Looking at the runes he picked up, Ben was just about to have a great fight with the sword and shield knight in the dark room, but the next second, he noticed the number of runes in his field of vision and froze.
Including the runes he gained on the way up from the grace point, picking up the previously dropped runes only brought his total to just over 9,000.
Compared to when he dropped them before, he was actually missing more than three thousand!
He had died a few times before, especially after being teleported to the mines by a trap in a treasure chest below the Dragonbreath Ruins.
But previous deaths were basically the same as the death penalties in Dark Souls and Bloodborne: after death, the runes would drop in the original spot or nearby, and as long as he didn't die again on the way, he could pick them back up.
But what the heck was going on now?!
Why were nearly 30% of the runes missing after picking them up?
Losing a percentage of money upon death in Sekiro could be explained as a protection fee paid to the Sculptor.
But what was this now?
The money dropped on the spot, and on top of that, they took a service fee?
Is this even a thing?!
......
While Ben was obsessing over a few thousand runes, the online discussion and buzz about Elden Ring had already become a heated debate.
The combination of Soulslike games and open-world gameplay attracted countless curious players.
After entering Elden Ring, many veteran Soulslike players were also getting beaten to a pulp, with cries of despair everywhere.
On live streaming platforms and video platforms, you could hardly open any stream or video without seeing players dying in bizarre ways.
In the deep valley of the magical academy.
A player accidentally wandered in, happily scavenging for shiny items, when a sound like tires screeching came from behind him.
He instinctively turned to look and saw a mechanical machine wielding dual disc blades charging at him.
A flurry of relentless spins left the player with only a sliver of health.
But before he could feel lucky, a box-like structure on the front of the mechanical machine suddenly opened, and a bunch of arm-like appendages stretched out, grabbing him.
"Holy crap… what is this, I'm being eaten!?"
The player was shocked, utterly confused as he watched himself being swallowed into the metallic robot's belly.
What confused him even more was that after respawning, he found himself in a scene resembling an underground volcano, and here he couldn't even fast travel; upon death, he still respawned at the same spot.
"Holy crap! Just like the Dragonbreath Ruins? Did I fall into another trap again!? Is my account ruined again!?"
Near the large lake by the Rose Church, outside the magical academy.
A player riding Torrent, the Spirit Steed, was leisurely heading towards the magical academy.
As he happened to pass a lake, what looked like rocks covered in green moss from a distance suddenly floated up from the water.
They were all enormous lobsters.
"Wow, so many lobsters! Good thing I have my mount, you're stunned now, aren't you! Ha, I'm outta here!" Looking at the giant lobsters beside him, the player chuckled.
This was his favorite part of Elden Ring: if he encountered enemies or bosses in the open world that he couldn't beat, he could just ride away on his horse.
Compared to the running only in Dark Souls and Bloodborne, being able to just ride away in Elden Ring was much more convenient.
But the moment he finished speaking, the lobsters that had floated up opened their mouths.
Arrow-like projectiles shot out from their heads, piercing him and his horse.
His long health bar evaporated like it was made of tofu.
"Holy crap! What the heck is this thing!? These lobsters are so OP? You're the Elden Lord, aren't you!?"
Looking at the "You Died!" death screen, the player was utterly stunned.
The lobsters' attacks were incredibly fast, leaving him no time to react, and the damage was off the charts.
He had a feeling that if Godrick the Grafted in Stormveil Castle had a lobster head instead of the dragon head he was grafted with, then by now he would have already fought his way to the Erdtree and become the new Elden Lord.
Carian Manor.
A player was cautiously walking with his shield raised when two giant hands suddenly dropped from the sky, making him jump.
Then, from the nearby woods and the hot spring in front of the statue, countless small hands like insects emerged.
"What the heck!? What kind of monster is this!? Little hands holding big hands, aren't they afraid of slipping?"
Looking at the pile of fingers in front of him, the player had no intention of fighting and turned to run down a small path.
Because Soulslike players knew that the most terrifying thing in the game wasn't encountering a powerful boss, but being surrounded by a group of weak enemies.
"Three dogs are better than one king," this saying wasn't just a joke.
Plus, the appearance of these finger monsters was chilling, so he decisively chose to run.
However, in his panic, combined with the dark environment, he failed to notice five fingers sticking out of the ground in the jungle of the path ahead.
As he walked into the center, a giant hand suddenly burst out of the ground and gripped him.
Crackling sounds echoed in his ears as his health bar, which wasn't full, was instantly depleted.
In the sudden fright, the player completely broke down, spewing out all sorts of polite greetings from his mouth.
Besides this, many players discovered that as the game's story progressed and they reached later areas, all sorts of insane scenes and monsters appeared.
On the upper level of the Carian Study Hall, facing a great magician, many players finally understood how powerful a blinking mage could be.
After joining countless warriors to bid farewell to Starscourage Radahn, players finally arrived at the underground Eternal City.
Here, besides slug-like monsters, there were many bull-headed figures, as if hinting at something.
Their distant lightning arrows made players perfectly understand what "never miss" meant.
Of course, that wasn't the key point. The truly puzzling part for players was the ants with long, hairy legs encountered in the underground world.
Seeing them made players tremble all over.
Underneath Stormveil Castle, in addition to rats, there was a Cthulhu-esque giant octopus and grotesque monsters covered in boils.
As for reaching Leyndell, Royal Capital, the Great Horned Tragoth with its large eyes and the maggot-spewing humans who constantly wanted to hug players made them understand what cruelty meant.
In addition to these sanity-draining monsters, the various malevolent dungeons in the game made many players, who had already adapted to Soulslike games, question their entire existence.
Like a maze where you keep going in circles, but the actual path leads to a dungeon below a lift.
After passing through the Black Knife Catacombs of the celestial city and reaching the crumbled Royal Capital, the sewers of the Royal Capital made countless players consider quitting.
In the dark, lightless sewer maze, maggot-like monsters, giant centipede demons, spider demons, bloated beasts covered in boils, hidden gargoyles on walls and in the sky, and large-eyed sorcerers tormented the young minds of countless players.
For many players who approached the game with their experience from older Soulslike titles, the journey through Elden Ring was a complete hell; one by one, they were beaten until their minds were blurred.
However, although many players were beaten to the point of mental fog, a group of players still found the thrill of it.
Through various explorations, they discovered a path to a relaxed and enjoyable game experience.
(End of Chapter)