Hell's Handbook

Carl and his two companions fell silent for a moment. Kano Mai was asking an unnecessary question. These three had lived for as long as she had and there were so many more of them putting their heads together. Of course they had considered this question before.

After a while, Carl said, “That’s something that can’t be helped. The will of the universe is an omnipresent being, so when we chose helpers from the new cycle, we purposely chose those who hadn’t been chosen by the Handbook and tried to avoid detection as much as possible. Based on our current situation, we’ve done a pretty good job so far.”

Kano Mai shrugged and smiled as she said, “If that’s the case, why do you still need me?”

“It’s because the design of The Beginning is too perfect, and it’s so perfect that our resources aren’t good enough to activate it. We need you, a bonafide primordial deity. Only a perfect lifeform like yourself can becthe core of The Beginning and put it into action!” Carl said reverently to Kano Mai, “Honorable primordial deity, are you willing to becsomething even more perfect than Hell’s Handbook and becthe will and core of The Beginning?”

Kano Mai remained silent for a moment, then nodded and said, “I don’t have any other choice, do I?”

“If you’re not willing to, we will not force you. If you remain inside this shard, not even the Handbook will be able to find you,” said Carl in a peaceful manner.

But Kano Mai shook her head resolutely and said, “There’s no need for that. The primordial deity plis very dear to me, but… I don’t want this place to becmy grave, even if my physical body is still alive.”

“So, you’re willing to becthe will of The Beginning?” asked Carl.

She nodded and replied, “That’s right. My race was massacred by the will of the universe, so I shall sing his requiem myself!”

Meanwhile, Jing Hua and the rest had been left outside, because they were not eligible to enter the shard. After Kano Mai had gone in, the shard moved elsewhere and they had no choice but to return to where the elder gods were hiding. None of them were gods, but they were from the sgeneration as these elder gods.

The elder gods who had escaped the control of the Handbook were hiding in a damaged space as well. Sof them had gained freedom after what Su Jin had done to the Train of Supernatural Beings, but these gods did not share the sphilosophy as the Mad Hatter and his group, so they remained in a separate place altogether and refused to work together.

This space was set up by the elder gods with the highest levels of spatial ability in the group. They believed that as long as they didn’t do anything stupid, not even the Handbook would discover them easily. Besides, this space was actually a Challenge that they had forcibly remodeled, so even if the Handbook noticed something odd about it, they were confident that they could still fool the Handbook.

Jing Hua and his companions entered the space, and they were horrified by what they saw before them. Corpses were floating everywhere. The humongous mountain giant, the offspring of a god who was born with supernatural powers, the legendary celestial dragon - all of them had been elder gods. But they were now nothing but corpses floating in midair and covered in blood.

“How… how did this happen?!” The group couldn’t believe what they were seeing. Everyone was perfectly fine when they left. How could something like that happen in such a short time?

A weak yellow ball of light floated toward them. That was a message left behind by a formidable god that had used telekinesis to beca god. Jing Hua grabbed hold of it and was able to see what had happened.

Several of the most formidable current gods at the peak of their might had cto attack them. These current gods were all even stronger than even the strongest of the elder gods, so they had massacred every elder god in this space. They didn’t even try to take these gods back with them and just slaughtered them all.

After the images of what had happened were done playing, Jing Hua spat a mouthful of blood and collapsed. Phoenix quickly cover to help him up. He clenched his teeth and said, “We have to becgods!”

“Becgods? BecHell’s Handbook’s new gods so that we can slay our friends?” The Dog God was indignant, and his eyes burned with anger, but he knew that the few of them were not capable of doing anything about this situation.

Jing Hua said angrily, “We have to becgods! We will only have the ability to do more after we becgods. The things we do might seem meaningless, but… we’ve got to try!”

The four of them then disappeared from the space. They already had their own gravestones and had absorbed sufficient energy from them. The only thing left to do was to gather more energy and wait to becgods.

Inside the shard, a brilliant light appeared before Kano Mai. That was The Beginning, which was an accumulation of all the intelligence from the beginning of time, a legendary creature designed by Carl and his companions. The Beginning had surpassed Hell’s Handbook and was set to replace Hell’s Handbook.

“Once you step in, your physical body will be destroyed, but your powerful primordial deity spirit will still exist and becThe Beginning’s will. So, to put it another way, you aren’t actually going to die. You’re just going to have a change in body,” Carl said to Kano Mai.

Kano Mai smiled and said, “The soul is what counts, and I understand all of that. But given the powers that The Beginning has, how much of my original soul can I preserve?”

“This might be a one-tsacrifice to you, but believe me… you are not the only one who will be making a sacrifice.” Arutus cforward and said calmly, “I will becfuel for starting up The Beginning, so compared to you, I will be completely destroyed.”

“Is it worth it?” Kano Mai asked Arutus.

“For the sake of my people, for the sake of my universe!” yelled Arutus loudly. The voice that should have resonated only in the hearts of people was so loud that it becreal and echoed in everyone’s ears.

Kano Mai watched as Arutus’ black outer shell spun rapidly and was engulfed in a silvery glow that stabbed into The Beginning, making the brilliant light calive.

“Honorable primordial deity, I wish both of us good luck!” Arutus’ last words rang in Kano Mai’s head before he disappeared completely. A formidable character powerful enough to fight the will of the universe had been willing to sacrifice himself.

Kano Mai smiled faintly. She didn’t say anything and slowly walked toward The Beginning. Her body was destroyed in the brilliance of the white glow, but at the stime, the brilliant glow grew smaller until it beca white ball of light floating in mid-air. It was no longer glaring to look at, but had becvery gentle. That was because The Beginning now had its own soul. The soul of a primordial deity.

Back in the real world, Su Jin suddenly shuddered and his instinct was to place a hand over his heart. In that instant, he had felt pain as well as a deep sadness.

“Good heavens, why do I suddenly feel like that?” Su Jin shook his head. That was a very strange feeling indeed. But he figured that his body might have changed somewhat after he had chosen this path.

Su Jin didn’t have anything to do. On the surface, he looked like any ordinary Handbook owner, so participating in Challenges was what he ought to be doing. Kano Mai had also advised him to use the powers of the Handbook to strengthen himself.

But he wasn’t sure if his powers would be limited once he started a Challenge. If there was no limit, then Challenges would be a place for him to collect points, which would enable him to exchange them for more resources.

But if his powers were curbed and he was unlucky enough to die in a Challenge, that would be such a tragedy. Then again, thinking about it was pointless, since he couldn’t get any answers that way. He decided to start a new Challenge and take a look for himself.

Several days later, the tfinally cfor him to start on a new Challenge. He was very amused, because in the past, he always dreaded the start of a new Challenge. Never in his wildest dreams did he think that one day, he would actually wish it could start earlier.

When he opened his Handbook, he was surrounded by darkness. Shrieks echoed in his ears, and after the shrieks faded, the strong stench of blood hit his nose.

“Daythas gone and darkness has come. Living creatures should not cclose, since the demons move about at night!” These two sentences suddenly rang in Su Jin’s ears as that sold terrifying voice led him into a new Challenge.