Song Ren's expression was quite subtle.
He had found an item called Madman's Knowledge and discovered the use of Insight.
Originally, Song Ren was triumphant, thinking he could boast to Old Zhang before telling him this great secret. But now, in their conversation, it seemed Old Zhang knew more than he did!
Also, seeing a BOSS in the game could also increase Insight? And he'd already reached the first BOSS?
And Father Gascoigne, wasn't that the NPC the little girl asked him to find her father for? Although the little girl didn't mention her father's name when they spoke, the music box she gave him had two names: her mother's and her father's, and Gascoigne was one of them.
"Old Zhang, where did you find that BOSS and the Father?" Song Ren lightly coughed, unable to suppress his curiosity, and asked.
"Cough, cough… cough, cough…" Zhang Yi on the other end of the voice chat didn't answer Song Ren directly, intentionally coughing twice.
Hearing the cough, Song Ren pouted. How could he not know Old Zhang's tricks after all their time together? He knew exactly what the other guy was up to.
So Song Ren decisively said, "Enough said. Tomorrow night, bring your wife, and also call Wang Yifan and Joey. My treat!"
"Hehehe, I was waiting for you to say that! Didn't the doll next to the leveling spot give you a bell? You know that Brick Wielder that knocks on doors? You'll see it at the fountain in the middle, but it costs a bit of Insight. As for the BOSS, isn't there a big bridge? At the very front, where there are two werewolves, if you climb up the ladder in the sewer, you can bypass the two werewolves and only have to fight one Brick Wielder."
In the voice channel, Zhang Yi told Song Ren all his discoveries.
"I see!" Song Ren suddenly understood. He then reciprocated by telling Zhang Yi about the little girl's quest he had discovered.
"Next, I'll go take down the first BOSS. The Cleric Beast Old Zhang mentioned, that's probably the newbie-discouraging BOSS, right?" Song Ren speculated inwardly.
However, his current priority was to level up. Although he didn't have many Blood Echoes, he'd level up as much as he could. Otherwise, wouldn't he just be a burden when fighting the BOSS later?
Song Ren had also discovered a characteristic of Bloodborne: most of the monsters in the game didn't just stay put but patrolled everywhere. Accidentally drawing more monster aggro was another matter entirely.
The most crucial point was that monsters would pick up your Blood Echoes. His Blood Echoes had been picked up by a Brick Wielder once before. And on that platform, two Brick Wielders actually walked around together, so it was easy to aggro both by mistake. Thankfully, he only had over 2000 Blood Echoes at the time, otherwise, his mental state would have definitely collapsed.
As for the BOSS, that went without saying. Although he hadn't experienced a Bloodborne BOSS fight yet, he estimated it would be similar to Dark Souls BOSS fights. Once you started, there was no turning back, so it was better to spend any Blood Echoes he had. Otherwise, carrying a large amount of Blood Echoes and then failing the BOSS fight would be extremely awkward.
After leveling up, Song Ren teleported to the Central Yharnam lantern. He then saw what Old Zhang had described. On the ground by the central fountain, there was a red mark, and a group of Messengers were calling out something beneath it.
Approaching, a prompt appeared before Song Ren's eyes.
"Shake the Beckoning Bell to summon Father Gascoigne."
Following the prompt, Song Ren took out the Summoning Bell he had acquired earlier and gently shook it.
'Ding, ding, ding…'
A series of bell sounds echoed through Yharnam.
"Ringing the Old Hunter's Bell…"
"The Old Hunter's Bells resonate with each other. Old Hunter Father Gascoigne has arrived in response to the bell's resonance."
As the prompt faded, Song Ren saw a Spirit descend from the sky. It wasn't much different from summoning an NPC in Dark Souls. Father Gascoigne, before him, was tall, holding a blunderbuss in one hand and a Hunter Axe in the other.
"But this doesn't seem to be the quest NPC target?" Song Ren looked at the Father before him, finding no dialogue options to trigger. He led the Father to talk to the little girl who had opened the shortcut door nearby, but received no response.
Evidently, the summoned Father was not the objective of the little girl's previous quest.
"But why, Brother Father, does your Hunter Axe look so much mightier than mine?" Song Ren gazed at the axe in the Father's hand, baffled. The design was the same, but his axe looked like a miniature version compared to the one in the Father's hand.
Taking the Father with him, Song Ren headed towards the BOSS area Old Zhang mentioned. After all, he didn't know if this summoned entity had a time limit, and it cost Insight, which he now had none of. He wasn't sure if he could summon again, so it was best to fight the BOSS while he could.
On the way, Song Ren witnessed the BOSS's bloodthirsty nature. He originally wanted to speedrun directly to it, but the Father, upon seeing a monster, immediately pulled out his axe and charged, despite his attack power being ridiculously low, engaging in prolonged pecking matches. But honestly, with the Father drawing aggro, the game felt significantly easier.
Climbing the stairs of the small room, Song Ren quickly found the big bridge Zhang Yi had spoken of. After dispatching the Brick Wielder and crows at the entrance, Song Ren walked a few steps forward and quickly triggered the BOSS fight.
A massive beast leaped out from behind the opposite door, crashing heavily onto the bridge, making Song Ren feel as if the entire bridge trembled. Upon seeing the BOSS, the Father beside him charged forward without a word.
Roars and the splattering of blood from slashes filled the air, though the Father's damage was a bit lackluster. Facing the massive Cleric Beast, Song Ren didn't rush in. Instead, he switched to his oil urn and incendiary grenades.
"Big body, weak to doors; hairy, weak to fire. This BOSS has both!" Song Ren exclaimed. One incendiary grenade landed, dealing -319 damage, and the health bar visibly dropped a significant chunk. He still had nine more, and four oil urns!
One oil urn, one incendiary grenade. The health bar visibly emptied another large segment. After throwing all ten incendiary grenades and five oil urns—missing a few but not affecting the overall outcome—the Cleric Beast was at critically low health. He pulled out his axe and charged alongside the weakened Father Gascoigne.
Accompanying the Cleric Beast's roar, a line of text appeared before Song Ren's eyes.
"Prey Slaughtered."
"That's it? Old Zhang didn't even beat it with Father Gascoigne?" Song Ren looked at the lantern that appeared, couldn't help but chuckle.
After defeating the Cleric Beast, Song Ren didn't immediately return to the Hunter's Dream via the lantern, nor did he continue exploring. Instead, he opened the voice channel.
"Old Zhang, Old Zhang, I've cleared it! How about you? This game is too easy, isn't it? This BOSS was a breeze, absolutely no challenge, no difficulty at all!" Song Ren said with a hint of satisfaction.
"Holy cow, how did you beat it? That Cleric Beast has such a huge attack range. My thighs are almost shredded from all the blood vials!" Zhang Yi on the other side sounded surprised. His cane's attack power was quite low, and he had just figured out the Cleric Beast's rhythm, yet Old Song cleared it on his first try? While he admitted Old Song was a bit better than him technically, this was too fast!
However, once he clearly understood Song Ren's method of clearing the game, he spat.
"You despicable outsider! You cheated! You took a shortcut!" Zhang Yi righteously condemned and scorned Song Ren's actions.
Of course, after condemning and scorning, he immediately returned to the Hunter's Dream via the lantern and bought incendiary grenades to the maximum limit from the Messengers.
I tried Elden Ring for a while~ The familiar taste. The health bar looks long, but the first Tree Sentinel's charge attack and heavy attack took me out in two hits, and its sweep in three. Of course, I eventually killed it with the Greatsword's Lightning Spear weapon art~ As for the combat system, my current experience feels similar to Dark Souls. Also, while jumping is now included, I keep forgetting to use it, and the ability to teleport across the map is really convenient. Finally, I have a new wife~ And she's pink-haired (ecstatic).
(End of Chapter)
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