Episode 90

The amber colored liquid gave off a mesmerizing glow. The boss motioned to Su Jin to go ahead and drink it, since this was for Su Jin’s first time in Hell’s Bar.

“I came with some friends, so if you’re going to treat me to my first drink, why don’t you treat all five of us?” said Su Jin with a big smile. When he walked over, he noticed someone exchanging points for a drink and it had cost that owner quite a bit. Now that the boss was offering a free drink, Su Jin was going to make full use of it.

The boss laughed and said, “Don’t worry about that! All first-timers to the Bar will get one free drink to welcome you here. Theirs are already on the table.”

Su Jin turned to look and saw four identical drinks on the table that looked just like the one in front of him.

“Thanks!” Su Jin thanked the boss, then took a mouthful of the amber colored liquid. His eyes instantly lit up. The drink tasted much more amazing than anything he had drunk in the real world, but the more surprising part was that after he had taken just one mouthful, he noticed that the upper limit of his Spirit Power had actually increased.

“Ooh!” Before Su Jin could say anything, he suddenly felt an indescribable sense of euphoria. It was a feeling that he had never felt before and his body couldn’t help but tremble in response.

“It tastes good, doesn’t it?” The boss flashed a smile at Su Jin.

Su Jin suddenly panicked and asked with a frown, “What’s in this? Is it…”

“Don’t worry! It’s not one of those cheap tricks that demons use to beguile humans. This is a drink made with the diluted blood of dragon ancestors and it has the ability to increase the upper limit of an owner’s Spirit Power. But this only happens when you drink it for the first time. Did you really think Hell’s Bar would give you a cheap drink as your first drink?” The boss finished wiping the glass in his hand and reached for another with a rather smug look on his face.

Su Jin looked at the liquid in the glass and took another gulp. The feeling of euphoria hit him again and he could see his Spirit Power’s limit increase again. After he finished the entire glass, his Spirit Power limit had reached 170 points.

“This is good stuff!” Su Jin exclaimed. But it was too bad that only the first glass had this effect. Otherwise, he wouldn’t mind spending points on this drink even if it cost him a lot.

“Of course. Everything in Hell’s Bar is the best that all the universes can offer. So, what do you want to know?” said the boss with a shrug.

Su Jin put the glass down and realized that once the feeling of euphoria was gone, he didn’t miss it at all. In other words, this drink didn’t contain anything that would make it addictive.

He looked around and felt that the other owners were too close to him, so the bar counter wasn’t really a good place to chat.

“Don’t worry about that. Every seat here has its own special sound barrier in place, so nobody else will hear about your secrets besides myself,” explained the boss when he could see what Su Jin was worried about.

“I need some items that can boost soul power. Do you know anything about that?” asked Su Jin.

The boss put down the glass he was wiping, then put both palms on the countertop and leaned forward as he said to Su Jin, “Young man, Hell’s Bar has everything that you want to know, as long as you can afford it.”

“My team’s personal bartender said that you’d name the price.”

“That’s right. This information you want is worth 1000 points.”

“1000?!” Su Jin was flabbergasted. This was very expensive for just information. He frowned and said, “Are you going to just give me information? Or are you going to provide some other sort of help as well?”

“Just information. That’s the rule around here. Besides alcoholic drinks, the only other thing Hell’s Bar provides is information.” The boss smiled and straightened up, making him look like the perfect butler in an English household. He seemed so trustworthy.

“I’ll need a while to think about it before making a decision, sorry about that!” Su Jin started walking away from his seat. Since the price that the boss offered was too high, he was going to try the second method instead.

“There’s a noticeboard on the leftmost side of the bar counter, you can paste a notice with your query on it. If someone has information, they’ll contact you.” The boss wasn’t angry and even gave Su Jin directions.

“Thanks!” Su Jin thanked the boss, then walked to the leftmost side of the bar. But the bar counter was so long, it took Su Jin a full five minutes to reach the leftmost side.

Just like what the boss had mentioned, there was a gigantic noticeboard here. To be more specific, it was really a giant wooden board. Several notices were randomly stuck to the board. Some had special symbols on them, so those were probably put up by the various teams. Others were just ordinary parchment paper, so those were probably put up by the owners without a team.

Su Jin looked through the notices and saw that their contents varied quite a bit. Someone were asking for a specific item, some were looking for information like himself, while others were trying to sell items.

As he read the notices, he came to the end of the noticeboard and saw a door next to it that glowed faintly. He walked over curiously but wasn’t able to go any further once he reached the door.

Blackie’s voice resounded in his head, “You don’t have sufficient access to enter.”

“Oh?” Su Jin took a step back and tried to look beyond the door, but couldn’t see anything at all. He figured that this access was referring to his team’s level of access.

Back then, Kano Mai had already told him that the team would be able to gain higher levels of access as they complete more and more Challenges. Hell’s Bar was a place that required the team to reach a certain level in order to enter, so he concluded that whatever was behind this door needed his team to level up first before he was allowed in.

“But even if I want to put up a notice, I need some paper.” Just as he spoke, a brown piece of parchment paper with the symbol of his own team on it appeared out of nowhere. He touched the paper and was impressed by its quality. A feather pen was floating next to the parchment.

He chuckled in amusement as he took the feather pen and began writing on the floating piece of paper. The contents were simple. He just wanted information on anything that could boost one’s soul power.

After he finished writing what he wanted, the paper disappeared and reappeared on the noticeboard, awaiting someone with information to come by and read it.

Su Jin then returned to his team’s table to find that they were talking about their complimentary first drink. Chu Yi’s first comment was, “It’s too bad none of you have Spirit Power yet! What a waste!”

The three of them rolled their eyes at Chu Yi. There were times when Chu Yi was too direct and insensitive with his words.

“I don’t think we’ve gained nothing at all. At least for myself, the strange sense of exhaustion I had been feeling before this has reduced by quite a bit,” said Yang Mo.

“You’re right. Perhaps this drink contains something that can strengthen one’s soul power,” suggested Kano Mai.

Su Jin sat back down and said, “That would be best. I’ve already put up a notice, so hopefully someone will contact us soon!”

“Do you guys want more drinks? We’re not just going to sit around and wait, right?” suggested Yang Mo after noticing that all the other owners were drinking.

“Just let me know what you’d like to drink!” Their personal bartender pulled out five menus from nowhere and placed one in front of each person.

Su Jin briefly glanced through the menu and his eyes widened. The names of the drinks here were fairly strange, but the surprising part was that some of them came with special effects. The complimentary drink from the boss earlier was called The Dragon Ancestors’ Dreams. It was a drink that could increase one’s Spirit Power limit when drunk for the first time, and was also able to boost one’s soul power.

“The Dragon Ancestors’ Dreams is really good stuff, but it’s so expensive.” Su Jin shook his head. Each glass cost 2,000 points, which meant that their welcome drink was actually worth 10,000 points.

“Give me two Songs of Purity and three Energizers! Put everything on my tab!” Su Jin went ahead to place an order without asking the rest. Song of Purity was a drink that could boost one’s soul power and cost 200 points. Energizer was actually just an ordinary drink, but it still cost him 10 points each, so five drinks set him back 430 points.

The bartender nodded and left, then returned with five glasses after a short while. Su Jin smiled and said, “It’s our first time drinking together as a team, so this one’s on me!”

“All right!”

“Got it!”

“Of course, you’re Boss!”

“I won’t stand on ceremony then!”

All four of them quickly picked up their glasses merrily and took a sip.

Every drink offered by Hell’s Bar was truly of the highest quality. Even the drinks that didn’t come with any special effects were just as tasty.

As they chatted, a man who looked like he was in his forties approached their table. He looked at the group as if he was trying to confirm if he had found the right people.

“Are you the ones looking for something to boost soul power?” asked the man after he lit a cigar and took a deep puff. His voice was extremely low.

Su Jin didn’t expect someone to respond to his notice so quickly. He got up and said, “That’s right. Do you have any information for us?”

“Of course. But first, let’s talk about the price.” The man snapped his fingers and a chair appeared in front of him. He proceeded to sit at their table as if they were all friends.

“I don’t need anything very specific. I just want something that’s useful,” the man said to Su Jin.

Su Jin thought about this request for a while. They didn’t have many things on hand to exchange, but there was one thing that was definitely worth exchanging for.

“What about this?” Su Jin opened his Handbook and showed the man the description of the leaves he had gotten from the Tree of Life during the Fairytales of Horror Challenge.

The man read the description carefully and gave a pleased nod. He then opened his own Handbook and showed one of the pages to Su Jin.

“The Finger of Anubis!” Su Jin saw the image of a shriveled finger on that page, and the description made his eyes widen.

“The Finger of Anubis. Anubis was the ancient Egyptian god of the dead. This finger is able to lead an owner into Anubis’ mausoleum.”

This was a finger that once belonged to a god!