They drank all night in Artlan’s castle. Different drinks were served, but they were all very strong. Junhyuk was really tired from the ordeal.

The women poured him a drink, and he gave each of them a shot of it. They all pa.s.sed out. Junhyuk was able to take it because of Harmonizer. Otherwise, he might be pa.s.sed out as well.

Nudra and Halo smirked and got up.

“We should get going.”

Artlan said, “Feel free to.”

Artlan threw each of them a bottle and made a motion with his hand. An old woman with feathered her walked up to him.

“Granny, do you have the coordinates for the Heavenly Kingdom and the Sea Castle Kingdom?”

“I do. Should I send them there?”

Artlan turned to Junhyuk and asked, “Are you leaving as well?”

Junhyuk took a moment to think before shaking his head and saying, “I’ll stay a bit longer.”

“Yeah? Good idea.”

Artlan made a motion with his fingers and said, “While they leave, we’ll play.”

Nudra and Halo became suddenly interested in what he had said and protested in turn, “We aren’t leaving yet.”

“I’m not busy, so I should watch this.”

Junhyuk nodded and Artlan and said, “OK. Let’s play.”

Artlan to him to a training room. The room was huge, a hundred square meters.

Junhyuk thought it had been a while since their last match. Artlan’s sixth sense made Artlan his biggest opponent, so he knew the duel wouldn’t be easy.

He summoned his swords, and Artlan summoned his sabers.

Artlan smirked and said, “Let’s play!”

Artlan dashed toward him, and Junhyuk dashed to meet the hero. Both accelerated.

Junhyuk, with full control of Harmonizer, took off, and so, they started playing.

Clang, clang, clang, clang!

They were sparring, but their clashes were serious and heavy. Their swords cut through everything, but the room wasn’t damaged at all.

“He must’ve coated the ground with magic,” Halo said.

“It’s a nice training room.”

Halo and Nudra conversed.

“Junhyuk’s skills have improved.”

“He’s matching Emperor Artlan.”

“But Artlan has more energy.”

Their duel picked up in ferocity, and finally, the ground of the training room started to break. Nudra and Halo witnessed the fight.

“Artlan is stronger than he was.”

“Yeah. It seems Junhyuk can’t deliver a critical hit.”

“What about you?”

“It’s his sixth sense. Junhyuk will need something else to get past it.”

“Yeah?”

Junhyuk was thinking the same thing as Halo and Nudra talked. He couldn’t pierce through Artlan’s defenses due to Artlan’s sixth sense.

Junhyuk was having difficulty landing a hit. He was thinking about using his Spatial Collapse when Artlan slashed at him, but the hero let go of his saber when it clashed against Junhyuk’s sword.

The saber seemed alive as it flew toward him. Junhyuk used his other sword to try to block, but Artlan’s saber rushed toward him like lightning.

Clang!

Junhyuk barely managed to block, but the impact was heavy. He couldn’t get himself repositioned and was slammed against the wall. By the time he got up, Artlan already had his other saber pointing at Junhyuk’s back.

Junhyuk asked, “Was that your Rain from Above?”

“Just an inferior skill.”

Halo laughed and said, “Look, you just copied my ultimate!”

“Mine is worthless compared to yours.”

“Sure,” Halo said. The hero put a hand on Junhyuk’s shoulder and added, “Too bad.”

“I can’t defeat him.”

Halo whispered in his ear, “Artlan must’ve been frustrated. That was a dangerous move.”

“It didn’t look that way.”

“We’ve played. Now, let’s drink,” Artlan said.

“Again?”

“I need to recover from my hangover.”

Junhyuk shook his head, and Nudra and Halo patted him on the shoulder and said, “We can’t stay.”

“I’m drinking alone?!”

“That’s right.”

Nudra and Halo left, and Junhyuk joined Artlan for another round.

He drank for another day and sparred with Artlan two more times. Junhyuk couldn’t win, but he learned a lot from their duels. He was gaining experience.

They drank somewhere Artlan’s mage had prepared for them. It was an area at the top of a mountain. The top of the mountain was narrow, and there was an opening on the cliff. It was extremely high.

Artlan liked the place. The two drank together there, but there wasn’t much s.p.a.ce.

Artlan said calmly, “My councilors are scared of this place.”

“Why? You just have to be careful and you won’t fall.”

“About ten councilors have died here.”

“What?”

“All those who have drank with me here and survived have their own kingdoms now.”

“Is this a test?”

“Right.”

“Do I have to drink a lot?”

“I can tell what you are thinking by what you think.”

Artlan poured Junhyuk another drink.

“Seems like it’ll be tough work ahead.”

“It’ll last about forty hours.” Artlan smirked, clinked his bottle against Junhyuk’s gla.s.s and said, “Congratulations on your victory in the tournament!”

After Artlan complimented him, Junhyuk felt better about having beaten Artlan’s team. He smirked and emptied the gla.s.s in his hand.

“This is killer.”

“Of course! That bottle costs three castles.”

“What?!”

Artlan smiled at him and said, “Nudra, Halo and you drank enough bottles to buy a kingdom.”

“We drank a lot.”

“Halo and Nudra drank all night. I have some nice bottles they don’t have.”

Junhyuk laughed and said, “They drank with vigor.”

“Yeah. They weren’t interested in the women, but they do like to drink.”

By the end, Artlan said, “You head back. I’ll drink some more.”

Junhyuk threw his empty gla.s.s down the cliff and said, “I’ll be off then.”

Artlan kept drinking, and Junhyuk used his Dimensional Shift. He appeared inside Elise’s lab. When he looked around, he saw Gongon and Vera. He smiled at Vera and asked, “Are you done here?”

“Yes. Send me back.”

“Sure, I’ll take you.”

Junhyuk teleported to the coordinates Vera had previously given him. He thought she could find her own way back.

Vera smiled at him and said, “I’ll give you another set. Teleport there.”

“Sure.”

He teleported with her again. Teleporting was easy for him.

They appeared inside a lab, Vera’s lab. There were many books, magic circles and spell ingredients around. He looked around with wonder while Vera searched for something. She found two books and said, “Take these.”

“What are they?”

“Give this one to Sarang, and this other one to Elise. They’ll know.”

“Sure.”

Junhyuk put the books inside his Spatial Bag, and Vera chuckled.

“Do you need anything?”

“No. I’ve been drinking.”

“If you drank with Artlan, you must’ve drunk a lot.”

“Till I dropped dead.”

Vera patted his shoulder and said, “I hope that what we made will help you.”

“What did you make?”

“Elise will show you.”

“Sure,” Junhyuk said with a smile.

He left Vera and returned to Elise. When he got there, Gongon was looking at a monitor.

“What are you doing?”

“I’m checking on what I made.”

“Is it complete?”

“It’s working. Vera should’ve given you something,” Gongon replied.

“You knew?”

“Of course! Give me the book.”

Junhyuk laughed and handed the book to Gongon, who scanned through it and smiled.

“OK. This will work.”

“Is it important?”

“It’ll be finished by tomorrow.”

Both of Gongon and Elise headed down to the bas.e.m.e.nt again, and Junhyuk shook his head. He went to see Sarang instead.

Junhyuk could see what Sarang was making. It looked like a rifle, but there were magic circles etched all across it. He inspected it with wonder.

“This must be for magic hunting.”

“Right. It can fire up to ten shots continuously, and after ten minutes, it can fire again.”

“It’ll help during monster hunts.”

“Of course!”

Weapons crafted with cores could be used in the battlefield, and Sarang seemed proud of her work.

Junhyuk gave her the book from Vera and said, “Vera wanted me to give this to you.”

“Vera?!” She shook her head, and after scanning the book, she exclaimed, “I needed this!”

“What is it?”

Sarang smiled and said, “This is a book on magic circle compression. I can add another five magic circles now.”

“That’s an amazing book.”