The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

A/N: THIS SECTION CONTAINS SPOILERS FOR THE POSTED CHAPTERS SO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK :)

A/N (2): If you haven't read the story don't start with this! It's a reference if you forget some of the information dumps included in the chapters. Otherwise you'll be bored to tears before you even start xD

Contains information in no particular order.

[Tower Currency] from most to least valuable

Crystals (1,000,000,000,000,000 or 1 quadrillion or 1 million billion)

Inferior Crystal (1,000,000,000,000 or 1 trillion or 1 thousand billion)

Crystal Fragments (also 'Frags') (1,000,000,000 or 1 billion)

Alpha-1 Coins (1,000,000 or 1 million)

Alpha-2 Coins (100,000)

Alpha-3 Coins (10,000)

Beta-1 Coins (1,000)

Beta-2 Coins (100)

Beta-3 Coins (10)

Gamma-1 Coins (1)

Gamma-2 Coins (0.10)

Gamma-3 Coins (0.01)

Gamma-4 Coins (0.001)

If we set the 'Gamma-1 Coin' as having a value of '1' the rest of the values are displayed beside the name of the coin.

NOTE: Full crystals are the highest energy source of the [Tower]. Inferior crystals are the same size as crystals but made from 1,000 frags. The energy contained is inferior to full crystals.

[Area 1 Federation Currency]

Note: 1 Gamma-4 Coin = 100 Brock Coins

Brock Coin (1,000,000 or 1 million)

Small Brock Coin (100,000)

Smekker Coin (1,000)

Small Smekker Coin (100)

Wasnacht Coin- also called 'Wazzies' in slang (1)

Small Wasnacht Coin- also called 'Small Wazzies' in slang (0.1)

If we set the Wasnacht coin as having a value of '1' the rest of the values are displayed beside the name of the coin.

[Erkolls-13 Currency]

Note: 10 Dolera = 1 Small Wasnacht Coin

Dolera- (10)

Pencet (1)

General Information

[Tower]

Mysterious existence, everything is unknown. Summons races from across the universe to become 'challengers' who fight to the top.

[Challengers]

People who work on clearing floors to climb to the top of the tower.

[Repeaters]

People who have failed a mission, and must return to repeat said mission. They receive a punishment from the [Tower]. It could be anything from a debuff on their attributes, permanently losing AP, losing an equipment or weapons, losing an additional life.

These people must then challenge the mission at a slightly higher difficulty. Multiple repeats will result in correspondingly harsher punishments.

[Leeches]

People who have cleared a mission, but are commissioned by a faction or organization to harvest resources from certain floors. Tend to intentionally or unintentionally hinder true climbers who are trying to clear their mission.

They still must challenge a mission and complete it, but do not receive any rewards. If they fail, they will still receive a punishment but do not have to repeat the floor- the punishment will activate on the next floor.

[Trait]

A useful 'passive' skill or specialty. Some can be leveled up, others are more of a consistent bonus.

[Personal Trait]

A challenger selected trait. Picked once before the tutorial, and then once every ten floors. Selection can be postponed the first time to select a better trait.

[Innate Trait]

Specific trait that one is born with. Unique to each individual. Awakens after entering the tower. Can often be leveled up.

[Class Trait]

A trait that comes with one's class. Sometimes unique. Classes typically begin with minimum 15, maximum 30 total class traits. Gain one additional class trait after every 10 floors.

[Class Type: Physical, Magical, Combination]

Physical classes use the resource 'Energy' and can perform skills.

-Automatically gain a trait that doubles energy pool and energy compression

Magical classes use the resource 'Mana' and can perform spells.

-Automatically gain a trait that doubles mana pool and magic power

Combination classes use both 'Energy' and 'Mana' and can use both skills and spells

-Automatically gain a trait that allows one to learn skills and spells

[[Release Magic: Off] Button]

Button that gives the challenger control of their own mana. It allows them to cast spells by setting themselves free from the [Tower's] control.

[Attributes]

Actually, in the [Tower], different attributes would affect one's body in different ways.

Attributes were not an absolute metric, though they were close. Nor were they linear.

Strength would make your muscles bigger and more powerful.

Speed would make them tighter and give them additional flexibility and explosive might.

Stamina would supercharge your cardiovascular system.

Sturdiness made your body heavier, denser, more resistant and resilient to attacks and granted faster recovery speed.

Commander Zeller had quite a bit of strength and sturdiness, so his body was rather heavy. Thus, his '14' in Speed actually gave him approximately the same real speed as Otto's '10' in Speed.

[Speed versus Agility]

Speed as an attribute governed mostly, as was obvious, speed. On the side, it helped to slightly improve reaction time, flexibility, and acceleration.

Otto suspected it was mostly created to balance out one's heavier body when one's 'Sturdiness' was high. That way, one could be both fast and have high vitality and resistance to attacks.

But Agility was totally different.

As far as Otto knew, Agility was actually a hidden physical attribute primarily desired by rogues and other speed-based professions.

It still governed speed as a rule, but its main focus was actually placed on body control.

With high 'Speed,' one would be fast moving and quick reacting.

With high 'Agility,' one would be fast moving, quick reacting, super flexible, incredibly coordinated, acutely perceptive, acrobatic, and balanced in movements.

Otto had previously mentioned that with high enough 'Speed,' a challenger's base perception of time would slow down, allowing the challenger to react quicker and perceive things they normally couldn't.

But this effect on a challenger's perception of time was actually part of Agility's basic effect.

Agility also improved the range and sensitivity of a challenger's five senses, and even had a powerful enhancement effect on the elusive sixth sense.

And most importantly, Agility would allow a challenger to have the ultimate awareness of one's body and the space the body inhabited.

It was kind of like a domain.

Anything that twitched or moved near a challenger would be easily perceived if the challenger's agility attribute was high.

The benefits this would bring were mostly intangible.

However, Otto, who could barely be considered in the high echelon of challengers in the past, was aware.

This typically hidden attribute could easily make the difference between becoming a mediocre fighter with powerful abilities and a killing machine who steamrolled any resistance.

Mages mostly didn't consider this type of thing too important: they, all too often, stood in the back and rained spells on their enemies.

Something like body control was not within their consideration.

But as mages—and their enemies—grew stronger, only then would they come to understand the true value of powerful agility.

Unlike his talent as a mage, Otto knew his talent as a fighter was merely mediocre.

His natural agility attribute was probably somewhere between 3 and 7, and this was only because of his previous life's experience.

If Otto had 10 points of agility in his previous battle with the Wolf King, he wouldn't have needed to run out of mental power to briefly trap the monster in the array.

He would have been able to prepare a fraction of a second faster as he figured out where the Wolf King was headed and activated the array that tiny bit quicker.

Furthermore, he might never have gotten hit in the first place: one of the specialties of Agility was innate control over the body's movement and momentum.

[Attribute Evolution]

For an attribute, each 100 points marked a watershed: a large change in the performance of the attribute.

Up to then, it required 1 AP to increase each attribute by 1 point.

After hitting 100 and going through a metamorphosis, this also changed.

From 100 to 200, it required 2 AP to increase each attribute by 1 point.

Another evolution was hit at 200 points.

From 200 to 300, it required 5 AP to increase each attribute by 1 point.

From 300 to 400, it required 10 AP to increase each attribute by 1 point.

And so on.

AP became less and less valuable on higher floors.

Of course, the [Tower] compensated fairly for difficulty, too.

As a challenger climbed higher and higher, more and more AP would be rewarded for the successful completion of missions.

For example, on the 68th floor, Otto had merely passed the 'Low' difficulty, and still received 300 AP as his reward. At the time, Otto still considered this quite a lot of AP.

There were also other methods in the tower world to get AP.

If one drank certain potions, completed certain training courses, or joined a specific competition, as long as it was approved by the [Tower], it was still possible to gain a few additional AP.

It was just that it was so little compared to passing floors, and even these little methods couldn't be used endlessly.

[Hidden Magical Attributes]

[Psych] governed mental power. It allowed Otto to speed spells up and slow them down, twist them to target an enemy if an enemy dodged, etc.

[Control] governed the spell's power before it was released. This number gave Otto the ability to under- or over-charge a spell with mana to weaken or strengthen it to a certain point.

A higher [Control] stat would allow Otto to modify even higher level spells to suit his needs at any given moment.

[Fluidity] governed the fluidity of his mana. It was also an indicator for a mage's talent, and affected his cast times, cooldowns, ability to multicast, and more.

[Mission Difficulty Level]

One can choose the difficulty level of the mission they receive before completing a mission. There are six difficulties with six different rewards.

The higher the difficulty of the mission completed, the better the rewards.

Difficulties:

Basic

Low

Medium

High

Very High

Extreme

[Tower Guide]

Guide afforded to new summoned for their first time challenging the tutorial. Gives basic suggestions as well as tips and tricks to do a better job of completing the mission. Does not help in combat, but can provide certain clues.

Will not activate for those who release their magic or energy from the [Tower's] control.

[Otto's Past Life]

He stopped on the 69th floor because his potential ran out. He couldn't go any further. Was a powerful Wind Mage with a Bronze Class.

[PROFESSIONS]

[Alchemists]

To learn the official alchemy profession and get approved by the [Tower], a challenger must create a successful concoction without the official profession.

Normally, an apprentice will spend many years learning from an official alchemist.

To rank up in grade, the alchemist must fulfill one of two requirements: either all their skill levels must reach 10, or the alchemist must concoct a pill or potion one grade above their level.

[Alchemy Skills]

Refinement

Heat Control

Concocting

Solution Formation

Pill Formation

Ingredient Properties (not level-able)

[Pills and Potions]

There are two metrics to judge pills and potions, which are both works of Alchemy.

1) Quality speaks to the skill of the Alchemist who prepares the pill/potion and quality of the materials. Better quality pills/potions will have fewer impurities and better overall effects, but rarely to the extent of a drastic enhancement.

2) Grade speaks to the grade of the Alchemist, the grade of the materials, and the grade of the potion formula used. Higher grade pills/potions are much stronger than lower grade pills/potions, as lower grade pills/potions tend not to work on more powerful combatants. Completing a higher grade pill/potion can also indicate that an Alchemist has risen in grade themselves.

QUALITIES of Pills and Potions

Lowest

Low

Medium-Low

Medium

Medium-High

High

Highest

(Transcendent)- transcendent potions have 'transcended' grade and will experience a drastic enhancement of effects

GRADES

1-10, 1 being the lowest, 10 being the highest

[Magic Arrayist]

Magic arrays were markedly different from alchemy.

Whereas alchemy relied heavily on the [Tower's] skills to make pills and potions of higher grades and qualities, magic arrays relied heavily on the [Tower's] knowledge.

While creating a pill was still possible with their skills, creating an entirely new magic array was basically out of the question. It was too hard. Too demanding on their analysis and creativity.

For most people, both of them relied heavily on the [Tower] itself, so weren't much different ranking up in practice.

Whereas alchemy required endless experimentation and practicing continuously refined skills to create new ideas for potions and pills, magic arrays were more ephemeral.

They required the sturdiest foundational knowledge, innate creativity, and a talent for reading and controlling mana.

Otto satisfied all of these prerequisites and spent much of his free time on understanding runes, mana lines, curves, and shapes as well as their meanings, usages, and connections in order to draw arrays.

Though mana ink was not absolutely necessary when drawing arrays, it helped to empower them, and most importantly, served as stabilizers. This is what allowed them to last for days, months, years, or in some cases, centuries.

Array grades were actually more similar to spell circles than alchemy solutions that required higher grade materials to create higher grade potions and pills.

Basically, an array with a single circle in its two-dimensional form was considered a Grade 1 Array, an array with two circles was considered a Grade 2 Array, and so on, up until the theoretical ten-circle Grade 10 Array that Otto had never even heard of, let alone seen.

A two circle array was also qualitatively different from two one-circle arrays.

A one circle array needed to have a single sphere full of runes and connections. The simplest array Otto knew how to draw was called the 'Basic Light Array.'

It was the first array one learned on the path to becoming an arrayist.

The basic light array consisted of four runes with three lines each. Each rune formed a directional block 'Π' shape which was tilted up, left, right, and down in each of the four cardinal directions with the open end always facing outward.

These four runes were laid out in a cross-shaped pattern inside the array sphere and connected with two simple intersecting straight lines in the center.

When laid onto a table, it looked like a tic-tac-toe board if the square in the middle was composed of heavier strokes.

Now if this simplest array was to become a two circle array, it would increase exponentially in complexity.

The sphere containing this array would be placed inside another sphere containing four 'basic light' arrays.

The arrayist would now have to consider where to connect the five arrays for balance, the optimal configuration of the outer sphere in relation to the central array, how to maintain an even distribution of light, how the empty space in the sphere could affect the overall array, the length of the connecting lines, the power of the runes involved, how to neutralize the properties of the additional lines, etc.

In short, creating one two-circle array was typically well over a hundred times harder than creating two one-circle arrays.

Most arrayists couldn't calculate this. Thus, over time, they picked up a sort of intuitive sense for how the mana should connect and which lines to form.

[Exceptional Achievements]

Known achievement types include, from most common to the rarest:

Racial First (first of one's race to do something)

Mission (do an exceptional job on a mission)

Monster Hunting (kill an exceptionally strong monster)

Creation (create something the tower approves without its assistance)

Tower First (first of the tower to do something)

[Mage]

A magic caster is called a Mage in the tower world.

Mages can only manipulate a single element with their mana.

Common elements include earth, water, fire, and wind. Rare elements are light, dark, and space.

All mages can use [Null] spells unaffiliated with any element.

[Equipment Rankings]

The [Tower] ranked equipment and weapons in a simple manner.

[Common] equipment was easy to find. A sword bought from a normal vendor or blacksmith would be [Common] equipment. There was nothing particular about it.

[White] equipment was better. [White] equipment represented that an item was made well. The maker usually had some skill. It cost more than normal stuff, but it wasn't particularly rare or hard to find.

[Bronze] equipment marked the beginning of 'rare' items. Most decent climbers had at least one or two [Bronze] equipment.

These were tougher to get, but it could be achieved with an exceptional performance on a floor, or if one was willing to close their eyes and stick out their wallet in the [Sanctuary Cities] outside the [Tower] floors.

[Bronze] equipment was also the beginning of what climbers called 'attribute' equipment.

'Attribute' equipment, in addition to the equipment's natural strength, added additional attribute points to a given attribute when equipped, whether that be strength, stamina, speed, etc.

It reminded Otto of a game whenever he saw a sword that read 'Speed +2.' How could a sword increase his speed? Otto had never gone into smithing or enchanting, so he'd never figured out the mechanics.

He only knew that it worked. In later floors, attribute equipment would become increasingly important.

[Silver] equipment was a level above even that.

It had more attributes, or stronger attribute gains- this equipment was certifiably rare, and typically reserved for strong or lucky climbers.

[Silver] equipment would always be sold at extravagant prices, if at all.

[Gold] equipment was the strongest among regular equipment.

One generally had to be strong AND lucky to get one of these, and very few had more than one [Gold] item.

[Gold] equipment never really entered into the market. It basically couldn't be bought unless one boasted truly exceptional connections.

Above these grades was the [Digit] equipment.

The [Tower] ranked weapons and equipment within their categories. There was a section for 'Mage Staffs' 'Mage Boots' 'Knight Shields' 'Warrior Swords' 'Rogue Daggers,' etc.

Items ranked 1-9 were the very strongest [Single Digit] equipment.

Items ranked 10-99 were [Two Digit] equipment.

Items ranked 100-999 were [Three Digit] equipment.

Items ranked 1000-9999 were [Four Digit] equipment.

Beyond this, there was also the [Unified Ranking] that considered all equipment regardless of piece or class type. Since there were many more, the [Tower] ranked a total of 99,999 of them, which went up to [Unified Five Digits].

For example, [Ofrand's Set] is #1 in mage-only equipment sets, so it would be a single-digit equipment.

In the unified rankings, Otto knew it was also a single-digit set, here ranked #6.

[Ofrand's Set] would then be considered 'Unified Single-Digit Equipment' the rarest of the rare.

The point was that [Ofrand's Set] held extraordinary power.

Don't underestimate being #1 in an entire category. That category included millions, or even billions of sets of equipment. Just how powerful must a set be to come out on top of that ranking?

[On BOSS Monsters]

Grade 1 BOSS Monsters had quite a few special advantages over regular monsters.

The first was that their health was multiplied by 10 compared to a typical monster.

Second was that their health recovery speed was multiplied by 100.

The third was that their resistance was multiplied by 5.

[On the Tower's Grading]

The [Tower] graded missions in two primary ways.

First was the mission difficulty.

Passing harder missions would obviously give greater rewards. Rewards scaled with difficulty, with 'Extreme' difficulty theoretically granting huge advantages.

It was theoretical because there hadn't yet been a record of a human passing 'Extreme' difficulty.

The second was the mission grade.

Mission grades were scored from '1.0' which indicated a basic pass, to a '5.0' which indicated a perfect pass.

The mission grade didn't affect the basic reward, which was typically made up of attribute points and skills or spells granted by one's class.

However, it greatly affected the quality of the supplementary reward, which generally involved money.

Other than these two things, almost nothing was known about the [Tower's] grading process.

Even in the future, very little had been discovered about it.

[Bringing Items back and forth from Floors and the Tower World]

Actually, it wasn't impossible to bring items back and forth between the tower world and the floors. It was just that there were a few rules.

Things found on a floor that could be identified by the [Tower] were free to bring back and forth between the floors and the tower world.

If it could not be identified by the [Tower], it wasn't approved to shuttle.

This meant that currency from a floor could not be brought, because the [Tower] didn't recognize it as an item.

Frankly, even if it could be brought, it would be meaningless. The tower world used completely different currency than the floors, in any case.

As for items created in the tower world, they could be brought into a floor for a price set by the [Tower] itself.

The price would increase depending on the strength of the item in question.

This applied to potions, pills, and many other miscellaneous items.

But there was a restriction.

Items that could not be identified by the [Tower] could not be brought into the floors.

Basically, if the [Tower] didn't know, or couldn't figure out what it was, it couldn't be brought.

This mostly included things like 'soil' which the [Tower] wouldn't deign to identify, food, unless cooked as per a given lifestyle skill, and many other mundane items.

Alternatively, things created by an unrecognized [Tower] skill, even powerful things like a self-made bomb, would also not be allowed to cross the boundary.

There was a small loophole, though. If one purchased a 'Storage Ring,' one could pay a set price based on the mass and volume of the items stored within to bring everything inside into the floors.

This included unidentified items as well! It was just that the price was considerably higher for this route.

In general, actually, the price paid to bring items into the floor wasn't considered cheap. Usually it came to around ten to twenty times the price of the item itself.

This was an impossible burden for an individual to bear, with the exception of the incredibly wealthy, but for a faction or organization, it was not always out of reach.

The organization or faction these [Leeches] served must have paid a large price to bring in fifteen of those [Enhanced Berserk] potions.

[On the Strength of Various Classes]

Common classes, which were as their name suggested, very common, gave their users no additional attribute points.

This didn't mean they couldn't get strong, though.

On the contrary.

Rather, when they passed floors, the [Tower] gave them Attribute Points, AP, which they could then distribute to their attributes to increase them as they willed.

A more accurate interpretation was that their classes didn't give them any 'additional' AP for their growth.

Common classes typically also rewarded a challenger with a new skill or spell after every two or three floors.

There were even distinctions within common classes.

While none gave additional AP, the skills and spells they gave varied greatly, and some were known to be better or worse in the common perception.

Though it also depended on the difficulty of the missions they completed.

White grade classes were generally considered the 'elite' or 'premier' classes in the tower world.

Unlike White equipment or weapons, White classes were fairly rare, appearing in something like 0.1% or 0.01% of the population in the [Tower] world as a whole.

It was just, because there were SO many people, they didn't feel as rare as they actually were.

White classes started to give additional AP to challengers upon passing floors. They usually provided +5 AP to the primary attribute of the class, and +2 AP to the secondary attribute.

Plus, it was almost guaranteed to receive a skill or spell after every floor, though the quality still varied, usually based on the difficulty of the mission a challenger passed.

Bronze classes were extremely rare in the [Tower] world. No more than 1 person in 10,000,000 would boast of a Bronze class.

It was because Bronze classes were tough to get.

They required a challenger to complete a mission of 'Medium' difficulty of the [Tutorial] at minimum to even get a tiny chance to acquire a Bronze class.

The chance was higher if one completed a mission of 'High' difficulty.

Otto's class in the past was obtained through sheer luck, according to him.

It was called 'Wind Magister,' a rare class that amplified the power of wind magic.

Almost all of his spells were wind element spells, and his traits enhanced his wind magic as well.

Moreover, after every floor, Otto could choose two attributes to add an additional +5 AP to what the [Tower] had provided, and two more attributes to add another +2 AP.

At the time, he had thought he was blessed by the gods to get such an amazing advantage.

Even his spells were stronger than others at the same floor as him. If they could cast 'Breeze,' Otto could cast 'Gale.'

He had felt like a prodigy on the initial floors. Only after climbing as high as he could go did he feel his own limit.

Silver and Gold classes were even more incredible.

To get a Silver class, one must pass a mission on 'High' difficulty in the [Tutorial] at the very least. Even then, the chance to receive a Silver class was said to be extremely low.

It was much more likely to get a White or Bronze class even after a 'High' difficulty mission's successful completion.

A Silver class, meanwhile, added +10 AP to one main attribute, usually of the challenger's choice (though there were exceptions), +5 AP to a secondary attribute, and +2 AP to three additional attributes of choice.

A Silver class would also grant two skills or spells after passing each floor.

As for Gold classes, to Otto they had merely been hearsay. He had never met a person with a Gold class in his past life.

To obtain a Gold class, one must at the very least complete a 'Very High' difficulty mission in the [Tutorial]. Which, to the new summoned, was essentially suicide.

Actually, it wasn't that uncommon to initially choose this difficulty level. Some idiots thought they were hella strong or thought they would get damn lucky.

It was just, passing a mission of this level in the [Tutorial] was basically unheard of. Imagine an ordinary person with little to no strength being asked to kill ten of the main generals of the beast army.

The same ten generals that Commander Zeller had trouble fighting with. Even with a temporary class, it wasn't possible.

And unlike the lower level difficulties, missions of this grade wouldn't even allow one to form a team.

Of course, the rewards were likewise incredible.

A Gold Class supposedly provided +10 AP to two main attributes, +5 AP to two secondary attributes, then +2 AP to three additional attributes.

A Gold class would also grant three skills or spells after passing each floor.

[Area 1 Background Info]

For purposes of convenience and safety for tower world inhabitants, the [Tower] was broken up into 10 large 'Areas' based on how many floors challengers had cleared.

Large meaning that these areas were the size of solar systems at the least.

Area 1 covered those who had cleared the Tutorial and floors 1-9.

Area 2 covered those who had cleared floors 10-19.

Area 3 covered those who had cleared floors 20-29.

And so on, up to Area 10 which was for the uppermost echelon of challengers: those who had reached and cleared Level 90 and above.

Area 1, where Otto would be living for the next while, was by far the largest.

It was the size of an entire small star cluster.

It boasted over 2 quadrillion inhabitants (2 million billion, for those who neither know nor care what a quadrillion represents) on over a million planets in total.

Area 1 was run by the Area 1 Federation, the ruling government in Area 1. They had been legitimized by the [Tower].

For the most part, the Federation enacted its will. They also created various laws and regulations from the widespread to the local that allowed for comfort, convenience, or by necessity.

Residents were separated onto planets by the living habits of their species or 'species type'.

Planets were as different from each other as day was from night.

Some life forms didn't need physical space at all, while other life forms were so big or so small as to require very specific needs.

A few species subsisted on things like energy, emotion, thoughts, and other intangibles.

Their planets were notably unique, even amongst the many different types of races found in the tower.

Other races were warlike and bloodthirsty, a lifestyle incompatible with the typical tower world environment.

They tended to circumvent the [Tower's] rules and requirements by creating their own spaces in the tower world where they could live and kill freely.

And still others were so long-lived as to occasionally force the [Tower] to even alter its own rules.

Otto wouldn't come into contact with any other races for now, though.

As the sector he currently lived in was used almost exclusively by humans.

Each planet contained approximately 2 billion individuals.

For various reasons, most planets were inhabited by more than one species.

As long as their general needs were similar enough, this system worked rather well.

Planets were each further broken up into 100 sectors, by species or subspecies.

For example, humans would live in one sector, dwarves in another, and elves in a third, with a few open areas that allowed interspecies trade and a communal environment.

Those were just examples; Otto didn't actually know if fantasy races such as dwarves or elves really existed.

Since contrary to the appearance of the [Tutorial], the tower world was decidedly closer to futuristic than medieval.

Only, all the 'technology' was made via magic rather than 'hard science.'

Each sector contained between 15-25 million people.

They were usually reserved for a single species to live together in relative harmony.

They were like small, self contained, semi-independent, peaceful nations.

Each sector contained ten appropriately placed cities.

Only these ten 'legitimized' cities would house a [Tower] approved safe zone. As such, they contained more than 90% of a planet's population.

These cities would be occupied by factions that had paid enormous sums to the Federation to acquire limited management rights over them.

Though their rights were limited, there were both monetary and political benefits to be had.

Most factions were able to set a few rules and establish some level of control over their populace, by fair means or foul.

This was only made tougher by the fact that all verified cities were largely placed inside a safe zone.

Cities also must exceed 500,000 individuals for efficiency's sake. They cannot exceed 5,000,000 individuals or they run the risk of overpopulation.

All this was mandated by the [Tower] itself.

Finally, cities were broken up into highly gentrified, [Tower] mandated districts.

There were always exactly 100 districts in every city, though populations in each district varied with both the city population and the wealth of the populace.

As for the situations inside the district, there were many Federation laws for such things: zoning regulations, required minimum level of public sanitation, etc.

Most of which were surprisingly similar to laws back on Earth.

Overall, it was a regimented, clear organization system for an utterly gargantuan population.

Something Otto had come to expect from the orderly, disciplined [Tower].

But beneath the surface level, dark things grew in the Area's underbelly.

The easiest way to survey Area 1's true situation was to personally observe the conditions throughout each district.

One would find a vast inequality. It was striking for, if nothing else, its sheer intensity.

If there was one thing that all of Area 1's challengers shared in common, it was their love of money.

Should the United States of America on Earth be considered a mild application of capitalism, the Area 1 Federation would be an incredibly stringent application.

Money was status, power, authority, and morality in Area 1. This was true no matter which planet a challenger visited.

Here, if a challenger had enough money, they were a god among men, while the only thing denoting an individual as a 'waste' was their poverty.

A business acumen was one of the greatest assets one could have in Area 1.

By contrast, those meatheads who knew nothing but fighting were relatively more despised.

Otto had initially found it surprising that money trumped real, actual battle power in this place.

How could money be more important than power?

Couldn't your money get stolen in an instant if you didn't possess the power to back it up?

Well, that was a surprisingly common misconception among new challengers.

First of all, theft was rare.

This was no primitive society. There were as many ways to protect one's money as there were ways to make it in the first place.

Even if one's money was actually stolen, a mandated [Tower] tracker installed on every individual within the federation made it almost impossible to escape.

Second, safe zones proliferated throughout the cities.

Since it was impossible to be attacked in a safe zone (to be precise, it was possible to be attacked, but it was impossible to get hurt from said attack), armed conflict could only happen in preordained zones where both sides consented to fight.

This happened fairly often, but since both factions needed to consent to the conflict, occasions where a powerful organization bullied a weaker organization weren't too widespread.

Of course, if that did occur, the most common cause was also economic oppression…

Anyway, the key point remained that money, not power, was king throughout Area 1.

Perhaps there were a few racial exceptions, like those incredibly bloodthirsty races or those races that didn't require money at all.

And once one stepped outside a safe zone, this law was also rendered null.

Well, those races didn't matter to Otto, as humans belonged to neither category.

As for stepping outside the safe zone, he would wait until he fully digested his current leap in power first before attempting it.

In fact, many Earthlings found it rather easy to adapt to Area 1, coming from a fundamentally capitalist-leaning world in the first place.

Some of them saw Area 1 as simply an obscenely large Earth with new intelligent aliens, advanced magical technology, and individual superpowers added to the mix.

Really, not too different at all!

Otto looked at the naive sheep in front of him and could only hope they would not be led too far astray...

Otto's Spells: Description

[Mana Bolt]

Level 3

Shoot a mana bolt at an enemy for 60% magic damage.

Mana Cost: 1

Cast Time: Instant

Cooldown: None

[Mana Shield]

Level 1

Create a shield around caster to block a single attack equal to or under 100% magic damage.

Mana Cost: 2

Cast Time: Instant

Cooldown: None

[Lesser Heal]

Light Element

Level 1

Instantly heal one target for health equal 100% magic damage.

Mana Cost: 5

Cast Time: Instant

No Cooldown

[Lesser Rejuvenate]

Light Element

Level 1

Enhance health and stamina recovery of a single target by a factor of 10.

Duration: 10 minutes

Mana Cost: 10

Cast Time: Instant

No Cooldown

[Analyze]

Level 1

Use mana tendrils to read target information.

Cannot be perceived.

Cannot be blocked.

Upgrade of universal skill/spell: Identify

Mana Cost: Depends on strength of target

Cast Time: 1.3 seconds

No Cooldown

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