The training went well. Kent, the newbie, had superior powers, and he could deal with B-ranked monsters by himself. Only with Kent, another three experts could deal with B-ranked monsters.

Junhyuk got a call from Elise. She had developed a new item and she told him she had spent an incredible amount of money creating that item.

She had done it only because she had enough materials for it. If she had to have come up with the materials, she would’ve spend upward of $100 million. Still, she had completed the item.

However, Junhyuk couldn’t go to South Korea now, so he told Elise to meet with Sarang. Sarang took the item from Elise, and she and Junhyuk met in her training facility.

He took the item there and inspected it.

“This is made out of Ghost White Tiger fur… Is it a cloak?”

Sarang nodded.

“That’s right. Just watch.”

She put on the cloak and suddenly disappeared. Junhyuk could still sense her with his spatial sense.

“What?! An invisibility power?”

“There is one problem, however.”

“What is it?”

“Put it on and you’ll find out.”

Junhyuk agreed to put on the cloak, and suddenly he heard Ariel’s voice.

[You can’t carry more than one equipment that carries a skill. Please remember that.]

He smiled bitterly. He wanted the invisibility power, but to do that, he would have take off his bracer. However, he couldn’t do that. He had already filled its sockets with strength runestones of the highest quality. Besides, he liked his jumping ability.

He thought the invisibility was superior to it, but he would have to remove the runestones before wearing the new cloak.

“Did you have to take off your ring?”

She nodded, and Junhyuk gave it some thought.

“I’ll take this with me next time I go to the battlefield.”

“Sure.”

An item having a power didn’t automatically mean that it would fetch a good price. However, with the invisibility power, things were different.

“Is the recipe ready?”

Sarang nodded.

“Elise told me the success rate to build one of these is only 5 percent.”

“Really!??”

Junhyuk didn’t know everything about magitek. While he thought, Sarang said, “Big Sister Elise was amazing!”

“How so?”

“I don’t even care about her degrees. Her ideas are just fantastic. I want to learn from her.”

Junhyuk didn’t know if Elise could teach, but if she could, she could teach anything. He replied, “She’s probably the most creative person on Earth.”

“Really?!”

He tapped her head lightly and changed the subject, asking, “By the way, can you win?”

“What?”

“In your next battlefield with Vera.”

“It won’t be easy, but I won’t lose.”

“Of course!”

Sarang smiled and pulled out items from her Spatial Bag.

“Elise told me to give these to you.”

They were the items made from B-ranked monsters.

“Did she make another set?”

“No. She made two more. She gave me one as well.”

“That’s nice.”

There were fifteen pieces of equipment. If each piece went for 20,000G, he would be able to earn 300,000G at once. He could get a new item with that amount. He had to get stronger, but Sarang had to as well.

Smiling, he said, “OK. If ma.s.s production becomes possible, we can rake in money like Gongon. We have plenty of monsters on Earth for that.”

“Right.”

She smiled as well.

“Let’s train.”

Sarang had only had a few items, so she put on five of the pieces Elise had given her. It was better than not wearing them.

Junhyuk smiled at the sight and looked at the monsters appearing.

“Let’s check out what this equipment can do!”

—

Junhyuk told Sarang to learn from Elise whenever she had time. Getting her a magitek book would require another 300,000G.

Sarang might have the best memory on Earth. Her intelligence went far beyond human limitations.

The combination of the two could only help the advancement of magitek, and if magitek could be ma.s.s produced, Sarang’s intelligence will be a big help making it happen.

He closed his eyes comfortably, and the bright, pure light washed over him. Junhyuk was now in the Dimensional Battlefield.

He was expecting a lot from that battlefield round. Junhyuk opened his eyes slowly and saw Ariel holding her chin while swinging her feet in the air.

After looking at her, he checked on the amount of gold he had: 980,010G.

His bet on the Champions’ Battlefield had earned him a lot.

He turned back to Ariel and asked, “This round is also part of the team selection correct?”

[Yes. You have this one and another round of team selections. If possible, you should choose your team by then.]

Junhyuk nodded. He already had a member in mind, so he only needed three more.

He summoned all of his equipment, looked at Ariel and said, “I’ll be back.”

Ariel giggled and brought both of her hands around her mouth, shouting, [Hero Junhyuk Lee deployed.]

Junhyuk opened the door and walked outside. He saw some people gathered ahead of him and walked toward them. When he got closer, he frowned.

There were three heroes there, and it was his first time seeing any of them.

Once he was next to them, they greeted him.

There was a three-meter tall, broad-shouldered being with a horn on his forehead that said, “I’m Zareto.”

There was a woman with hair so long that it touched the ground. She looked rather dreary.

“I’m Ebodia.”

Although she looked gloomy, she also looked strong.

Junhyuk turned to the other. His pupils were jet black, and his skin was gray and cracked, like dry earth. A red glow shone from the cracks.

“My name is Railic.”

He also introduced himself, “I’m Junhyuk Lee.”

Everyone nodded, and he inspected each of them. They all looked stronger than the ones he had been teamed up with previously. However, that also meant that his enemies were stronger, probably very much so.

Then, he heard someone’s footsteps and turned to look, frowning as he did.

A woman was walking toward him holding a long samurai sword. She had her hair tied up. She was pretty and very tall. To him, she seemed Asian.

The woman walked up to him and asked, “Are you Junhyuk?”

He wondered how she knew him, but he nodded toward her. Junhyuk had thought he would’ve been in the same team as Gongon.

The woman looked at him and said, “My name is Layla. I’ve heard a lot about you.”

Junhyuk shook his head. Looking at the samurai sword on her back, he became curious and asked, “Do you know Halo?”

Layla nodded.

“He is my teacher.”

Junhyuk stared at her blankly. Layla was one of Halo’s students. He processed the information for a moment. It was a good thing that Halo’s student had become a hero, but he did not like her choice in weapon.

“Did you just become a hero?”

Layla nodded and answered, “I was a champion until recently, but during my last battle, I activated a power and became a hero.”

Junhyuk did not expect much from looking at her equipment. He was really despondent that he wasn’t in the same team as Gongon.

“Have you all been to Nightmare Mountain?” The others all nodded, and he continued calmly, “I want to take center. Is that OK?”

The center path would decide the victor, and Layla spoke up, “I’ll go with you.”

Junhyuk stared at her. She was Halo’s student, so she had to have powers similar to his. Halo focused on attacking, so if she joined him this time, he wouldn’t struggle like last time.

He turned to the others, and they all made their choices.

“I’ll go left,” Zareto spoke first. The other two nodded.

Ebodia went next in a dreary voice, “I’ll go right.”

Railic looked at the two and said, “Then, I’ll go right as well.”

Relieved that things had gone smoothly, Junhyuk said, “The minions are far more important now, so let’s make full use of them to win.”

The towers and the castle’s gate were hard to destroy now because of the archers. The archers were just as problematic to heroes now as other heroes were. However, with the minions, it would be easy to destroy the force field.

Everyone who had gone through Nightmare Mountain agreed.

“Then, we’ll each take a hundred minions and move out.”

On average, heroes would take fifty minions with them. A hundred was a lot. However, everyone took a hundred and moved down their path.

The central path had a staircase, and there were many steps to it. Junhyuk walked angrily. Something had gone wrong with Gongon. However, he would still have one more chance to team up with the hatchling. As he went up the stairs with Layla, he asked, “What are your powers?”

Layla touched her samurai sword and said, “I can close in and throw the enemy into the air. I have an eight-hit combo at short range, but I can also attack from midrange. And there’s my ultimate.”

With the exception of the ultimate, he could guess her powers. Layla turned to him and asked, “I’ve heard about your powers, but not about your ultimate. What is it?”

Her demeanor was very cool, and she looked beautiful. He answered calmly, “I can make s.p.a.ce collapse. I can damage an enemy and collapse the s.p.a.ce around them. It has a forty-meter range.”

After some though, Layla said, “You seem to be lacking in attack power. I’ll take the lead.”

“The one with the greatest defense should take the lead.”

She turned to him and laughed.

“We’ll decide after we fight the enemy, and don’t interfere with my fight.”

“I won’t.”

She had just become a hero, but her overall starting point had probably been different from his. She had been taught by Halo, after all .

However, Junhyuk probably had more experience than her in working with others.

Unlike his previous time there, Layla climbed the stairs without getting tired. Seeing that, he expected good things from her. They reached the allied watchtower and they looked toward the enemy watchtower just as the enemies were showing up.

Junhyuk scowled.

The enemy team had also sent two heroes toward the center path. One of the enemy heroes saw him and scowled as well, and Junhyuk softly muttered the name of that hero, “Gon.”