The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

Otto first addressed the Aurelion woman after they left the shop.

"I wish to place you in temporary charge of my account, Miss…?"

The Aurelion woman bowed lightly as she looked at Otto with interest.

"You may call me Aeselvell, young human. I am a merchant, a trader, and above all, a businessman.

This year will be my 408th year accepting clients.

I have many connections across Area 1. I shall not humble myself.

If I may say, you have managed to pick up quite the treasure in finding me.

That is…"

Her grin looked a little predatory,

"If you can afford the price."

Otto nodded indifferently.

"You asked for 300,000 Wasnacht Coins up front, and 15,000 per month thereafter, yes?"

Aeselvell raised her hand to her forehead. It was the universal Aurelion sign of agreement.

It was so universal that Otto in his past life had even caught some humans using the gesture subconsciously…

"I will pay you 300,000 up front, and will pay you another 100,000 per month if you do your work well."

He glanced at her with some meaning in his expression.

"This small money isn't important to me. You will see once you gain access to my account."

Since Otto was satisfied, he immediately brought all of his assistants to sign [Tower] contracts.

None of them were upset by this procedure.

Though the official [Tower] contracts were rather expensive compared to typical Federation contracts, they had a much stronger power of enforcement.

They were even considered standard business practice among the wealthiest members of Area 1.

Aeselvell read the contract seriously, and the rest of the assistants did the same.

They all signed their name.

One of the clauses in the contract was absolute secrecy regarding Otto's details.

Now Otto had a bit more leeway in exposing his true wealth.

Of course, he would still never leak the matter of his 1,000 crystals which he would almost certainly not ever need to use in Area 1.

He had even gotten the [Tower] to create a separate account for those so they wouldn't be exposed.

Otto quickly granted Aeselvell access to his normal account before he explained what he wanted her to do.

"In short, I want to make enormous purchases. You can use the five of them as you wish, as long as they are effective in procuring the things I need.

Their salary will come out of this account as well, and you will be its manager for the time being."

Aeselvell nodded, hiding her shock as she saw the amount of money in his account.

This amount of money was big even on the level of the entire Area.

Her shock soon turned into doubt.

What was such a wealthy master doing on such a remote planet out in the boonies?

This amount of money would directly allow him to live on the Federation's main hub planet, where every passerby was wealthier than the last, and even the most basic services were paid in Small Smekkers.

But her business instincts wouldn't permit her to pry.

Aeselvell was far too well trained to do such a thing.

Instead, she listened carefully as Otto continued to describe her duties.

"The first order of business is to rent a large house around here.

My requirements aren't too particular, but it needs to be in a decent location near the teleportation circles with plenty of space to store materials."

He touched his chin and thought for a second,

"It's better if it's a warehouse, actually. It will be holding the virtual pods of me and my team where we will be training under time dilation.

This is why I'm in such a rush. Every second here is 20 seconds I could be training in there."

Otto didn't expose that it was actually 200 seconds for him.

It was doubtful anyone would believe him anyway.

200x time dilation simply wasn't possible, even with the highest level of membership of the virtual technology!

Aeselvell nodded and murmured her agreement as Otto continued,

"Afterwards, I want four of the highest grade pods moved into the warehouse and properly connected as fast as possible, with all the benefits associated with my membership.

I will be using the pods at the virtual center until that occurs."

He looked at her before exclaiming,

"Ah! Remember to add the highest grade privacy features and full responsibility into the rental. If possible, it would be best to rent directly from the [Tower]."

In Area 1, a good portion of property on almost every planet was owned by the Federation government itself, who had bought it out from the [Tower] directly.

It was mostly because it was the Federation that owned most of the rights to the planets that citizens lived on.

They tended to buy these rights directly from the [Tower] and then sat back to make money from the rent.

There were a few ways to rent property from the Federation.

A normal rental contract, the cheapest type, bought a challenger the right to live in the property, but no changes to the property were allowed.

Furthermore, they would be subject to random inspections from the Federation.

Even unilateral eviction was possible if the Federation took issue with something a challenger was doing.

A premium rental contract was more expensive.

It allowed a challenger the right to live in a property as well as well as a few token rights to privacy. It even allowed some cosmetic changes to the rental.

Eviction of a premium rentee would require a local Federation branch to jump through quite a few hoops to get them out.

Otto was aiming for the the highest grade rental contract which was even above the premium contract.

This contract was much more expensive.

It signed over the rights to live in the property, and use the property as the challenger wished.

The Federation could not evict Otto no matter what he did, though they could fine him a lot of money if significant damage was done after the contract term was up.

It was the closest thing to ownership that the Federation typically allowed.

And since Otto wanted to use it as a warehouse of sorts, he would obviously not accept random inspections from the Federation.

He was even less willing to have to come out of his pod on the off chance the government wanted to evict him.

Aeselvell merely nodded calmly and started to make a mental checklist of Otto's requirements.

Otto continued to explain,

"However, none of these are your main jobs.

Aeselvell you will manage the assistants.

Two of the assistants will go out to purchase all spells available.

It doesn't matter what kind, but I want them in every element, with no duplicates.

The price isn't important. I just want more spells.

As for alchemy…"

Otto looked at the Deluvian man who made a squeaking sound that was translated as,

"You can count on me!"

"Gather as many sets of materials as you can find for the recipes I give you.

I gathered you alchemists as assistants because you should know the market well, and what connections you may need to buy these materials and herbs.

As for the price, I'll be happy as long as it's not over 300% of market price.

It's the same for magic array materials. Find everything that is on this list and buy it the biggest quantities you can gather."

Otto handed over the lists of goods he needed.

"Get everything that is on the planet right now delivered first before delivering another batch. Time is money for me!

Feel free to source from the [Tower] or the Federation directly if you can't find certain things, or from organizations off of Erkolls-13 or even out of this star system.

If it's scarce, it's okay if the price is a little higher."

Otto smiled and then demanded arrogantly,

"I don't care where they are from, I just want a ton of materials."

He looked at Aeselvell,

"You are in charge. Can you handle this?"

Aeselvell was a professional through and through.

She nodded and then asked a few key questions to Otto before leaving with access to his money.

He also gave them all access to speak with him through his Universal ID, though only Aeselvell was required to report to him regularly.

Twenty minutes later, Otto was truly stunned by her efficiency.

He had never had the luxury of having an assistant to do his bidding before; he had to admit the feeling was really good.

It felt like he was making progress on his strength even when he hadn't moved an inch!

Aeselvell had rented a huge warehouse for him from the Federation.

It was built directly next to a small teleportation circle connected to Sector 82's inter-sector teleportation station.

Five virtual pods were currently being installed with all the benefits of a top grade permanent membership, and it was estimated to take another ten minutes to finish.

Otto notified Ramesthes to have the kids head over when they were free.

He himself also headed over to take a look.

On the outside, the warehouse looked like a small, one-story quaint cottage.

Completely at odds with how a warehouse should look.

Otto was unfazed.

He quickly entered and there saw an enormous barren space laid out in front of him.

Aeselvell's voice soon entered his ears and gave a timely explanation,

"It was made by an old master of enchantment named Krenilk. It was his master work, supposedly able to expand limitlessly as it draws energy from its surroundings.

Of course, that's not possible, but it should have more than enough space for any goods you store.

The place was rather expensive.

It cost 8,500 Wazzies a week, but I knew this kind of small potatoes spending wouldn't arouse any feelings, so I went ahead and rented it for you for eight months."

Otto's voice was pleased as he replied,

"Excellent job. I will enter seclusion in my virtual pod for the next two days. Deliver anything you find to here.

Preferably, right next to my pod so I can flash in and out of the virtual world quickly and easily.

I should still be able to communicate with you once I start training, but try not to contact me if there's nothing urgent."

Otto clapped his hands together inside the warehouse.

Seeing that there were no materials yet, he could only lament and start training his current spells and magical attributes in his mental space first.

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

Elliott, Jeremy, and Julia's attitudes had improved after they signed the contract.

They were now earnestly trying to complete the training course with their wholehearted efforts.

Ramesthes noticed the difference, but didn't comment on it.

Inwardly, he was a little surprised at how hard they could work when they set their mind to it, even at such a young age.

'Perhaps Otto did pick up the right kids.'

Jeremy had already finished the 3rd level and was currently working on the fourth level.

But he found, much to his chagrin, that each level was more sinister than the last.

If Level 2 made it so the course had to be completed on one foot, Level 3 widened the space between the logs, making the jumps much longer and requiring additional finesse and strength.

Level 4 was truly evil: Jeremy discovered that the logs actually started swaying once they were stepped on!

They weren't secure on their posts at all!

Jeremy had already fallen down who knew how many times because of this.

But with his talent, he also was quick to learn from all of his mistakes.

His jumps between the course grew steadier and firmer as he progressed.

He even had a faint feeling that regardless of the +1 agility he gained from completing the courses in the correct times, the experience itself would have some hidden benefits.

Since his steps on the ground grew surer in tandem.

Elliott and Julia were still on Level 2, by contrast, struggling to complete the course by hopping on one foot.

Julia's face was red with exertion but she continued to persevere despite her difficulties.

Ramesthes occasionally shouted out encouragements and warnings from the side now and then.

The kids all found that their new trainer wasn't as hateful as they had originally thought.

He allowed them a ten minute break after they successfully completed each round.

He would even occasionally conjure delicious virtual foods from his home planet to feed them with, an experience they found novel.

Even though they didn't need to eat in this world, it was still comforting.

Furthermore, every minute of every day was used.

There was no sign of a break on the horizon at all.

And when the kids saw Ramesthes complete these courses without breaking a sweat, even responding to their doubts by purposefully limiting his attributes while serenely hopping quickly along, they inevitably understood just how far they still needed to travel.

The sun rose and set in the virtual arena on the three kids who were hard at work.

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

Otto re-entered his mental space and finally got a chance to start training.

Under time dilation, he now had 400 days before he had to emerge to take care of some more business.

Even better was that Otto didn't really require sleep in his mental space, since his body was in a state of suspended animation while he was in the virtual world.

He had a few plans to begin.

Before anything else, he first wanted to increase the level of his spells.

Otto got to work.

He first transformed his mental space into something he was more comfortable with, suitable for testing his spells.

One of the benefits of his mental space was that he could literally create just about anything he imagined.

Honestly, Otto could probably live out the rest of his lifespan lavishly in this pod should he desire.

And indeed, Otto would not skimp on material comforts just because he was training.

Yes, he was focused.

No, he wouldn't 'relinquish the material world' just because of this focus.

He promptly made himself a luxurious mansion then went to the yard.

Wooden dummies sprang up around him.

He set the first to have '10' durability, the second to have '20' durability, the third to have '30' durability, and so on.

This would help him see the exact limits of the spells in his arsenal, as well as the power they currently held.

He started with his old standby, Mana Bolt.

A mana bolt mixed with 1 mana exploded onto the wooden dummy, instantly breaking it.

Otto repeated this process, going down the line, exploding wooden dummies, until finally, the eleventh dummy barely held on and remained intact after the explosion.

He mused to himself,

'Mana bolt is thought to have an upper limit of exactly 100 damage.

It seems this conjecture was true.'

In that case, it simply wasn't worth it to level up his mana bolt, as there was nothing it could improve upon after it hit its upper limit.

Other first-circle spells generally weren't like this.

Most of these spells dealt a certain amount of flat damage that grew with spell level plus a small percentage of damage from a mage's magic power.

Because of this percentage, even first-circle spells could produce immense might in the hands of a powerful mage.

It was because when mages raised their 'magic power' attribute, it meant that their mana itself simply did more damage.

The effect was comparatively muted on lower tiered spells, but as the tier of the spell increased, magic power's effect could no longer be ignored.

A powerful mage using a 3rd circle spell would always trump a weaker mage, even if said weaker mage used a 4th circle spell to counter.

Because it had this limit, Mana Bolt couldn't even really be classified as a first-circle spell in the end.

It was like a 'half-circle' spell.

Well, this was nothing more than Otto's own conjecture.

Mana shield, as the other lowest-level spell, was the same.

Otto decided to try working on his other spells instead, when he suddenly realized something.

He was lacking in basic attacks!

He sighed with faux-gloom.

The disadvantage of being given super rare spells when he cleared floors was that super rare spells tended not to be simple attack spells…

It was really tough being too outstanding, after all.

Otto decided to start with 'Blaze' which could be considered a normal attack spell, though it also had a hidden effect, which was to 'spread.'

[Blaze]

Fire Element

Level 1

Send a super condensed fireball at an enemy, that rapidly spreads. Current spreading speed at 80%.

Mana Cost: 15

Cast Time: Instant

No Cooldown

Since the information given by the [Tower] didn't elucidate its exact damage or the effect brought by Otto's high magic power, Otto decided to test it first.

He started with a dummy set at 100 durability this time.

A compact orange fireball flew at the dummy as Otto released his spell.

The dummy instantly burned to ashes that vaguely seemed to want to spread to other dummies.

Otto wasn't testing its spreading speed right now, so he smothered the blaze.

This time, Otto didn't go one by one. He moved to the dummy with 200 durability.

It took a few additional seconds, but then it burned to ashes as well.

Otto's eyebrows rose.

This spell seemed to have a hidden effect!

He carefully tested Blaze on the dummies with durability between 100-200 until he nodded in realization.

After another ten minutes of experimentation, Otto understood the full effects of the spell.

He grinned.

It was interesting to figure out what the [Tower] did not tell him in a spell's description.

This spell, [Blaze], immediately dealt just a bit over 185 flat magic damage.

Otto thought for a second.

This spell, even as a one-off single target attack, was considerably more powerful than most other first circle spells.

As far as Otto knew, common 1st circle spells would deal approximately 100 flat elemental damage +1% of a mage's magic power.

In Otto's case, this would be calculated at around 117-118 damage in total.

He estimated that [Blaze] instead dealt 150 damage + 2% of his magic power, fully proving its worth as a rare 1st circle spell.

Moreover, it dealt consistent 'burn' damage calculated between 15-20 per second that lasted for a full 30 seconds after it hit!

Weaker enemies would die instantly, whereas even slightly stronger enemies would have a headache if they were hit by [Blaze].

The only problem was…it seemed to be a little slow to hit after it was cast.

Otto could speed it up by exerting his mental power, but quite frankly, he didn't want to have to do this every time [Blaze] was cast.

So he slowly got into a rhythm and started to cast it over and over again.

But it didn't feel like rote practice.

Instead, Otto conjured up various combat situations where he felt he'd be able to use this spell.

He did his best to put himself in only the most dangerous situations and then restricted himself to only using the spell [Blaze].

Otto appeared in an ice cavern surrounded by yeti monsters starting fires amongst the snow, a forest with both allies and enemies restricting him from simply burning the whole thing down, on top of a tall building fighting one-on-one with a super sturdy monster, etc.

He didn't hold back on himself, either.

Half the time, he barely made it out the situation of his own making 'alive.'

In truth, if he 'died' in his mental space by a monster of his own creation, nothing would happen at all.

But Otto still wanted to do his best to avoid his death.

Since the outside world wouldn't give him such a luxury.

Slowly, he started to gain a greater understanding of [Blaze] as it silently continued to increase in level.

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

Read the author's note this time! I fixed a mistake in the last chapter.

TLDR in Author's Note: I fixed Elliott's 'Wind Blade' in the last chapter, and Otto's 'Lesser Heal' many chapters previous. The magic system is now much better :P