Inside the Firelink Shrine, Zack only saw three people so far.
The mysterious girl with a metal blindfold standing by an unlit bonfire.
The frail old man sitting on a throne, and a man with a sword and shield crouching on the stone steps.
Naturally, Zack went straight to talk to the girl in the middle.
It wasn't because she was a female NPC, and not because she had a great figure that could spark imagination even with a blindfold on.
It was simply because she was the NPC shown in the game's trailers—nothing more.
"Welcome to the bonfire. Ashen One without fire, I am the Fire Keeper. I tend the bonfire and serve you. If you need help to find the Lords who abandoned their thrones, just say the word."
Her voice was charming, but after the dialogue ended and the game menu appeared, Zack quickly figured out her role.
She was basically just there to let players level up.
After a short chat, Zack counted up his souls—3,000 from killing Iudex Gundyr, plus the ones from small enemies along the way.
He had enough for three levels, and after thinking for a moment, he put them all into health.
Stamina was also important, but he felt that in the early game, health was key—it gave more room for mistakes.
Wandering around the shrine a bit, Zack's attention was caught by the frail old man on the throne.
After talking to him, Zack learned his name—Ludleth—and found out he was a Lord of Cinder.
The empty thrones nearby had once belonged to other Lords of Cinder.
From their conversation, Zack also learned an important detail: to keep the flame burning, a Lord of Cinder had to burn themselves.
"No wonder the other four thrones are empty… the Lords are literally firewood," Zack muttered.
Now he had a decent grasp of the main plot.
From the trailers, the main character was… well, basically unburnable trash—no, an Unkindled Ash.
The world was about to fall into darkness, and to keep it going, the flame had to be fed. The Lords of Cinder were the fuel for that fire—that was their fate.
But of course, no one wanted to be firewood, so they all ran off. Only Ludleth stayed behind, for reasons unknown.
The hero's job was to hunt down the other four pieces of "firewood" and bring them back to burn.
That was Zack's current understanding of Dark Souls' story. Whether there would be any twists later, he had no idea.
Moving on, he came to a staircase and spoke to the man sitting there with his head down, sword and shield on his back.
"…Oh, so you're one of the ones who can't die too?"
"I'm just like you—an Ashen nobody who's good for nothing, and can't even manage to die properly."
"…Pathetic, isn't it? A bunch of people who can't die running around looking for the Lords, thinking they can bring them back to those moldy old thrones?"
"Those people are heroes who linked the flame! How could trash like us possibly do it?"
"You think so too, right?"
[Gesture Learned: Despair]
After the conversation, Zack unlocked a new "despair" gesture.
But seriously, what was with all that negativity?
Was this NPC's whole purpose just to spread bad vibes?
Zack explored the shrine a bit more and found a blacksmith and an old woman selling goods.
The blacksmith could strengthen weapons and reallocate Estus Flasks.
Zack immediately switched his blue Focus flask into another healing one, turning his three flasks into four.
As for upgrading weapons, he needed two titanite shards, but he only had one, so no upgrade yet.
There seemed to be a path on the roof, but the door was locked and he didn't have the key.
Outside the shrine, besides the lifeless hollows sitting around, he also spotted a small path.
But at the door stood an NPC in ragged clothes holding a katana.
"That katana looks so cool! I wonder if we can get it by killing him. Is he one of those enemies that drop weapons? I mean, there's no way the game expects you to beat everything with just this knight sword, right?" Hannah said from the side.
Earlier on the small path in the shrine, they'd found a broken longsword, but judging by its stats, it was even worse than the useless club that the Unkindled guy had.
"You know, that might actually be possible!" Zack wasn't just tempted—he was ready to act.
In most ARPG games, the starting gear you get when you spawn is usually replaced by something better after you leave the beginner area, often by killing a boss.
Killing Iudex Gundyr earlier gave him a coiled sword, but that was just an item—a kind of warp point.
But this katana guy sitting in the corner? He definitely looked like the type of NPC that would drop a weapon.
Or maybe he was guarding that small room behind him, which could have a new weapon inside for the player.
Looking at katana guy in front of him, Zack charged forward bravely.
"Argh!"
Through his headphones, he heard his character's pained cry. In just one iaido triple slash, his health bar went down like it was made of tofu.
Instant kill!
"This guy's even stronger than Gundyr!" Zack was stunned.
And this was with him playing as a knight!
He was wearing armor!
Sure, Gundyr could take him down in three or four hits too, but Gundyr's swings were slow.
Even if you kept rolling, at most you'd get hit once.
But this katana guy? His iaido combo was so fast Zack didn't even have time to react before his health was wiped out completely.
Watching his character respawn at the newly lit Firelink Shrine bonfire, Zack stayed silent.
After a short pause, Hannah said, "Let's just follow the main story for now. Maybe this guy is like the crystal lizard—an elite enemy that's really hard to beat, and the main story later will be much easier."
Was that really the case?
If Zack hadn't been destroyed by both the crystal lizard and katana guy, he might have believed that—and even felt confident.
But now?
He wasn't so sure anymore.
Using the Firelink Shrine bonfire, Zack warped to the next story area: the High Wall of Lothric.
Pushing open the gate, both Zack and Hannah couldn't help but feel amazed at the sight.
Sure, they'd seen the concept art and the promo material before.
But actually walking through it in-game was a whole different experience.
Through the hazy mist in the distance, they could faintly see the majestic royal city.
It was huge.
But after the moment of awe passed, Zack felt a bit uneasy.
Because up to now, he still hadn't found a map.
Could it be that this game didn't have a map system at all?
Lighting the bonfire at the gate with a bit of nervousness, Zack began exploring the High Wall of Lothric.
(End of The Chapter)
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