The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

In the lobby of a reasonably luxurious hotel, Otto spoke to the three people in front of him.

All three paid rapt attention to his words.

"You three have successfully cleared the [Extreme] difficulty of the first floor."

A slight smile crossed his face.

"Congratulations. For today and tomorrow, you three will be on break as a reward for your outstanding performance."

He nodded to them,

"I assume you each have some of your own pocket money now, or do you still need me to supplement it?"

Julia and Elliott both hesitantly raised their hands.

Jeremy looked at them with disdain before Julia also elbowed him hard in the ribs.

Even as he shot an accusing look at Julia, he lowered his head and also raised his hand at Otto.

Otto shook his head and laughed inwardly.

'Seems they're already learning how to take advantage of the opportunities they are given.'

But he still prepared a small card for each of them.

"Okay, these should be enough for each of you for two days. I'll be back tonight to take you somewhere fun."

But instead of the excited expressions he expected, Jeremy's face began to pale slightly while the other two just looked confused

'Didn't he tell me it was supposed to be fun when we spent those twenty four straight hours hunting monsters in the [Tutorial]?'

'No way, is he really making us hunt again?'

Jeremy hesitantly began with,

"Th-thanks Otto, but I'm feeling a little tired so I'll probably go to bed early tonight."

Seeing Jeremy's expression of 'wanting to run away,' Julia and Elliott also chimed in timely,

"Yeah, it might be best for us to sleep a bit."

"I have some important, uh, women's stuff to take care of…"

They all dodged his gaze.

Otto fixed a 'glare' on the three of them.

"Sleep now, don't run around this afternoon. You're all coming with me this evening."

And that was the end of that, regardless if Jeremy groaned like he was about to be tortured.

"And tomorrow night, I'd like to have a long conversation with each of you about your experiences on the [First Floor] before we pick back up with training."

The three nodded as Otto left to run some errands.

He was unprecedentedly busy after the conversation at Dille's Garden.

One of the first orders of business now that Otto had attracted the attention of a real member of the upper crust in Area 1, was of utmost importance for both his and the kids' safety.

Otto arrived in front of a large pavilion inside the [Challengers' Pantheon].

It was one of the Federation's central offices in Area 1.

He needed to upgrade his security restriction.

Nothing good would come of any of the upper echelon being able to track his own position or the positions of Jeremy, Julia, and Elliott.

While now, it would be prohibitively expensive to do so for most small factions, even with a [Level 5 Security Restriction], for most larger forces, this cost was considered rather small, and, to some, would even be negligible.

Otto gave the receptionist at the counter a couple dozen Smekkers (prices were higher in the pantheon) and was immediately directed to a room where a lady was waiting for him.

She seemed to be rather nervous about something, though Otto didn't pay it much mind.

"Hello, I intend to upgrade my security restriction."

The lady looked at the boy who matched the description she was given and suddenly felt that all this was beyond her pay grade.

Still, she wiped the sweat on her forehead and squeezed out a smile.

Her smile looked particularly ugly.

Then, she steeled herself before taking another deep breath.

She cast a vaguely apologetic look in Otto's direction.

Otto abruptly felt that something was wrong.

His eyes narrowed and he furtively glanced at the corners of the room.

He didn't find it surprising that each of the magical 'security' cameras had suddenly broken down.

Before she could speak the words at the tip of her tongue, a large wave of mana erupted from Otto's body, and condensed into a single object.

It was one of Otto's new spells.

[Substantiated Mana]

Level 1

Condense mana into an object. Object must be perfectly recreated from memory. Object performance depends on mana control and creational validation.

Mana Cost: Variable

Cast Time: Instant

No Cooldown

It allowed Otto to create any object he had 100% familiarity with, as long as he had the memory, mana control, and complete understanding of all the inner workings of said object.

The only drawback was that…100% familiarity with an object was almost impossible to obtain.

Complete understanding didn't only involve understanding exactly how an object worked.

Just because one could explain how a radio works didn't mean one could fix a radio.

Just because one could fix a radio didn't mean one could put a radio together from only its parts.

Just because one could assemble a radio didn't mean one could create a radio from a hunk of materials.

And it was necessary to understand each of these steps perfectly in order to achieve 100% familiarity with an object.

In other words, although Otto was very familiar with simple magic recorders such as these, his own recreation was still so flawed that it became a consumable, limited to three uses lasting for no more than ten minutes at most.

Still, the spell itself excited him: its possibilities were essentially limitless with enough time and memory.

And didn't Otto have these two things in spades?

Otto pushed a button on the object, then said,

"Ma'am, please speak carefully. I'm recording this conversation effective immediately, seeing as the security features in this room have been tampered with."

The recorder he used quickly captured the footage of the downed cameras, as well as the conversation between the two of them.

Then, Otto said,

"I suggest you complete the transaction with standard professionalism."

However, unlike his expectations, the woman seemed to have calmed down slightly at his words.

She slowly shook her head.

"I apologize, sir, I'm afraid I have to ask you to come with me."

Her voice lowered, and she whispered as she looked Otto dead in the eye,

"I guarantee you'll come to no harm."

Otto was slightly taken aback.

What in the world was going on?

Nevertheless, Otto would definitely not accede to an unknown Federation worker's wishes.

Even if his security restriction was at stake.

He gently shook his head and replied,

"I'm afraid I can't accompany you. Please complete the transaction."

The woman seemed to agonize for a second.

Otto's confusion only increased.

Did she believe he would follow her so easily?

What was her goal?

Or, perhaps it was better to ask: what was the goal of whoever was behind her?

Suddenly, the woman's eyes grew clear, and her expression hardened before paling greatly.

She stood stock still as her entire body began to turn an eerie shade of grey.

Her expression was stiff. She looked like she wanted to say something, but couldn't move her mouth at all.

Otto watched in astonishment as cracks formed all over her body.

He abruptly recognized the symptoms of [Petrification].

Otto's instincts told him that no matter what, she couldn't be allowed to die like this.

As it looked like she was about to be silenced.

His eyes narrowed and he instantaneously threw out a [Lesser Heal] and a [Purify] onto the woman.

The safe zone wouldn't block these two light element spells which were used to heal, rather than harm.

He specifically added quite a bit of mana into his [Purify], in specific, and the cracks quickly began to repair themselves.

A bit of color returned to the woman's face.

Otto continued casting [Purify] and [Lesser Heal] simultaneously.

It was working!

A minute later, the woman was back in perfect health.

She finally regained her mobility. Seconds later, she slumped to the ground in exhaustion.

Her chest heaved with delayed breath, pupils dilated in fear, expression extremely grave.

Perhaps it was Otto's imagination, but he thought he heard the slight sound of someone clicking their tongue after she recovered.

But even with a cast of [Sense Life], Otto didn't detect a single disturbance.

He furrowed his brows.

The woman took a minute before she recovered.

Now, she looked at Otto gratefully.

She was conscious the entire time, despite being paralyzed.

After all, even if she was weak, she was still a challenger; her consciousness was slightly stronger than that of an ordinary human.

Then, before Otto could ask, the woman started to speak.