Hell's Handbook

Chapter 118: The Golden Pill and the Archangel

“Let me see…I’ve got about 17,000 points,” said Chu Yi nonchalantly after glancing at his balance.

Su Jin’s eyes nearly popped out of their sockets. “Did you…did you not use a single point?!”

“I did! I exchanged some points for a few weapons, but because I activated my Spirit Power pretty early on and nothing useful turned up in my Personal Hell Domain, I didn’t spend my points on anything.”

Su Jin nodded. 17,000 points over five Challenges was an average of about 3,000 odd points per Challenge, which made sense.

However, he felt that there was no point in holding onto all these points. It was wiser to exchange them for items that would help one to better survive future Challenges.

“I think you should exchange your points for some things, though. Even if you don’t want a weapon, I think you could still go for something to protect yourself,” Su Jin persuaded Chu Yi.

After this Challenge, Chu Yi’s mentality had also changed a little. His Spirit Power had been able to handle most battles so far, but there were still times where it really wasn’t enough. That was when having some items on hand would have been useful.

Chu Yi went along with Su Jin to look for something suitable within the Team Hell Domain’s catalogue. The catalogue had a lot of items, but it wasn’t always easy to find something suitable.

There were a few thousand different types of Spirit Power within the Handbook’s universe, and most of the Spirit Power items required the owner to have a particular type of Spirit Power in order to use it. That eliminated a lot of items.

As both of them looked through the catalogue, Su Jin’s eyes suddenly lit up as he pointed at one of them and said, “How about this one?”

“That’s a…Golden Pill?” Chu Yi’s eyes widened. Su Jin was pointing to a shiny gold colored pill.

The description read: Nobody knows everything about the universe, neither what is the greatest nor what is the smallest. Regardless of whether you spend your days in complete ignorance or in great discipline, you die anyway. But a Golden Pill in your dantian (I’m just going to assume 99% of readers are into wuxia/murim and I don’t have to explain any of this) as you work and rest each day will help you to eventually rise above the rest and become an immortal!

This is a Level D item that can eventually transform into a Spirit Power treasure. It is capable of much, but it needs the owner to explore its capabilities on their own. It will increase in level in tandem with the owner, and when it reaches the highest level, the owner will be able to move away from being a lower lifeform.

Spirit Power types that are able to use this: Soul Energy, Internal Energy, Truth Energy etc. (Author put ‘…’ and I assume there’s more because Su Jin doesn’t have any of these types, yet he’s upset he couldn’t get this item)

Points required: 15,000

Su Jin and Chu Yi exchanged glances. They were initially attracted to the name “Golden Pill”, since that was a common term seen in cultivation novels. But after reading the description and how much it cost, both of them were too stunned to speak for a while.

“This thing is actually something that can defy nature!” Su Jin gasped as he started regretting getting that High Level Body Strengthening Elixir. This pill was much more expensive compared to the elixir, but it was definitely way more powerful as well.

“The Spirit Power types it needs are those found in cultivation legends, including the one I have! So…I should exchange my points for this pill?” Chu Yi was also interested in this item.

“Yup! That’s the one for you!” Su Jin said with a nod. He was most interested in the part about how one could move away from being a lower lifeform. Also, even though the Golden Pill started at Level D, which was definitely lower than Earth Level, the fact that the item could keep levelling up made this item much more valuable.

At the same time, it cost 15,000 points, so even though Su Jin really wished he could have it, only Chu Yi had enough to exchange for it. After the exchange was completed, they were surprised to find that the item had disappeared completely from the catalogue. In other words, there was only one of this pill and he could not reserve it for the future.

“This is an item that evolves depending on the owner’s level. I’m really looking forward to how it will change in the future,” murmured Su Jin. The more restrictions an item in the Handbook had, the more powerful it was. This was merely a Level D item, yet it cost 15,000 and each team could only get it once. That proved how valuable it was.

After the exchange was completed, the Golden Pill didn’t appear inside the usual list within the Handbook, which puzzled both of them. Su Jin thought about why this was so for a moment, then had an idea. He told Chu Yi to check his own dantian.

Chu Yi tried and was pleased to find that the pill was indeed already inside his dantian. He spent some time observing what was happening inside his body and his face soon lit up. “Boss! There’s been a significant increase in the amount of internal energy I have, and…and I can circulate it at a much higher speed now.”

“It’s increased significantly? How much do you have now?” Su Jin was curious because he had very little psychokinesis to spare. Despite all his efforts to increase it, he still only had 300 odd points and never dared to use it too often even during Challenges. He had no idea how much Spirit Power other people had.

“I started off with 1,200 points, and now it’s at 3,000 points. That’s more than double!” Chu Yi was really excited. He was an owner who relied heavily on his internal energy and used it to complement his martial arts, so the fact that his Spirit Power had doubled was a pleasant surprise. He beamed from ear to ear and said, “Hoho! You were right to say that I should have used my points instead of just saving them!”

Su Jin felt like smashing something after he heard those numbers. This is so unfair, he thought. He had worked so hard to finally push his psychokinesis to 370 points, but Chu Yi had ten times more than him to spare now.

“What’s wrong, Boss?” asked Chu Yi a little uneasily when he saw Su Jin glaring at him.

Su Jin let out a big sigh. There was no point in being jealous of Chu Yi. He patted Chu Yi’s shoulder and said, “I’m going to leave all the fighting to you in the future and I’ll just focus on being the brains of the group.”

Meanwhile, Kano Mai was now standing in front of Sariel. The look in his eyes went from being puzzled, to being curious, then surprised and finally pure shock.

“I simply can’t believe a Primordial Deity is still alive! This is incredible!” Sariel shook his head in disbelief at Kano Mai.

“I’ve come back here because I need to talk to you.” Kano Mai’s expression didn’t even flinch. If the seven Original Sins were still in control of this place, then she wouldn’t have dared to return. Those lunatics didn’t care what you were. As long as you were useless to them, they would kill you. And even if you were useful, they’d just finish using you and kill you after that.

But Sariel was different. Sariel was an actual archangel that had survived countless cycles, a being that was almost an Elder God. His nature swung between good and evil, so Sariel was the archangel that was most humanlike.

“You’re a Primordial Deity, so I should actually speak to you deferentially. What do you want to talk to me about?” asked Sariel puzzledly.

“I want to work with you to…to end all of this!” She had a resolute expression on her face, while Sariel looked extremely surprised.

“Even though I don’t think it’s possible to really end this all, since you’re a Primordial Deity, I’ll help you if you really want to try.” Sariel nodded slightly and motioned to her to take his hand.

She took his hand and they both jumped into a bright beam of light.

As usual, Su Jin exchanged his points for a long period of training time. He was now very adept at using concealed weapons, so Zhang Qing didn’t think he had anything else to teach Su Jin. Su Jin didn’t mind either, since his ultimate goal was to get Li Feidao to teach him. He was just slowly training himself up to reach that stage.

Shortly after he returned to the real world, Kano Mai returned too. She seemed to be in a really good mood and insisted on cooking a feast to celebrate.

“You’ve activated your Spirit Power?” It was obvious from her expression that that had probably happened, but Su Jin thought he’d still ask.

She nodded and grinned back at him. “Yup! I won’t be a burden to you two anymore!”

“How could you say that? Chu Yi and I have never seen you as a burden to us.” Su Jin glared at her. They were teammates who relied on each other to survive each Challenge, so no one was more important than the other. Calling herself a burden made it seem as though he and Chu Yi had found her tiresome, which wasn’t true at all.

She knew that she shouldn’t have said that, so she smiled and apologized to him. Then, he asked curiously, “What sort of Spirit Power do you have? Can you show me?”

Kano Mai paused to think then nodded. She tapped his forehead lightly and waited. He stared at her with a confused look on his face and was about to say something when he felt unusually exhausted, as if he had worked overtime for an entire week without eating. His body was overcome by this awful feeling.

“What’s going on?” Su Jin felt like he barely even had enough energy to say anything and his eyelids were incredibly heavy. He immediately used the last bit of energy he had to circulate his psychokinesis and the exhaustion instantly left him.

“Good heavens! That was…the power of Sloth, wasn’t it?” Su Jin stared in shock at Kano Mai.

She smiled and nodded. “That’s right, I’ve gained the power of the Original Sins, but I’m only able to use Sloth’s power now. As I become stronger, I will be able to use the other Sins’ powers.”

“That’s amazing!” Su Jin couldn’t help but exclaim. He knew best how terrifying the power of the Original Sins was. If Kano Mai could execute the powers all seven of them had at that level, she would be practically invincible.

“I know what you’re thinking. And I’m sad to say that I don’t think I’d be able to reach their level,” said Kano Mai with a shrug. It would be really insane if she could.

Su Jin grinned sheepishly and had to admit that he had been too hopeful. If the powers of the seven enemies in a Level A Challenge were duplicated perfectly in one owner, that would make the owner way too powerful than the Handbook would permit.

Just then, Su Jin’s phone started ringing. He was surprised to see who was calling.

“Han Mengyao?”