The video conference with Guardians went quickly. Junhyuk had talked to Eunseo, and the Chinese government was glad that they would stop a dimensional tear there. They were also glad that they were now in possession of a champion, but they were not rude to Junhyuk.

China wouldn’t have revealed to the world that Junhyuk was a hero, and he was still the only one to go into a dimensional tear and destroy it. The Chinese delegate didn’t push him.

Everything had been decided, and they got on a plane quickly and started making their way. They landed a Beijing Capital International Airport, and Geum Do Oh, a member of the Politburo Standing Committee, was there to greet them.

Oh was one of the most powerful people in China, which made it obvious that they were being treated differently from how j.a.pan and Russia had treated them.

Oh took Junhyuk and Ling Ling with him in the command vehicle, and the procession started moving. Beijing was big, so the monster area wasn’t that big in comparison. However, the monster area had appeared in the Forbidden City, which made it seem like the reason for its appearance was something other than killing people.

The Forbidden City was a tourist site, but there were definitely other places with larger concentrations of people.

Junhyuk received reports from Oh’s secretaries and gave them to Lucy. He asked her to come up with a battle plan. They had decided to attack, but that didn’t mean they could attack right away.

Every monster had a different power, so the experts’ team and the novice attack team needed time to prepare.

They decided to rest on their arrival day, planning to move the next day. However, some were unable to rest. Notably, Junhyuk, Lucy and Ling Ling remained active.

The Chinese government had given them pictures of the monsters, and they looked very different from what they had faced so far. Lucy created a battle plan, while Junhyuk and Ling Ling listened to her explanation.

Frowning, Junhyuk said, “That A-ranked monster is something I’d never seen before.”

“It looks like it came straight out of someone’s imagination. I didn’t know a thing like that existed,” Lucy said, and he took the pictures from her with a scowl.

The monster was a dragon from a very old tale. He had never met something like it before and he wasn’t sure if it was really an A-ranked monster.

Dragons were S-ranked monster, and Junhyuk felt like this one looked more like an S-ranked monster as well.

Junhyuk was looking at the picture of a monster on the roof of the Forbidden City Palace. So far, A-ranked monsters had been about ten meters long max, but this one was about twenty meters. How could he explain that?

It was an unknown monsters, so he didn’t know about its powers either. Management had told him that stopping dimensional tears would become more difficult, so they might have let stronger monsters loose. Junhyuk wished for that not to be the case, and he looked at the others.

“We don’t know much about the A-ranked monster, but I’ll deal with it. What about the B-ranked monsters?”

The B-ranked monsters had the head of an ox and a muscular, humanoid body. They were minotaurs. Looking at the pictures, Junhyuk thought about management. Why had they sent minotaurs to China? Junhyuk thought about h.e.l.l, but he didn’t think they would send demons to China.

He had fought against a minotaur hero before. He hadn’t had many powers back then, and the minotaur had been difficult to deal with.

Considering the minotaurs’ health, it would be important to finish them quickly.

China had a plan to deal with C-ranked monsters like oxes and toads, but they hadn’t been up to come up with anything against the minotaurs.

Junhyuk said calmly, “We’ll follow Lucy’s plan, but we’ll deal with minotaurs as soon as we meet them. We don’t know how many we’ll be able to deal with at the same time if we let them be.”

Ling Ling nodded. She had amazing attack powers, and they would probably work against minotaurs, but the others might have a problem.

It wouldn’t be an easy battle. However, Junhyuk smiled and said, “Don’t get too scared. We’ve already destroyed the j.a.panese tear.”

In j.a.pan, things had happened very suddenly, but they had managed regardless. Since then, the team had lost many members. Among the novices, they had already lost ten, and this time, three hadn’t woken up yet.

Junhyuk patted Lucy’s shoulder and said, “You worked hard on the plan. Take the rest of the day off and rest. Tomorrow, we’ll check on the monsters’ strengths, and on the third day, we’ll attack the tear.”

Ling Ling and Lucy bowed to him and went their way. Junhyuk went into his room and into the bathroom. From there, he entered the training facility. He had a special meeting that day.

Junhyuk waited in the training facility, and suddenly, Sarang showed up with someone else. She had the authority to allow people in the facility, and others could only enter with her permission.

The person who entered with her looked around, astonished.

“There are twenty mana trees here!”

Elise was dumbfounded, and Junhyuk greeted her, “Long time, no see.”

“It hasn’t been that long.”

On Earth, not much time had pa.s.sed. However, Junhyuk had been to the Dimensional Battlefield, and every time he went, he lost track of time on Earth.

Smiling, she looked at him.

“You showing me this place means were really are on the same team.”

Junhyuk raised his hand, showing her the ring.

“Actually, when I put this ring on, we became partners.”

Elise laughed brightly.

“China has an A-ranked monster I’d never seen before. Can you bring me its body?”

Junhyuk shook his head.

“It’ll be too heavy. I’ll slice it and bring you a few parts.”

“Fine, but can you get them to me quickly?”

“If it ever shows up in the training facility, I can get you a whole one.”

Not every monster appeared in the training facility. The Doppelganger King, for example, hadn’t shown up yet.

Elise crossed her arms and said, “I’m sure there’s a reason you brought me here. Let’s hear it.”

Junhyuk pulled the Queen Harpy’s Talon out, and Elise recognized it.

“A Queen Harpy’s talon?”

“That’s right, but this one is special.”

“Special how?”

Junhyuk gave her the talon and explained, “This one is a rare drop in the Dimensional Battlefield. You might get one after killing many Queen Harpies. It’s a material for item synthesis.”

“Really?!”

Elise looked at it with renewed curiosity, and her eyes beamed.

“Hm… It does feel different.”

“What can you feel?”

Smiling, she answered, “After learning magitek, I can tell when ingredients are superior to others. I’m making a machine to measure their difference, but it’ll take time.”

Junhyuk could guess at what she was making. Bebe had said that it would cost him 300,000G to get an item that inspected other items’ worth, and once again, Junhyuk realized just how valuable Elise was.

Then, Junhyuk pulled out the Starlight Blast Furnace and the Sunlight Heating Furnace.

“I brought you the things you asked for.”

Her eyes beamed, and she inspected them.

“Hm! Using these, I can make more effective items!”

While she was looking at the two furnaces, Junhyuk turned to Sarang.

“How was your battlefield?”

Sarang merely turned her head away and replied, “I don’t know.”

“What’s wrong?”

“You gave Big Sister Elise a ring. Hmph!”

Junhyuk laughed and caressed Sarang’s head, but she took a step back and complained, “I’m not in the mood.”

“I can trust you without the ring.”

After hearing that, she relaxed, and he asked her again, “Were you OK?”

Sarang shook her head.

“It wasn’t easy. I probably need to change my equipment.”

Should Artlan change his focus as well and become a tank?

She continued, “I was able to sell the items given to me by Elise, so I got some new things.”

Junhyuk used to have items around 80,000-100,000G when he was a champion. Sarang had items that cost around 200,000G. Her start was much better than his had been. She could also pick up items when she killed heroes, and since her enemies had to be higher-ranked than Junhyuk’s, she could earn money quickly.

He was still talking to her when a light shone from Elise. Junhyuk and Sarang turned to her immediately while Elise was standing there with a blank stare.

Junhyuk couldn’t see the Queen Harpy’s Talon in her hand, but he didn’t care about that. Elise was changing. Her health and mana went way up, and he asked her, “Are you a novice now?”

What had happened to trigger the sudden power activation?

Junhyuk stared at her, and Elise, with her hands on her head, replied, “Wait.”

After she calmed down, she raised her head. Looking at him, she answered, “I got a power from the Queen Harpy’s Talon.”

“What power?”

Elise was in no condition to activate her power, and how would she activate it in the first place? Nevertheless, she extended her hand toward him, and streams of light left her fingertips. Junhyuk sword started shining, so he unsheathed it and frowned.

“This is…!”

Elise inspected herself and muttered, “Hm… It has a cooldown. One minute.”

Then, she raised her head and, looking at him, she explained, “I was looking at the Queen Harpy’s Talon. You told me it was a synthesis ingredient, so I was thinking about how to use it, and that’s when it happened. The Queen Harpy’s Talon disappeared, but I can mimic its abilities. I can make it as if I had synthesized it to your weapon, but the effects only last for three minutes.”

Junhyuk could understand what she was saying. Elise had activated a power, which meant that she would also go to the Dimensional Battlefield.

He walked up to her and placed a hand on her shoulder.

“The heroes will want to work with you, but I must teach you how to survive the Dimensional Battlefield.”

“I have to go to the Dimensional Battlefield?!”

Junhyuk nodded heavily and said, “That’s right. You have a power now, so you’ll be summoned starting next week.”