The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

Otto knelt down on the dirt, controlling his heavy breathing.

His body typically had a tough time getting tired.

But for this event, he thought it was only natural.

Including the Throskarts that were killed in Otto's initial firestorm vortex, there had to have been over 100,000 Throskarts present.

He killed them all in under an hour.

Even with so many Throskarts present, Otto's extreme mobility had allowed him to kill each of them with little resistance.

Add on to the fact that these Throskarts were scared out of their wits whenever Otto cast [Enfeebling Darkness] because of the fear he'd easily implanted deep in their hearts.

They barely had a chance to fight back.

Eventually, Otto had even found it tedious, more annoyed by the drain of his mana then by the difficulty of killing his opponents.

Killing over one hundred thousand of anything was a ridiculous feat, something he may have been able to complete on the 20th floor in his past life.

Certainly not something he should be able to do right now.

Of course, regardless of the points he'd gained—Otto hadn't even bothered to check—he wasn't left unrewarded for his efforts.

After a minute, he turned to his [Tower] notification screen, where two messages lay in wait.

[Congratulations. You have made an exceptional achievement.]

[Achievement Type: Floor Impact]

Description: Made a major impact to the integrity of the game show on the first floor, significantly affecting the operating game show in your iteration.

Reward (Challenger may select one of the following):

+1 Chosen Class Trait (available for selection in the [Neutral Zone])

+1 Chosen Personal Trait (available for selection in the [Neutral Zone])

[Congratulations. You have made an exceptional achievement.]

[Achievement Type: Genocide IV]

Description: Massacred 100,000+ members of a single intelligent species within 2 hours.

Reward (Challenger may select one of the following):

+1 Mission Enhancement Token

+1 Evolution Bead Upgrade Rune

+150 AP

This was a moment where Otto should take his time to decide the best reward based on what he already knew.

The problem was that the [Tower's] rewards were all painstakingly curated to be at an approximately equivalent value.

It was up to him to make the best choice for his future.

Otto first focused on the reward for the 'Floor Impact' achievement.

He had never heard of this type of achievement in his past life.

But it could be assumed that this achievement was tough to get.

As the rewards were amazing.

Otto hesitated in his selection.

Frankly speaking, Otto's class traits were amazing. Each was more important to him than the last.

He only had one personal trait, and it was an important trait he'd gotten from the [Tutorial].

[Noira Temple's Inheritor]

All light element spells cast by you are 25% more effective.

It was also a passive trait, always present in the background.

Otto didn't often think about it.

But that didn't mean it was useless.

When Otto was digging down to the underground cave, he was forced to repeatedly cast [Purify] and eventually [Lesser Heal] as well to cleanse his body of poison.

In this type of instance, the trait had a chance to shine, allowing Otto to make do with a [Purify] that boasted the same power but used 20% less mana, giving him more opportunities to cast the spell.

Even so, Otto didn't think it was comparable to his truly indispensable class traits.

Otto thought for a second.

If these two selections were of similar values, there was a good chance that the next class trait he selected would not be nearly as good as his current class traits.

Perhaps it was even referring to typical class traits of a magic caster rather than class traits unique to his [Rainbow Caster] class.

On the other hand, a personal trait didn't have to be magic related at all; there were no restrictions on these traits whatsoever.

Though Otto didn't think he'd ever actually be without his mana, he thought it was still better to be safe in such circumstances.

He chose the personal trait.

The next reward was for the [Genocide IV] achievement.

Otto was currently debating between the [Mission Enhancement Token] and the [Evolution Bead Upgrade Rune].

The [Mission Enhancement Token] would do one of two things.

Either it would enhance Otto's mission rating, or it would enhance his mission rewards.

Both were valuable to Otto, though if he had a choice, he'd prefer to enhance his mission rewards.

As in the past, achieving a higher mission rating score would only serve to add to his treasury value.

A value, which in this life, was astronomical already.

Conversely, more mission rewards would net him more AP, more spells, more 'internal increases' in power.

But Otto's eyes still turned to the [Evolution Bead Upgrade Rune].

Comparatively, choosing this rune carried more risk.

It was possible that the upgrade rune would upgrade something completely unnecessary.

But it was also possible the upgrade itself would become more potent…

Otto didn't even consider taking the AP.

When would he ever find the chance to get an upgrade to his evolution bead?

Thinking like that, the choice was clear.

Otto selected the risky option: the evolution bead upgrade rune.

For this, Otto didn't have to wait until he got to the [Neutral Zone] to use it.

He could see the effects of the upgrade immediately.

He took out his bead and [Analyzed] it.

[Evolution Bead]

Three-Digit #779

Consumable Auxiliary (2 uses)

Supports one racial evolution. Only usable in the [Neutral Zone].

He held the rune that appeared in his hands, and tried to use his mana to [Analyze] it.

But the information that came up was garbled and incoherent.

As with most things that came directly from the [Tower].

They just weren't meant to be analyzed, Otto supposed.

He placed the rune next to the bead, and let it be absorbed.

The bead shone dimly for thirty seconds before dying down.

Otto impatiently used [Analyze] once more.

[Evolution Bead]

Three-Digit #779

Consumable Auxiliary (5 uses)

Supports one enhanced racial evolution.

Amazing.

Otto's eyes glittered.

There were three major changes.

The bead now supported five uses in total.

Allowing Otto to upgrade the kids as well.

He thought for a second as his eyes slowly narrowed.

Previously, Otto whether it was the [Tutorial] or in [Area 1], Otto invested a lot of money and a minimal amount of time to get them trained and up to standard.

But to Otto, the amount he invested, to be frank, wasn't worth all that much.

It could even be said that with the sheer level of resources Otto had access to, he had basically trained them half heartedly.

Not that he felt guilty or any such ridiculousness. Did they deserve access to Otto's wealth?

Regardless, giving them access to this [Evolution Bead] was categorically different.

Otto doubted that any single person would be able to use it more than once.

The kids wouldn't be taking away his own slots.

Still, this step would require more than blind trust on his part.

He sighed inwardly.

Otto had tried to avoid going the contract route, but in the end, it might be a necessary step.

Both for now and in the future.

The second change was along the same vein.

The line 'only usable in the [Neutral Zone]' was removed. Allowing each of them to use the bead even in [Area 1].

Otto, of course, was most excited about the third change.

The word 'enhanced' was added to 'racial evolution.'

His thought process was by no means complex.

Since when had anything gotten worse after being enhanced? Even if he didn't know exactly what the enhancement DID, per se, it certainly wouldn't stop him from knowing that it was a Good thing.

Otto sat down on the dirt outside.

He was back at his stone house.

Despite the massive battle that occurred, the game show itself wasn't over.

The game masters also no longer dared to touch him after the rousing speech he had given before what some news had taken to calling the 'massacre of the century.'

Otto shook his head lightly.

Out of curiosity, he checked his game screen.

[Current Rank: 1]

[Points: 7,642,100]

After the most recent massacre, Otto's token darkened until it was black as ink.

He estimated that this was the final color the token used, emblematic of the highest possible achievement on this game show.

Below his points, a new title had also appeared.

Otto's grin uncontrollably widened as he read its description.

[Title: Number One]

[Allows holder of this title to indefinitely disguise themselves while in the preliminary round. The disguise alters everything about a contestant according to the disguise.]

[Disguise is impenetrable to mana, and cannot be seen through by the watchers.]

[Disguise can be triggered on and off at will.]

Jackal had hidden by him for so many days, and had even changed the color of his very blood in order to successfully fool Otto.

Otto really couldn't understand this behavior.

Why did Jackal decide to follow him with such immediacy, anyway?

And why did this title seem to be hinting at something else entirely?

Otto shook his head. He had some suspicions, but no definite answer to his own question.

For now, the first floor was over.

The only thing left to do was wait…

Soon enough, the desired message appeared.

[Would you like to turn in your mission?]

Otto agreed with a quick nod of his head.

His body disappeared into particles of light.