The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

Otto pulled out the evolution bead and gazed at it with some hidden reluctance.

Honestly, it would have been best if all of its uses worked on him.

Though he might still have shared, maybe he would have taken two evolutions for himself…

Alas, even such a marvelous tool had an upper limit.

One enhanced evolution per person, it seemed.

Unfortunately, Mirabelle's lifespan would also not benefit from evolution at all; her lifespan had explicitly been capped by the [Tower] itself.

Otto tore his eyes away and said,

"This is called the [Evolution Bead]. It was one of my rewards from completing the first floor."

Otto vaguely explained the bead's effects.

All four kids were stunned.

"Is this…possible?"

"Evolution? Does it mean, enhancing our genes or something?"

Jason's eyes widened,

"This is seriously something out of a science fiction novel."

Their expressions could not hide their excitement.

"Each of you can use a single evolution."

Otto thought for a second, before passing the bead to Elliott, first.

"While your performance on the first floor wasn't the most excellent of the three, I was impressed with your tenacity. You didn't give up even after you couldn't use the trait you relied on the most."

"So you will receive the honor of the first evolution."

"Hand it back to me when you finish."

Otto sighed and suddenly felt that even with the time dilation, he was increasingly busy.

None of the kids even had professions yet!

Ideally, they would also each get different professions than he did, so the team would be well balanced in the future…

Otto's thoughts were interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Delivery for Jeremy Smalls, Julia Nilsen, and Elliott Lastermann."

It was a palm-sized box with an enchantment inscribed in the front.

Otto took one look at it and smirked.

He brought it into the yard, then pressed his finger onto the enchantment.

The box suddenly enlarged by over twenty times.

The three kids also crowded around as Otto opened it.

First was a note written inside.

"I look forward to working with all of you in the future. Commensurate with your A-level contract, here are the resources provided for your training in the first month."

The note went on to detail the precise list of goods that were delivered.

As Otto looked in, the first thing his eyes landed on was three unadorned grey rings laying casually on top of the other stuff.

His brows rose as Julia and Elliott gasped.

On top of the rings was a note.

"Consider these three rings a gift from me to you."

They were spatial storage rings! Though they were only common-grade, Otto was impressed with Drennel's generosity.

Even common grade storage rings like these were exceedingly expensive…

Otto's eyes glowed as he rapidly sifted through the rest of the box.

Drennel really went all out this time, ensuring the three kids 'under her care' would be able to focus entirely on training for the next month.

How could Otto spurn her best wishes?

He gazed at Ramesthes in the background.

"Let's begin the training."

Leaving Elliott outside to use the [Evolution Bead], the others entered their virtual pods and began their intensive regime once more.

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Four figures streaked through the forest, chasing a lone figure who flitted rapidly around trees in front of them.

"Approach 50 meters in front."

"Shoot your spell in 3…2…1…"

The figure farthest to the right made a gesture with his hands.

A wave came crashing down to the ground in front of him, ripping through trees and dirt in its wake as it approached the lone figure in front.

A miniature cyclone soon followed it, stirring up the water while shooting dirt and debris straight at the man in front.

The noise from the cyclone also served to hide the other three's stealthy advance.

They sneakily, carefully moved through the trees to approach the man.

All three knew that this would be their only opportunity.

Three heads bobbed as they nodded at each other.

They took this chance to sneak up on him while the man was distracted from dodging the projectile debris flying at him from the miniature water tornado.

After the tornado's rage subsided somewhat, they moved once more.

Suddenly, the figure at the leftmost spot vanished, only to reappear 10 meters behind the lone man in front.

"Charge."

At the same time, the person in the back intensified her speed.

There was no attempt at stealth, whatsoever.

The man in front immediately went on guard as he heard her approaching footsteps.

A hammer appeared in the woman's hand, as she ruthlessly swung it down onto the lone figure.

Simultaneously, two daggers glinted slightly in the light and stabbed towards the same man from behind.

A pincer attack!

Before he had time to react, the ethereal voice of a young girl echoed lightly throughout the forest.

It was as if time stopped.

The speed of the two attackers increased once more.

But just as the man was about to be torn up by the weapons that were centimeters from his body, he raised a hand.

He looked up, and spoke stoically,

"Halt the exercise."

Ramesthes gazed at his surroundings, finding Jeremy and Julia in front and behind him in a pincer attack while Mirabelle buffed them.

Elliott prepared to cast another large spell in case of operation failure to cover his teammates' retreat.

A hint of pride laced Ramesthes's voice.

"Your teamwork was much better this time around."

"Still, a few notes."

"Jason, come down here."

Jason was busy watching the entire setup with wide eyes.

It was his one-hour break, but Ramesthes insisted on having him watch and learn from the teamwork exercise.

Typically, Jason trained separately from the others.

Since, for now, his attributes were not even close to their standard.

Well, considering he had yet to enter even the [Tutorial], this was still considered normal.

Actually, during the exercise, they had all been moving so fast that it was difficult for Jason's eyes to track them.

So instead, Ramesthes sat him atop a cloud looking down on the forest.

This way, he would get the 'god-mode' view of his surroundings, and was more easily able to watch and understand the exercise.

Of course, Ramesthes had played the 'enemy' in this scenario.

A couple seconds later, all five kids had gathered before Ramesthes.

Ramesthes turned his eyes to Jason.

"Now that you've seen them in action, what are your thoughts?"

Jason's face colored slightly at being put on the spot.

He coughed vaguely before saying,

"I think I have a lot of work to do to catch up with them."

"Indeed. But you've been learning from me for weeks now, and that's all you could tell?"

"Well, I thought their teamwork was really good! I couldn't see any noticeable flaws, other than one small thing."

Ramesthes raised his brows and nodded at him to continue.

"Mirabelle might have used that buff earlier, perhaps during the cyclone. I mean, I don't know, to cover up the sound of her voice."

"Then, the speed enhancement would have come a few seconds earlier, and you would have gotten hit by them during the most intense part of the cyclone."

Ramesthes raised an eyebrow, looking unimpressed.

"But then, wouldn't they have to dodge the debris as well?"

Jason's face reddened once again, this time in agitation, but he calmly replied,

"Julia could use her [Charge] skill which raises her suit's defense, so she wouldn't be worried about it."

"And Jeremy could make use of his brief invulnerability when he slips into stealth, and hit Ramesthes right after that second before quickly retreating."

He shrugged,

"At least, without any special circumstances, I thought that was the safest option to bring you down."

"Well, assuming you'd go down in a few hits if you were taken by surprise."

This time, Ramesthes loosened his stern face and a slight smile crossed his expression.

"Smart thinking."

He turned to the other team members.

"There was one other mistake."

"Jeremy, your daggers glinted, and reflected a hint of light onto my face for a fraction of a second before you struck."

"An extremely on-guard enemy might have noticed the discrepancy, and evaded your subsequent thrust."

"Be careful with the angle of your daggers in the future."

Jeremy looked to the ground, before he raised his head and replied loudly,

"Understood."

Ramesthes patted the boy on the shoulder as Jason turned to gaze enviously at the new suits worn by three of his teammates.

It wasn't the first time he'd done so.

These three black suits they currently wore were custom made by Drennel's organization to fit the requirements of Julia, Jeremy, and Elliott.

Each suit was silver grade and boasted powerful attributes.

More importantly, each suit came with special effects that worked perfectly along with the abilities of each of the kids.

Drennel had really outdone herself on this one.

Of course, officially, these suits were too expensive to simply give out, and were thus on 'loan' from her organization.

Unofficially, they were custom made.

It was unlikely any other challengers could make perfect use of them.

[A1 Suit: Jeremy]

Silver Grade

Agility +10%

+1 Backstab

+1 Flexible Stealth

Special Passives

[Slippery Suit]

Reduces duration of area control skills/spells by 33%

[Invincible Vanisher]

Adds 0.5 seconds of invincibility upon entering stealth.

[Sphere of Silence]

Blocks noises and smells from the wearer from contacting the outside world.

[Camouflage]

Suit changes colors to match the environment.

Special Actives

[Energy Thrust]

Instantly appear 10m away in any direction.

Cooldown: 10 minutes

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

[A1 Suit: Julia]

Silver Grade

Strength +15%

+1 Charge

+1 Explosive Hammer

Special Passives

[Berserker Enhancer]

Defense rises by 20% for every 10% decline in Health.

Strength rises by 10% for every 10% decline in Health.

[Super Charge]

Speed of charge increased by 100%.

Defense while charging increased by 100%.

[Stamina Saver]

Moving in this suit costs flat 10% less stamina.

Special Actives

[Knockback]

Suit emits a shockwave, knocking back the enemy.

Cooldown: 23 minutes

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

[A1 Suit: Elliott]

Silver Grade

Magic Power +10%

+1 Wind Blade

+1 Water Bullet

Special Passive

[Mana Absorption]

Passively absorbs mana from the environment, +50% to mana regeneration.

[Overload Spell]

Can add 25% more mana to spells in return for 40% more power.

[Add Focus]

Focus required for casting in this suit decreases by 10%.

Special Active

[Mana Spike]

Fully refills user's mana.

Cooldown: 12 hours

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

Each suit also came with a feature that Otto had really appreciated.

They came with potion injectors and pill dispensers that could be either completely automatic or manually controlled.

Moreover, each suit could hold five different potions and twenty kinds of pills, and the containers were heavily enchanted with both weight and volume reduction runes.

Altogether, they could carry 1,000 pills and 200 liters of potion.

It would be no trouble to fully equip them with all the potions and pills they needed on the second floor…