The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage-Chapter 2: Return (2)

[Choose a Class Type.]

NOTE: Your official class is obtained after you pass the tutorial.

Physical

Warrior Type

Rogue Type

Knight Type

Archer Type

Magical

Healer Type

Element Type

Combination

Druid Type

Paladin Type

Monk Type

Assassin Type

There were three large 'types' of classes in the [Tower], comprising physical classes, magical classes, and combination classes, which had a bit of both.

Physical classes relied on the 'Energy' resource to perform their skills.

Magical classes relied on the 'Mana' resource to cast their spells.

Combination classes combined both resources.

But combination classes were widely considered worse than both of the others. That is, they had twice the number of attributes to deal with, but no additional AP, what the [Tower] called 'attribute points' to make up for it.

Otto wouldn't make such a stupid mistake.

In his last life, he was a pure mage. In this life, he would also be a pure mage.

It was the only thing he was good at, after all.

He chose 'Element Type Magical Class' and rechecked his personal status screen.

[Toto]

New Summoned

Health: 10 (0.01/minute)

Stamina: 10 (0.1/minute)

Mana: 20 (0.02/minute)

[Attributes]

Strength 1

Speed 1

Stamina 1

Sturdiness 1

Mana Pool 1

Intuition 1

Magic Power 1

Regeneration 1

AP: 5

[Spells]

Mana Bolt 1

Mana Shield 1

[Innate Trait]

Multitask Level 1

[Temporary Trait]

Pure Magic

Otto smiled in satisfaction before checking his two basic spells.

[Mana Bolt]

Level 1

Shoot a mana bolt at an enemy for 50% magic damage.

Mana Cost: 1

Cast Time: 6 seconds

No Cooldown

[Mana Shield]

Level 1

Create a shield around caster to block a single attack equal or under 100% magic damage.

Mana Cost: 2

Cast Time: 10 seconds

No Cooldown

Otto could only rely on these two spells to reign dominant in the tutorial. But to Otto, these two spells were very much enough.

These spells were, of course, the same spells everyone else had. To most people, they would be considered ridiculously weak. It took six seconds to cast a single bolt of mana? A monster would have long rushed the mage and chomped right down.

There would be no other result.

But Otto had a trick up his sleeves.

The 'cast time' metric actually referred to magical beginners. Because of their inexperience, the [Tower] automatically used their mana for them; it would take control and cast the spells when the mage wanted to do so.

Otto was obviously no beginner.

He immediately entered a hidden part of the status screen. A button read

[Release Magic: Off]

Otto pressed it. An exhilarating feeling was felt from his body.

It was the sound of his mana being released from the [Tower's] control.

Now, he could freely move it as he wanted.

His cast time now read 'Instant' for both spells. Well, perhaps it was only Otto who could achieve such a spectacular result.

The [Tower] didn't tell its climbers everything.

Otto knew there were three hidden attributes, though he still couldn't see them.

[Control] allowed one to have more control over a spell before it was cast. Otto could use his huge [Control] stat to over or underwhelm particular spells and adjust their power.

For example, if Otto added an additional two points of mana to a 'Mana Bolt,' its destructive might would experience a large increase. Similarly, he could conserve mana if he wished only to deal with weaker enemies.

[Psych] regulated control over a spell after it was cast. Under the [Tower], the spell 'Mana Bolt' shot reasonably fast in a straight line, and exploded slowly after impact.

Climbers had no way to affect this, but if a mage's magic was released, and a climber had a huge amount of mental power (indicated by the hidden [Psych] stat), they could change its speed, explosion time, direction of travel, and even alter it midway after cast.

Otto's mental power hadn't reverted when he went back in time, thus it was as easy as snapping his fingers even if he wished his 'Mana Bolt' to do a few cartwheels before hitting an enemy.

Finally, the third hidden attribute was called [Fluidity] and it was a representation of a mage's talent. Talent tended to be something elusive and uncertain back on Earth, but here it could be represented simply through numbers.

Moreover, it had a big impact on a mage's future.

Talent measured how fluidly his mana could travel inside his body.

With high [Fluidity], a mage could cast spells faster, cooldowns would decrease, and it would even open possibilities for dual casting, etc.

At higher levels, it could determine if some spells could even be cast at all, as they may require mana to contort with acrobatic flexibility, something impossible if one's mana was sluggish or tough.

Otto's talent was actually not particularly high originally, merely considered average among half-decent mages.

However, after going through floor after floor and obtaining many rewards, he had exchanged for a talent-enhancing potion, allowing his talent to increase to that of the upper-tier mages.

As talent was both spiritual and physical, now that Otto was back in his original body, his talent had somewhat declined.

But it hadn't declined all the way to his original level, easily allowing him to instantly cast these two basic spells.

Otto reorganized his mind.

There were three things he needed to obtain no matter what in the [Tutorial]. They could only be found here.

One of them, coincidentally, was the highest grade [Talent Enhancement] potion. It was supposed to be a hidden piece for a lucky climber who had taken an off-the-beaten-path route in the [Tutorial].

But Otto would be taking it first.

He smirked a little at that thought, and confirmed his plan for the [Tutorial]. No plan of his could be perfect without knowing the mission that he would be assigned. But he could at least plan his route and react to changes after.

Next, he distributed his attribute points, or AP.

Even Otto had to be careful here. He seriously thought about what he would need to do.

Because he couldn't be sure the mission the [Tower] would assign to him, he had to be prepared for many eventualities.

Otto closed his eyes and thought for a minute.

'Speed to dodge attacks, mana to attack and defend, power so I don't have to overload every spell with mana. I can ignore Intuition and Regeneration for now.'

He put a point in speed, three in mana, and one in magic power.

With the trait [Pure Magic] to work with, his mana wouldn't be at risk of running out easily, and he would have enough power to fight as well.

Pure Magic was a trait given to all pure magical classes. Right now, it was 'temporary' indicating that it would go away if his final class wasn't purely magical.

The trait was simple and effective: it doubled his mana and his magic power.

Pure physical classes had a similar trait that doubled their energy and energy compression.

Combination classes, meanwhile had a trait allowing them to use both skills and specific spells, but provided no boost to attributes.

[Toto]

New Summoned

Health: 10 (0.01/minute)

Stamina: 10 (0.1/minute)

Mana: 80 (0.02/minute)

[Attributes]

Strength 1

Speed 2

Stamina 1

Sturdiness 1

Mana Pool 4

Intuition 1

Magic Power 2

Regeneration 1

AP: 0

Given that both Mana Bolt and Mana Shield took little mana, he should have enough to get through the [Tutorial] even if he had little time to regenerate it.

Otto stood there silently and glanced around once again. He didn't see the boy he had just met, Elliott among the crowd.

'Probably trying to decide whether to take my advice.' Otto smirked slyly at the thought.

By now, it had mostly sunk in to the crowd that they weren't leaving so easily, and that what was happening was no hallucination.

They had already selected their [Traits] for the most part, and were now busily selecting their class types.

Otto didn't have much hope for them.

Most people inevitably fell into the trap of a combination class.

Perhaps this was on purpose by the [Tower], because it was undeniable that the combination types had cooler-sounding names than either of the others.

A sizeable number would also pick pure magical classes either because they wanted to fight from far away or they only wanted to focus on magic.

They would also come to immediately regret their choice in the [Tutorial]. After all, with such long cast times for their spells, it was hard for them to be useful in combat.

In the [Tutorial], physical classes had a decent advantage. Their skills were simpler and less powerful, but generally quicker and more versatile.

Plus, focusing on physical attributes was the best way to survive in the immediate term.

Perhaps only Otto was an exception.

That said, if the pure magical class types could survive the [Tutorial], they would see a lot of growth to their abilities. Mages were generally always welcome in groups on the [Tower] floors.

Like this, an hour passed. Otto spent it in silence, planning his next steps. His eyes were closed and his face was serene.

If he had the 'Meditation' skill, he would certainly be meditating.

Murmurs were heard all around him as others started to get impatient after making their selections.

"What are we supposed to do?"

"Is there anyone there? Hello?"

"What happens if I need to use the restroom...?"

'The last person is lying.'

No one was hungry or thirsty here, nor did they need to relieve themselves. The space was designed as such.

It would be different as soon as they officially entered the [Tower].

After a while, the notification Otto was waiting for finally arrived.

[Complete Selections in five minutes.]

[Prepare to enter the Tutorial.]

[Please select your difficulty:]

Basic

Low

Medium

High

Very High

Extreme

A sharp glint was visible in Otto's eyes as he gritted his teeth to select 'Extreme.'

Even in the future, he didn't know anyone who passed the [Tutorial] on the Extreme difficulty.

He had only known one person who had passed it on 'Very High' and that person had been so traumatized by the experience that he never selected any difficulty above 'High' in the future.

Still, if there was anyone that could pass the 'Extreme' difficulty, it could only be himself.

Otto was brimming with self confidence.

It was not without reason, either.

He was a seriously prominent mage in the past. Even stripped down to the barest essential attributes, Otto was not someone who could be beaten so easily.

His combat experience remained.

He had spent 40+ years in the [Tower] after all.

Otto also had a hunch.

Perhaps the reason humans couldn't progress any further in the [Tower] after the 69th floor was because the difficulties they were selecting hadn't been high enough.

They weren't properly challenging themselves.

Now, this would have to change.

He made his selection, and the [Tower] sent back 'Good Luck.'

Five minutes quickly passed while everyone was yelling and scrambling to make their last decisions.

They felt a sense of crisis at the last minute. Even if they thought with their toes, they would understand that danger was fast approaching.

Suddenly, everyone felt a large force on their bodies.

A message appeared in front of them.

[Welcome to the [Tutorial] Stage.]

It then listed their individual missions. The ones who selected 'Basic' had the easiest mission, probably something like 'Escape from xx' or 'Survive for xx time' or 'Find xx tree.'

Otto's mission obviously had nothing to do with the others. His eyebrows raised.

His mission could be chosen!

[Choose your Mission]

1) Kill the [Wolf King]

2) Save 80% of [Tutorial Challengers]

3) Kill 3,000 [Tutorial Challengers]

4) Rescue [Bront City] from destruction

5) Stop the [Natural Disaster]

6) Steal the [Rainbow Corinth]

Every floor of the [Tower] was equivalent to an entire world. The background of the [Tutorial] was simple.

Bront City, where all the challengers were currently located, was facing an attack from a monster army.

All defense forces and military forces in the city were on high alert in preparation for an imminent attack.

Yet before that could even happen, a disaster struck. For each of five nights in a row, a meteor split into fragments and struck different parts of the city.

Bront City faced a catastrophe.

Worse still, after those five nights, while the city was still in turmoil from the meteors, monsters began to massacre everyone in the city.

To no one's surprise, the city quickly fell.

Otto had a headache as he read the missions. Most of them were completely impossible, even for him.

Otto distinctly remembered his mission in his past life; the 'Medium' difficulty mission was to kill five monsters in the monsters' siege on the city, then survive and escape the monster horde.

For the him then, it was doable. Still incredibly hard, leaving him with barely any life after he escaped, but doable all the same.

These missions? Ridiculous.

Otto suddenly facepalmed. He had forgotten an important tidbit about the [Tutorial]. Releasing his magic from the [Tower's] control also disallowed him from using the [Tower Guide] which was enabled for almost all the newbies to help them complete their missions.

They weren't exceedingly helpful, but they gave the new summoned hints and occasional help about how best to complete their missions. Without the guide, Otto was truly on his own.

For Otto's missions, the opposing wolf king was a beast with extraordinary magic. In the [Tutorial] in the past, it was widely circulated that the 'natural disaster' that struck Bront City five nights in a row had actually been meteors summoned by him.

Though Otto didn't believe the claim, he was aware the wolf king was far, far stronger than he himself was.

Otto definitely couldn't face him.

The easiest mission out of all of them was undoubtedly to kill the 3,000 climbers.

But Otto sighed and shook his head.

Unfortunately, while he was apathetic to their fate in general, he also wouldn't stoop so low as to purposely kill so many himself.

Saving so many was even more impossible, and it was also unwise, as choosing this mission meant that others' mistakes would start to affect him as well.

Otto also had no way to stop the natural disaster for now.

In the end, he was choosing between rescuing the city from destruction and stealing the rainbow gem.

To him, it was a choice between a known hardship and an unknown hardship.

Otto felt confident he would be able to rescue the city. All he had to do was to find a way to get the higher-ups to intervene in the war with the promise of certain benefits.

Otto even knew where said benefit was located. Unfortunately, he had planned to take it for himself.

It was something he really needed, after all.

And people were always unpredictable; he might be facing even more danger if the higher-ups didn't listen to him, or tried to kill him after they found it.

As Otto thought it through, time was slowed and the world appeared in a gray color. It would resume once Otto had chosen his mission.

Stealing the gem would certainly not be easier. Otto had no information on the gem. That the mission specifically said to steal it meant it was owned by a powerhouse, and was bound to be tightly protected.

'Fuck it.'

He took a risk.

He chose to steal the gem. Who knows? If it succeeded, it might be worth excellent rewards, too. Otto's style was to never let an opportunity for greater strength fly past him.

The world returned to its original color, and Otto ran away from the town square where the summoned challengers were standing.

After another few hours or so, this place would become hell, as the meteorite was soon to strike.

Other challengers followed him.

Their missions were probably to 'Escape' or to 'Hide.' Their guides would help them figure things out, but even the dumbest folks with missions such as these would realize that in order to 'escape' or 'hide,' they would need to be escaping 'from' or hiding 'from' something.

Meaning that this something was probably very dangerous.

So they ran.

The other challengers, seeing people running ahead of them, looking slightly frantic, became somewhat frantic as well.

It descended into a mass stampede through the square where they had all spawned.

'It's the same as in the past.'

Quite a few were as fast as Otto when they ran, and a couple were faster than him. They likely invested more than one AP into speed, thinking it might save their life in a critical moment.

Otto himself was no slowpoke. Even a single AP invested into something meant a large growth in that attribute. Attributes were ultimately very important.

The difference was that Otto had been here before.

He knew where he was going.

Otto left the square and turned right. He was no longer at the front of the herd anymore, so nobody followed him.

His eyes glowed and he stole some clothes from a nearby shop to change into. Only with this could he blend in.

The military was on alert due to the monster attack. No one would be available to catch a petty thief like himself.

Otto continued running, jogging and walking down alleyways and crowded streets for two hours, doing his best to conserve his stamina. Occasionally, he got a few weird looks from native inhabitants, who perhaps felt it was impolite to run so flagrantly in broad daylight.

The city was medieval looking and styled with gothic architecture. Most of the city was running as usual, and most were going about their business without fear.

It was as expected.

They weren't a bit worried about the impending monster attack.

They thought the military had it under control, and their lives would experience no disruptions.

This attitude was especially prominent among those wearing finer clothing. When had these wealthy folks ever dealt with a major crisis?

Fortunately, Otto knew his way around the city. In the past, he had barely escaped the meteor fragments and run his way half dead across the city for a full night before making it out of the west gate along with other escaping nobles and civilians.

But the main reason he was so relaxed was because he had seen many similar cities in the [Tower]. They shared a common theme, for the most part.

With his vast experience, Otto made his way over to a small inconspicuous building across from the market.

He knocked four times on the door with a peculiar rhythm, hoping his guess was right.

Otto wasn't positive; he hadn't tried this in the [Tutorial] before. If this floor was set up differently, he'd have to take a more difficult route to his goals.

Luckily, his guess was correct.

The door opened warily after he knocked. An old, decrepit woman stood in a dilapidated room with a counter, carcasses of dead animals rotting behind.

No one in their right mind would eat meat that came from this place.

"The business is closed."

The woman's voice barely sounded better than a monster's growl. Her tone was apathetic, almost bored.

Fortunately, this place didn't really sell meat.

Otto paid her no mind and looked around, purposely saying,

"Give me a lamb haunch."

The woman's face twitched.

"No lamb, only sheep."

"Hm, sheep for the slaughter."

The woman finally opened the door fully, stepping aside to let Otto in.