The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

Elliott tapped the glass of condensed water with a spoon, creating a loud clink as he continued to shout to the other participants,

"Selling super charged water, only 5 merits per 50 drops."

He walked through the sand yelling his voice hoarse.

In the process, he managed to annoy the other contestants.

Apparently, some of them weren't so happy to listen to Elliott's shouting.

"Oi, can you shut up, no one's buying your shitty water. Dumbass."

"Do you have to double my headache…"

"What the f*ck kinda water needs me to pay TEN merits for a bunch a drops, damn!"

But Elliott persevered, undaunted.

"Remember, this water is the only water available for when you're fighting the spiders…"

Alas, he was completely ignored.

He thought back to his special role, [Karmic Executor].

It was now the third day of his arrival to the second floor.

But it was only the first day he attempted to sell water.

Because he had received no donations in the first two days, merit prices had been tripled for two nights in a row.

Moreover, because Elliott had entered the lane with the most monsters for two days in a row, not a single one of the contestants in the group could even afford to rent the small house.

Including himself.

Since after prices tripled, it required over 100 points!

And the merit Elliott received from killing 200 monsters was reduced by 75% and came to only 50 total merit…

Thankfully, the one good thing was that the Throskarts still hadn't discovered that he was a human.

Perhaps they wouldn't trade with him at all if they found out…

"Free sample, 5 drops of water!"

The sound of footsteps entered his ears, and Elliott couldn't help but chuckle a little.

As soon as he announced a 'free sample', folks came running. It reminded him of Earth...

Thankfully, even feeding all 99 of them five free drops of water would barely make up an ounce of condensed water in total.

Moreover, once they tasted the five drops of water, trade offers kept pouring in.

"I'll give you a merit for fifty drops."

"Hmm I can do two merits."

"No more than a merit for me."

Elliott had a headache.

He priced them at 5 merit for 50 drops for a reason.

It was both sure to net him the necessary 100 cumulative merit, and allow him to either make extra merit or have extra water to drink in case of an emergency.

Suddenly, a Throskart young lady swaggered up to him.

Her clothes were a noticeable cut above the rest.

Though her face was slightly haggard, Elliott knew she was one of the strong ones.

The fact that she hadn't had a single glass of water since she'd arrived, yet was still able to walk normally in the heat was a testament to that.

The others who hadn't had water were all lying in the sand, having trouble even moving.

Occasionally, one would moan,

"Thirsty."

But that soon stopped too, for fear of wasting saliva…

The young lady immediately demanded,

"I'll give you 50 merits if I can buy your entire glass."

Elliott stared at her for a long second.

It was not a very tempting offer.

Although 50 merits would go a long way toward clearing the round, as long as he didn't die, it was short of the 100 he needed to clear the [Extreme] mission.

Elliott quickly shook his head.

"Sorry, miss. There's way more than 500 drops of supercharged water in this glass."

Her face was calm, her tone even, but her retort was sharp,

"Who would be willing to buy water from you if they knew your secret?"

Elliott's pupils constricted slightly.

He brought the young woman a few dozen meters away, out of earshot of the other Throskarts.

How did she find out?

There was no way she was bluffing, either.

The fact that she even knew he had a secret was testament to her knowledge.

His eyes narrowed.

'A young lady from a wealthy family, then?'

Elliott shook his head and thought,

'Well played, miss.'

Then, for the first time since he entered the floor, Elliott activated his innate trait.

He knew that if the others understood that he was a human, they would only buy from him under the threat of death.

Their own death.

But in that case, Elliott's own circumstances would likely not be too great, either.

Perhaps they would even blockade him from the lane he needed, sending him directly onto the chopping block.

[Survivor's Intuition] activated.

Just like in his conversation with Otto on the very first time they'd met in the holding room waiting to start the [Tutorial], Elliott suddenly had an instinctive feeling about what he needed to do.

It was also particularly strong.

Meaning that the situation was more urgent than he'd thought.

As he looked at the cunning glint in her eye, Elliott had a suspicion.

'She… was planning to expose me anyway.'

His expression darkened.

His face turned frustrated.

Perhaps his acting wasn't on par with, say, Otto's, but fortunately, it at least fooled this girl…

Elliott lowered his voice.

"Fine."

She stretched out her hand for the glass but Elliott raised his finger.

"The merits first."

The girl narrowed her eyes.

"If I expose you, no one will buy your water anyway."

Elliott smirked slightly,

"Then I will just have lots of water to drink by myself…if I can take the center lane already without drinking it, then there's no problem even if everyone finds out."

She stared at him for a long moment, before her eyes turned downward to hide her poisonous gaze.

Her lips moved,

"Fine,"

Well, she would just block this bastard from getting a single additional merit point as soon as she had the water in hand.

She quickly exchanged her 100 merits for 50 tradable merits and sent them to Elliott.

Elliott suddenly laughed.

He didn't extend the hand holding the glass of water.

Instead, he gave her a dropper filled with 5 drops.

His face was cheery,

"Here's your free sample."

The girl's eyes widened.

Elliott sighed.

She clearly lacked worldly experience.

Her face turned wrathful.

"You bastard human! You just said you'd give me the whole glass! What is this free sample?"

Her voice was loud on purpose, her eyes red with rage.

She was also fairly pretty, so other Throskarts couldn't help but sympathize with her a bit.

Elliott did his best to look as angry as possible, too,

"What, now I'm a human because I wouldn't give you the whole glass for free!? You're a lunatic!"

The girl's face reddened further.

"YOU…you are a human! Everyone knows it! Show them the color of your blood!"

Seeing the faces of the other Throskarts slowly turn doubtful, she practically couldn't handle the humiliation.

Elliott just wondered why her parents had let someone as naive as she was enter this game show…

"I can prove it!"

She barely restrained herself from immediately launching an attack.

How dare a human rip her off?

"Cut yourself, human. Your blood is RED."

"What, now I have to prove my identity just because you're a greedy, spoiled little princess?"

Elliott appeared even more enraged even as he secretly schemed.

"Fine, I don't mind showing my blood to the whole world!"

Elliott's audience comments went wild.

[Is it really a human?]

[whoa, lololol what if he is??]

[I seem to remember a human that looked sort of like him from the preliminary round…]

[No, he's definitely a Throskart. Look at the space between his eyes.]

[yeah, I just thought he was a kinda ugly Throskart…]

[Lol all stupid, won't we know in a second?]

Elliott immediately cast a spell.

[Vacuum]

Level 4

Leech all the air around a target to suffocate them to death.

Mana Cost: 32

Duration: 30 seconds

Cast Time: 2.4 seconds

Cooldown: 5 minutes

Except, he set the target as himself.

Almost immediately, he used a knife to cut into a particularly blue vein on his arm.

His blood poured down his arm and onto the sand.

Everyone was flabbergasted.

It was….blue?

Elliott immediately wiped away the blood and turned his face away in 'shame.'

He bandaged the wound (so they wouldn't see his blood turn red) before releasing the spell.

His expression was dark as he continued to speak.

"I have a rare medical condition called insticisplasmia that turned my blood blue when I was a child. You all called me a freak for so long, but even when I'm an adult, you won't let me go?"

Everyone was silent for a few beats before they awkwardly turned away.

Even the young lady who accused him was stunned.

Could she…have gotten the wrong person?

But then her eyes turned fiery again.

Who cared!

He still cheated her out of 100 merits!!

Meanwhile, Elliott's face turned towards the ground to hide the laughter in his eyes.

[Survivor's Intuition] never let him down!