The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

Otto strolled back to the hotel in silence.

Though his expression was impassive, his eyes were slightly narrowed.

He fingered a small card in his hands.

In truth, despite his casual gait, it was impossible to find a single opening to attack.

His body and mind were on the highest alert, even as he continued to ponder the woman's words.

The fact that his conjecture that it was still possible to attack even in a safe zone was confirmed so quickly was alarming to Otto.

He didn't know if the attacker had used a special tool to attack, similar to the gavel he himself owned, or if there was another method of either circumventing or entirely ignoring the protection the [Tower] afforded Area 1 residents.

Either way, it didn't look like good news for him.

Danger began to slowly creep up around him.

Otto felt like he was embroiled in a deep conspiracy, somehow, the layers of which were still covered by a thick fog.

He had no idea who had attacked the woman, and only the barest of a hint as to why.

But there was still two pieces of good news to be found.

First, the people who attacked the woman probably didn't harbor any ill will towards Otto, at least for now.

He suspected that they had only attacked the woman at all to keep her from talking about the small bit of information she knew.

The woman had handed Otto a card before he left.

It was the same card that Otto was currently fingering in his hand.

The card was made of a type of card stock Otto had never seen before. Its color was a vibrant gold.

If Otto could use one word to describe it, it would be 'elegant.'

Two arrays and a single enchantment lined its surface as well.

The woman could see nothing unusual about the card, but as soon as Otto touched it, it lit up with beautiful hand-written calligraphy.

It reminded Otto of an invitation to a secret society.

As he soon found out, his guess wasn't far off.

The words on the card read,

"The Golden Club"

When he finished reading, new words lit up,

"13:5:38:7.00"

"Hold the card in hand to arrive."

"Disguise yourself."

The series of numbers detailed a date and time.

It was set for two days from now in the evening.

Otto truthfully didn't know what to think about the card. It was obviously an invitation to something.

But what kind of 'club' this was, remained to be seen.

Mostly, he didn't know what organization could conceivably be behind such a secretive club.

The two arrays that were drawn on the card were of a very high level.

They would take even an arrayist as accomplished as he a bit of time to parse.

Meaning they had been drawn by an arrayist who was only a few levels below Otto himself.

The fact that someone like this could even exist in Area 1 was difficult to swallow.

For Otto had essentially believed that he was standing at the absolute apex of the Area 1.

Though he wouldn't deny the invitation made him curious, even if the organization behind it was so mysterious...

Otto had a thought and sent the recording of the entire incident to his new 'business partner.'

Perhaps Clatenis had some level of understanding towards this incident.

The second bit of good news was that after the woman's scare, she had processed his security restriction upgrade with no problem.

Otto was now under a [Level 10 Security Restriction] along with the three kids.

Meaning that only the [Tower] itself would ever have access to their locations.

Making it that much harder even if this mysterious group ever did decide to attack him.

It had cost him almost 40% of his wealth from the [Tutorial] and the [First Floor] combined to upgrade.

But Otto had decided to convert a single crystal downward, refilling his coffers completely and then some.

Otto shook off his thoughts and continued walking towards the hotel, never once letting down his guard.

Thankfully, he arrived with no additional incidents.

Otto entered his mental space inside a rented virtual pod.

He planned to split his soul tomorrow night, after discussing it with the three kids.

Until then, he would not train his attributes.

He would have to save that for after he split his soul to minimize the losses and maximize the gains.

But that didn't mean Otto had nothing to do.

Instead, he took the few hours he had in real world time and magnified them by two hundred to train his spells.

A month passed inside his mental space before Otto reluctantly quashed his urge to cancel the 'fun activity' of the evening.

He exited the pod.

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

Jeremy's jaw was practically on the floor.

Elliott and Julia looked similarly stunned.

"This…is really what you meant when you said a 'fun' activity?"

The four of them stood in front of a massive arch that read

"Jormad's Rides and Family Fun"

Behind the arch was an extremely harmonious scene.

Kids yelled and tugged excitedly at their parents, begging them for 'one more!' as they chewed on a snack that resembled cotton candy and sipped various unhealthy drinks.

Teenagers came screaming off of the rides they had just been on, holding the hands of their companions tightly.

Even adults sported smiles and eager expressions as they walked from ride to ride.

It was one of Otto's absolute favorite activities in Area 1.

An Earth-style amusement park.

Well, it wasn't actually 'Earth-style.'

Only, Earth apparently wasn't the only planet that boasted an amusement park as one of the premier sources of entertainment.

It also wasn't completely similar to Earth's amusement park.

Each ride was rated very clearly with a set of numbers.

The rides for kids contained a large sign stating:

[Required Sturdiness: 1]

But there were also many other, extreme looking rides that read things like:

[Required Sturdiness: 15]

Even up to

[Required Sturdiness: 38]

For the most intense ride this theme park offered.

The three kids were already sold, just on seeing the colorful rides the park had to offer.

Jeremy and Julia had never been to a real theme park before.

Elliott loved amusement parks.

Apparently, this topic brought out his inner child.

He pushed the other two forward, and said to Otto,

"Hurry, who knows how big the lines will be in a place like this! We have to get to the best rides, first!!"

Otto only chuckled inwardly and didn't correct him.

Jormad's was one of the top-rated theme parks on the planet, and for good reason.

Its rides were thrilling and extremely well calibrated to people of all ages, sizes, and body strengths.

Moreover, they were also comfortable to the extreme, and very accommodating to ride on.

Yet this park was never crowded, for one reason.

It was too expensive! Only the wealthy could afford to enter.

Otto quickly paid the entrance fee of 12 Smekkers each and was promptly dragged over to the nearest ride.

A small smile alighted on his face.

Fond memories replayed themselves through his mind.

He'd first entered this theme park with a couple friends well after the apocalypse had arrived.

It was because he wouldn't have been able to afford the entrance fee, otherwise.

When he'd been back then with a group of comrades after exiting the 7th floor, more than half the rides were closed down for one reason or another.

Because although this area hadn't been breached by the Kinetice, the economy collapsing was itself enough of a struggle for businesses even on the central planet, such that they were forced to do everything they could just to make ends meet.

Otto shook off his nostalgia as he strapped himself into the ride.

He had a new team now, and there were plenty of memories to make.

Otto know he probably wouldn't be able to feel much from most of these rides, with his [Sturdiness] at a whopping 62 points.

But that didn't mean it wouldn't be fun!

Laughter surrounded Otto from all directions as the kids dragged him to ride after ride.

He rode on water rides that dunked them underwater, rides that rode inches above a lava river, traditional roller coasters, rides that used gravity to spin them all around, leaving Elliott dizzy almost to the point of vomiting, rides that dropped them from miles above the ground, and so many more.

Gradually, Otto's small smile widened further and further.

Until, by the end of the night, his smile had grown into a full-blown grin.

At this point, the laughter and chatter around him ceased as three pairs of eyes gazed at him in astonishment.

Jeremy immediately blurted out his real thoughts.

"Otto!"

Otto looked over questioningly,

"Your face!!"

"It's…smiling!"

Then, realizing what he had just said, Jeremy abruptly vanished into stealth, but not before covering his head exaggeratedly in fear of getting hit.

A peal of laughter came from his right before being quickly stifled, as Julia also seemed to have a bit of trouble holding it in, then a snicker from his left as Elliott also averted his eyes.

Suddenly, all four of them burst out into laughter.

Even Jeremy canceled his stealth and started yelling,

"That's right, you're always like an old man, you needed to take that stick out of your ass and loosen up sometimes! HAHAHA"

He didn't even notice the shadow that crept up behind him until a deep voice asked,

"What was that?"

Jeremy quickly burst into action, returning to stealth to run away, but his actions still weren't fast enough to evade Otto's reflexes.

He was, sadly, caught by the collar and hit upside the head too many times to count as Julia openly laughed out loud at him and even Elliott couldn't repress his snickers.

Jeremy, for his part, still couldn't understand why even though they were in a safe zone, Otto's whacks still hurt…

They walked back to the hotel, chatting and laughing.

Alas, all good things were destined to come to an end.

Right as they made it back to hotel, Otto's communicator began to ring.

He checked the screen.

It was Clatenis.

And he didn't look too happy….