The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

"Ow."

"Ow."

"Ow! Otto!"

"Why do you have to be so rough about it?"

Continuous yelps echoed across the yard as Otto spared no effort in teaching Jason how to improve the spell.

The method he used was slightly painful, injecting his mana directly into Jason's network to physically show him what it should feel like.

Still, it was only such a hands-on method that could have any sort of lasting effects.

Hours passed until both Jason and Otto were dripping with sweat.

Jason finally announced in between pants,

"I think…I got it."

Otto raised a brow.

"You 'got it' in that you're tired of doing this? Or you 'got it' in that you can cast the spell with no trouble?"

He exhaled and looked at Jason.

"Fine. Try casting the new version of the first spell, then."

"This will be the first adjustment."

Jason began to cast the spell.

But Otto quickly interrupted after catching a mistake,

"You messed up. Continue casting until the end without going through with it. Let's get this perfect."

Jason nodded.

His brain was working on overdrive to make sure he caught all of the mistakes in his spell.

"You made 89 mistakes. Great job, much fewer than the initial number. Again."

Jason started casting.

"84 mistakes. Most of them were different than before. Again."

"Better. Only 59 mistakes this time. Again."

"Again."

"Again. 41 mistakes."

"Again."

"Again. 20 mistakes."

Jason yelled in frustration.

Then, he practically collapsed on the ground, panting for breath.

Otto patted him on the shoulder.

"Don't worry, Jay. You're actually improving much faster than I expected. I swear you'll get it pretty soon."

Jason looked at Otto and groaned.

"I'm not perfect, bro, okay?"

But instead of venting and following with something like, "You can't expect me to be," or, "I'm never going to be you," Jason's face set.

His thoughts returned to the time in the [Tutorial] where he'd almost died.

Instead, he replied,

"I'm not perfect, but I want to be."

From his gaze, only his determination could be felt.

He didn't wait for Otto to speak, before stating loudly,

"Again."

And began casting.

Otto's eyes held a rare expression of gentleness before it was quickly smothered by dispassionate analysis of the movement of Jason's mana.

"11 mistakes. Again."

"4 mistakes. Again."

"1 mistake. Again."

"2 mistakes. Again."

"This is it, Jay."

Jason's eyes lit up as this time, he completed the casting.

A familiar blue circle spread out on the ground in front of him.

Jason's eyes sparkled.

He jumped up in excitement.

"It's actually bigger! Bro, the circle is a lot bigger!! Did it work?"

Otto smirked.

"We'll see in a second."

It wasn't long before a beast came out of the circle.

The shadow veiling its form faded, revealing a reasonably large bear cub.

The cub's fur was a light brown, its expression extremely confused.

Why did it come to such a strange place?

Why did it feel this oddly intimate connection with that two legged creature in front of it?

Jason's eyes glittered.

He immediately checked its details.

[Prurian Ursus Arcane]

[Current Attributes]

Overall: 3

Attack Power: 3

Escape: 1

Defense: 3

Health: 4

Skills/Spells: 2

Intelligence: 3

[Potential]

Overall Potential: 5

Defensive Potential: 4

Melee Potential: 3

Ranged Potential: 5

Energy Potential: 0

Magic Potential: 7

Escape Potential: 2

Learning Potential: 6

[Traits]

[Magic Prodigy]

??

[Beary Enduring]

??

[+5 more: Expand/Contract]

[Skills]

[+10: Expand/Contract]

"Amazing!"

Jason reached forward and went to hug the bear.

The bear initially began to growl at Jason to wave him away, but Jason was insistent.

He approached and immediately starting patting its fur reassuringly.

It wasn't long before the cub directly fell asleep while leaning on Jason's body.

He breathed out a laugh. Another really cute summon!

Jason actually had half a mind to pick this as his long-term summon; while an overall '5' in potential was not close to a '10,' this was only in comparison to other Prurian beasts.

Jason had a feeling that this bear would be an incredible fighter if properly developed.

"A magical bear, right?"

Jason nodded,

"You know that already?"

"It's magic network is really robust."

"Ooh."

But then, Otto glanced at the bear with a critical eye.

After Jason mentioned its potential rating, he immediately shook his head.

"You can obviously do better."

Jason shrugged.

"I do like this little cub, but…"

He scratched his chin,

"I was still hoping for something with at least 8 points in overall potential!"

Otto turned his gaze upward.

"There's no way such high-grade beasts are so common. You know that, right?"

But then, he smirked,

"Well, I suspected that to be the goal. As expected of my little bro!"

Their eyes glinted.

Otto pondered for a second.

"Next time, add 10 mana to the spell. It can't be leveled, right?"

Jason nodded.

"So just input the maximum possible."

Jason reluctantly patted the sleeping cub's fur and sent it back to its dimension.

"Cast it again."

Jason nodded and started to cast the spell from the beginning.

This time, instead of that single point of mana it cost, he added a full 10.

Fortunately, working with such little mana made only a small difference to how the spell was cast inside the body.

So he still didn't make a single mistake.

The spell was cast.

The familiar blue circle appeared.

This time, it was almost a full 10 meters wide, laid out on the grass.

A beast stepped out.

The shadow veil covering it receded.

Jason held his breath in anticipation.

A lizard with reddish-brown scales emerged. Unlike the previous two, it was quite large, around 4 meters long in total.

But contrary to its appearance, it moved surprisingly fast.

It approached Jason in the blink of an eye and stood before him proudly, as if showing off.

Suddenly, Jason almost jumped out of his skin.

He heard a voice in his head!

"Greetings, young summoner. Thank you for calling me, but I'm afraid I wouldn't be an appropriate bonded beast for you."

Jason's eyes were wide, as he hesitantly responded in his head.

"You can communicate telepathically?"

A grating sound that reminded him of a chuckle reverberated between his ears.

"Of course. This is an ability that belongs to all beasts from my dimension... once we've matured."

Jason's eyes widened.

"You wouldn't be an appropriate bonded beast?"

"Why not?"

The lizard stared at him unblinkingly.

"I am an adult. I am very strong right now…"

The lizard's eyes narrowed,

"Maybe a little weaker than that human."

It gestured at Otto with its chin.

Jason's jaw dropped.

"Meaning you're really freaking strong!"

The lizard chuckled again.

"More importantly, I can maybe grow by a level or two, but no more than that. My potential has reached its peak. If you want a beast that can grow with you…you'll need to find a young'un."

"Ohh."

"But why did I summon you, an adult, this time?"

"That, little human, is a question I do not know the answer to. I am not a magic user, after all."

Jason pursed his lips and analyzed the lizard with his special privilege.

He saw that the lizard was right.

His potential screen read:

Potential

Overall Potential: 0/4

Defensive Potential: 1/5

Melee Potential: 0/5

Ranged Potential: 0/2

-Energy Potential: 0/3

-Magic Potential: 0

Escape Potential: 1/7

Learning Potential: 0/3

"…"

Jason nodded his head, then awkwardly bowed to the lizard.

"Well, it was nice meeting you, either way."

"Likewise."

The lizard paused for a second before seeming to sniff Jason.

Then, he nodded in an alien gesture for what seemed to be approval?

"You seem to have a close connection with us Prurians."

"Hmm. Very well."

His gaze towards Jason was approving.

"I will imprint upon you the energy signature of my tribe. You may summon a member of my family thrice. Best used should you need to rapidly escape."

A notification appeared in front of Jason.

[You have gained the approval of an Ignis Varenus.]

[Ulus's Insignia]

Silver Grade

Call upon a member of the Ignis Varenus tribe without using mana. They will follow the commands of the user.

Use Restriction: 3

Duration: 30 minutes

No Cooldown

Jason bowed to Ulus, this time less awkwardly.

"Well, thank you very much."

Ulus nodded calmly.

"Then, I will take my leave."

He vanished.

After Jason relayed the conversation, Otto remarked,

"So adding more mana doesn't increase the potential of the summoned but rather increases its age or current strength, then?"

He began to mutter,

"The issue lies not with the amount of mana, but possibly the magic power and the talent, I would imagine?"

Otto pondered carefully for a full minute before shaking his head.

"Jay, there isn't a way to improve those in a short time frame."

Then, he clapped his hands as a lightbulb went off in his head. There was no way to improve those permanently in a short time, but if it was just for casting a single spell...

"I lied. There is actually a way to improve both of these, but only temporarily."

"Give me a few minutes."

He returned to his mental space with a bevy of ingredients.

Otto had remembered an old recipe for a powerful potion that was perfect for mages that needed a boost.

It allowed both their [Fluidity] (which represented a mage's talent) and their [Magic Power] to rise drastically for a brief duration.

Typically, this potion was seldom used because it was lacking in practicality, difficult to concoct, and very expensive to procure its ingredients.

Though occasionally, in such things as BOSS fights, it could totally change a fight's outcome, most of the time a mage was better off adding more mana to cast that 'ultimate spell' with a cheap potion that increased or recovered mana…

Otto worked furiously on concocting for a period of 10 hours before a small bottle of grey liquid appeared in his hands.

[Sage's Grey Civiley]

Grade II | High Quality

Drastically improve the quality of a mage's mana.

Duration: 5 minutes

Otto immediately presented the potion to Jason.

"Cast after drinking this."

Jason didn't hesitate and drank the potion.

He began to cast the spell, and immediately noticed the difference.

It was just…SO much easier!

His mana was smooth and powerful, and his control increased drastically.

He even started to instinctively understand a few of the changes he'd previously only memorized via Otto's suggestions.

Jason didn't make any mistakes with this cast.

Finally, the summoning circle emerged.

This time, it hadn't increased in size, but its glow was extremely bright.

Jason waited with eyes full of anticipation as an animal began to walk, slightly unsteadily, out of the circle.

The veil receded.

Both men gasped.

Unconsciously, they had the same thought.

"This is the one…!"

A small beast cowered in the circle, not daring to step out.

It looked like a lion cub at first glance, or even an oversized kitten, but its fur was short and sky blue in color.

Otto looked closely and also noticed a tiny nub on the top of its head, that looked like it would grow into a horn, as well as a pair of folded wings attached to its sides.

Otto gasped as he recognized the beast.

"A Viridian Tzipora!"