For people with powers to survive, they had to meet the right heroes. It all depended on what kind of heroes they met.

Some heroes treated novices as consumables, while others made sure that novices would be able to help when it counted.

A single power could change the flow of battle.

In the past, when Junhyuk only had his force field, he had been bait. Not more, not less. However, his power had evolved, and once he was able to raise the force field on other people, he became instrumental at changing the battlefield.

Elise’s power seemed like a simple buff, but it could also change the flow of battle. On top of that, n.o.body knew how her power would evolve. So, Junhyuk taught her every strategy he knew on how to survive the Dimensional Battlefield.

No one knew what kind of heroes she would meet, so he told her how to survive different types of heroes. After listening for a while, she sighed.

“So, I should b.u.t.ter up to heroes?”

“In simple terms, yes.”

Elise was superior in every sense, so if she displayed her pride, she would be killed. After hearing his answer, she sighed again.

“Nothing I can do. So, if a novice dies once, it’s over for them?”

“Yes. Experts can revive once, and champions can revive five times.”

After some thought, Elise muttered, “I have to activate other powers quickly.”

Junhyuk smiled bitterly. Activations didn’t depend only on one’s intelligence.

“Most activations trigger with strong willpower.”

“That’s some nice advice,” she said smiling. Elise continued, “You gave me a Doppelganger King’s heart last time, but I’m still researching it. I’ll tell you as soon as the research is done.”

Junhyuk nodded slowly. He had heard about the Doppelganger King’s heart from Hatma, so he didn’t know if humans would be able to use it. He had given it to her without any expectations. If she discovered something that could be done with the heart, that would be nice.

As Junhyuk spoke, Elise thought of something. Then, he told her to wait and contacted Gongon.

“What’s the matter?”

Gongon had a frown on when he answered Junhyuk’s call. Junhyuk wanted to give Gongon’s equipment back, but that would only happen when they found themselves on the same team. If they didn’t end up on the same team, he would have to sell the equipment.

“Gon, I want to know more about crafting materials for Spatial Bags.”

“Spatial Bags? Why are you curious about crafting materials for them?”

“Humans might be able to make them.”

“Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! Sorry, I didn’t mean to laugh. Spatial Bags deal with multiple dimensions. They require a highly magic-minded crafter, didn’t you know?”

“I didn’t know that, but I need materials to start working on them.”

“Hm… You are serious? Are you really going to make one? You won’t understand the process!”

“I won’t be the one making it.”

Gongon stared him for a moment and said, “OK, fine. You’ll require someone highly magic-minded, but I’ll tell you. I’ll give you the list of materials, but I can’t give the steps through you.”

Gongon smiled and declared, “Give the communication crystal to whomever will be making the Spatial Bag.”

Junhyuk pa.s.sed the crystal to Elise and said, “Hold it.”

She nodded, taking the communication crystal, and her eyes widened.

“What’s going on?”

Elise talked to Gongon, and Junhyuk turned to Sarang.

“Is Elise a good teacher?”

“Whenever I have time, she teaches me. It’s fun, and I’ll learn even more from her once my vacation starts.”

“Good thinking.”

Sarang couldn’t copy Elise’s creativity, but if Sarang could follow the crafting recipes, the rate of manufacturing would go way up.

The Ghost White Tiger Cloak required materials, but the rate of success of the crafting process was also quite low. Sarang could somehow help with that problem.

After some thought, Sarang asked, “Should I buy a magitek book and read it?”

“It costs 300,000G.”

Junhyuk had balked at the price when he bought it.

“But, there is an issue because I haven’t read it and am simply learning from her. The crafting process uses a runic language, and I don’t understand everything.”

Junhyuk couldn’t read Runes, so he smiled bitterly and said, “If you can learn magitek, that’ll help a lot.”

Elise might need intelligence runestones of her own, but the highest quality runestones were expensive, and he couldn’t get them for her. Still, Junhyuk wished that Elise would be successful in her research.

Elise and Gongon talked for a long time, and Junhyuk knew it was time for monsters to show up. Looking at Sarang, he said, “Get her back.”

“Sure.”

Sarang returned Elise, and she and Junhyuk looked at the A-ranked monsters showing up.

“Then, let’s begin.”

“Right.”

Junhyuk and Sarang hunted and killed A-ranked monsters for two hours. Sarang looked tired, and while she rested sitting down, he stood next to her and said, “This time, you’ll get a tank as an ally.”

“Really?”

He stared at her and said, “You should be careful.”

“I know… I won’t have you nor Gongon with me.”

Junhyuk and Gongon had great powers and equipment, but they wouldn’t be there now. She would have to be strategic in her fights. Sarang had gone through a battle with those opponents before. She knew how the enemies would work, so she could come up with a strategy of her own.

Junhyuk told her about her new tank ally and their powers. He wished he could’ve been of more help to her. However, since he hadn’t bet much on her this time, he would simply enjoy the battle.

Sarang got up, stretched and said, “I’ll bring sis back.”

“You will?”

Sarang disappeared for a while and returned with Elise, who gave him the communication crystal back and said, “I am shocked that there are beings with intelligence superior to humans. Can you get me a communication crystal next time?”

“Will do.”

The communication crystal was the cheapest item she had asked for among the things she wanted from him. Elise smiled and turned to Sarang.

“Take me back now. I want to check on a few things.”

“Sure!” Sarang smiled at Junhyuk and said, “Big brother, see you next time.”

“Right!”

After seeing Sarang off, he contacted Gongon, who stared at Junhyuk, frowning.

“You two talked for a while. Is everything OK?”

“Was I talking to a human?”

“That’s right.”

“Huh!? Shocking!”

“Why?”

Gongon was astonished, “She didn’t know anything about s.p.a.ce initially, but her understanding was absurd. I didn’t know she could grasp the understanding for the Spatial Bag so quickly.”

“Really?”

“Even a dragon wouldn’t have understood it that fast. But she was able to. It’s just shocking… and amazing.”

Junhyuk smiled. Elise would be a big help.

“That’s nice.”

“I told her the things she needed. The materials can’t be found in your dimension, so just get them from Bebe.”

“Right. By the way, can we be on the same team next time?”

Gongon smiled and replied, “That depends on luck. I learned one thing this last time. It will be nice to be on the same team as you, but fighting you as an enemy is also fun.”

Junhyuk smiled and answered, “Still, I want to be on the same team as you.”

Gongon swiped his claws and said, “I have to go train.”

“Right.”

Gongon disappeared, and Junhyuk got up from his seat. Elise understood the principles behind Spatial Bags, and that was great news for him. He could get the ingredients from Bebe, and Elise could craft the bags.

Bebe would buy every Spatial Bag he brought, so he would earn a lot more gold from selling them.

Junhyuk thought it was the right decision to include Elise in his team. He swung his swords. He envisaged himself fighting the Chinese dragon and thought about his fight with the Black Turtle and swung his swords again.

—

The morning Sun came up, and Junhyuk yawned hard. That day, he would visit the Beijing monster area. He would deal with B-ranked monsters and retreat. The goal was to attack the A-ranked monster only when he decided to attack the tear itself.

Junhyuk went to the hotel lobby. The experts’ team was surrounding Ling Ling, and the novices were listening to Lucy.

He walked toward them and said, “Let’s go.”

The groups got in their vehicles quickly. Three novices hadn’t woken up, and additional support was on the way, but it hadn’t arrived yet.

After the powered teams got in their vehicles, the monster support team did the same. They drove for a while and reached the outside of the Beijing monster area.

Junhyuk gathered the experts’ team and the novice attack team. Standing in front of them, he said, “Today, we’ll scout the Beijing area monsters and their powers. There is a difference between reading about them and experiencing them.”

Junhyuk wanted to check on the B-ranked monsters. He wanted to know how many B-ranked monsters they would be able to deal with at the same time.

“Today, we’ll check them out, and three days from now, we’ll attack the tear. Prepare for battle.”

Everyone got their equipment ready, and Junhyuk stood in front of them. Once they were able to supply equipment crafted with B-ranked monsters to the powered people, that would be of significant help to them.

With Junhyuk in the center, the experts and the novices followed him into the monster area.