Chapter 493: Shield? Wait, where's my shield? (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

Hanging up the call with Zhang Yi, Song Ren dazedly continued forward.

He opened a switch and watched the elevator descend. As he slowly climbed up, Song Ren saw a conspicuously placed lantern. Silently, he walked over and saw a prompt appear before his eyes.

“This lamp can now transport you back to the Hunter's Dream. After death, you will return to the Hunter's Dream.”

Clearly, this was the bonfire equivalent in Bloodborne.

Choosing to transport, a brief darkness enveloped him.

For some unknown reason, Song Ren’s character lay prone on the cold ground. As he slowly got up, the scene before him came into view.

Under the full moon, there was a church-like European building complex, surrounded by many trees and tombstones. It was a cemetery-like scene, with a delicate female doll in a flowerbed.

On the ground in the distance, the Skeleton Dwarf Messenger from before held aloft three different weapons.

As he approached, Song Ren’s in-game UI appeared:

“Receive a gift from the messenger.”

“Please choose one of the three weapons.”

“Different weapons can switch between different forms. Please use them wisely.”

“Death, sometimes, is only the beginning…”

Song Ren’s expression was very rich as he looked at the three weapons before him. Combined with this dialogue, and the lantern’s previous mention of returning to the Hunter's Dream after death, all his previous conjectures had been for naught?

He didn't rush to choose a weapon.

At this moment, Song Ren felt a profound sense of exasperation. It was like when he was in school, he'd chosen C for a fill-in-the-blank question, then saw his deskmate chose B. He'd then painstakingly re-calculated, and the more he calculated, the more he felt B was the correct answer. So, before handing in the paper, he changed C to B, even feeling smug about it. But when the test papers were returned, he discovered C was the correct answer all along.

Who would have thought that the weapons in Bloodborne could only be obtained after dying once?

Veteran Firelinkers who had played the Dark Souls prequel generally had a concept: they thought they had seen through Chen Xu's conspiracy and traps. Most players wouldn't foolishly fight the werewolf in the clinic. But after bypassing the werewolf and picking up three items—all Blood Vials and Quicksilver Bullets—players would fall into self-doubt again.

And so, the villagers appeared. Unlike Dark Souls, where players immediately encountered two or three mobs, in Bloodborne, players first encountered a lone villager. So, new players who died to the werewolf directly got their weapons. While experts, overthinking things, were actually counterproductive?

And to prevent players from lighting the lantern early to enter the Hunter's Dream and discover the weapons, the first lightable lantern was placed upstairs, requiring a mechanism to lower the ladder. There were too many tricks, making it impossible to guard against them all.

Song Ren sighed, then shifted his attention to weapon selection.

Saw Cleaver, Hunter Axe, Threaded Cane.

There were three different types of weapons, and weapons in Bloodborne have a second form. For example, the Hunter Axe can transform into a long-handled state, increasing its attack range and offering different moves. Looking at the three weapons, Song Ren thought for a moment and chose the axe.

The Saw Cleaver was hard to say. As for the Threaded Cane, although Old Zhang said it was cool and stylish, completely different from the awkward positioning of whips in Dark Souls, Song Ren himself wasn't a fan of that type of weapon; he felt it was too soft. A true manly man like him definitely needed a more powerful weapon.

So, after careful consideration, Song Ren chose the Hunter Axe. Its second form could become very long, immediately reminding Song Ren of the Guandao in Dark Souls.

While it might not be enough for high New Game+ playthroughs, it was very strong in the early game.

Moreover, a long attack range meant a higher safety factor.

After acquiring it, Song Ren tried operating it a couple of times. The basic attack was straightforward: just chopping back and forth. The charged attack, however, was like a powerful overhead slash, bringing the axe down on the enemy's head. What surprised Song Ren the most was the two-handed long-handled mode.

The long-handled mode's basic attack felt a bit clumsy. But its charged attack was a full 360-degree spin, attacking everything around him. It was simply too overbearing.

Having chosen his weapon, Song Ren explored the Hunter's Dream. There wasn't much to explore on the ground floor. At the staircase, Song Ren chose the Blunderbuss over the Pistol for his off-hand weapon. He also picked up other items like a notebook, gathering everything he could. He then entered the open room at the top of the stairs.

Inside the room, an old man with white hair, looking sickly, sat in a wheelchair.

“The Fire Keeper young lady turned into an old man in the wheelchair!? Or is this the new Crestfallen Warrior?” Song Ren was bewildered looking at the old man in the wheelchair.

After all, in Souls-like games, shouldn't the discouraging NPC and the Fire Keeper be standard? Why was it an old man in a wheelchair here? Or was this old man the Bloodborne version of Ludleth, who had his legs cut off for refusing to hunt?

Song Ren was filled with curiosity as he saw the old man in the wheelchair, leaning on a staff with his right lower leg replaced by a prosthetic.

‘Ah, you must be the new Hunter.’

‘Welcome to the Hunter's Dream. This will be your home, at least for now.’

‘I am a friend to you Hunters.’

‘Go slay some beasts. It’s for your own good.’

‘You know, that’s what Hunters do. You’ll get used to it…’

Seeing Song Ren approach, the old man in the wheelchair smiled and spoke kindly. Based on the dialogue, Song Ren roughly understood some things. This Workshop could be roughly understood as a blacksmith, a place for players to upgrade their weapons. He opened the modification table for a look, confirming that no weapons could be upgraded at the current stage.

Searching the room, the innermost messenger had a message: To escape this dreadful Hunter's Dream, halt the spreading Beast Scourge and end this night. It was quite baffling, but Song Ren didn't mind; fragmented narratives were, after all, the essence of Souls-like games. Besides this, there was nothing else in the Hunter's Dream.

“Wait, so where’s the shield!? Didn’t they say there’s a shield in the game!?”

Snapping back to reality, ensuring he hadn't missed anything, Song Ren was a bit bewildered. Didn't they say Bloodborne had a shield? Why wasn’t it here? Could it be that the shield wasn't a starting weapon, but something that needed to be dropped by monsters later, or obtained through a quest, or perhaps hidden somewhere by Mr. Chen?

(End of Chapter) <>