The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage
chapter-20

Otto's vision shifted.

The grey room in front of him disappeared.

He now stood in a large, open space.

At first glance, it seemed to be the atrium of a church, or a temple.

The ceiling was high above him.

So high, in fact, that even with his new 'agility' attribute passively improving his perception, Otto couldn't see the top.

Beautiful windows painted with various pictures shone in vivid colors.

The colors coordinated brilliantly with the golden sunlight that streamed into the room.

It created a sense of serenity in the atmosphere of the cathedral.

The resulting scene was beautiful to the point that it almost seemed ethereal.

But Otto knew what Area 1 was really like. To him, it could only feel artificial.

He snorted.

Well, this what money could buy around here.

Normally, in a church like this, Otto subconsciously felt he should be standing on a marble floor.

But there didn't seem to be a hint of marble around.

Instead, a luxuriously deep red carpet rolled out underneath Otto's feet.

It led to a small, undecorated wooden altar near the head of the room.

Otto idly thought that the altar would look better as a throne.

And the throne would only be complete with him sitting on it...

Shoving aside his narcissistic thoughts, Otto looked around as he finally heard voices.

Slowly, people appeared around the room of the cathedral.

They were surrounded by the same yellow motes of light that Otto recognized as the [Tower's] teleportation.

A few immediately dropped down to the ground and just sat there, looking stunned.

One woman sobbed softly to herself, elated at having made it 'out.'

Otto barely restrained himself from rolling his eyes.

Yes, it was tough to adapt.

He understood.

He had been through it once already.

But to directly collapse on the ground after arrival in an unknown territory?

Was the [Tutorial] really that hellish?

And could she guarantee her safety right now?

Obviously the answer was 'no' to both questions.

Other folks surveyed the room cautiously and backed away from their neighbors.

They watched each other vigilantly, in case of a sudden attack.

Many more took the opportunity to speak loudly to the people who were arriving.

They boasted, criticized and lamented about their experiences in the [Tutorial].

Wondering how it was back home.

Otto simply stood, silently, and waited near a corner of the room.

He idly fingered his new ring.

He wasn't particularly interested in chatting with these people, in any case.

His eyes squinted as he looked around again.

Otto was almost positive he hadn't been summoned here last time.

From what he remembered of Area 1, his group was picked up by a guide in the lobby of an ostensibly fashionable, but in reality somewhat seedy looking motel.

Otto seemed to understand something as his gaze fixed upon the luxurious golden and silver decorations casually littered across the walls.

He looked around the room at the others to confirm his speculation, carefully analyzing the surrounding people one by one.

Otto soon discovered that they had one thing in common.

'They're decently strong for just coming out of the [Tutorial].'

Of course, decently strong was just that.

They had an additional 4-6 attributes compared to the typical new summoned.

Not even close to becoming a threat to him.

But with that, his memory was jogged.

'We must have appeared in the noble's district.'

The [Tower] sent them to districts based on the amount of money they were given as their reward…

Otto had a headache.

Since he had not forgotten after all this time.

What Area 1 was like.

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

Katherine smoothed out the irritation on her face as she strolled with firm steps into the Anise Cathedral.

She repeatedly reminded herself to look welcoming, accommodating, and charming.

Her high heels click-clacked on the floor rhythmically.

Today was an important day for her.

Perhaps it could even decide her future position in the Engalls family.

The Federation had yesterday notified her grand uncle, the patriarch and business leader of the Engalls family, of a batch of 100 new challengers who were set to arrive today at the cathedral.

Her grand uncle was a business-minded man.

He quickly sniffed out an opportunity.

And decisively paid an enormous price to the Federation to buy the rights to guide these newcomers.

Well, to be frank, Katherine wasn't planning on doing much 'guiding' at all.

Of course, she would briefly explain things.

Such as the situation they found themselves in and the basic information of the planet and the district, taking care to emphasize the danger that lurked around every corner of this new world.

All the while hurriedly looking out the door, smiling 'worriedly' as she spoke of her family currently fighting against the [Tower's] enemies…

As if catastrophe was only a few steps away.

Then, she would admit that she could bring only a few people away to her family, which ~just~ wasn't large enough to support so many people.

Of course, before they could take anyone away, they would have to be absolutely certain there were no spies.

Katherine's voice would turn hard here, like this was something her family had experienced in the past.

Anyone who wished to be protected would have to sign a contract stating they would not betray the family in the future.

(A hidden clause also forced them to relinquish most of their assets and labor for the family for a minimum of 10 years)…

In short, she would be putting on a grand play.

How would these new summoned know that they were currently inside a safe zone?

Not even she could attack them in this place.

Well, she would also be sure never to verbally admit that they were in danger.

Otherwise, the Engalls family could potentially be accused of fraud.

And while they had the money and connections to avoid being ultimately convicted, an accusation like that wouldn't look great for their business reputation.

Plans flew through Katherine's mind as she slowly stepped into the cathedral and smiled 'worriedly' at this group of geese who would give her their golden eggs...of their own volition.

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

Otto was reminded of the structure of the tower world while he waited for their benevolent 'guide' to arrive.

For purposes of convenience and safety for tower world inhabitants, the [Tower] was broken up into 10 large 'Areas' based on how many floors challengers had cleared.

Large meaning that these areas were the size of solar systems at the least.

Area 1 covered those who had cleared the Tutorial and floors 1-9.

Area 2 covered those who had cleared floors 10-19.

Area 3 covered those who had cleared floors 20-29.

And so on, up to Area 10 which was for the uppermost echelon of challengers: those who had reached and cleared Level 90 and above.

Area 1, where Otto would be living for the next while, was by far the largest.

It was the size of an entire small star cluster.

It boasted over 2 quadrillion inhabitants (2 million billion, for those who neither know nor care what a quadrillion represents) on over a million planets in total.

Area 1 was run by the Area 1 Federation, the ruling government in Area 1. They had been legitimized by the [Tower].

For the most part, the Federation enacted its will. They also created various laws and regulations from the widespread to the local that allowed for comfort, convenience, or by necessity.

Residents were separated onto planets by the living habits of their species or 'species type'.

Planets were as different from each other as day was from night.

Some life forms didn't need physical space at all, while other life forms were so big or so small as to require very specific needs.

A few species subsisted on things like energy, emotion, thoughts, and other intangibles.

Their planets were notably unique, even amongst the many different types of races found in the tower.

Other races were warlike and bloodthirsty, a lifestyle incompatible with the typical tower world environment.

They tended to circumvent the [Tower's] rules and requirements by creating their own spaces in the tower world where they could live and kill freely.

And still others were so long-lived as to occasionally force the [Tower] to even alter its own rules.

Otto wouldn't come into contact with any other races for now, though.

As the sector he currently lived in was used almost exclusively by humans.

Each planet contained approximately 2 billion individuals.

For various reasons, most planets were inhabited by more than one species.

As long as their general needs were similar enough, this system worked rather well.

Planets were each further broken up into 100 sectors, by species or subspecies.

For example, humans would live in one sector, dwarves in another, and elves in a third, with a few open areas that allowed interspecies trade and a communal environment.

Those were just examples; Otto didn't actually know if fantasy races such as dwarves or elves really existed.

Since contrary to the appearance of the [Tutorial], the tower world was decidedly closer to futuristic than medieval.

Only, all the 'technology' was made via magic rather than 'hard science.'

Each sector contained between 15-25 million people.

They were usually reserved for a single species to live together in relative harmony.

They were like small, self contained, semi-independent, peaceful nations.

Each sector contained ten appropriately placed cities.

Only these ten 'legitimized' cities would house a [Tower] approved safe zone. As such, they contained more than 90% of a planet's population.

These cities would be occupied by factions that had paid enormous sums to the Federation to acquire limited management rights over them.

Though their rights were limited, there were both monetary and political benefits to be had.

Most factions were able to set a few rules and establish some level of control over their populace, by fair means or foul.

This was only made tougher by the fact that all verified cities were largely placed inside a safe zone.

Cities also must exceed 500,000 individuals for efficiency's sake. They cannot exceed 5,000,000 individuals or they run the risk of overpopulation.

All this was mandated by the [Tower] itself.

Finally, cities were broken up into highly gentrified, [Tower] mandated districts.

There were always exactly 100 districts in every city, though populations in each district varied with both the city population and the wealth of the populace.

As for the situations inside the district, there were many Federation laws for such things: zoning regulations, required minimum level of public sanitation, etc.

Most of which were surprisingly similar to laws back on Earth.

Overall, it was a regimented, clear organization system for an utterly gargantuan population.

Something Otto had come to expect from the orderly, disciplined [Tower].

But beneath the surface level, dark things grew in the Area's underbelly.

The easiest way to survey Area 1's true situation was to personally observe the conditions throughout each district.

One would find a vast inequality. It was striking for, if nothing else, its sheer intensity.

If there was one thing that all of Area 1's challengers shared in common, it was their love of money.

Should the United States of America on Earth be considered a mild application of capitalism, the Area 1 Federation would be an incredibly stringent application.

Money was status, power, authority, and morality in Area 1. This was true no matter which planet a challenger visited.

Here, if a challenger had enough money, they were a god among men, while the only thing denoting an individual as a 'waste' was their poverty.

A business acumen was one of the greatest assets one could have in Area 1.

By contrast, those meatheads who knew nothing but fighting were relatively more despised.

Otto had initially found it surprising that money trumped real, actual battle power in this place.

How could money be more important than power?

Couldn't your money get stolen in an instant if you didn't possess the power to back it up?

Well, that was a surprisingly common misconception among new challengers.

First of all, theft was rare.

This was no primitive society. There were as many ways to protect one's money as there were ways to make it in the first place.

Even if one's money was actually stolen, a mandated [Tower] tracker installed on every individual within the federation made it almost impossible to escape.

Second, safe zones proliferated throughout the cities.

Since it was impossible to be attacked in a safe zone (to be precise, it was possible to be attacked, but it was impossible to get hurt from said attack), armed conflict could only happen in preordained zones where both sides consented to fight.

This happened fairly often, but since both factions needed to consent to the conflict, occasions where a powerful organization bullied a weaker organization weren't too widespread.

Of course, if that did occur, the most common cause was also economic oppression…

Anyway, the key point remained that money, not power, was king throughout Area 1.

Perhaps there were a few racial exceptions, like those incredibly bloodthirsty races or those races that didn't require money at all.

And once one stepped outside a safe zone, this law was also rendered null.

Well, those races didn't matter to Otto, as humans belonged to neither category.

As for stepping outside the safe zone, he would wait until he fully digested his current leap in power first before attempting it.

In fact, many Earthlings found it rather easy to adapt to Area 1, coming from a fundamentally capitalist-leaning world in the first place.

Some of them saw Area 1 as simply an obscenely large Earth with new intelligent aliens, advanced magical technology, and individual superpowers added to the mix.

Really, not too different at all!

Otto looked at the naive sheep in front of him and could only hope they would not be led too far astray...

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

Katherine's plan changed almost as soon as she walked into the room.

Her eyes were drawn to a single boy standing in the corner.

First off, his looks were otherworldly.

His straight black hair was chaotic and messy, but it somehow only served to accentuate his sharp jawline.

His face was currently angled a hint to the left... which revealed a tinge of collarbone.

Normally, not something Katherine would notice on a man.

His origin on Earth remained unknown, as his golden-tan skin was indicative of either multi-racial heritage or, more simply, a life spent in the sun.

A small smirk hung on his lips, revealing two small dimples.

His half-lidded, piercing blue eyes opened slightly as she walked in to bore deep into her soul.

Even the tattered and torn clothes he wore managed to highlight his slim frame and perfectly reveal the well toned muscle underneath.

Yet despite his looks, the reason Katherine had noticed him so quickly was none of these.

Her pupils constricted as she noticed a particular white ring on this boy's hand.

'Spatial storage ring.'

Her eyes widened in utter shock.

It took great effort for her to remain composed.

The boy's smirk deepened as he casually fingered his ring, looking for all the world like this precious artifact was completely devoid of value.

Of course, Katherine would never believe that such a valuable thing was disposable.

To anyone.

Rather, she thought he was either putting up an act, or didn't know the value of the thing he carried.

She couldn't bring herself to believe the latter, what with his meaningful smirk upon making eye contact.

Therefore, this douche was clearly putting up an act!

After all, that was a spatial storage ring!

It might be more valuable than her entire family wealth combined!

If he was a new summoned…

Katherine's mind whirred quickly to come up with a new plan.

Her eyes flecked with greed at the idea of owning a spatial storage ring.

If she got her hands on it, she would undoubtedly be the hero of the family.

Her position would rise, and those assholes she was forced to call brother would no longer be her problem.

But how?

Her previous plan to bait these newbies into the trap had too many holes.

She needed a bigger bait to catch a bigger fish.

Countless ideas flashed in her mind.

Honey trap?

No. He was too handsome. Though she was indeed rather pretty, she could admit she wasn't up to his standard.

Forcibly snatch?

No. They were still in the safe zone. She also didn't have time to call an expert thief here. It would never work.

Wait. Safe zone?

That's it! Once they were out of the safe zone, any number of things could happen! Hehe.

Katherine seized on this one possibility as she remembered that these folks were not yet registered as official Federation citizens.

They couldn't be tracked, which meant if they left the safe zone, they wouldn't even be alerted to the difference…

Katherine could barely reign in her inner joy as she thought of the possibilities.

She carefully controlled her smile to be light and amiable as she approached the group.

Otto couldn't help but laugh inwardly as the thoughts of his new 'guide' were completely revealed in her expression.

This girl couldn't be, what, more than 20 years old? Still too green!

He inwardly snickered again.

It was probable this woman was one of those 'aristocrats' that was born in Area 1 without ever knowing the land called 'Earth' that her ancestors spoke of.

Time worked differently here.

For the people back on Earth, it had only been a few weeks since the 'disappearances' began. Society hadn't even had time to collapse yet.

But here in the tower world, over 100 years had passed since the first Earthling challengers arrived.

Not that it mattered any longer, as there wasn't any way to return! At least, as far as Otto knew.

He watched as she began to speak.