The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage
chapter-33

Otto soon bid goodbye to Aeselvell before informing her that he would be clearing a floor.

It was more of a courtesy from employer to employee then a friendly parting.

Not that it was needed.

One thing Otto liked about clearing floors was the uniformity of the whole thing.

No matter how long he took on the inside of wherever the floor's portal led to, it would only last an hour in Area 1.

Thus, the Area would not feel his absence for very long.

Otto watched as Elliott, Julia, and Jeremy stepped into the portals.

Jeremy suddenly turned around and waved at Otto with a teary face, earning himself a smack on the head and a chide,

"You're not going to die, stupid."

Then, they were gone.

Their preparations were made.

Otto had more or less finished everything he could do as well.

He stepped in the portal and was flashed away.

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

Otto opened his eyes to find himself standing in a forest.

The forest was filled with brilliant colors, though they were not the colors of a typical forest found on Earth.

Trees sprung up like weeds all around where Otto stood, their trunks colored a deep, mossy-green.

Over his head, their leaves spread out without end, forming a thin canopy of varied dark blues and indigos that covered the sky.

Even the plants and the ground were different.

It wasn't clear if these plants needed sunlight at all, for they seemed to have grown just as tall under the omnipresent shade, and they shone in brilliant yellows and neon greens that could never be found on Earth.

Meanwhile, the soil under Otto's feet was pure black.

Otto reached down to grab a bit of it, only for it crumble in his hand, not at all like the typical soft texture of soil.

He rubbed his fingers together and remembered this sensation.

Otto revealed a sinister grin as he looked around.

It was only after he heard a notification from the [Tower] that he began to speak, his voice dark and sonorous under the eaves of the crowded copse.

"This is indeed the first floor I remember."

This floor was quite unlike the [Tutorial], where the [Tower] basically dropped the challengers in.

There, other than a guide for the new summoned, they were essentially on their own, with a high degree of freedom to make their own choices.

On the first floor, their options weren't as varied.

Perhaps the [Tower] wanted to make up for this, or perhaps it was simply taking pity on the challengers, but its explanation upon arrival to the first floor was no longer vague and full of hidden meaning.

The world seemed to come to a standstill as the [Tower's] message echoed in Otto's brain.

[Welcome to Floor 1.]

[You have arrived on the island planet of Yzmar with the identity of a captured slave from the race of a hostile civilization.]

[The native inhabitants use this island planet to play a sort of... game.]

[It is a dangerous game where every action may dictate the course of one's future survival.]

[You are participating in this game for the first time as an 'enemy.']

[Please choose your difficulty.]

[Basic]

[Low]

[Medium]

[High]

[Very High]

[Extreme]

[Calculating…detected a 'Qualification.']

[A new difficulty has opened for you.]

[Please choose your difficulty.]

[Basic]

[Low]

[Medium]

[High]

[Very High]

[Extreme]

[Titled I]

Otto was intrigued. A new difficulty?

It was like a sip of water during a drought.

Otto was just lamenting that the rewards from passing the 'Extreme' difficulty were too low for the him of the moment.

And now a new difficulty appeared?

'Titled difficulty, huh? And there's a numeral after it. Meaning it's not the only one.'

Otto's lips curled into a smile.

His choice was obvious.

He selected 'Titled I' difficulty.

[You have chosen [Titled I] difficulty.]

[Your mission is being selected.]

It was only in the [Tutorial] that challengers were allowed to select their mission.

For all the other floors, the mission was either previously chosen by the [Tower] or was randomly selected for the challengers on the spot.

Otto deeply felt the [Tower's] hidden malice towards the challengers.

[Mission Selected]

[Pass the preliminary selection in the top 1,000 candidates.]

Otto sucked in a breath at this mission.

It was indeed worthy of being a step above the 'Extreme' mission.

The basic mission of the first floor was merely 'gather 50 points.'

The low difficulty mission was 'gather 500 points.'

The medium difficulty mission was 'survive for 3 days.'

The high difficulty mission was 'survive the preliminaries.'

The very high difficulty mission was either to 'gather 10,000 points' or 'finish the preliminaries in the top 50%' depending on who you asked.

The extreme difficulty mission was to 'qualify for the second round.'

It was easy to see just how difficult it was to survive this game.

Meanwhile, Otto had to best 49 million candidates and make it into the top 1,000.

This...wouldn't be easy, even for him.

Otto's eyes blazed with the fires of victory as he soon recovered his usual fighting spirit.

No matter the difficulty, he just had to give it his all!

Time returned to normal and the forest regained its unusual colors.

Before he could think more about it, Otto heard another announcement in his head.

It wasn't from the [Tower] this time.

The announcement formed words in front of his eyes and a voice echoed in his head at the same time.

[Hehehehe, are you having fun yet?]

[Welcome to the 218th iteration of the [Winning Token]. I'm sure most of you here have already heard this introduction, but…]

[I'm afraid the broadcast requirements force me to repeat myself each year! Sob]

His voice purposely sounded pitiful and bullied, arousing the laughter of the 'audience' watching the game.

[Hahaha, the game master loves to sound pitiful the most!]

[I love this show so much! He'll definitely reveal his true colors soon.]

[Ahhhh these poor ladies. Who can save my Gretta? She'll definitely be bullied when she meets those big strong men!]

[Nooo, hurry up and start! I wanna see them fight!]

Heedless of the comments, the 'game master' began his explanation for the audience.

Otto listened quietly to the game master's lengthy introduction to the game's storied history, after which he finally began to explain the game's rules and requirements.

[All 50,000,000 contestants have entered the preliminary round inside the first ring of our beautiful island planet of Yzmar.]

[Throughout the forest, millions of golden 'coins' are hidden. Each coin is worth a certain number of points.]

[Contestants need to find these coins to gather points and win the game.]

[Most coins are worth 1 point, but some coins are worth 10, 100, 1,000, up to the 'treasure coin' which is worth a million points!]

The game master gave an exaggerated gasp.

[If you find that coin, you're half way to winning already!]

[Alas, this game is not so simple.]

[Each of you have a small token around your neck. It should currently be glowing a colorless white.]

[The more points you gather, the deeper the color becomes.]

[Ah, but don't worry to all of those precious contestants whose luck is bad!]

[If you can't find enough coins and gather points, you have a very simple solution.]

[Just take points from others!]

[Touch another player's token to your own to steal one third of their current points.]

[Or…]

The audience waited with bated breath as the game master's tone abruptly turned sinister.

[Kill the other player to gain half of their points. If you're lucky, they'll even drop them all.]

[Well, the choice is yours, beloved contestants.]

[Ah, and let's not forget about our audience back home.]

[Contestants, make sure to show off your good sides to all of our hidden eyes, because your viewers can send you gifts! Who knows, they could get you out of a tricky situation…]

[And that's a wrap for our explanation.]

[Contestants in the top 1,000,000 at the end of the preliminaries will pass the preliminary round.]

Otto smiled wryly once he heard the explanation.

How could he forget this terrible survival game?

Challengers had another name for the 'Winning Token.'

[The Bloody Escape]

It was because challengers did not have the privilege of receiving gifts from the audience like typical contestants did.

They had been given the identity of an enemy from the start, and the game reflected that perfectly.

Usually, they would be chased as soon as other contestants noticed them.

It was partly because they were enemy civilizations in this world.

It was partly because contestants would always get an extra reward for killing a human.

Audience members were also not allowed to sponsor humans.

All things they needed, they must spend points to obtain.

And unless one's luck was particularly good, the only way to amass these points was to kill or steal from others.

Moreover, contestants' tokens had a hidden effect.

The token would strengthen the user's body.

The more points it had amassed, the stronger the effect.

It made the winning candidates more powerful, while the losers were forced to escape as fast as they could.

Challengers were usually losers…

It couldn't be helped.

They residents of this world were all quite strong.

In terms of attributes, the average adult fell between a 5 and a 10 on all physical metrics other than speed, which was between 2 and 5.

Furthermore, most of them could cast some sort of magic, though they were only able to use spells without elemental attributes.

As they gathered points, their strength would only be enhanced.

So challengers could only run, doing their best to enhance their own tokens to survive against the other contestants.

Unfortunately, the strengthening effect of the token was only temporary.

The token could not be brought out of this floor.

Otto's thoughts were interrupted as the announcer's voice was heard once more.

[Let the Winning Token…be found!]

And the game began.

Otto caught a glint of gold hidden amongst a few yellow plants.

The coin was worth one point, and was quickly absorbed into his token, which didn't change color at all.

Otto thought for a second and decided to first climb one of these trees to scan the surrounding area with both his eyes and his magic.

As he reached just under the canopy, his eyes fell on the surrounding dense forest.

With his supernatural agility attribute, his perception was extremely enhanced.

Otto found over a hundred coins near him using his sight alone.

He also cast the spell [Sense Life] to detect nearby humanoids.

Otto knew he had taken on the role of an enemy on this floor.

But he preferred to play the role of a hunter rather than that of prey.

So he decided to be proactive and search for his future 'grain storage' in advance.

The spell was now level 10, as it hadn't been upgraded to its 'unlimited' version yet.

[Sense Life]

Light Element

Level 10

Send a light pulse around caster to detect: life forms, intelligent life forms, enemy life forms, or specific life forms.

Mana Cost: Depends on distance

Cast Time: Instant

No Cooldown

Information flooded his mind as he successfully cast the spell and set it to detect intelligent life.

Hundreds of signals were detected, scattered in various areas in all directions from him.

A few of them were even already fighting for the limited number of points they'd already gathered.

Otto's lips quirked.

It was too early in the game for him to create a scheme.

He decided to first collect all the coins laying about around him.

His figure flashed as he scurried down the tree.

Everywhere he walked, coins seemed to disappear.

Slowly but surely, his token got darker, from its original clear glow to a new, pinkish tint.

Otto also felt the sensation of his body get lighter and stronger.

It was the token's strengthening effect.

Otto periodically cast the 'Sense Life' spell as he collected coins.

His mana regenerated so quickly that it cost him nothing to cast, and allowed him to be aware of the location of all of his potential enemies.

Right as he finished collecting the coins in his surroundings, Otto's spell felt a pulse heading quickly in his direction.

A female humanoid figure entered the area.

She quickly spotted Otto, who had just finished scouring the area for coins.

Her gaze fixed on his token that was now sporting a light pink color.

Her eyes sparkled with greed.

With no hesitation in her movements, she drew a bow and started to climb a nearby tree.

This contestant looked human for the most part.

Perhaps the only difference between her and a normal human in terms of looks was that her eyes were much further apart on her head, granting her a wide range of visual acuity.

Other than that, her body was much stronger, too.

Climbing the tree took her a mere few dozen seconds in total.

But Otto almost laughed.

This person seemed to think he hadn't spotted her?

He quickly shot down that notion.

A fireball emerged from his right hand faster than one could blink and shot at the woman with the speed of a bullet.

He hadn't even looked back from where he was still digging out a coin.

Before she could react, the fireball reached her and smashed into her neck.

Her eyes were wide open with terror as she instantly burned to ashes.

Otto sighed as he looked at the one hundred or so points that were added to his token.

Indeed. Killing others for points was much faster than gathering his own.

He cast the 'Sense Life' spell once again before shaking his head.

Otto briefly considered immediately heading over to kill all the nearby contestants.

But he shook his head.

No, no, it still wasn't time yet.

His thoughts were interrupted as a small pile of coins appeared by the woman's corpse.

Otto's lips curled.

It seemed she had died permanently.

Contestants of this game could use their saved points to purchase almost anything, up to and including a revival, if they had the points to spare.

However, if there were not enough points for a contestant to revive after death, said contestant would die permanently.

Their remaining coins would also drop next to their body.

Otto picked up the coins and his token glowed briefly, fully transforming into a bright pink.

He pulled up the 'game' screen and checked his rank in the competition.

[Current Rank: 4,652,101]

[Top 10%]

[Good luck to the contestants!]

Words also scrolled across the screen.

Otto noticed he had already gained 3 'audience members' who were watching his feed.

[Did you guys see that magic? Holy shit, he cast that fireball so fast!]

[He didn't even look at the girl he just killed. Dang, how heartless to a beautyyyy.]

[Lolol he seems pretty strong!]

But the comments quickly turned malicious.

[For a human to kill one of us Throskarts…how shameful.]

[Keke don't worry upstairs, he won't last long…]

[Oh! Are you planning to…]

[Shhhh don't say it, he can read these comments you know!]

[Kekekeke I'll be waiting.]

Otto had a faint smile as he read through them.

The audience members were, quite frankly, a hidden danger that Otto had no way of dealing with while he was on the 'game show'.

Because the game wanted to highlight the high level of 'interactivity,' the audience could directly converse with the contestants they liked.

They could direct contestants to kill other contestants they didn't like, steer them away from enemies, and, if they had sharp eyes, even help them find coins.

Moreover, the best contestants would always be 'sponsored' by audience members.

The audience could send in food, water, various materials, and even weapons to help contestants.

Of course, purportedly for some semblance of 'fairness,' the audience couldn't directly send points to the contestants.

Otto understood what his dear 'audience' was doing now.

He was almost certain they were currently chatting in the rooms of nearby contestants, directing them to his position.

They wanted their fellow Throskarts to kill him.

This was part of the reason this game show was so hard for challengers.

Perhaps they'd even promised to sponsor items to said contestants if they killed him in a gruesome way.

None of the native species, the Throskarts, had any good opinions about their enemies, the humans.

It was only natural to show him hostility as a contestant who had appeared in their favorite game show.

But they were really dreaming if they thought Otto would be taken down so easily...

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

Jeremy was in a bit of a bind.

As soon as he'd entered the floor and received the [Tower's] and the game show's announcements, he was immediately surrounded by three Throskarts.

They yelled bewildering things at him in angry tones before attacking.

He felt a little confused at first.

He knew he would be treated as an enemy, but he hadn't known he'd see such visible anger directed at him.

Luckily, his combat instincts had quickly kicked in.

He slipped into stealth.

Before he even realized what he was doing, he had already slit the throats of all three enemies with his dagger.

The blood pouring out of them in waves hadn't even had time to cool before he came back to his senses.

His training had taken over, but Jeremy couldn't hold back the urge to vomit after the deed was done.

When his stomach was completely emptied of all its content, Jeremy looked at the still wet corpses lying on the ground.

A few angry tears fell from his eyes.

This wasn't virtual reality.

There was real blood flowing out from the bodies of his enemies.

He took a deep breath.

He imagined what Otto would do.

'Would he even care at all?'

His thoughts were a little glum.

Jeremy quickly calmed down, though, as his heightened senses picked up another four incoming enemies.

His stealth hadn't worn off yet.

Jeremy's red eyes hardened at the sight of their ferocious expressions.

It was survival of the fittest, the law of the jungle, or rather, the forest.

Kill or be killed.

He chose to kill.

Moments later, his enemies hadn't even had time to react before their throats were slit as well.

Jeremy's token slowly started to turn pink.

He also picked up the dropped coins from their bodies and added them to his token.

It was gross, having to pick up a bunch of coins beside a corpse.

But Jeremy knew that the points were key to surviving this game. He didn't let go of a single one.

Over a few hours, the process repeated itself multiple times, and enemies would often come to find him for what felt like no reason at all.

His stealth wasn't always activated, so there were a few particularly tough fights for him.

He was lucky that he had the potions Otto had made for him that restored his health, stamina, and energy whenever he needed.

Jeremy was practically undying, in this way.

The problem came when his token turned fully pink.

Whereas previous enemies were scattered, hunting him because of his race, and the additional fifty points they'd receive upon his death, new enemies came out of greed for his token.

Both their numbers and their strength was much higher.

Though Jeremy was also getting stronger by the minute, he didn't fancy his chances in a 1 against 100 fight.

He could only run.

Fortunately, Jeremy was nothing if not fast.

He had been running for five full minutes, and his enemies couldn't catch him.

Quite frankly, he should have outrun them long ago!

But it was as if they could predict his future path; wherever he tried to go would inevitably be blocked by an encirclement.

Jeremy was finding fewer and fewer places to run to.

His mind worked quickly.

Ramesthes had taught him that there was always a solution, it just depended on finding it.

Jeremy's eyes lit up as he had an idea.

If gaining points would make him stronger, he would just have to do his best to face them one at a time.

By the time he faced the biggest squad, perhaps he could become strong enough to genuinely solo against a hundred!

He abruptly turned around.

Time to fight!

He slipped into stealth once more and ran to face his enemies.