The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

The space around him shifted. His gaze sharpened.

Otto looked around to find a familiar four walls, a floor, and the ceiling of his rented house.

His tension relaxed slightly as the familiar space enclosed him.

He had returned from the Golden Club meeting that had lasted a solid seven hours.

There was a lot to think about.

But Otto didn't have any time to ponder.

There were a few tasks he needed to get done immediately.

The first was, perhaps, also the most important.

To Otto, at least.

It even required him to briefly return to his virtual pod and enter his mental space.

He needed to calm himself.

To prepare his mind for what he was about to do.

Otto sat on the beach in his mental space and breathed deeply.

In. Out. In. Out. In. Out.

Because of his new, heavily enhanced constitution, his inhales and exhales came slower.

They synced in beautiful concord with the crash of the breakers on the shore.

The surging of the waves meshed with the timing of his breaths to put his whole body into one singular, wholesome rhythm.

His tension eased as Otto slowly began to empty his mind.

All of his worries: about the apocalypse, the upcoming floor, splitting his soul, the kids, began to ebb with the tide.

Otto sat cross legged on the sand in this state for a full 24 hours inside his mental space.

Once he felt fully relaxed, with a loose body and a nimble mind, he checked one of his new titles.

[Trailblazer of the Human Race]

May choose 1 individual from your home, Earth, to summon to the [Tower]. Restrictions apply.

Otto read through the title in its entirety and memorized everything carefully.

The restrictions were actually not so restrictive at all.

Basically, Otto could summon whomever he wanted from Earth, as long as he had the person in his mind.

That person's body would be remolded by the [Tower], the same way as if that person was summoned naturally.

They would become a challenger, with all the privileges that entailed, and would be summoned standing directly next to Otto.

However, as with other challengers, said summoned person would also have to complete one floor per year or pay the required penalty.

This did not include the [Tutorial], as the [Tutorial] apparently did not count as a 'floor.'

Otto knew that the longer he waited to do this, the more time would have to be made up.

So he steeled himself and closed his eyes.

An image of a boy with light brown hair and a sunny smile appeared in his mind's eye.

It was his brother.

Even imagining him in such detail sent a shiver of excitement down his spine.

But along with this came a pang of grief, guilt, and remorse.

Otto was glad he'd chosen to calm himself before summoning his brother here.

He let the emotions roll over him as he waited for the [Tower] to respond.

A second later, a notification appeared in front of him.

[Summoning Process Initiated]

[Time Remaining: 3 minutes]

The countdown began.

Otto shivered once again.

Three minutes suddenly felt like hours to him.

And at last, a figure appeared..

The first thing Otto saw was a pair of black running shoes, followed by a pair of long legs clad in grey cotton shorts.

Then, a black t-shirt until finally, Jason's face appeared.

Otto was taken aback when he remembered that Jason was actually slightly taller than he was.

Perhaps in his memories, he had accidentally made Jason shorter than himself…

Currently, Jason was holding on to a banana with peanut butter smeared over it.

Except, much of the peanut butter was smeared all over his face.

As if he was so surprised by the notification that he ended up smashing the banana into his face.

Otto stood stock still as the boy himself appeared.

The room was silent for a second as the two came to terms with what was happening.

Jason's eyes were similarly wide.

"Bro?"

He went over to punch Otto on the shoulder, expression practically begging for Otto to enlighten him as to what was going on.

As far as he knew, Otto was supposed to be at work right now.

But…this didn't look like his work at all!

So where were they?

How had he appeared so suddenly in a strange place?

Was that screen that appeared in his house...real?

Otto's reaction was practically poles apart from Jason's nonchalance.

For a second, he simply stood there and stared silently.

His chest constricted and expanded as he suddenly struggled with his breath.

No words came to his mind.

Meanwhile, Jason finally picked up that something was wrong.

His brother seemed a bit…different somehow.

"Otto? What's wrong?"

Otto's face was calm, as usual.

But suddenly, his lips curved upward, revealing a bright grin.

He wiped away the few rogue tears that had escaped his eyes.

His brother was here.

He could think about the rest later.

This was enough for now.

Otto ran over and hugged him tightly, squeezing Jason so hard he practically couldn't breathe.

Finally, Otto spoke, his voice almost too hoarse to spit out the words.

The words he'd wanted to say ever since he'd returned to the past.

"Jason, I'm glad you're back."

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

Jason stared at Otto with wide eyes.

"So this really isn't Earth anymore?"

Otto casually cast and held (yet another) [Lesser Fireball] on his fingertips.

"It's not a trick, Jay. It's really magic."

Jason abruptly got into a fighting stance in the yard.

Suddenly, he spun around once, jumped up and kicked his leg outward in a fancy move, perhaps from some martial arts movie he remembered.

He shot a grin in Otto's direction.

"How was my spin kick bro?"

Otto clapped before announcing drily,

"Wow, you're ready to take on the [Tutorial] now that you've got your spin kick down."

"Hehe."

His brother grinned brightly.

"I knew it!"

He shot Otto a thumbs up while Otto inwardly face palmed and thought that this silly kid would fit right into his team.

Thankfully, Jason wasn't actually lacking in the brains department.

Rather, he was just good at lightening up a room.

To the point that Otto sometimes wondered if he himself was really the smart one between the two of them.

Otto called Jeremy, Julia, and Elliott out from their virtual pods.

Julia was the first to arrive.

Her eyes lit up when she saw Jason.

Sure enough, the family genes didn't leave Jason hanging, either.

Of course, Julia tried to remain as professional as possible.

"Hello, it's nice to meet you. I'm Julia Nilsen."

She curtsied as Jason extended his hand with a bright smile.

"I'm Jason, Otto's brother."

Then he immediately turned around and wiggled his eyebrows at Otto.

"You know there's an old saying about this, I believe it goes something like 'don't shit where you eat,' bro."

Otto just glared at him, completely speechless.

Julia coughed and seemed to get his meaning,

"It's not like that, Jason. Otto is very respectful…"

But Jason winked at her, causing a faint blush to appear on her cheeks. Otto sighed and rolled his eyes.

Jeremy was the next one down.

Upon seeing a new face, he froze and slowly recalled what Otto had mentioned.

He stretched out his hand stiffly and bowed slightly.

"Hello, Otto's brother. I'm Jeremy. It is very nice to…"

Jeremy's expression was slightly constipated as he held back the torrent of words in favor of a polite veneer.

But Jason quickly interrupted him,

"Don't worry, I'm not a stick in the mud like him."

He jabbed his finger over to Otto, earning himself a smack on the back of the head.

Jeremy's eyes went wide. He patted his chest in relief and immediately hopped over to pepper him with questions.

"Thank goodness. So what happened? Did you just arrive from Earth? Are you also going to be part of the team? Did you already do the [Tutorial]?"

"Let me tell ya, I might not have passed if it weren't for your bro over there. I actually had to kill so many wolves!"

"But you know what Otto made me do?"

Jeremy began to narrate his experiences in the [Tutorial] entirely unprompted, as Otto's fingers itched to hit him too, purely for how much nonsense Jeremy could fit into a single story.

But Jason listened quietly, occasionally nodding and prompting Jeremy while Julia stood awkwardly to the side, wanting to interject but not really knowing how to.

Elliott came downstairs after a minute. After his introduction was completed, Otto clapped his hands to bring the attention back to himself.

"Every minute we spend here, and I won't sugarcoat it, we are wasting time."

"Time that could be spent on improving ourselves and our chances for survival on the next floor."

"You have now all met my brother Jason."

"Now, Jason is currently one month behind us. However I intend for him to train for a month in the virtual space before he heads to the [Tutorial]."

Julia instantly raised her brows,

"But isn't he also going to be part of the team?"

"Wouldn't he be too far behind?"

Otto shook his head.

"No. He will be able to catch up to us by the time we all complete the fourth floor."

Elliott's brows also furrowed.

"Are we skipping two months? But weren't we in a rush?"

Otto's eyes glinted.

"Indeed, we are in a rush. I can't tell you the reason right now. Only that I have gotten wind of some big movements from the higher-ups in the Area."

"However, it could also be said that this is a rare opportunity."

He looked at each of them calmly.

"The four of us will, after we pass the third floor, be participating in an Area 1 tournament called the [Constant Competition]."

"This tournament happens only once every decade."

"It lasts for two months in total."

"But…extra AP is awarded to those who perform well."

All three faces revealed surprise at Otto's announcement.

At this point, Jason looked at Otto.

"Bro, what IS the [Tutorial]?"