The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage
Chapter 4: Tutorial (2)

The potion tasted sweet, but felt like grain alcohol burning its way down Otto's gullet, sliding over to Otto's magic center.

It wanted to reach his mana.

As the potion flowed through his body, Otto didn't move. He calmly let the liquid fulfill its purpose while bearing with the pain it caused as it worked its way through his magic network.

Otto idly thought about magic while he waited.

The two most important organs in a person's body, the brain and the heart, were also the two most important organs for a magic caster.

The heart contained the bulk of a mage's mana inside it. This mini-organ within the heart was commonly called a 'magic core' or 'mana core' once a person started to use mana.

The brain directed the mana that was used to cast spells. Stronger mental power meant better control over spells.

There was no particular term for the brain in magic, though mages tended to call it the 'mind' rather than the brain.

Since not all species that used magic had brains.

Outside the mind that directed mana and the mana core that held it, the complex system of branches and streams that allowed humans to cast magic was generally known as a person's 'magic network.'

The magic network was individually composed of 'mana conduits' through which mana flowed.

These mana conduits were extremely important when casting magic. They needed to be wide, sturdy, and somewhat flexible to become a powerful mage.

The [Tower] would help with exactly that simply by raising one's attributes using AP. In fact, there were only a few attributes situated outside its control.

One of those was talent...

Otto's thoughts were interrupted as he felt an incredible pain throughout his magic network.

His mana conduits strained and creaked as if they would soon rupture.

Otto was alarmed. Even he couldn't help but grow slightly nervous as his mana conduits were at risk of breaking.

Broken mana conduits would render him a magical cripple. Very few special potions existed that could cure this condition.

His magic network was screaming in protest at drinking this potion!

The potion Otto had taken was designed to work on his mana core directly. As it improved his talent, it would forcibly purify his mana making it smoother, more powerful, and easier to control.

It worked by continuously expanding and contracting Otto's mana to release the tougher, impure mana stored within.

But Otto had neglected one key facet.

Had he taken this potion at his peak in the past, it would not have been a problem to expand and contract his mana like this.

But now, his body was basically still developing. His magic network composed of mana conduits was still immature and growing.

As such, using this potion would put an incredible strain on Otto's network. After all, the mana conduits had to contain all that expanding and compressing mana!

Inside his body, Otto's magic network, which originally looked like a series of streams carrying trickles of mana through his body, started to widen.

But this was only an incidental effect of the potion, brought on by Otto's developing body.

The real change happened to his mana itself.

When the potion came in contact with Otto's mana, it invaded all the way through his system like a pernicious virus unwilling to let even a single healthy cell go.

His mana instantly had a large reaction.

It expanded rapidly, forcing Otto's conduits open, then contracting until it was almost completely indiscernible.

As this purification happened, a large stream of dark-purple mana was released from Otto's body.

Fortunately, this was not a cultivation scene, so the mana didn't smell like shit and stick on Otto's body.

Rather, it was expelled easily and floated into the air surrounding Otto's body before dispersing and blending into the ambient mana.

After his mana finished contracting, it started to expand again.

The process repeated dozens of times, while Otto gritted his teeth to bear with the pain.

Fortunately, his conduits didn't rupture. The potion's energy seemed to sense the problem and spontaneously started to reinforce them.

The pain also lessened after the initial push, as his magic network adapted to the newly purified mana.

After an hour, the expelled mana started to take on a more normal, blue-ish tint, and the process was finished.

Otto let out a breath of relief.

Even with his ample experience, his forehead was still covered in sweat.

But when he examined his body to determine the exact effects, he smirked in delight.

Otto reaped many benefits from that tiny potion.

His mana conduits had widened, and even his mana core had slightly grown, giving him access to more mana that regenerated faster.

These were only incidental benefits.

The potion was for increasing 'talent' or the 'fluidity' of mana, not the 'amount,' after all.

'This must be a side benefit of taking it before my talent fully solidified.'

Otto quickly went through the motions of casting one of the two spells he had access to, 'Mana Bolt.'

His eyes widened.

His mana was so smooth! Casting was effortless!

This advantage wouldn't reveal itself until he started casting tougher magic, since he needed little concentration to cast the basic spells in the first place. But Otto could already feel the difference.

This potion would allow him to build the most solid foundation imaginable in magic, which was perfect for his future growth.

Otto let out a smile as he imagined his bright future, before calming himself.

He checked his status screen.

[Toto]

New Summoned

Health: 10/10 (0.01/minute)

Stamina: 9/10 (0.1/minute)

Mana: 100/100 (0.1/minute)

[Attributes]

Strength 1

Speed 2

Stamina 1

Sturdiness 1

Mana Pool 4

Intuition 1

Magic Power 2

Regeneration 1

AP: 0

Excellent.

His mana had grown by 20 points.

His regeneration had been multiplied by 5. Now it would take him merely 10 minutes to regenerate from a single normal casting of 'Mana Bolt.'

Otto circulated his mana, feeling filled with power.

He smiled with sinister intent.

'Time to hunt.'

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Otto stood on a plain covered with light brown grass. He surveyed the surrounding scene.

There were wolves everywhere.

But these monsters were barely a threat to the new summoned, who had few to no fighting skills, let alone Otto.

They were the dregs of their pack, and had somewhat gathered together in solidarity.

But there were too many, and they were too spread out to be a cohesive unit.

Otto counted at least a few hundred as he looked over at them.

Then, he glanced at the new summoned, the baby climbers who were rallying to fight them together, as if it were some great feat.

Voices could be heard throughout the plains.

"Mickey, if it takes this long to cast a spell, then at least aim it properly! What the fuck are you even doing?"

"Damn, don't just run at the wolves, pay attention to your teammates!"

"God, stupid b*tch, pay attention!"

Shouts like this continuously reverberated across the plain.

'Seems like their guides brought them to gain some combat experience.'

Otto mused.

He clicked his tongue.

Even now, it was surprising to him how quickly most of these people adapted.

Of course, there were many exceptions. But most of them were either booted from the [Tutorial] having lost one of their lives, or would soon be booted.

'Well, it's a good situation for me.'

Since they had been summoned here with no money, and thus no place to stay, it was only natural they were forced to come out here to hunt some wolves and sell their prey.

It was certainly something Otto could take advantage of.

When he had traded information with the Thieves' Guild, his prescient information was much more valuable than what he received in return.

He learned a few additional things, and the rest was traded in for coin.

You could say Otto was a reasonably wealthy man at the moment.

But before he could gather these adventurers, he needed to make an impression.

For that, he would definitely need to expend some mana. In the past, he might have felt annoyed by such a wasteful expenditure.

Now, his regeneration was much faster after ingesting the Talent Enhancement potion, so he didn't need to be quite as stingy with it, either.

Otto leisurely walked past the climbers fighting with the wolves.

One man saw him and silently shook his head.

'So what if they're weak, they're still wolves.'

He felt that Otto was sending himself to his own death.

The man turned his head away, not wanting to see the consequences of the boy's arrogance in the inevitable gruesome display.

But the scene he was expecting obviously didn't come.

"What the…?!"

The man unconsciously let out a shout as he watched the boy.

Otto evaded attacks as if they were air. First it was one wolf, then two, five, ten, and now a few dozen wolves were attacking him at the same time.

He kept up the same leisurely pace walking directly into the middle of the 'pack.'

The smile on his face looked increasingly disdainful as every single bite and tear attack seemed to miss him on purpose.

If these wolves were smart enough to surround him and cut off his escape, his evasion would not have looked nearly as effortless.

Now, the pressure on many of the fighters had decreased as many wolves had focused their attention on Otto.

He was the center of attention.

Not willing to waste the moment, Otto immediately took a full two seconds and charged the spell 'Mana Bolt' with its maximum 10 points of mana, then threw it at the wolves.

Normally, 'Mana Bolt' was a single target attack.

But that was not how Otto used it.

The mana bolt flew into the crowd of wolves and exploded with a deafening 'Bang' upon impact.

The shockwave from the explosion even hit the climbers who were almost forty meters away.

As he expected, the wolves were devastated. Most were dead. The rest refused to approach Otto, and rather fled as far as they could, even disregarding the prey they had been fighting in fear of him.

The new climbers took a look at Otto, shock on their faces.

He flashed some silver at them as he spoke,

"I have a mission for you."

They listened.

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

In merely two hours, the first group of challengers he had sent out returned.

They brought a large stock of materials, which Otto took happily.

He paid them the money he had promised and soon sent them on another mission, not before promising them even greater rewards for this one.

Of course, this mission was accompanied by danger, so it was natural that the money he'd have to fork out would also be higher.

Plus, this did not conflict with what their new summoned guides had told them, so they had no reason to decline in this situation.

Who didn't want to rest at an inn with access to bathrooms, showers, and food for a night?

Especially in this world, where they instinctively felt that danger surrounded them.

And no matter what world they were in, one rule was always constant.

Money talks.

Otto gathered the materials he had requested and immediately took out a small mortar and pestle he had procured back in the city.

He thanked his lucky stars that the city would not fall until the seventh day of the meteor strikes. Otherwise, all of his missions would be so much more troublesome.

Otto took out the herbs he had received and inspected them closely.

'Six star grass, blood yam flower, and mana rotation pixel. The qualities are rather poor, but this quantity should be more than enough for my purposes.'

He then took out a couple vials of blood he had received from the challengers.

'Horned rabbit blood is also enough.'

Finally, a silver liquid appeared in his hand.

This was the most expensive of the ingredients he had bought, costing a full 10 silver coins, enough for the average family to live off of for many years in the world of the [Tutorial].

'Juice of the spirit capture fish.'

It was expensive not because the spirit capture fish was naturally rare, but because it would typically be eaten by others almost as soon as it was born.

Otto didn't know how this fish had evolved, but its flesh and blood were fatally attractive to other monsters.

If it weren't for the fact that the city had decided to rear quite a few because of their many uses in alchemy, it was possible this species would be entirely extinct in the [Tutorial].

What Otto was about to make was actually a solution that revolved around this ingredient.

The other herbs and blood mainly served to balance and enhance the effect of its juices, making it spread further and last for an extended period of time.

The end product was aptly named 'Beast Lure.'

Otto sat and began to painstakingly mush the herbs the challengers had helped him gather into paste with the help of the horned rabbit blood.