The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

A screen popped up in front of the four of them.

It was surprisingly detailed, listing Jason's talents in order from best to worst.

[Jason]

[Major Talents: 2]

[Medium Talents: 3]

[Minor Talents: 4]

[Class Type (Hidden): Summoner]

Pure Magic Caster

Dimensional Element Magic (Higher Order Space Element Magic)

This hidden class type grants higher-order dimensional spells in their most limited forms to this rare breed of space element caster in order to call beings from across dimensions to fight for the summoner.

Jason's Talent Rating: 4.4/5.0

[Class Type: Space Mage]

Pure Magic Caster

Space Element Magic

This class type provides excellent maneuverability, powerful attacks, and a plethora of control options. It also requires heavy investment into the class holder's magical attributes to truly see its benefits. Relatively weaker on defense.

Jason's Talent Rating: 4.1/5.0

[Class Type: Swordsman]

Pure Physical Type

Sword Skills

This class type wields the sword and uses sword skills to battle foes up close and personal in melee combat. The swordsman is a difficult class for ranking up skills, but boasts one of the highest upper limits of any class types in the [Tower].

Jason's Talent Rating: 3.7/5.0

[Class Type: Knight]

Pure Physical Type

Sword Skills, Shield Skills

This class type boasts of great defensive might and powerful attacks. Usable with a number of weapons, but the most common is still the sword. The knight is a relatively easy starter class, but requires time, effort, and experience to become one of the [Tower's] upper elite.

Jason's Talent Rating: 3.7

[Class Type: Paladin]

Combination Type

Healer, Defensive Buffs, Sword Skills

This combination class type utilizes both energy and mana, allowing the class holder to cast healing and buffing spells upon themselves and their teammates. Though damage is typically lackluster, this class provides excellent survivability.

Jason's Talent Rating: 3.5

Four more talents, rogue, warrior, healer, and assassin lay under the initial five, but they weren't worth considering as Jason's 'talent rating' for them didn't reach 3.0.

Otto was visibly happy as he carefully read through the options.

In his past life, Jason had chosen on his own initiative to become a 'magic swordsman.'

It was a class Otto had seen him struggle with again and again, only for his efforts to go unrewarded.

Jason had always had trouble fitting the spell casting aspect with the swordsman aspect.

Now, he realized why.

'Magic swordsman isn't even on this list.'

In other words, it could be confidently asserted that Jason had no talent for this class.

Jason also pondered as he looked at the screen.

His face drooped a little, as he didn't see the magic swordsman on the list.

But he mustered his spirits.

"Big bro. I want to be a swordsman."

Jason's eyes were firm and unwavering; his stance set and determined.

He had the dream of swinging his sword around and cutting down foe after foe, standing on top of a pile of bodies…

But Otto snorted with laughter, and didn't hesitate to burst his bubble immediately.

"Do you know what a 'major talent' is, Jason?"

Jason scratched the back of his head and shifted his feet. He shook his head.

"It's an entire order above a medium talent. Everything related to your talent will come easier to you."

"If you choose a class that's close to or in your area of major talent, you'll pick up and use all the elements of your class quicker and more easily."

Otto suspected that he himself had a supreme talent for magic.

...Actually, if he was totally honest, he suspected he NOW had a supreme talent for something magic related, after he drank that potion in the [Tutorial] that significantly aided his mana flow…

"Jason,"

Otto looked him in the eyes, expression serious.

"I will do the best I can to make you as strong as you can get. In return, please follow my instructions and give your utmost effort to the best of your ability."

"You must choose a 'Pure Caster' type in the [Tutorial]."

"It will make it much, much harder for you to complete the [Tutorial] initially, as I'm sure Elliott can also attest to the uselessness of the initial spell."

"But the payoff afterward will be worth it many times over, especially if you follow our instructions to a T."

"Ramesthes and I will explain everything you need to know later."

"Do you understand?"

Jason pondered for a second before he gritted his teeth and decided to accept his brother's words.

No matter what, his brother had been in this world for a period of time already.

Jason himself had felt how strong Otto was now after his body had been slammed down so miserably on the ground.

Plus, he knew, deep in his heart, that his brother would always have his back.

His heart warmed.

"I understand."

Unlike Otto, Jason was never a particularly stubborn child.

Perhaps because even back on Earth he tended to rely on Otto the most.

He was used to following his brother's lead!

With that out of the way, it was time for Otto to move on to the next portion of the agenda.

Hunting for a new teammate.

Otto gave himself a time limit of two days.

After this, if he had no luck, he would split his soul four ways and make up for the attribute loss by training even harder.

The standards for challengers here in the pantheon were rather high.

But Otto's own standards were even higher.

At minimum, a challenger he was looking for must have cleared the most difficult mission on every floor crossed other than the [Tutorial].

And the [Tutorial] should have been cleared at [High] or [Very High] difficulty.

The challenger also needed to have a reasonably agreeable personality with the ability to partially integrate with his current team.

Otto knew his requirements were stringent.

But if needed, he would pay any price to get his hands on that one, perfect teammate.

He called Aeselvell to put a list of places together with haste.

Otto thought for a second before he first decided to call Clatenis.

He would have called Drennel first, actually.

But since the contract they'd signed (and subsequently broken) stipulated that her organization would provide team members for the three kids when they reached the fifth floor, there was no way she'd hand over one of her own people to him.

Clatenis, on the other hand, may be more willing to form a connection.

It wasn't as if the person provided necessarily had to be his own person from the start, in any case.

"Clatenis, I have a big favor to ask you. Are you available for a minute?"

"Toto, my goodness. You woke me. What could you possibly want so early in the morning?"

"I wish to find a suitable permanent teammate."

A pause on the other end of the line.

"I'm willing to pay any price."

Another pause, long enough that Otto suspected Clatenis had fallen back asleep, before the reply came.

"What are your requirements?"

"Challenger has cleared no higher than the fourth floor."

"Must have passed the [Tutorial] on difficulty [High] or above."

"Must have passed all other cleared floors on [Extreme]."

Otto could practically hear Clatenis raising his brow before a sigh rang out from the other end of the communicator.

"Those are... quite stringent. We do have a few in our organization, but I'm afraid I can't give them away."

"I'll see what I can do. Meet me at xxx in an hour."

Otto cut the communication amidst grumbling of 'did it have to be so early, what's the rush about, to wake an old man in the middle of his sleep,' and the like.

After he checked the time, he grabbed his equipment, making sure to keep [Ofrand's Boots] on at all times.

Now that he knew even the safe zones could genuinely be dangerous, Otto was determined to keep himself prepared for any eventuality.

And not even twelve minutes later, he discovered that this had been a wise move.

Right after he crossed into a teleportation circle located in a relatively remote location of the pantheon, a translucent purplish dome suddenly appeared above his head.

Immediately, ten beautiful, buxom women, none of them wearing all that much clothing, surrounded Otto in the center of an encirclement.

Otto looked around.

There was not a single bystander in the area.

Even with [Sense Life], he discovered that the nearest passerby was almost a full kilometer out.

It was a well-planned, secret ambush.

It was just…why did they use scantily clad women?

Suddenly Otto found an anomaly.

The life signature he caught from [Sense Life] was a few meters off of the visual position of one of the women.

His mind sharpened.

An illusion!