Junhyuk teleported to where Elise was. An orb was floating next to her head. There was a blue light shining from the center of the orb, and runes had been written across it.

When Elise saw him, she smiled.

“It’s a success!”

“What does it do?”

Elise made a motion with her hand on him and walked around. The orb followed her, which surprised him.

“Does the orb recognize you as its owner?”

“Yes, and because it has unlimited energy, it won’t drop to the ground.”

Elise walked to a part of the lab where things had already been prepared by her, and she said, “I’m running power tests and others tests I haven’t done yet.”

Junhyuk looked at the things she had prepared and asked, “Is the orb made with dragon scales?”

“That’s right.”

Elise extended her hand toward the floating orb, and the orb moved to hover above her hand. Then, she tapped her index finger against it, and the orb turned red.

“This...o...b..is covered in dragon scales. I had to use heavy crafting techniques on it. I worked hard, but it brought out the best results.”

“It looked like it was silver.”

“One of the magiteks crafted into it increases durability, but it also turned it silver.”

Elise tapped the orb with her index finger again, and it went back to being silver.

“It has a name: Moon Core.”

Junhyuk wasn’t interested in its name. He was interested in how much core energy Elise would be able to use with it. Elise stood next to Moon Core and looked to the side. She was looking at a two-meter thick t.i.tanium-gold alloy wall.

A blue beam shot out of Moon Core, piercing the wall. The orb had made a perfect circle through the t.i.tanium-gold alloy. The attack seemed like a laser, and Junhyuk knew he would have to trigger his acceleration to be able to respond to the beam’s trajectory.

Elise had the power to nullify his powers, and now, she had a weapon of her own, a weapon with an extremely fast attack. If Elise had been his enemy, she would’ve been a difficult one.

Elise turned to something else, a Black Turtle’s sh.e.l.l. Another blue beam shot out of the orb and slammed against the sh.e.l.l, digging it into the ground. However, the beam didn’t pierce the sh.e.l.l.

Elise smacked her lips and walked to it, inspecting the sh.e.l.l.

“Hm… I can’t pierce this with just one attack.”

Junhyuk had never damaged a Black Turtle’s sh.e.l.l himself. He could pierce it now because of Aksha’s Longsword, but that would’ve been impossible for him before.

Elise’s Moon Core was highly destructive. Moon Core was a bit less powerful than his upgraded Blood Rune Sword, and Elise might even be able to upgrade it.

Moon Core only used part of the core’s energy when shooting its laser. If more energy was used, it would be able to pierce anything.

“That’s stronger than I had expected, but it’s not using all of the core’s energy, right?”

Elsie nodded and replied, “The Core Bomb could release all of the core’s energy at once, but the Moon Core can’t do that. If that were to happen, anybody wielding the Moon Core would be in danger. The Moon Core only uses 5 percent of the core’s energy.”

“What about the other 95 percent?”

Elise smiled and said, “I can release more of the core’s energy with it. There are three stages of release, and each higher stage decreases the Moon Core’s durability. The optimum level is at 5 percent. I can push it all the way to 25 percent, but at that point, the shooting speed also decreases.”

Elise tapped the Moon Core again and said, “Let’s use the maximum possible output.”

What would happen at 25 percent?

A single laser beam shot out at the t.i.tanium alloy. It pierced through the alloy and further through the lab’s wall. Junhyuk walked up to the wall, and saw that even more walls had been pierced through. He couldn’t see the end of the destruction.

Junhyuk turned to her, and Elise smiled.

“It’s on a five-minute cooldown.”

He was curious about something. “Does Moon Core have its own AI?”

“Of course!” Smiling, she explained more about the weapon, “By setting the energy at 15-percent output, the cooldown drops to three minutes. At 5 percent, there is no cooldown.”

Junhyuk nodded. Moon Core would go with her to the Dimensional Battlefield. He just didn’t know how effective it would be there. At maximum output, very few enemies would be able to block it, but the cooldown was too long for battle.

Elise would have to use it at 5-percent there.

She folded her arms and said, “It’s a good thing I haven’t been to the Champions’ Battlefield yet.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’ve already met a manager. They told me I have to wait for a vacancy or for a new team.”

The managers had had just the right number of champions to make teams for the battlefield. Eventually, Elise would go to the Champions’ Battlefield, and once that happened, Junhyuk would bet a significant amount on her. She had enough power for two champions.

“Too bad. You’ll have a superb track record there.”

She smiled and said, “I have a favor to ask of you.”

“What is it?”

“Fight me.”

“What?!”

Junhyuk simply stared at her, and she answered, “You should used the Wolf Warlord’s Claw against me and come at me with intent to kill.”

Junhyuk understood what she was doing then.

“OK.”

He grabbed one of the claw swords from around the lab, and Elise stretched both of her arms and stepped back. Junhyuk walked toward her and swung the claw down. He had been training, so his swordsmanship seemed almost masterful.

Sssss-clink!

The claw was blocked by Moon Core.

Junhyuk could see that Moon Core really was covered in dragon scales. He hadn’t used his mana blade, and the claw wasn’t that sharp, but Moon Core had also deflected the attack. Even though Moon Core was round, it had managed to thwart his attack.

Junhyuk increased his attack speed. He wasn’t using his acceleration, but his swings were much faster now.

Clank, clink, clink, clank, clink!

His attacks were all blocked. The spherical body of the Moon Core moved fast, parrying his attacks left and right. He could not reach Elise.

Junhyuk smacked his lips then and said, “I’m attacking for real this time.”

Junhyuk accelerated and attacked. Moon Core couldn’t respond to his attacks, so it started shooting at him.

Junhyuk had expected that counterattack, so he blocked the beams with the claw sword.

The output was set at 5 percent, but Junhyuk did not want to get hit. He sped up, and at the same time, Moon Core responded much quicker.

At that point, a cold smiled appeared on Junhyuk’s face, and the claw sword was encased in mana.

“Wait!” Elise shouted.

Junhyuk stopped, and so did Moon Core. When he looked at her, Elise shook her head.

“Are you trying to destroy my weapon?”

“It’s covered in scales! It’ll be fine!”

Elise pointed to the t.i.tanium alloy and said, “Slash that first.”

Junhyuk swung the claw sword. He had only meant to cut the slab in half, but it shattered to the ground.

Boom!

The sound of the alloy reverberated through the lab. Junhyuk turned to her and Elise said, “Dragon scales are really strong, but dragons are powerful because of the muscles and the mana inside them. Our weapons right now would only be able to scratch dragons. However, without a living dragon, the scales are not as invulnerable.”

Junhyuk had just used his mana blade to cut the slab, meaning that the scales could be damaged if a mana blade claw sword had manage to destroy the alloy.

Junhyuk stared at the claw sword in his hand. He hadn’t thought about anything except slashing the alloy. He hadn’t even felt resistance from the slash just now. He had attacked with a clear mind, but his slash had caused significant destruction.

Elise smiled and said, “It’s a good thing I stopped you.”

Thinking that he could have destroyed Moon Core, Junhyuk smiled bitterly. Looking at it, however, Junhyuk felt like he wouldn’t have destroyed it because durability magitek had been weaved into Moon Core.

“It won’t be destroyed,” he replied.

Junhyuk knew how difficult destroying weapons was. In the Dimensional Battlefield, Moon Core would be just fine.

“If Bebe judges it as a weapon, sure, we don’t have to worry, but things might be different on Earth,” she said.

Junhyuk nodded in agreement. The claw sword was a weapon in the battlefield, but Junhyuk could destroy it on Earth.

Elise smiled again and said, “I’m hopeful.”

“As a champion, you have five lives, so you should attack more.”

Keeping Elise safe was his job, but he would use her at the right moments to repel his enemies. Her new power would help them in handling their new tier.

Smiling, Junhyuk asked, “What are you going to do now?”

“I’ll work on the dragon set and upgrade Moon Core.”

While Junhyuk nodded, he thought of something and asked, “Where’s Sarang?”

“She’s probably asleep at her parents’ house. She’ll be back soon.”

“You haven’t told her?”

Elise smiled and said, “I wanted to tell you first.”