Hell's Handbook

Chapter 418

As someone who had chosen a different path, Su Jin did not need to heed any calls from the Handbook. But when it did, he decided to enter the Challenge he was scheduled for in the end, because he needed some time to do some observations and research. He needed to find out more about those rune creatures, for example.

Darkness enveloped him and he could clearly feel himself being teleported, and he could also sense that a particular world out there was being surrounded by the power of the Handbook. This was the power that Su Jin now possessed as someone outside of the Handbook’s control. He stood as a character on the outside, so he could see everything that was happening inside.

“The mesmerizing moon makes one lose their soul! The moon shines bright, but there’s panic within each one’s heart!” that terrifying voice rang out, describing a frightening moonlit night in a few phrases.

Everything around him brightened, and he could see again. He was seated in a pavilion with six others.

“A seven person challenge.” Su Jin nodded slightly. Based on the number of people involved, he figured that this Challenge’s difficulty was somewhere in the middle.

He opened his Handbook and saw the basic information that was provided for all owners.

Level C Challenge: Hypnotizing Moonlit Night

Main quest: Reach Moonlight Church or extinguish the moonlight before daybreak.

Side quest: Find out Moonlight Church’s history.

A Level C Challenge wasn’t too hard. It was considered an easier one among the Challenges that Su Jin had gone through. But this Challenge seemed to involve supernatural beings, so that pushed the difficulty one notch up. In other words, this Challenge might be equivalent to a Level B Challenge.

Su Jin didn’t really care about how difficult the Challenge was. He cared more about the process and what he needed to get out of it. But that didn’t mean that the other owners didn’t care about the difficulty level. The other six owners were already frowning at their Handbooks.

One of them was an old man in his sixties, with white hair and a white beard. It was rare to see an owner at such an advanced age. The old man frowned as he said, “Well, the Challenge has begun. Any veterans here?”

The group exchanged glances and only Su Jin and the old man raised their hands. There were two veterans among seven people, which was not bad for a Level C Challenge.

“Hello there, my name is Li Yi, and my Spirit Power is explosions,” said the old man as he gave Su Jin a quick nod.

Su Jin responded, “Hello, Mr. Li. My name is Su Jin and my Spirit Power is psychokinesis. What do you mean by… explosions?”

“Watched Naruto before?”

“Yep!”

“One Piece?”

“Yes…”

“My Hero Academia?”

“Yup.”

“My, my, you’re a real otaku!” Li Yi burst out laughing.

Su Jin laughed along awkwardly. This old man was… rather interesting. “Are you saying that your Spirit Power resembles what we see in these anime series?”

Li Yi touched a section of the pavilion with his hand and the part he just touched instantly exploded. The explosive force wasn’t great, but the other five owners with no Spirit Power were astonished. They clearly envied the old man for having such a violent Spirit Power.

Su Jini nodded slightly. Li Yi’s Spirit Power was probably very useful in most Challenges, and he was quite sure that Li Yi could adjust how powerful he wanted each explosion to be. But such a power wasn’t particularly useful in a Challenge that involved the supernatural.

“Young man, show me what you’ve got!” Li Yi motioned to Su Jin to demonstrate as well.

It was hard for Su Jin to refuse in such a situation, so a silver glint flashed in his eyes as the rocks and splinters that had been sent flying from the explosion earlier flew up from the ground by the power of his psychokinesis.

“Oh! It’s like telekinesis?” said Li Yi in surprise.

Su Jin nodded and smiled. “Something like that!”

Psychokinesis and telekinesis were very similar. Telekinesis could be described as a simpler form of psychokinesis. But telekinesis was easier to develop and it was something that was more popular among owners.

“Looks like we’ll have a slightly easier time with two veterans around,” remarked a young lady among them. She introduced herself, “My name is Lv Meng, I look forward to working well with everyone here.”

“Lv Meng?” someone else asked puzzledly.

Lv Meng immediately replied, “Not the one from Romance of the Three Kingdoms! My Meng is a different Chinese character that most girl names would use!”

“Oh! I see! I was wondering why such a pretty girl like you would have the same name as a famous military general,” said the same person with a hearty laugh.

Su Jin asked another question, “Are there newbies among us?”

The group shook their heads. In general, owners without Spirit Power were very reliant on owners with Spirit Power. They always hoped that the veterans would be able to take on greater responsibilities, but in the same way, they also gave veterans more authority. Su Jin had even heard of owners who were willing to use their bodies in exchange for greater protection from veterans.

This cycle was about to come to an end, and the Handbook had chosen a lot of people to become owners. But veterans remained a minority among owners, the cream of the crop.

“Youngsters! Never mind the fact that we’re veterans, or whether we are willing to protect you or not – even if we are willing to protect you, if you rely too much on veterans, you will still meet a tragic end,” Li Yi shook his head. He found their naivety a joke.

The five owners felt their hearts tremble. If these two veterans were unwilling to protect them, then this Challenge would become even more difficult.

But Li Yi smiled and went on, “You’re lucky that I’m normally nice to young people, so I will try my best to protect your guys. But I still stand by what I said just now. It’s not a good practice to rely too much on veterans.”

Su Jin chimed in, “Mr. Li is right. It’s best that you count on yourself as far as possible. It’s not a good thing to rely on others too much.”

The five of them were obviously not going to argue with the two veterans, but they all felt somewhat annoyed inside. These two men had Spirit Power, so it was easy for them to tell others not to rely on them. But they were ordinary owners and would have a much tougher time compared to them.

Su Jin didn’t need to use his psychokinesis to pick up their thoughts. He could sense the annoyance in their hearts. But he had already given them fair warning, so if they chose to ignore it, that was their problem.

The light outside the pavilion slowly faded, which meant that the Challenge had really started. As they left the pavilion, one of them grumbled, “We’re supposed to extinguish the moonlight? But how? Are we supposed to whack the moon out of the sky or what?”

“Moonlight in this context is probably referring to something else, a term for something more tangible. But compared to thinking about trying to extinguish an enemy, I think it’s safer to head toward Moonlight Church,” said Li Yi.

Su Jin realized that this old man wasn’t just a veteran, but a fairly intelligent man too. It was little wonder he was able to awaken his Spirit Power. Su Jin supported the old man’s strategy. Extinguishing the moonlight was definitely going to be harder than getting to a destination, so unless they really had to, Su Jin wouldn’t advise attacking an enemy either.

“But which way should we go?” asked Lv Meng. The pavilion was in the middle of a huge plain with absolutely nothing around it. No instructions on this matter had been given either.

Su Jin looked around, then said, “We’re facing the moon, so would it make sense to head toward the moon?”

Everyone paused for a while, then agreed with that reasoning. The Challenge’s description and quests all mentioned the moon, so this was probably a hint in itself. Without any other hints or information, Su Jin’s suggestion made perfect sense.

Once they had determined which way the moon was, they began their journey. The plain was huge and there was nothing in their way at all, which made them feel more and more uneasy as they continued walking. It felt as though they hadn’t moved at all even though they had been walking for ages.

After a long time, one of them finally couldn’t take it anymore. Walking aimlessly like that could make one anxious, so it was necessary to stop and let everyone catch their breath.

They randomly found a place to sit down with heavy hearts. If they ran into an enemy and had something to fight, they might have felt a little better.

Just then, the moonlight shone on the group.

Su Jin and Li Yi sat up in shock, and Su Jin immediately said, “Everyone, get up! Hurry!”

“Huh?” The other five were puzzled and couldn’t understand why Su Jin was so agitated. Li Yi hurried them again, “Hurry up and get up! We can’t stay here anymore!”

As the two veterans were yelling at the group, the first one to sit down and rest suddenly froze. His eyes were filled with the color of the moonlight, and his body suddenly began to swell.

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