Hell’s Handbook

“Judging from your expression, I suppose you’re prepared to silence me!” Su Jin broke into a smile as he summoned his boning knife at the same time. The other party was clearly a god, so if they were going to fight, Su Jin wasn’t going to take it lightly.

Natasha had a look of surprise when she saw the boning knife and frowned. “That’s a really powerful weapon you’ve got there. At least a few dozen deities have blessed it. That’s not something you can get from Hell’s Handbook.”

“You’re quite sharp!” Su Jin pointed the knife at Natasha, ready to fight any moment.

But Natasha said, “I don’t think we need to be at each other’s throats like that. Why don’t we sit down and have a chat?”

“Sit down and have a chat? You just wiped my friend out and took over her body and you expect me to sit down and have a chat with you?” Su Jin made a face.

Natasha smiled and said, “Why are you so bothered? I’m sure you’ll have plenty of friends. But there are things that nobody else besides myself knows, so if you know about them now, it’ll be beneficial to you in the future!”

“Well, that depends on what you want to talk about,” said Su Jin.

“Of course it’s about the questions you have. For example…what was that takeover all about and who I actually am,” said Natasha with a smile.

Su Jin put the knife down and said in a low voice, “Then let’s talk about that. What was that takeover about? Who are you?”

“Excellent. Let me introduce myself first then. I am Natasha, but of course, that’s based on my current identity. I have all of her memories and all of her habits, so from a certain standpoint, I am her.”

“But unfortunately, you aren’t at all,” retorted Su Jin without hesitation.

Natasha could only continue explaining herself, “Well, yes, I do have other identities. If you count 317 cycles backwards, I was the Magu, the God of Darkness. Counting another 429 cycles backward from there, I was the God of War. Another 621 cycles back, I was the God of the Harvest. And another 907 cycles before that, I was the God of Storms. I don’t remember what I was before that!”

Su Jin was a little stunned, but quickly snapped out of it. “You’re saying that…you’re an elder god, and you’re an elder god who’s…gone through thousands of cycles?!”

“That’s obvious, isn’t it?” Natasha’s smile was just as bright as it had always been. Just like what she said, she had inherited every part of Natasha, including her smile.

“That’s impossible. The elder gods will be destroyed when the new cycle arrives. Countless elder gods are proof of this. How could you be an exception?” Su Jin could not make any sense of this. Based on what he knew, the elder gods would be dealt with by the Handbook regardless of who they were. The Handbook did not allow any of them to exist for too long, never mind one who had gone through thousands of cycles.

Natasha smiled and said, “Well, that’s why I said earlier that you’d stand to gain a lot by just talking to me!” She paused, then went on, “To put it simply, there will always be a few geniuses among the gods, geniuses who appear only once every few thousand cycles. They are such geniuses, even the will of the universe would feel threatened by them. You know about the will of the universe?”

“I know some things about it,” said Su Jin.

“Good. Then I have less to explain to you.” Natasha exhaled deeply, then continued, “Even the will of the universe would feel threatened by a genius like me, so there are two ways to get rid of this threat. One is to kill me, and the other is to keep them happy.”

“There are some geniuses who start thinking of challenging the will of the universe because they are very powerful. The geniuses I’m talking about aren’t people like you. My definition of a genius is someone who can go against the control of the Handbook and break through the upper limits!”

“Someone who can break free of the Handbook…are you referring to those who choose that path?” asked Su Jin with knitted brows.

Natasha shook her head and said, “No. Those people are…brave warriors, heroes…but they are also fools. Such people have existed throughout every cycle, but they will all end in destruction. The geniuses I refer to are those who exist within the Handbook’s system, but are able to do things that can bypass the system.”

“That’s not possible. A drawing cannot become real,” Su Jin shook his head.

Natasha looked intently at Su Jin and said disdainfully, “Don’t be so quick to deny this possibility. There are things in this world that you think of as the truth, but in a greater context are nothing but ridiculous theories. Real geniuses aren’t like the people you’re thinking about. They aren’t people who happen to be more talented or more intelligent. True geniuses…you might not even get one after a thousand cycles. But every single one is a formidable character who can see through what Hell’s Handbook is really all about!”

Su Jin fell silent. Just like what she just said, it was true that he couldn’t be compared to such a genius. Natasha went on, “So, for those geniuses who remain arrogant and stubborn, the will of the universe will corner them and destroy them. Those who are willing to fall in line, the will of the universe will grant them almost unlimited freedom and allow us to continue existing from one cycle to another. But we are unable to keep a physical body together forever, so we have to take over the body of an owner from the new cycle. In most cases, the batch that manages to almost reach godhood are our best candidates. But there’s still the element of luck. If the owner we’ve chosen to take over has a physical body that’s not strong enough, we might still fail. The owner’s body would end up blowing up and we’ll be unable to transcend into this cycle. But I got lucky this time. This girl’s physical body is very strong!”

Su Jin’s heart started pounding. He suddenly remembered what the Demon Lord and the Mad Hatter had told him before. The owners who eventually became gods were often not the owners who were right at the top of the list, and this was probably the biggest reason why. Most of the highest ranking owners would become the first ones of their cycle to become gods, but before that could happen, they were selected by these geniuses for a takeover. Many of them were probably not physically strong enough, so they ended up dying while trying to become a god. And for those who were successfully taken over, the genius would take over everything that owner had, so it was impossible for anyone to find out what had truly happened.

“You said just now that this was important information for me? But it’s too bad, I’m not that sort of genius,” said Su Jin.

Natasha smiled faintly. “If you want to receive this sort of treatment, you don’t have to be a genius. There are other ways of getting here. One is to be recommended by ten geniuses, while the other way is to contribute significantly to the Handbook. If you want, I can recommend you! I could find you nine other geniuses to recommend you too!”

Su Jin shook his head. He stared at her and said, “You’re telling so much and you’re so eager to recommend me for only one reason, right? You’ve just taken over this body, so you’re not able to fully utilize your powers. You’re only able to execute what this body is already capable of right now, and you’re also not able to use those powers to their fullest either. You’re actually afraid of me, am I right?”

This time, Natasha fell silent. But a moment later, she smiled and nodded. “You’ve guessed it right. That’s why I hate smart owners like you.”

“So, what should you do?” said Su Jin as he kept his eye on her.

“We can discuss what you’d like!” said Natasha with a flirtatious look on her face.

Su Jin realized she wasn’t getting it. “Okay, let me continue with my guesses. You’ve just gone through a takeover and you’re not in the best or most stable state. If I try to kill you…you might be severely injured and unable to exist for many cycles in the future until you recover. Or…you might perish for all eternity!”

A look of horror flashed in Natasha’s eyes. “We don’t have to go there. Like I said, I can give you anything you want. You can get treasures beyond your imagination from me! You don’t have to…”

PFFT!

Su Jin did not wait for her to finish her sentence and brough the knife down. He activated the skill, Judgment, and Natasha disappeared completely in the gleam of the blade.

“Like I said, Natasha was my friend!” Su Jin shook his head. The other party’s promise had indeed been very attractive, but firstly, Su Jin had already decided to go on a path to oppose Hell’s Handbook and the will of the universe, so he wasn’t going to settle for becoming an ally of the Handbook. Secondly, Natasha and Su Jin had been on good terms all this time, so killing this genius was a way to avenge her.

Su Jin looked around and sighed heavily. Natasha had been the first human owner to become powerful enough to attempt taking the next step to become a god, yet she met such a tragic end. For as long as the Handbook was in control, even the most formidable of owners were nothing to it.

“Thank you!” Just then, Natasha’s voice rang in Su Jin’s ear once more.

“Huh?” Su Jin blinked in surprise as he snapped out of his thoughts and scanned his surroundings, to find a small wisp of Natasha’s soul left behind where the boning knife had sliced through.

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