The Eternal Kingdom, Hallownest!

The game began.

Mist slowly rose against the dim background. Two options appeared on the dark game screen.

Classic Mode / Steel Soul

"Steel Soul? Unlocked after clearing the game for the first time?"

"No revives. Death is permanent."

"Isn't that the same setup as Dead Cells? One life, one clear. I know this routine inside out." Yinzi did not care in the slightest.

A one-life clear? Dead Cells players were practically born for this!

The moment the game began, ancient, melodious background music started to play, its tranquil darkness constantly laced with the howl of wind.

[In the distant wilderness, the mention of your name fills them with awe and regret,

None could tame our savage souls, yet you accepted the challenge,

Beneath the palest gaze, you taught, we changed, and instinct found salvation.

You brought insects and beasts a world beyond even their dreams.]

—From Elegy of Hallownest, written by the Teacher Monomon.

Fluorescence flickered beneath the streetlamps at the corner. The little knight emerged from the depths of dust, carrying a cracked Nail on his back. He stood upon the cliff amid the howling cold wind, gazing at the hazy city illuminated by lamps through the mist.

Without hesitation, he jumped!

The screen went completely black. After two or three seconds, color gradually returned, as though he had passed through endless darkness.

Faint fragments of fluorescence lit up the dark underground world.

Bang!

The little knight landed heavily on the ground, scattering loose rocks and startling countless underground insects into flight.

"Fuck, this background music is giving me goosebumps!" Silver could not help turning up the volume. Within the ethereal music lingered what felt like eternal, undying sorrow.

"I once saw someone ask how you could tell whether a game had been made with care." Yinzi closed his eyes, taking in the music steeped in loneliness.

"Before, I would have said the visuals, the story, the gameplay... But now, I'd say to listen to its background music." The little knight stood motionless on the screen.

"Ever since the old thief started making games, you guys have probably noticed that he puts a ton of effort into the BGM." Yinzi laughed a little as he said that. "Getting over it tortured me the most, but even that long-winded narration in the background clearly took a lot of effort to record."

"From the moment the music started, I was already looking forward to this game." He let out a heavy breath and guided his character forward.

"No map?" Yinzi continued onward, encountering several small crawlers along the way. Dealing with them was easy.

The crawlers were stupid. Every hit knocked them back, but after being pushed away, they stubbornly crawled back in their original direction.

In the dark underground, he wanted to check where he had gone. But when he opened the map guide, he found nothing but darkness.

After confirming several times that there truly was no map, the chat was baffled as well.

'Did the old thief forget to add a map?'

'How could that be possible? What game developer makes such a basic mistake?'

'Just feel your way around. You'll find the exit eventually.'

'Dead Cells randomized its maps every run too, and we still played it just fine, didn't we?'

Perhaps because they had grown used to Ethan Vale's usual tricks, the players accepted the no-map setting surprisingly quickly.

"I think the old thief has completely brainwashed you guys. What designer used to dare leave out a map?"

"Wouldn't the players have torn them apart?" Using the faint fluorescence of the underground world to light the way, Yinzi slowly explored the game's other areas.

As he played, he found the mechanics very simple. Perhaps because it was a side-scroller, there were no complicated controls.

For now, there was only basic attacking and jumping.

Even the attack was extremely simple: he merely swung the Nail in his hand in front of him.

This time, there was no blocking mechanic.

"This is way too easy. I'm being serious." Silver frowned. Those crawlers and the like were simply too easy.

Even the occasional little flies in the air only took two or three strikes.

Other than the lack of a map making navigation a little more complicated, he had not felt any difficulty at all.

The chat laughed at his complaint.

'Old thief: You said my games were super easy again? (Dark, twisted screaming!)'

'Old thief: The good part is still to come!'

'Please no. The last thing you guys called easy beat me until I lost my mind.'

'(╥╯^╰╥) You can call it easy, but don't start out by saying it's easy! Players with terrible reflexes can't handle that at all.'

He had not explored for long before finally finding the path into Hallownest.

The gate leading into Hallownest bore the patterns of beetles. It was ancient and heavy, with white light from outside filtering through its cracked seams.

With the Nail in hand, he struck the gate to Hallownest again and again.

Beyond the gate lay a broken road. Ancient carvings still adorned the railings by the roadside, faintly revealing its former prosperity.

Below the broken path hung hazy gray-white mist, obscuring the road ahead.

It felt as though passing through here would bring one into the land of kings and creators, where one would witness the last and only civilization—the eternal kingdom.

Hallownest.

The background music had faded, leaving only the ceaseless howl of the wind.

Silver leaped down from the cliff.

No more crawlers or monsters blocked the road ahead. Only one streetlamp after another lit the path forward.

After passing through a stretch of ruined land, a decayed little town appeared ahead: Dirtmouth.

The peaceful, melodious background music began once more, as though silently recounting the history of this world.

At the center of town stood a bench that emitted white Soul.

Beside it stood a hunched elder bug. Behind him, the doors to the other bugs' burrows were tightly shut.

"Hello, traveler. I'm afraid I'm the only one left to welcome you. As you can see, our little town is rather quiet now."

"The others... they're gone. One after another, they went down through that well and entered the caves below." The elder bug spoke of this place's former prosperity, as well as the wonders of the underground world.

From his words, they learned that a great kingdom had once stood beneath the town.

It had long since become ruins, yet it still drew bugs into its depths.

There were riches, glory, and enlightenment down there. The darkness in those depths seemed to contain countless possibilities.

But there were also maddened creatures there, stripped of their original memories and reeking of something foul.

"The well on the right, huh?" Though there was no map, Yinzi still learned where to go next through his conversation with the NPC.

A brightly lit lamp hung above the deep well not far to the right, leading into the depths below.

Compared to the world above, the world beneath the well was more refined and more prosperous.

This place was called the Forgotten Crossroads.

And Silver got lost there for an entire hour.