The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage
Chapter 62: Evolution

Otto once again looked around to find himself standing amongst walls, floors, and a ceiling all in a familiar shade of grey.

He unconsciously relaxed his tension.

This was the [Neutral Zone].

There was no need to keep up his guard up here.

He closed his eyes and meditated serenely while he waited for the notifications to arrive.

To his surprise, he realized that he couldn't gather mana at all within this space.

His brows furrowed lightly.

He reached for memories of the past…only to find that he'd never attempted to cast a spell in the [Neutral Zone].

Otto did just that.

But there was no response from his mana...

Before he had time to feel shock, three notifications arrived.

[All abilities are nullified in the [Neutral Zone].]

[Would you like to use the Evolution Bead?]

[Would you like to select your Personal Trait?]

The questions hovered in the air on top of each other half a meter in front of him.

Otto didn't hesitate.

"Use the Evolution Bead."

[Affirmative. Evolution energy being extracted.]

[10%…20%…30%...100%.]

[Evolution energy fully extracted.]

A formless energy hovered in front of his body.

It was colorless and without substance, but it seemed to carry a sound of ripping and tearing as it approached his body.

Otto suddenly had an ominous feeling.

He braced himself for a sharp pain.

But despite the seemingly aggressive nature of the energy, when it entered Otto's body, he felt…almost nothing at all.

Suddenly, a warm sensation emerged from his heart.

It casually flowed through his body, reaching his internal organs, then his limbs, feet, hands, finger, and toes.

Everywhere it touched, his body seemed to change slightly.

Otto couldn't put his finger on exactly what was different.

The energy began to move outward, caressing his skin.

He suddenly felt as if he was wearing a skin tight wetsuit, like those used to dive deep underwater.

The sensation was slightly suffocating, but also oddly pleasant.

Everywhere the energy touched his skin, it started to darken, until his whole body exuded a healthy, sun-kissed glow.

No more deathly pale skin for him! Otto cheered inside. Fortunately, he doubted his good looks would be affected...

The energy moved upwards, towards his head.

It first hit Otto's senses.

Once again, Otto braced himself but was met with a lack of sensation. He even spoke aloud to hear the sound of his voice, before realizing that it, also, hadn't changed a bit.

It wasn't long before the energy rushed towards his brain.

This time, Otto noticed something.

But it was not at all akin to the sudden enormous enhancement in memory and calculation speed brought out by an upgrade to his innate trait.

Rather, Otto could only describe the feeling as an ocean wave continuously agitating, then draining the tension from his mind.

In no time, Otto was left feeling more relaxed and refreshed than he had since he'd returned to the past.

He sat down on the floor of the grey room and let the energy work through his body.

Finally, ten minutes later, after the energy had rushed through the entirety of Otto's body once more, the process was finished.

Otto received a series of welcome notifications from the [Tower].

[Congratulations. You have made an exceptional achievement.]

[Achievement Type: Racial First]

Description: First of your race to evolve.

+20 AP

Otto barely held back a smirk upon receiving this message.

But the notifications weren't over.

[Congratulations. You have evolved beyond the constraints of your race.]

[You have unlocked your hidden racial profile.]

[Current Race: Enhanced Human II]

[Evolved from: Common Human]

[Continue to evolve to: Enhanced Human III]

[See the branches of your continuing evolution. Sacrifice 5 AP to unlock the full list of branches for 10 minutes. Control your own evolutionary path!]

Otto's eyes bulged when he saw the final message which sounded more like an than an official notification from the [Tower].

For now, he chose not to make the sacrifice.

Well, perhaps if he obtained such a tool in the future, he could make the decision then.

It didn't look like he'd be deviating from the 'human' template for quite a while, in any case.

Then, a list of changes to his body was written under his racial profile.

To be honest, just like with his class 'Rainbow Caster,' Otto felt a little underwhelmed when he read the name of his new race.

And, just like last time, his hesitation was swept away upon seeing the rewards he gained.

[Common Human —] Enhanced Human II]

[Lifespan]

[Attributes]

[Racial Trait]

[Professions]

He swiftly sifted through the categories and read through them one by one.

[Lifespan: 150 years —] Lifespan: 750 years]

The first major change was, of course, to Otto's lifespan.

Actually, Otto was clear on the lifespan of a normal human in the [Tower].

Simply by being summoned to the [Tower] alone added 50 years to a human's typical lifespan.

But that was it.

Lifespan, according to the [Tower] itself, was beyond attributes.

No matter how many points a challenger put in [Sturdiness] or [Stamina], the two attributes previously thought most likely to prolong a challenger's life, there was no effect.

An old man at age 144 with one foot in the grave would still get stronger by adding such attributes.

But there was some mechanism at play that was beyond the control of attributes.

Within the next decade or so, there was a good chance that this same old man would be dead regardless of his incredible strength.

This wasn't to say that lifespan was beyond the control of the [Tower] entirely, however.

Many pills, potions, and even a few arrays existed to help prolong one's life.

Given, they were expensive, and most also came with some drawbacks.

For example, one of the least expensive pills Otto knew of tended to draw on a challenger's attributes to extend the challenger's life.

The challenger would live, but their strength would permanently weaken each year, each day they held on.

Another significantly more expensive pill would add ten years of life no matter what, but it could not be combined with any other solution.

So lifespan was a commonly understood tricky subject in the [Tower].

Especially for humans, who, as a species, had long envied these types of extremely long-lived races.

A few of these races lived so long, they neared the point of being immortal.

It was a feat humans couldn't replicate.

Well, for common humans, that was.

Otto's lifespan had just increased by 600 years.

He was filled with satisfaction, though he had expected such a change.

What good would an evolution be without an increase in lifespan, after all?

The next category was attributes.

[Attributes]

[Health Pool +150%]

[Health Regeneration +500%]

[Defense +150%]

[Resistance +150%]

[Stamina +60%]

[Stamina Regeneration +150%]

[Your innate potential has risen.]

[The cost of adding AP to your attributes has fallen significantly as a result.]

[Please check the chart below for details.]

[Key: From #-## in an attribute: it costs ## (before evolution) AP —] #(after evolution) AP to raise attribute by 1 point.]

[0-100: 1 AP —] 1 AP]

[100-200: 2 AP —] 1 AP]

[200-300: 5 AP —] 2 AP]

[300-400: 10 AP —] 5 AP]

[400-500: 20 AP —] 10 AP]

[500-600: xx AP —] xx AP]

…..

Otto just looked at the screens above him with dull eyes.

These increases…it was not enough to call them large.

They were enormous!

His health pool had doubled and added another half on top of that.

HIs health regeneration had been multiplied by six full times.

Six times!

Otto could essentially function as a tank in a team.

Well.

He scratched the back of his head.

Probably not in [Titled I] difficulty missions.

At least, there was still not a chance in hell he'd have survived that last explosion in the forest without his [Force Field].

Even Jackal had barely survived that, and his body was far stronger than Otto's, even considering Otto's slight edge in points after collecting the million point coin.

He idly wondered if he was progressing on the path of becoming a humanoid boss monster if this continued…

Suddenly, he felt a little smug.

What kind of boss monster boasted such powerful health and defense combined with such great talent for magic?

Even a group of hundreds of thousands would be swept away if they were weak enough.

Otto recalled how he just recently swept away a group of precisely that size and sighed.

Who…would be able to face him in the future?

A smile graced his lips.

The biggest benefit was not these.

Since the latter applied to all his attributes, not merely his physical stats.

He took a glance at the new chart detailing the cost of increasing his attributes, and 'scrolled' down the list.

The exact numbers of AP were not shown after he reached 500 in an attribute.

Still, he could see that there were numbers, even well into the tens of thousands.

Meaning it was theoretically possible to get an attribute that high.

Otto honestly still found it hard to imagine getting an attribute into the tens of thousands of points.

In Otto's past life, he had eventually, with much toil and struggle, made it to [Area 7].

Most of the folks in [Area 7] were considerably stronger than the common rabble.

This was easily evident just by taking the fact that they had climbed so far up the [Tower] into account.

These folks used to speak of a 'soft cap' in attributes at 1,000 points.

Apparently, after hitting the fabled '1,000 point slump,' the AP needed to get even a single additional attribute had skyrocketed exponentially.

Otto didn't remember the exact number, but apparently the AP required, which was already astronomical after hitting 900, multiplied 10 times over after hitting 1,000, leading challengers to abandon their highest attribute and focus on 'bringing up the rear.'

Well, even in [Area 7] hitting 1,000 points in an attribute was merely a rumor.

Neither Otto nor they could speak conclusively about what came after.

Otto turned to the section under [Racial Trait].

[A racial trait is a personal ability that emerges under the effects of a 'major' evolution.]

[Racial traits vary from person to person, even among those of the same 'race.' The [Tower] helps guide best fit racial traits to emerge.]

[Racial Trait]

[Immersive Magic]

Your magic is resistant to penetration and interruption.

Otto grinned widely upon seeing that single line.

It was perhaps the perfect racial trait for him.

He hadn't forgotten how the woman clad in purple in the underground cave had continuously fought him on pseudo-even ground for such a long time.

She was proficient at magic interruption techniques.

Otto felt stifled and passive during the entire fight, because her mana would smother his spells in their proverbial cradle and interrupt him in the instant before they were successfully cast.

But now that his magic was resistant to this type of smothering, perhaps another purple-clad Throskart would be forced to lay down and die by Otto's hand.

Finally, Otto turned to the last selection of the list of enhancements.

[Professions]

There was only a single line here.

But even that one line was enough to make Otto's breath hitch.

[Added 1 profession slot.]

Adding professions?

This was something Otto had never heard of in his past life.

He had even thought that the rule was three professions, never more, never less, per person.

But they could be added via evolution?

Otto suddenly thought of the many professions he'd never gotten the chance to properly learn in his past life.

He closed his eyes and breathed in, then out.

His lips quirked up into a smirk.

"Looks like the possibilities…are endless."