Hell's Handbook

The leader of the dragons opened his eyes. His eyeballs were like giant black gems and seemed more alert and brighter than his wrinkly, aged head. His body was hidden in a deep crevasse, so it was impossible to see. But judging from his head, the size of his entire body was probably staggering.

“My child, can you now explain why you’ve brought your companions to the Dragon Island? Is something the matter?” asked the leader.

Angel immediately responded, “My lord, Klaus tried to attack me secretly outside the island and nearly killed me. After that, he tried to attack the children of my fellow humans turned dragons. Are the dragons just going to let such things happen?”

The leader fell silent for a moment, then said in a deep voice, “My child, I’m already very old and I’ve been living in this abyss for at least a thousand years now. But I will warn him and not allow him to do such a thing again.”

“Warn him? You mean you’re only going to warn him after he has done such a thing?!” Angel raised her voice angrily.

“My child, you should know the rules that I have set. I said that the dragons shall not hurt each other, but your children are not dragons, so there’s not much I can do about that. He might have attacked you secretly, but in reality, you did not die.” His voice sounded a little impatient as he said, “Alright now, if there’s nothing else, you may leave.”

Angel’s eyes were filled with fury, but she held herself back and went on, “My lord, we have become dragons for a long time now and we miss our family. Could we please see our family members?”

The leader narrowed his eyes a little, as though he were hesitating. But he eventually shook his head. “No. I took great efforts to create the place where they are now, but it is not very stable, so you cannot enter at will.”

Angel had an icy smile on her face. She bowed her head and said, “In that case, I shall take my leave. Thank you for allowing me to speak.”

The leader nodded slightly and Angel led everyone out again. They came to a small mountain, which was where Angel lived in the Dragon Island.

“What do we do now?” Angel asked Su Jin. She now treated Su Jin as one of her comrades.

“We have to wait. We have to wait for the other two teams to return, then… prepare for battle!” Su Jin wiped his Boning Knife. Actually, as owners, this battle wasn’t very dangerous. If things got bad, they could just kill one dragon and they would complete the Challenge immediately. But Su Jin was still a little worried. He had successfully turned the humans turned dragons against the natural dragons, but as long as they did not actually start to fight each other, Su Jin could not relax.

This time of waiting made them all feel very uneasy. Zhao Kai and Zhou Xinyu kept glancing at Su Jin like they had something to say, but refused to actually say anything. Su Jin asked them directly, “If you have something to say to me, you can just go ahead and say it.”

“Uh… I would like to join your team. Would you be willing to take me in?” said Zhao Kai.

Su Jin blinked in surprise, but shook his head. “I’m sorry, but my team isn’t taking in new members at the moment.”

Zhao Kai nodded and didn’t seem to mind Su Jin’s response. Zhou Xinyu said timidly, “I… I was thinking the same thing as Mr. Zhao. I want to join your team too.”

Su Jin felt sympathetic toward Zhou Xinyu because of what she had gone through, but Team Boning Knife was like a ticking time bomb that could explode anytime. Letting them join at this juncture might actually bring harm to them instead.

“Miss Zhou, please believe me. My team is really not taking in any new members now,” said Su Jin solemnly as he looked straight into her eyes.

She was very disappointed when she heard how serious Su Jin was, but nodded quietly. Su Jin went on, “I know why you want to join my team. That way, you won’t have to worry about running into another asshole like that man during a Challenge, right?”

Zhou Xinyu nodded. Su Jin said, “Actually, as long as you’re careful, it won’t be too difficult to avoid douchebags like him. On the contrary… my team is not in the best situation right now and we might be annihilated anytime. If I let you, or even Mr. Zhao join us, that would be bringing harm to both of you. I hope you guys can understand.”

Su Jin wasn’t obliged to explain so much, but he decided to say it anyway. It was better to make a friend than to make an enemy, after all. Su Jin didn’t want them to misunderstand and end up with two new enemies for nothing.

Zhou Xinyu didn’t seem to believe him at first, but when she thought about how he looked at her so seriously when speaking, she suddenly felt that Su Jin wasn’t lying to her. She pursed her lips and nodded, then bowed deeply toward him.

Su Jin was surprised for a moment, before a tiny smile appeared on his lips. *Why do people help others?* he thought. Was it because helping each other was to be expected? Or because we have been taught to do so as children? Probably not, as far as Su Jin was concerned. For him, showing a little kindness and getting some in return was enough to satisfy him.

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They were still waiting for the other two teams to return, so Su Jin took the time to give Zhou Xinyu a lesson on how to survive the Handbook’s universe. He used his past experiences in Challenges to explain his general thought process when faced with a crisis.

“Shifu!” Zhou Xinyu bowed solemnly toward Su Jin, which stunned him for a second.

“Shi… shifu?”

“That’s right. I… I really don’t know how long I can survive this universe, but you’re definitely part of the reason why I would be able to survive. So, regardless of whether you accept it or not, I’m going to treat you as my shifu, my great teacher,” said Zhou Xinyu.

Su Jin wanted to turn her down, but when he thought about how her experience in her first Challenge had been much worse than most, he decided against saying in the end. He just nodded slightly, then gave her a few things.

“This is an All Purpose Healing Pill, this is Super Oxygenated Chewing Gum, and I don’t need this Tensan Silk Armor anymore, so I’ll give them all to you.” Su Jin gave her a few items that he didn’t need, hoping that these items could help her to survive a little longer during Challenges.

His other team members followed suit. Situ Jin gave her his Demon Evoking Wand, since according to him, he didn’t need it anymore. Kano Mai gave her a very intricately designed handgun along with some special bullets. Wu Chen wasn’t stingy either. He gave her a jade amulet and said that this item could defend her against an attack from supernatural forces.

Su Jin didn’t expect his team mates to give Zhou Xinyu these things. Kano Mai whispered to him, “You didn’t say anything, but you felt really smug inside when she called you shifu, didn’t you? Since she’s your disciple, it’s only right of us to give her these things.”

He rubbed his nose awkwardly. He had been extra nice to this young lady, mostly because of what she had gone through during this Challenge. But since things had come to this, he wasn’t going to refuse to be her shifu anymore.

“Alright now, my team members have already given you gifts as well, so if I don’t take you in as my disciple, I’d end up suffering a loss instead,” said Su Jin with a laugh. His expression grew serious again as he said, “You might be my disciple now, but I’m still not going to let you join the team. The reason is the same as before – if I let you join now, I’d be bringing harm to you. The only thing I can do is to pray that you can survive your next Challenges. Once you’re able to gain access to Hell’s Bar, you can look for me then!”

Zhou Xinyu nodded. Just then, Angel suddenly got up. Her eyes bulged furiously as she yelled loudly, “These damned dragons! It turns out that our family members died a long time ago!”

“What’s going on?” asked Su Jin as he walked over to where she was.

Her eyes brimmed with tears as she said to him, “My companions found an area at a far end of the Dragon Island where bodies had been buried. It’s filled entirely with human bones and we can sense that they were once related to us!”

Su Jin had a saddened look on his face, but he was secretly cheering inside. This meant that a fight among dragons was definitely going to happen.

Just then, a dragon flew over with a gem in his mouth. “That’s the Dragon Soul Crystal!” Angel’s expression changed dramatically. The dragon spat the gem out of his mouth, then died on the spot. His back was mostly broken and half his body was severely wounded. Blood flowed down his tail as he lay motionlessly. It was such a tragic sight to behold.

“That’s a LOT of curse energy in there. If the energy inside the gem explodes, any parties connected to it will lose their ability to move for a long time,” Fabian suddenly spoke up.

Everyone turned to look at him and he quickly explained, “I’m majoring in magic curses at the Empire Magic Academy, so I’m very familiar with the energy within this gemstone.”

“Magic curses? I’ve never heard of that.” Angel shook her head. She had been one of the best wizards around when she was a human, but she had never heard of such a thing.

Fabian replied, “This is a field of study that’s only been available over the last ten years, and the Empire Magic Academy is the only place that offers it in the entire continent. I’m not surprised that you’ve never heard of it before.”

“Wait, you said that if the energy inside explodes, we could lose our ability to move?” asked one of the fiery dragons.

Fabian nodded. “If a bit of your energies are stored inside here, then once it’s released, all of you will not be able to move for a long time.”

“Thankfully, this thing is with us now,” said Angel with some relief. She looked at the dead dragon who had brought the gem to her with a grieved look on her face. “Thank you for doing this wonderful thing for us, my brother.”

Fabian had an awkward expression on his face as he added on, “Um… having the gemstone alone is useless. As long as the other party knows the right incantations, then once they’re close enough to the gemstone and chants the right words, the energy inside the gem is still going to explode.”

Everyone was too shocked for words. If that was the case, there was no way they were going to win this battle against the natural dragons.

“What if we destroy it?” asked Angel.

“It’s no use. Destroying it will make it explode,” said Fabian.

Just when Angel and her companions had lost all hope, Fabian piped up again, “But that’s nothing to worry about. I can get rid of the curse energy inside this gemstone. It’s not difficult.”

Everyone was stunned for a moment before glaring furiously at Fabian, which made him take a step back in fear. He hid behind Su Jin and whispered, “What’s… what’s wrong with them?”

“Next time, don’t just show off your knowledge without telling everyone you actually have a solution first. Otherwise, this showing off might get you killed instead!” Su Jin shook his head. Before this, he had tried to get Fabian to stay behind in his village. He didn’t expect that bringing the young man along would turn out to be the key to resolving the problem of the Dragon Soul Crystal.