The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

A tall boy with dusty brown hair arrived in a town square.

He quickly looked around, only to find himself surrounded by hundreds of other people.

All of whom looked vaguely uneasy.

Notifications popped up in front of the people in the crowd one after the other.

Their eyes darted left and right, a subconscious test to determine whether their behavior matched everyone else's.

Then, they began to run.

At first, the pace was sedate, as challengers briskly walked or jogged in a single direction, guided by their official [Tower Guides] in whatever invisible form they took.

But as the movement grew more obvious, those left behind started to panic.

Within a minute, screams filled the air as mass hysteria took hold.

Despite himself, the panic that suffused the atmosphere also left Jason with a tinge of trickle-down fear as his vision was filled with terrified faces in every direction.

His brother had debriefed him on the important aspects of his mission from here on out.

But Otto hadn't told him all the details.

On purpose.

If he was being guided by Otto every step of the way, how would he ever be able to stand on his own two feet?

Jason selected the [Extreme] difficulty mission.

He clenched his fists.

He felt confident in his own strength.

But he wasn't planning on saving the city or anything noble like that.

No.

Jason chose the mission to kill the Wolf King.

He glanced at the crude map of Bront City sketched on the town square's central plaza, and disappeared from the eyes of onlookers.

A few watched his figure vanish right in front of them. They exchanged disbelieving glances, stunned at his speed.

Their eyes weren't even fast enough to follow him.

To Jason, it was only natural.

His speed dwarfed that of every challenger in the immediate surroundings.

Perhaps every single challenger in the [Tutorial] as a whole.

The buildings on the sides of streets blurred as Jason ran past.

It wasn't long before he arrived at his destination.

The town walls loomed above him.

His eyes were fixed on the military encampment, where a few larger buildings sat in the middle of a large circle of tents.

Right as he reached the entrance, his eyes filled with determination, he was stopped by a few particularly well muscled men guarding the road.

"Who're you, boy?"

"Official soldiers're the only ones allowed to enter from 'ere."

The muscular guy scanned Jason's thin physique up and down.

"You don't look like a soldier, boy."

He elbowed his comrade in the ribs, drawing a snicker.

Jason kept his composure.

"I want to learn how to fight."

The man rolled his eyes and huffed out a sigh at Jason.

"Listen kid, this ain't a place to go to learn some combat skills. Go to the training hall 'fer that."

He pointed down the road towards a small, dilapidated building with a huge yard behind.

It was a small building in the town far away from the market square.

Occasionally, the training hall was recommended by the [Tower Guide] for newcomers so they could spend a day or two learning the basics.

Even as the man spoke, a few challengers had already entered the building.

Jason shook his head.

"No, I meant I want to learn how to fight the wolves! To help fight them off!"

Of course, this wasn't his real goal.

But Jason didn't feel the need to expound upon his ulterior motives right from the very beginning.

The man scoffed and rolled his eyes.

"This ain't a joke kid. We fight for our lives against them beasts. You,"

He jabbed a finger towards Jason's chest,

"might die out there."

Then after giving Jason another once-over, he narrowed his eyes, but still muttered,

"And with that scrawny body, I don't think you'd'a be lasting too long, either."

Finally, Jason's temper flared slightly.

He purposefully raised his voice,

"Bet I'm still stronger than a big ol' oaf like you."

The muscled man cocked his head. Both of his eyebrows rose, and he looked more confused than anything else.

"You tryin'a pick a fight with me?"

His two buddies laughed loudly, causing a flush to appear on the man's face.

He scanned Jason more closely, but still couldn't see anything out of the ordinary.

Probably just another one of those 'noble' youths who was burning with spirit but didn't know how wide the world was.

The man shook his head.

He'd teach the kid a small lesson and leave it at that.

From his outfit, it didn't look like the kid was short of money, in any case.

And spirit alone wasn't something that would win fights.

"Have it your way, then, grubber."

"The name's Kev."

"Listen here, if you beat me, I'll get my superior and ask him to letcha in, okay?"

"If you lose, though, go back and stick to spending your dad's money. You'll get your chance to make a name for yourself when you get older."

Spend his dad's money?

Jason was a little taken aback.

His dad was buried in the ground back on Earth, okay?

He would also like to spend his dad's money…

Jason didn't respond as the man led him to a small outdoor arena just inside the military compound.

The two stepped inside of a small ring, as Jason took another look at his attributes.

Despite his training, he felt inexplicably nervous.

Since, for the first time, he wasn't in virtual reality!

He was fighting in the real world!

[Jason]

New Summoned

Health: 638/638 (1.02/min)

Stamina: 408/408 (4.25/min)

Mana: 370 —] 740/740 (1.98/min)

[Attributes]

Strength 17

Speed 22 —] 27

Stamina 17

Sturdiness 17

Mana Pool 37

Intuition 29

Magic Power 31

Regeneration 99

Kev was somewhat surprised to find that Jason's stance was polished.

'Maybe the kid can put up a fight.'

Kev prepared himself, then rushed to charge at Jason.

Though he himself was only a Level 4 Fighter, with the equivalent of 7 points in strength, his decade or so spent in the military had granted him an abundance of combat experience.

He could often take on Level 5 or Level 6 fighters and win, no problem.

His confidence was sky high as he approached the rather scrawny tall boy opposite him.

Suddenly, before he even had time to throw out a punch, Kev felt a heavy impact land on his stomach.

His body flew back almost four full meters.

His vision swam.

Kev found that he was suddenly staring at the sky.

Jason hadn't even bothered to cast a [Mana Bolt].

Since even with his great talent, the spell would take just over a second to cast.

It was faster to throw out a punch.

Only...he accidentally knocked Kev halfway across the arena.

Jason felt slightly awkward as he watched Kev spit out a mouthful of blood, struggling to stand again.

He immediately felt guilty and went to support him.

Jason was also surprised at his own strength.

He knew he was powerful, but this…

His fists clenched.

He grinned as he effortlessly lifted Kev onto his feet with one arm.

The two slowly made their way through the military camp, Kev guiding Jason to the primitive medical tent with the only healer on the military's 'payroll.'

Finally, Jason dropped him off and made to leave the medical tent and hang out with Kev's buddies while he waited outside the encampment for Kev to speak with his superior.

In order to enter the commander's good books, Jason couldn't half-heartedly wheedle or sneak his way into the encampment.

He needed something only the commander could provide: information.

As he left, Kev just stared at him for a second before he finally spoke,

"I think…you'll be plenty welcomed here, boy."

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

"Grrrrr"

SWISH

A boy's figure smoothly jumped out and over six approaching claws as he narrowly escaped from the wolves' encirclement.

The wind swept through his light brown hair, but even being attacked by so many wolves simultaneously couldn't erase the tinge of exhilaration in the boy's expression.

Jason dodged and weaved through the attacks like a swallow in the wind.

A smattering of hooting and hollering followed his every evasion.

He stabbed through the brain of the nearest wolf using the short sword Commander Zeller had loaned him for the week.

He grinned at the group of soldiers behind.

They continued to cheer happily at Jason's fight.

Well, it was hard not to be happy that they didn't have to risk their lives in every fight.

Since even their daily task which consisted of clearing the wolves nearest the wall, would occasionally prove dangerous enough to be life threatening for them.

Jason reveled in the feeling of combat, of real adrenaline pumping through his veins.

While it wasn't too different from sparring in the virtual space, fighting here felt more…substantial somehow.

He sliced off the paw of a wolf that swiped at him.

It then immediately reared back, howling in pain before Jason put it out of its misery by cleanly separating its head from its shoulders.

Jason focused on fending off the wolves nearest to him, making sure he employed his full concentration, even though these wolves lacked the attributes to present him with a proper challenge.

It took him another thirty seconds before 11 wolf corpses lay motionless, bleeding profusely on the ground in front of him.

Jason stared at their corpses with complicated emotions.

In the end, he settled on a vague, mumbled sentence,

"Rest in peace," before he left with the other soldiers.

But this time, he didn't follow them back to the military camp.

Tonight, Jason had other plans.

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