.

It was in some sense to be expected, actually, since most Earthlings on this planet by design.

Still, there were some exceptions.

And if Otto wanted to go off-planet, it would be a little annoying.

Small teleportation gates couldn't allow a challenger to travel through space.

A large teleportation gate would need to be built for that purpose, since it required many additional stabilizing arrays and safety arrays to be added on.

Only very large planets and Area 1 'throughway' planets would establish one of these in the long term, mostly because of the enormous costs associated with building and maintaining one.

Aside from a large teleportation gate, there were two ways to go from planet to planet.

One was via a Void Ship.

These were essentially space ships that were meticulously crafted from rare materials that could withstand the pressures of space environments.

Then, they were heavily enchanted so that they could fly through the void.

Many of Area 1's largest corporations owned several fleets of void ships that made money by hosting travelers who liked to move between worlds.

Similar to an airplane company, only through space rather than the air.

But since Erkolls-13 was rather more remote, the destination planets offered by these companies were not many, and the price paid was not low.

Alternatively, Otto could also buy or make his own void ship.

Both would require reasonably large investments of time and/or money that Otto was somewhat unwilling to commit to.

Just because he had a lot of money didn't mean he was willing to spend it wastefully by buying a ship he would use only for rare occasions.

And Otto valued his time even more.

Finally, he could hitch a ride on a private void ship by offering to guard the ship in case of a Kinetice attack, or, more rarely, an attack by pirates.

The costs were much lower, but then he would not be able to choose the destination, and it was undeniable that these ships were slower and tended to be comparatively poorly equipped for general travel.

The second method to travel between planets was called a 'dimensional gate.'

Every planet had nine dimensional gates in each city.

They were established and run by the [Tower] itself.

It was through these dimensional gates that challengers were transported to different floors.

One dimensional gate was dedicated to each floor

But every gate could also be used to travel to any planet in the same Area.

Of course, there was a reason they weren't used like this very often.

First, the base cost to do so was very high, close to 5% of the cost needed to buy a new void ship.

Second, all of the item restrictions that applied when challenging a floor also applied when using the dimensional gate for regular travel.

Which meant that things like food, currency, and regular non-item clothes could not make the trip.

Who would travel for pleasure if one would immediately become penniless upon arrival?

Thankfully, Jeremy was only in a different sector, not on a different planet.

Sectors, meanwhile, were somewhat akin to nations on Earth, only with less independence and heavier responsibilities.

Otto was happy because he could simply pay a relatively small sum to teleport over. Then, the matter was finished.

Otto had also paid extra for his identity card to continually track Jeremy's whereabouts in case of unforeseen circumstances.

But since Jeremy's marker was still at the moment, Otto wasn't in a hurry to find him.

Instead, he asked for the whereabouts of another place from the middle-aged federation worker.

The Death Ring.

It was a rare place within the city but outside of the safe zone that the [Tower] allowed full-force fighting.

After many years of evolution, it had become a place where two challengers fought to the death.

Meanwhile, rich folks gambled on the side.

If a contestant won, they kept 20% of the money used to bet on them. Generally a hefty sum.

If they died, all their current and previous winnings went straight back to the Death Ring.

The challenger would need to start again.

In addition, the challenger would have lost an extra life.

Contestants could also surrender.

In these cases, the Death Ring would take away 10% of their previous winnings.

The rules weren't particularly harsh.

A contestant could choose to leave at any time.

But rather than an easy way to make money, it was a place catered towards the desperate.

Where they could gamble on their lives.

The challengers who entered the death ring were typically in debt.

The Federation mandated three ways to get out of debt.

First, a challenger could work like a slave for a certain amount of time, with limited rights and privileges.

The living conditions were terrible; only the basics were guaranteed.

For obvious reasons, this was an unpopular choice, even though it was safe.

Second, a challenger could specify a length of time. Interest would be added on to the debt, but the challenger could use their own means to make up the money.

If they failed once again, their lives would be owned by their guarantors.

They would literally become slaves for their entire lifespan; there were no guarantees.

Worse, because they were considered legal property, they could be hurt by their masters even inside the safe zones.

Still, many had succeeded in erasing their debt before the time limit using this method.

It remained rather popular.

Third, a challenger could enter a 'Death Ring' and gamble against their life.

This type typically either won or died permanently in the ring.

Only those who were relatively more powerful or confident in themselves would choose this method.

Otto was heading to this very Death Ring.

Well, he wasn't going to compete personally.

No, he was looking for talents to snatch!

Otto felt that only here, where one's life or death were directly on the line, could a challenger's true potential be drawn out.

He intended to see if he took a fancy to any of them.

Otto paid to use a short-distance teleportation circle and flashed away.

He arrived in front of the underground arena.

"50 Pencet to enter."

The guard grunted,

"Unless you intend to fight."

Otto shook his head and paid the man 100 Pencet.

It couldn't be helped. He was too rich! This was the lowest denomination Pencet coin he had.

The guard, who thought he was being given a tip, smiled politely and directed him to the stadium.

The sound of cheering and roaring soon erupted from his destination.

Otto's ears started to hurt. He hated crowds and noisy events.

He yelled over the chaotic crowd to a nearby attendant,

"Bring me to a VIP booth!"

He handed the woman a few Wazzies (slang for Wasnacht coins) without caring if he was spending too much.

She immediately bowed and brought him into a sound-proofed booth very close to the arena.

He entered the room. The sound was immediately absent.

Otto's ears felt much better. He asked softly,

"Do you serve alcohol from Earth?"

"We have grape wine, beer, and various stronger spirits from Earth."

She also showed him how to operate the betting mechanism and how to call her if needed.

Seemed she was excited about her tip.

Otto ordered a pint of their specialty beer for a few Dolera and waited until it was in his hand before directing the attendant to leave.

At the moment, two burly men were fighting in the arena.

There was no semblance of technique in this fight.

Otto thought it should instead be called a 'brawl.'

Fists and feet flew at each other as each man tried to grapple the other under them.

The crowd roared after every hit.

Neither were hesitant or soft in their blows at all.

It was clear that these were two veterans of the Death Ring.

The fight ended when one man surrendered with a fountain of blood covering his face.

The victor raised his arms in victory and gave a loud war cry.

The crowd cheered and cursed for him in equal measure.

Otto leisurely sipped his beer and continued watching.

The following six fights were no more interesting.

None displayed any sort of impressive skills or technique; they were fighting with their body weight and sheer attributes.

Most had placed them in 'Strength' and 'Sturdiness' with the occasional point in 'Stamina' or 'Speed.'

Few bothered with skills; it was clear these people were too weak to properly utilize them in any case.

Almost all had definitely just passed the [Tutorial] given their attributes.

Maybe they had unwittingly signed a bad contract, or spent too much money and gotten into a bit of debt.

Otto wondered if they had selected combination classes before realizing they didn't have enough energy or mana to display their 'superpowers'.

There also weren't any pure mages competing here.

Pure mages were rather uncommon normally.

Even fewer would compete in such a small ring where they were at a significant disadvantage against those who preferred physical attacks.

Plus, there were schools that took in mages to teach them how to properly fight.

Otto knew because he had once enrolled in one.

He idly sipped his beer as he watched the fights.

Otto's thoughts were soon interrupted when he laid eyes on the seventh challenger.

It was a woman!

Wolf whistles could be heard as soon as she stepped into the ring.

It was not only because of her sex.

She had blond hair, blue eyes, and pale skin, looking to be of Scandinavian descent.

Her features were delicate and beautiful, and her figure, though somewhat hidden under her bulky combat suit, was obviously luscious and curvy in all the right places.

A large shield hung behind her back. She didn't seem to carry any weapons.

The crowd immediately went wild.

"WHOOOOO!!! BEAT THAT SUCKER UP AND SHOW HIM WHAT A DOMINATRIX CAN DOOOOO BABY!"

"COME ON, BIG GUY! RIP THAT COMBAT SUIT OFF HER! DARLIN' SHOW US SOME SKIN!!!"

"TEACH US HOW A LADY FIGHTS! GIRL POWER!"

"YOU FREE TONIGHT? I'LL GIVE YOU A BIG OL' GIFT!!"

"I'LL PAY YOU 100 DOLERA IF YOU GIVE US A STRIP TEASE!"

The young woman didn't seem to visibly react to the provocations. Perhaps she was used to it.

While the crowd was joking with and mocking her, Otto's gaze was likewise attracted by the young woman.

But for very different reasons.

'She's talented.'

Even without seeing her fight, he could tell after using Analyze.

[Julia Nilsen]

Floor Cleared: Tutorial

Class: Killer Vanguard (Bronze)

Profession 1: None

Profession 2: None

Profession 3: None

Health: 150/150 (0.1/minute)

Stamina: 104/110 (0.6/minute)

Energy: 20/20 (0.02/minute)

[Attributes]

Strength 10

Speed 5

Stamina 6

Sturdiness 10

Energy Pool 1

Comprehension 1

Energy Compression 1

Regeneration 1

She had only passed the [Tutorial], but her attributes were much higher than average.

'Medium difficulty? No, perhaps even High difficulty with those attributes. Let's watch the fight.'

Julia had only invested in her physical attributes thus far, but Otto thought that this was absolutely the right decision.

Energy for physical types was markedly different than mana for magic types.

Magic was directly related to the survivability of a mage.

Energy merely played a supporting role to warriors.

Since, even without energy, a warrior could still fight.

But without mana, the vast majority of mages would be helpless.

Physical stats were a warrior's bread and butter.

Their strength lay, literally, in their 'strength.'

Otto thought Julia did an excellent job with her allocation.

He leaned forward to watch the fight.

Julia's opponent looked rather nondescript.

He wasn't exceptionally burly, though his body was well-muscled.

But Otto thought he was vastly more dangerous than the previous contestants.

After shooting a quick analyze at the man, he realized why.

'He's a veteran of 6 floors.'

The man had passed through six floors. His attributes were a bit higher than Julia's, particularly in Speed and Energy Pool.

Moreover, the amount of combat experience he had couldn't be compared to a new challenger like Julia.

Otto pondered.

It was possible the Death Ring had lost some money to her.

They needed her to lose in order to make it back.

Of course, the audience wouldn't have a problem with such a scenario.

Moreover, it was absolutely the organization's prerogative to make such decisions.

Even if it was a little dirty.

The fight began.

Julia didn't rush in. She grabbed her shield and held it in front of her.

It was a safe decision to wait for the opponent's charge.

Stable as a mountain.

The man stared at her for a second, looking for an opening.

Then he charged at her directly.

A sword slashed at her neck. The angle was tricky to defend from.

Julia remained calm and didn't immediately block with her shield.

Her feet carried her slightly to the right as she dodged the strike, just out of reach.

The man's sword didn't give her any time to think.

Fast as lightning, it slashed, stabbed and chopped from various directions.

He wanted to expose a weakness, then chomp at it like a viper.

Julia continued defending calmly.

She didn't capitalize on any of the weaknesses the man revealed to attack, either.

Perhaps she could also discern the traps therein.

But her eyes grew stern.

She could tell this opponent was her match.

As the fight dragged on, boos came from the audience.

They were here for a dogfight, not a calm and collected battle!

Unlike Julia, the man grew visibly flustered under such a reaction.

Perhaps he was directly working under the Death Ring.

For him, the audience experience had to be taken into consideration.

The man finally decided to go all out.

A yellow luster appeared on his sword. He had decided to charge an energy skill.

Much like a mage's spells, some more powerful energy skills would need to be charged beforehand.

Otto glanced at it with a hint of interest. 'Analyze' didn't allow him to see an opponent's skills, spells, or traits.

At least for now at Level 1.

But the moment the luster appeared, Julia finally decided to move out of her defensive position.

She tossed her shield aside, and it moved like it was magnetized and returned to its place on her back.

Then, Julia took out a tiny hammer from the belt on her waist.

As it appeared in her hand, it grew to full size almost instantly, looking fierce.

Then, she charged at him.

The man's face remained calm on the outside. But inwardly, he was panicking.

'What happened to you defending against my attacks? Can you please follow the script?!'

He couldn't move while he was charging this skill.

But he only needed another second to finish!

After all, Julia's speed was not as fast as his. It inevitably took her a bit longer to charge over.

He gritted his teeth and chose not to abort the skill. He might still have a chance!!

The yellow luster on the sword started to brighten.

It was a sign that the charging was almost finished.

Otto now stood outside of the VIP booth. Along with the audience, he watched with bated breath to see the result of the final collision.

Julia finally arrived in front of the man.

In a single bound, she swung her hammer up, and struck down as hard as she could…

WHOOSH