The Challenger's Return: Rebirth of the Rainbow Mage

Four kids and a bird hovered worriedly around Otto as he stood in the center of the yard.

Jeremy fidgeted non-stop and couldn't seem to sit still.

Elliott's brows were drawn tightly.

Julia continued to hit the ground in the yard with her fists as she kept looking behind her to where Otto stood.

Jason just put on a cheery face and continually reassured,

"Don't worry about it bro. It'll be done before you know it."

And,

"I'm sure it'll be fine. You have a [Trait] for it, haha."

And,

"It's no biggie to stop in the middle if it's too painful. We aren't in a rush, or anything."

To the point where Otto eventually had to press down on Jason's shoulder, look him in the eye, and say,

"Jay, chill. I will be fine, I promise."

Otto indeed did not feel particularly worried about the actual splitting of the soul.

However, he was worried about the loss of attributes that would inevitably accompany it.

Thankfully, his enemies couldn't track him any longer.

Plus, training inside a virtual pod, while he wasn't exactly immune to damage entirely, the pods did boast exceptional defense.

The machines were built such that they could block most, if not all, attacks.

At least, the most expensive versions that Otto carried could.

Otto sat on the grass and let the light breeze move through him.

The yard quieted.

Otto prepared to begin.

He sat down and crossed his legs to meditate in the yard.

His consciousness spread through his body.

With the help of his trait, it didn't take long to locate his soul.

Soon, Otto stared at a shining off-white oblong object floating in front of him.

The object was composed of innumerable hair thin strands.

At a glance, it looked like a giant spiderweb of connections, some open ended, others tightly woven into its fabric.

There were parts that glowed brightly, and other parts that were dim.

A few parts were shaded in various different dim colors, though on the whole, Otto's soul had a creamy white sheen rather anything remotely resembling a 'rainbow.'

His soul was both inside Otto's body and not; Otto had a feeling that it existed in a separate space entirely.

Perhaps the only reason he could now come into contact with it was because of his new trait.

Otto poked it with his consciousness.

There was significant give.

It almost felt like he was working with something fluffy. It oddly reminded Otto of cotton candy.

Otto steeled himself, and activated his trait.

[Split Symbiosis]

He used his consciousness like a sharp edge.

It cut through with no resistance like a hot knife through butter.

A small portion of his soul began to split off.

Otto could tell that this would normally be an incredibly painful thing to do.

Even though his trait helped him block the terrible agony, separating his soul still wasn't a good feeling.

There was a sense of instability, as if the ground underneath was unsteady.

Worst, though, was the sense of loss he felt.

Since he was literally ripping out a portion of himself.

Otto steeled himself and continued to cut.

Soon, a small portion of the strands floated apart from the main web.

Here, his trait seemed to do the rest of the work.

A few brightly lit white strands were taken out of the main soul and injected into the small one, while all the colored strands inside of the split portion were dragged back into the main soul.

Otto could barely make out that most of the strands that were separated were thin, frayed, worn, had split ends, or connected to nothing altogether.

But there wasn't much time to ponder over it.

Soon, the split soul began to condense under the pressure of Otto's trait.

In no time, it looked like a small, brightly glowing, white shard of crystal.

The strands were no longer visible.

At this point, beads of sweat covered Otto's forehead.

Jason watched anxiously, hands fidgeting, wanting to do something to help, but knowing that for the moment, he was useless.

He didn't know how much pain his brother was in right now.

But he was beginning to realize how important this whole journey was by how seriously Otto was persevering.

Otto opened his eyes and beckoned towards Jason, his brother, who stepped forward.

For a split second, a sentimental expression crossed Otto's face. It was gone as quickly as it appeared.

Suddenly, Otto gasped as the white shard of his soul materialized and fully separated from himself.

The sense of loss was compounded, almost to the point of pain, despite his trait's interference.

The shard plunged straight into Jason's heart, eliciting a slight whimper from the boy as his own soul merged with the new one.

Otto opened his eyes once more.

His body indeed felt weaker, and his mana minutely more sluggish.

He checked his attributes.

[Toto]

[Attributes]

Strength 55 —] 49

Agility 70 —] 63

Stamina 57 —] 51

Sturdiness 62 —] 56

Mana Pool 175 —] 157

Intuition 137 —] 123

Magic Power 153 —] 138

Regeneration 218 —] 196

All of them had fallen. It was exactly as Otto had expected.

Meanwhile, Jason was flabbergasted at his body's changes.

It was as if he was born anew.

Power coursed through his muscles and veins.

The mana that he couldn't yet control heated rapidly and thinned from its previous consistency of honey until it flowed through his magic network like smooth oil.

Jason checked his own attributes.

[Jason]

[Attributes]

Strength 1 —] 7

Speed 2 —] 12

Stamina 1 —] 7

Sturdiness 1 —] 7

Mana Pool 1 —] 37

Intuition 1 —] 29

Magic Power 1 —] 31

M. Regeneration 1 —] 99

Energy Pool 1

Comprehension 1

Energy Compression 1

E. Regeneration 1

How was it possible!?

Otto saw his puzzlement and also cast a quick [Analyze].

It didn't take long before he realized what was going on.

"Each of my attributes from 0-100 are worth a single point. Attributes from 100-200 are worth 2 points.

As for my regeneration, it was above 200. Those first '18' points are worth 5 of yours."

Both brothers marveled as each felt a new connection begin to form vaguely between them.

It wasn't as if they could hear each other's thoughts.

However, to an extent, Otto would be able to sense it if his brother were in danger.

Some of Jason's strongest emotions would also be transmitted to Otto should Jason choose to broadcast them.

Jason, on the other hand, felt a vibrant life force flow through the connections and into his veins.

He didn't quite understand what it meant, but he was sure it was a sign that Otto was hale and healthy, even after splitting his soul.

As expected, Otto sat back down.

"Let's continue."

Jeremy was second in line.

Otto repeated the exact same process.

Like before, there was no pain.

But this time the feeling of the 'loss of self' had Otto gasping for air on his hands and knees.

He waved away the concern, though.

"I'm fine. I'll be up again in a minute."

Jeremy's status was similarly enhanced.

What surprised him was that Otto's 'magical attributes' had been perfectly converted into energy attributes for him from the soul shard at almost 90% efficiency!

He checked his new attributes.

[Jeremy Smalls]

[Attributes]

Strength 30 —] 35

Agility 58 —] 64

Stamina 25 —] 30

Sturdiness 17 —] 23

Energy Pool 7 —] 36

Comprehension 10 —] 32

Energy Compression 10 —] 35

Regeneration 12 —] 48

Jeremy wanted to feel happy and proud of his big changes at the moment, but he sensed through the soul connection that Otto was actually beginning to have trouble.

He reined in his words.

His fingers clasped the hem of his shirt tightly as he felt even more nervous than before.

But Otto would not be stopped.

He split his soul for the third time.

Elliott stepped up.

His attributes increased, just like the others.

But now, no one felt happy.

All three of those connected to Otto could feel how much he was struggling.

Guilt crept up from the pits of their stomachs.

This time, Otto had to take a breather before splitting his soul for the fourth time.

Actually, comparatively, he was already doing rather well.

Maybe, for others, it would have been hard to cope after a single split, and they would require months of rest in between to recuperate.

But Otto pressed on.

Julia was the last to go.

By now, her own nerves had largely abated.

What replaced them was worry.

For Otto, who paled further by the second.

But also...

'Will he be able to continue? What if I don't get the soul?'

Julia mentally berated herself as soon as she had the thought.

But it wasn't like she was some perfect, selfless teammate, either.

She breathed out, calmed down and decided to simply wait.

Finally, after another half-hour, Julia steeled herself as the final white shard pressed itself into her heart.

Her body grew stronger, her energy more robust.

She felt the new connection she shared with Otto, and marveled.

She suddenly understood why part of the trait's description included 'never betraying the soul shard owner.'

How could she, when they were so deeply enmeshed together?

It was nothing close to a romantic connection.

Yet it was the warmest feeling she'd ever felt in her entire life.

Otto now felt like more than kin to her.

More than her father, mother, friends, and lovers. He was all of those, rolled into one.

He meant as much to her as she did to herself.

Otto became the single most important person she had ever and would ever meet.

Though Jason hadn't felt these changes quite as powerfully because Otto was already his brother, Jeremy and Elliott were also strongly affected.

The eyes of all four kids suddenly firmed.

They heard a retching sound.

As one, Jason, Jeremy, Julia, and Elliott rushed over to find Otto lying on the ground, propped up on his elbows, vomiting his guts out.

He seemed to be trying to stand up as best as he could.

His muscles had no trouble supporting him, but somehow, Otto wasn't able to move them like normal.

Dread and panic burrowed deeply into Otto's stomach.

But his mind remained clear.

His eyes narrowed.

Even if his attributes had decreased, Otto was still much, much stronger than a normal person.

Was this a side-effect of splitting his soul?

Otto called to the two guys nearest him.

"Jeremy, Jay, would you two help me up?"

Though Otto did his best to keep his tone impassive, Jason was keen on these small details, and detected a small tremor in his voice.

Anxiety clawed at Jason.

He captured the moment when Otto almost face-faulted into his own vomit as his arms gave out.

Despite imagining the worst, his tone was cheery.

"Jeez, Otto, how the hell does your throw-up smell so bad? We're going to need to have a conversation about your diet, big bro."

"..."

Even if Otto hated to admit it, he felt a little better.

"Fuck off, dumbass."

Jason and Jeremy rushed up to support Otto, holding him up without heeding the vomit that covered his lower arms.

The three re-entered the house and laid Otto onto a bed while his arms were toweled down by Julia.

After a minute, Otto mustered a couple sentences,

"Please leave me alone for a while. Go train with Ramesthes."

Otto first checked his attributes.

[Toto]

[Attributes]

Strength 36

Agility 46

Stamina 37

Sturdiness 40

Mana Pool 114

Intuition 90

Magic Power 101

Regeneration 142

They had decreased by quite a bit, but this reduction shouldn't make it hard to even move, right?

There had to be another cause.

Otto's consciousness sunk back into his body, following his trait's guidance as he zeroed in on his soul.

Alarm coursed through him.

How had this happened?

Instead of one cohesive web, only large threads and scattered pieces could be seen.

His soul was tearing itself apart.

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