The weeding out had taken place all over the world, and every country had lost a large number of novices. Every country had kept secret the number of novices they actually possessed, but people knew that only a few novices had survived.

In South Korea, the iron soldier had been deployed as support, and only one novice survived. Other places must have gone through similar experiences.

“Did any of them evolve to experts?”

Starting at the expert level, people would be more complicated to deal with. However, if Junhyuk was the one who found the expert, he could do it easily. Even experts didn’t have a lot of health.

On top of that, Junhyuk could tell if his opponent was an expert.

After getting the iron soldier back to the lab, he focused on his training. Instead of going to his house in Paju, he trained from within his house in Seoul with Sarang. He trained hard, pushing the living spirit through his veins.

He didn’t go to work anymore, focusing only on training. Just like before, he let the living spirit travel through his arteries in the training facility, and at one point, he felt his surroundings getting brighter and brighter.

When he opened his eyes, he found himself at a familiar placed and looked for the amount of gold he had: 251,760G.

Previously, he had thought that amount was unimaginably high, but now, he felt like it was nothing.

“If I can earn more money…”

He slapped himself lightly, summoned all of his equipment and walked to the entrance. Suddenly, he heard a soft voice.

[Champion Junhyuk Lee deployed]

He walked outside as the door opened, and seeing the numerous minions, he proceeded with a proud posture. The minions made way for him, and he shook his head slightly.

As he stood there, Sarang came running toward him soon after. Nowadays, they had trained together every day, but it had been a long time since both had been together on the battlefield. Her height stood out among the minions, and he smiled.

“Your soul has grown.”

“Really?! You have grown as well.”

“Yeah?”

While training with Sarang, he had practiced using the living spirit, so now he could use acceleration at will.

Artlan had told him to continue training even after mastering acceleration.

While Junhyuk talked to Sarang, the heroes showed up inside the castle, and Junhyuk smiled at them.

“You came!”

Vera ran toward him and gave him a big hug. Buried in her chest, he was surprised and shouted, “What’s wrong?!”

“Wrong? You are so adorable!”

Diane walked over to him, slapped his b.u.t.t and said, “This is mine now, didn’t I tell you?”

“That’s right but…”

There were so many people around that he couldn’t allow her to, but Diane didn’t care, and kept on patting his b.u.t.t.

“This time, I thought you were going to lose, and that made me really nervous.”

“You thought I was going to lose?”

“Yep. Nid and Kilraden are both famous champions. Then, they joined Kraken, who is really strong, as teammates, so I thought you were going to lose.”

“Were the odds high then?”

Halo nodded.

“You’ve been winning so the odds had dropped, but due to the new champions, the odds went back up.”

Junhyuk turned to look at Vera, and she showed him three fingers.

“Getting three times what you bet is a good deal!”

Junhyuk was relieved after hearing that. Vera had made money, so she could pay him now.

“That’s great!”

Artlan’s hand fell on his shoulder, and the hero said, “I want to talk too, but now isn’t the time.”

“What are we going to do now?”

The legend candidates were so strong that the allies just couldn’t win in ordinary fashion. Ordinary means would be meaningless and completely useless in achieving victory against them.

“Just follow me,” Artlan said calmly.

He took the lead, and the other heroes followed. They did not take any minions with them, which meant that they wanted to move as fast as possible. As he ran, Junhyuk guessed at their strategy.

“Are we going to Bebe from the start?”

“Correct.”

Nudra, with his hands behind his back, smiled at him.

“We’ll get new items first.”

“And then?”

“Then we’ll focus on the middle path.”

Junhyuk nodded. Their enemies were confident in their own strengths. During the last battle, they had controlled all three lanes, so they would be attacking with confidence. Last time, when the enemy had three heroes and the allies had all five, the allies still lost the engagement. However, this time would be different.

Junhyuk had gotten stronger because of the living spirit, and the allied heroes would have new items. He knew things would be different from before.

They ran as quickly as possible and did not meet any enemies. When they got to Bebe, they realized the enemies must be destroying all three first towers just like before.

While the heroes looked at items, Vera walked up to him.

“So, can you sell me that ring?”

Junhyuk nodded and showed her the ring. It was a unique item listed at 2,000,000G, and Vera pushed her plate toward him.

“The original price of the ring is 2,000,000G. I told you I’d offer you 70 percent of it, so 1,400,000G. How about it?”

“Sold!”

“OK. Place your hand on the plate.”

He did so, and the gold was transferred. After the 1,400,000G was added to his total, he was left with 1,651,760G. Looking at that number, he shivered. He had never thought he would have that much gold at once.

He gave her the ring, and Vera put it on and gave him a big hug.

“Thanks!”

“I should thank you!”

Junhyuk started thinking about what to do with all that money. He didn’t want to get any new items now, so the first thing to do was to level-up the Pure Golden Knight Elder set.

After walking over to Bebe, he said carefully, “I want to level-up the Pure Golden Knight Elder set.”

“That’s fine. Each level-up costs 200,000G.”

Junhyuk took off his equipment and gave the items to Bebe.

“Level-up all five of them.”

“Sure.”

Junhyuk had just spent 1,000,000G, but he didn’t miss the money.

Bebe pulled out some liquids and gems from the counter and placed a gem over each of the Pure Golden Knight Elder items. Then, laughing, Bebe said, “The level-up is a good thing. It’s not a simple upgrade, so expect interesting results.”

There were two bracelets, a ring, a boot and a cloak in front of Bebe. Every item had an attack-stat boost, but the items’ levels were rather low. However, after the level-ups, things would be different.

With the gem on the items, Bebe poured the liquid over them. Once the liquid hit them, the Pure Golden Knight Elder items shone bright gold, even more so than before. The golden light soon seeped into the equipment, and Bebe smiled at him and said, “The level-ups are done.”

It had been quicker than he had expected. So, he touched every piece of equipment, inspecting them and putting them on.

—

Pure Golden Knight Elder’s Bracelet (set item)

Attack +10 (+10)

Health +100

The Golden Knight Elder wore this bracelet. In the past, he was called a legend and he carried items to increase his attack power. There was no one who could withstand a blow from him.

After the level up, this piece of equipment is stronger than ever before.

Having a complete set increases the power of the item.

—

The bracelet had not only gained a boost to attack, but it had also gained a health boost, and Junhyuk’s hands started shaking.

“This… this can’t be.”

He had only invested 200,000G, but the results had far exceeded his expectations. So, he quickly inspected the other pieces of equipment. The other bracelet had the same attributes, so his health increased by two hundred with both of them.

After putting them on, he picked up the ring, and his eyes beamed as he put it on. The item’s attack stat had double, and he had gained twenty defense on top of that. Then, he put on the boot. Its attack stat had also doubled, and his movement speed increased by 5 percent. The item also added a regeneration rate of fifty.

Lastly, he picked up his cloak.

—

Pure Golden Knight Elder’s Cloak (set item)

Attack +10 (+10)

Defense +5 (+10)

Absolute Dodge +10%

The Golden Knight Elder wore this cloak. In the past, he was called a legend and he carried items to increase his attack power. There was no one who could withstand a blow from him.

After the level up, this piece of equipment is stronger than ever before.

Having a complete set increases the power of the item.

Two-Item Set Effect: Armor Piercing +35 (+10)

Three-Item Set Effect: Additional Fixed Damage +50 (+50)

Four-Item Set Effect: 50% (+10%) area of effect damage at a 10-meter radius.

Five-Item Set Effect: 20% (+5%) chance of an extra attack at 50% normal damage.

—

The cloak used to add 3 percent to evade, but now it had an absolute dodge stat. The set effects were also much better. Junhyuk had only invest 1,000,000G, but the results he had gotten from it were things he couldn’t even had guessed at.

“Is this the power of the level up?”

He couldn’t even get a unique piece of equipment with 1,000,000G, but his strength had increased tremendously with the set items’ level ups.

Looking at Bebe, Junhyuk asked, “Leveling up a set item is much better than buying new equipment! Why isn’t everyone doing the same thing?”

Bebe’s mouth hung wide open, and he started laughing loudly.

“Most people know that, but it’s not easy to get set items. And to be able to protect one’s equipment until the end?! Only those who will become legends may dream such dreams.”

Junhyuk paid careful attention to what Bebe told him. He wanted to protect his items and collect the entire set.

“Did you get any new Pure Golden Knight Elder set items?”

“Nothing.”

Junhyuk nodded slowly and checked the rest of his equipment. He had 651,760G left. If he got a new Pure Golden Knight Elder set item and leveled it up, that would cost him 300,000G, so it would be 600,000G for two items. Thinking that way, he decided he could only afford to spend fifty 50,000G, and started thinking about what he could do with it.

Junhyuk handed Bebe the Blood Rune Sword and said, “Last time, I upgraded it with a reward upgrade stone. Can I do it again with one of your stones?”

Bebe smirked at him.

“You are smart.”

“Why?”

“Upgrade stones are rare at the Champions’ Battlefield, but the quality of those stones is different from mine. Sometimes, champions have better equipment than heroes.”

Junhyuk’s eyes beamed, and he extended his hand.

“What’s the limit to basic upgrades?”

“Everything up to the fifth upgrade is a basic upgrade.”

Biting his own lip, Junhyuk said, “Give me five upgrade stones.”