The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage
Chapter 5: Tutorial (3)

Alchemy was one of Otto's two serious passions after being summoned to the [Tower].

Whenever he got tired of fighting, Alchemy was the 'bookworm' type activity that Otto deeply enjoyed doing.

Alchemy was a subject oft seen in fantasy and games, comprising potion making, herb gathering, pill making, refining, and much more.

It wasn't too different in the tower.

In fact, the [Tower] helped make the entire discipline legitimate.

And as with most subjects validated by the [Tower], there were ranks and proficiencies to differentiate the wheat from the chaff.

It was well known that the rank of an Alchemist depended on the rank of the concoction he or she could make.

A Beginner could make a Grade 1 potion, an Apprentice could make a Grade 2 potion, etc., all the way up to a Divine Alchemist, who could theoretically concoct Grade 10 formulae.

Similarly, one who could make a Grade 2 potion would be considered an Apprentice Alchemist, one who could make a Grade 3 potion would be considered a Journeyman Alchemist, so on and so forth.

However, the [Tower] provided Alchemy skills for each grade. It was extremely difficult to make a Grade 2 pill with all one's skills at Grade 1.

Thus, the most common way to rank up in Alchemy was not to break through one's rank, but to get all of one's current Alchemical skills to Level 10, the highest level, resulting in an automatic rank up from the [Tower].

Alchemy was thus considered an official 'profession' by the [Tower].

Each climber in the tower could study a total of three official professions. Subjects included things like cooking, alchemy, tailoring, blacksmithing, farming, woodworking, enchanting, trading, etc.

There were at least a few hundred potential subjects to choose from.

Otto had chosen to study alchemy and magic arrays in the past and left the third slot unused.

Alchemy, in short, was the process of turning herbs and materials into useful consumables, including potions and pills, through a combination of magic and what Otto thought of as rudimentary chemistry.

These potions and pills could have all sorts of effects, from adding health, stamina, or mana, improving recovery speed, enhancing talent, attracting or repelling beasts, permanently adding attributes, inducing altered states, inflicting deadly poison, and so on.

Of course, there were many more steps to concocting, especially as one worked their way up the ranks of Alchemy, but to Otto, it still boiled down to those basic steps.

Back in the past, one of Otto's favorite activities was to research.

He would research new ways of making potions and pills and endlessly squander his wealth in trying to experiment with, improve, and ultimately perfect them.

Most were disdainful of his efforts in his first ten or so years. It wasn't until he had legitimately improved a common Grade 2 pill, the 'Perception Pill,' that he had received any sort of recognition.

Then, he made a metric buttload of money and promptly spent it all again to continually make and research even better potions and pills.

Actually, it wasn't that Otto was particularly persistent or stubborn in this case.

Similar to his goal of 'climbing the tower to the end,' Otto just wanted to discover new recipes and improve on recipes thought to be 'impossible to improve.'

He found such discoveries innovative and exciting.

It was a ruthless desire for knowledge. Ruthless in that it spared no one, up to and including himself.

But it was also this trait that made Otto rise the ranks until he was widely considered a 'Preeminent Alchemist.'

Otto had deeply abhorred this title. He had even seriously fought the woman who had publicized it for him.

Why?

How could he live in peace when people endlessly pestered him to help them make xx potion or xx pill, or help them with their alchemy skills on xx solution?

Otto snorted in annoyance just thinking about it.

Then, he firmly went over the recipe for this potion in his mind once more.

In the past, making something like this would have been a cinch.

But now, he didn't have the [Alchemist] profession from the [Tower], and thus had none of the required skills, either.

He was on his own.

It was as if you gave a toddler a bunch of assorted legos, and told him to build a 5 square meter castle with six doors, twenty four windows, and a moat surrounding 35 inch walls.

Even if the toddler had all the lego materials, what could he even do?

But Otto had the blueprint in his mind. In this case, the potion recipe.

Moreover, he had made things like this thousands of times in the past.

Basically, he couldn't be more familiar with it.

He quickly started refining the herb-paste based on his knowledge and memories.

This consisted of using the surrounding mana to slowly sense and eliminate impurities and imperfections in the paste that would harm the quality of the end result.

With Otto's new extraordinary talent for mana control, this step proved a breeze.

Unfortunately, he didn't receive the skill he wanted, [Refining I].

Otto sighed. It wasn't so easy to pick up skills simply by performing the motions.

Otherwise, wouldn't everyone have skills for mundane things? [Running] [Jumping] [Climbing] [Slashing] [Persuasion], etc. But even mundane skills like these were rare.

No, only specific and extraordinary actions would give birth to skills.

Barring that, they would have to be picked up the normal way: through skill books, or learning them directly through the [Tower]. Luckily, if Otto succeeded in making this Grade 1 solution, the [Tower] would recognize him as a Beginner Alchemist, and give him the corresponding skills all by itself.

Otto soon added a bit of heat from the fire under him to the solution with all the mushed herbs, and stirred for a while.

He poured in a glass of water, and steam quickly arose from the solution.

Otto was undeterred. He waited until the water dissolved before adding the final ingredient: the juice of the spirit capture fish.

The solution began emitting a tantalizing smell as Otto did his best to stoke the flames and quickly stir in the juice.

Thankfully, he had chosen a remote area to start concocting.

Otherwise, who knew how many beasts would have smelled the solution and already been upon him while he needed to concentrate on finishing the potion.

After another ten minutes, a large vat of steaming metallic green liquid was prepared.

Otto poured the liquid into a series of glass vials and corked them.

A notification appeared.

[Congratulations. You have created a Grade 1 alchemical solution.]

[Beast Luring Potion]

Medium Quality

Effect: Lures beasts in a 10 mile radius to the location. All beasts with limited intelligence are affected. Lasts for twelve hours.

'Success!'

Otto smirked before a second notification appeared.

[Would you like to use one of your Profession Slots for [Alchemy]?

NOTE: You have three Profession Slots]

Otto mentally agreed.

After all, he was already so good at Alchemy, and could work his way quickly through the Alchemy grades.

Plus, Alchemy was so useful, even up to the 69th floor where his strength ran out.

He wouldn't trade that in, even if it meant getting the opportunity to learn a different profession.

[Congratulations. You have become an [Alchemist].]

[Congratulations. You have made an exceptional achievement.]

[Achievement Type: Racial First]

Description: First of your race to gain a Profession in the Tutorial.

AP +25

While 25 AP wasn't much in the grand scheme of the tower, to the him right now, it was simply a godsend.

His plan could be completed much more easily with additional strength, after all.

Otto quickly distributed his new AP and checked his status screen.

[Toto]

New Summoned

Class: None

Profession 1: Alchemist

Profession 2: None

Profession 3: None

Health: 30 (0.03/minute)

Stamina: 30 (0.3/minute)

Mana: 400 (0.1/minute)

[Attributes]

Strength 1

Speed 5

Stamina 3

Sturdiness 3

Mana Pool 19

Intuition 1

Magic Power 5

Regeneration 1

AP: 0

His class and profession screen was now open.

Otto didn't need to check on the Alchemist to know he had already received all of the requisite Alchemy skills at Level 1.

The only proof he needed was the deluge of information on common herbs and materials that poured into his mind.

It was the effect of one new skill [Ingredient Properties I], that helped him understand and work with common monster parts and various herbs, as well as how to refine and prepare them for optimal efficiency.

As for his attributes, Otto put most of his points in mana. Mana was what he currently needed the most.

Even Otto couldn't do very much without a big mana pool.

He also added a few points to his physical stats so he could dodge if he needed, and may at least have one shot at not dying if he really couldn't dodge.

Otto didn't think it would come to this, but it never hurt to have a back up plan.

Even for mages, physical attributes were important. Especially for a combat-focused mage such as Otto.

He smiled.

His potion was made.

He started making his way slowly back towards the city before the meteors were scheduled to hit.

Looking at the sun, Otto estimated he'd have maybe three more hours to go.

Otto felt some tension in the air and smirked- his plan was almost in place.

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

The first part of his plan was rather easy.

Otto stealthily walked around the city wearing a suspicious get-up, sprinkling his beast luring potion all over the bottom of the walls.

Then, he immediately ran away to the next section of the wall and repeated the process.

It was a little strenuous to avoid the surveillance of the military guards stationed at the wall. They covered all areas of the wall at all hours, and would theoretically never miss an approaching beast.

But only a little strenuous.

Otto moved like a phantom despite his relatively lacking speed and seemed preternaturally attuned to the blind spots in the soldiers' vision.

It was only after he had circled the city and repeated the action many times, finishing off his beast luring potion did he finally stop to take a break.

He grinned as he heard loud roars of beasts from afar. The guards would soon be inundated with chaos, and the military would be rendered unable to interfere with the next part of his plan.

That was his only goal.

It may sound excessive to complete all of these preliminary steps before causing chaos in Bront City, but Otto was truly unwilling for the military to intervene.

The commander of the military stationed here was a direct subordinate to the royal family, and as such was very strong- perhaps just under the strength of the Wolf King itself.

Otto would definitely never choose to confront this person with the limited strength he had available right now.

Thankfully, the plan so far had gone off without a hitch.

Otto entered the city.

He strode calmly towards a specific inn that he had designated as a rendezvous point. It was for one group of new climbers he had set up as a task force for his missions.

"Mr. Toto, the mission was successful."

There were eight men and three women in front of Otto. The leading man bowed to Otto as he spoke.

All of them looked at him with eager eyes, making him chuckle.

He then brought out a couple dozen copper coins and distributed it evenly among the eleven people.

But the group of people didn't seem to want to leave even after receiving their compensation.

It was then.

The man in the lead shouted,

"Now!"

Eight other people jumped out from behind Otto and formed an encirclement. They weren't there to greet him politely, of course.

The man in the lead smirked with sinister intent.

"Mr. Moneybags, I'm afraid this is a robbery. Give up all your money, and we'll let you go peacefully. Otherwise, be prepared to lose a life here."

He looked exceedingly confident.

Was it the number of people that gave him such confidence? Otto idly wondered.

He sighed.

"How cliché. I'm afraid I'm too busy to be tangled with all of you at the moment. Plans to complete, people to meet, others to fight, after all."

"I'll let it go if you back out and pretend you never met me."

Otto's calm demeanor successfully aroused the man's vigilance. However, he wasn't about to let go of this opportunity.

This boy was clearly rich!! Plus, he wasn't lacking in the looks department.

Even this self-professed 'straight' guy couldn't help but lick his lips a little at the boy in his vision. So handsome!

Maybe they could just capture him and play a little...

The man was a thug and a convict back on Earth. Robbing others, **** and even murder weren't foreign concepts to him.

However, as the man had these thoughts, he felt his legs stick to the ground, rendering him unable to move. His chest caved as he felt a powerful pressure constricting his lungs.

The man felt like he couldn't breathe, like he was being stared at by a venomous python that had only just begun to reveal its fangs.

The sense of terror only served to enrage and embarrass him. He was even more unwilling to let it go. How could he be so scared by just a single boy?

They had almost twenty people here!

Instead of calmly backing out, his eyes turned red and he shouted,

"Attack!"

These twenty people were no organized squad, but it was clear they had at least some level of cohesion and cooperation.

Otto nimbly dodged two arrows that had arrived first with what looked to be superhuman agility.

Speed was an attribute that was more akin to agility than actual speed, though to be fair, it encompassed more than agility could.

With a higher speed, not only would running speed increase, but things like dodging, acceleration and unreasonably flexible turns were possible. Even reaction speed was increased.

Otto personally understood that with a very high speed, his perception of time would also slow; the actions of others would literally slow down in his eyes, giving him ample time to react and counter.

He wasn't at this level yet, but even a mere '5' in speed was something that these folks couldn't compare to.

Otto easily evaded the attacks and started casting at rapid speed. One, two, three, five, ten magic bolts quickly appeared in front of him and shot out at his attackers in turn.

All together, they cost a measly two mana in total.

One of the benefits of increasing his magic power was that he was now able to cause serious harm with a mana bolt fired with only a fraction of a point of mana.

Otto was exceptionally efficient. He had accurately analyzed the power of each of his enemies, and charged his mana bolts with just enough power to instantly kill upon each hit.

In a flash, only nine people were left.

After witnessing Otto's blasé takedown, their feet quivered in their boots. They now wanted nothing more than to run away.

Even worse was that Otto's face didn't change once as he begun his massacre.

'Monster!! Run!!'

It was the only thought in their hearts as they looked at Otto.

But was it up to them to decide if they could escape?

The leader was one of those who hadn't been hit.

He wasn't someone incapable of reading the situation, either.

The man dropped on his knees in the middle of the inn, and cried,

"Spare me! I'm sorry, I'm so sorry, I'll never offend you again, Mr. Toto ever!"

Even if it was humiliating, if it could save his life, it was worth it!

Otto picked his ear as he listened.

"Didn't I already offer you that opportunity? I even put a little pressure on you to scare you, but you still didn't back down. It's your own fault you'll lose a life here."

He then serenely conjured an additional nine mana bolts, which immediately killed the rest of the attackers.

Once they were dead, and their corpses had disappeared into bolts of light, he sighed.

"I can't believe I wasted five mana points on this."

Otto felt he had been rather wasteful. He quite frankly could easily have evaded the attack completely when he sensed it as he entered the inn.

But maybe the recent achievement made him feel a bit playful…

He clapped his hands to rid them of nonexistent dust, and walked out of the inn, feeling like it was a job well done despite his grumbling.

Otto sensed the blood in Bront City's air and smiled.

He was finally ready to implement his scheme.