Entering the Forgotten Crossroads.

Opening my eyes I realized that I had fallen asleep. Turns out that meditating while laying on a bed will make you fall asleep. Who would have thought?

I took a moment to stretch my body before looking at my soul core. There was a small pool of soul in it. Less than what I had received by killing the vengefly. But it showed that maybe I wasn't off by much with the meditation.

I made a mental note to continue experimenting with soul later on. But first I had to head down through the well. According to what the old man told me it should be relatively safe near the town. At least safe enough where I wouldn't have to worry about getting instantly killed.

Exiting the house I noticed Elderbug sitting on the bench nearby. He turned around as he heard me leave and moved toward me pulling out a small dagger that resembled my sword.

"Take this, kid. I used to use it back when I was younger to protect myself. It might get you out of a rough spot in case your sword gets damaged."

The small dagger appeared to have been properly taken care of. And it appeared to be quite sharp. If I ever needed to cut anything this would probably work way better than the massive blunt sword I was carrying with me.

"Thanks, Elderbug. I will take good care of it."

Elderbug gave me a kind smile before saying.

"I have heard that there is a blacksmith who works in the old City of Tears. If you ever make your way down there make sure to search for him. He will be able to fix your sword so that it can actually cut."

"I will keep that in mind. Thank you once again for all the information and all of the help."

Giving him a slight bow I trend around and looked into the well that led into the Forgotten Crossroads. I tried to gauge the fall.

"Well, even the old man said he used to simply jump down."

I took a deep breath before jumping down the well. I felt what must have been adrenaline coursing through my body as I prepared for the impact on the floor. And as I reached the ground I had a slightly less than graceful landing as I touched the floor in an awkward position causing me to tumble onto the floor.

But as I lay there for a moment I realized something.

"I didn't feel any pain… I think I am immune to damage from falling. Or well, people in this world are immune to fall damage… Maybe that's why there are so many strange platforms all over the place."

Looking around what appeared to be a tunnel I stood up and headed to my right. Heading towards the temple that Elderbug had told me about. And I could feel the slight tug from my instincts telling me that I was heading in the right direction.

On my way to the temple, I stumbled upon a man giving staring into nothingness as he wandered around. His skin was pale and his eyes were glowing with a strange orange hue.

'This must be one of the wandering husks that Elderbug warned me about.' I thought as I watched the strange man with what appeared to be a shell-like armor.

The old man had told me that the husks here used to be normal citizens of Hallownest. Yet after their death, their corpses were reanimated by some strange force. And now they wandered around the forgotten crossroads in their zombie-like state attacking anyone who wasn't infected like them.

Taking a moment to analyze the husk in front of me I realized that the definition of Zombie was the best way to describe it.

It wandered around on what appeared to be purely instinct. With an unfocused gaze and with uncoordinated movements. Making strange grunts from time to time.

Grabbing my sword from my back I prepared. If I was going to make it in this world I couldn't run away from every fight. And what a better time to start with an uncoordinated and isolated enemy.

Jumping from my hiding spot I swung the sword down on the husk. With the sound of my attack alerting it to my location it turned around just in time to bring its arms up in some sort of defense. Its arms blocked the direct hit to its head.

'So it will defend itself.' I thought before taking a step back and swinging the sword once again.

But I had swung my sword too fast in anticipation of my attack causing me to hit nothing by air as the husk was barely out of reach. With the opening, I had left the husk rushed in my direction flailing its arms before attempting to grapple me.

The husk was able to grab me with one of its arms but by that time I had already fixed my posture and tightened my grip around the sword. Giving the husk a quick kick near its stomach I was able to separate myself enough to swing the sword like a baseball bat once again and hit it straight on its head.

The hit was strong enough to send the husk tumbling onto the ground. Where it tried to regain its balance to jump on me once again. But this time I raised my sword above my head and swung it down onto the fallen creature.

The sword struck directly onto the husk's head making it explode. Releasing strange orange blood onto the surroundings.

'Ok, I really need to practice using this sword more. I almost got eaten because I attacked too soon.'

Another thing I realized in this battle was that I didn't have to kill to obtain soul. With each strike, I felt the familiar energy coursing through my body onto my core. And taking a quick moment to feel it I noticed that it was about half full.

Continuing my way through the Forgotten Crossroads I quickly stumbled onto a large building with two gigantic windows and one large open door.

"This must be the Temple of the Black Egg."

Entering through the gate I saw a man wearing a dark blue shell-like armor just like mine. With a large white mask resting on top of his head and a thin sword by his side. He had a slim yet athletic build. And as he heard my steps he turned around.

"Hello there! How delightful to meet another traveler on these forgotten roads." The man said with a carefree smile.

"Nice to meet you. My name is Ghost. And yours is?" I gave a quick yet polite introduction as I cautiously looked at him through my mask.

"The name's Quirrel." He said as he tipped his mask.

Quirrel stopped and gave me a quick look up and down before smiling and saying.

"You don't look that intimidating. But something tells me you have potential."

He turned to look at the strange egg-shaped door filled with carvings and with three strange illustrations depicting masks before continuing.

"You know, I came to Hallownest because I really love mysteries and uncharted places such as this strange egg over here. What brings you to this place Ghost?"

Turning to look at the strange egg door I paused for a moment.

"I am not sure… I just had the feeling like I had to come here… It feels like there is something inside calling me…"

Reaching my hand to touch the egg-shaped door I felt warmth emanating from it. A strange aura was coming from the egg that had felt strangely familiar.

Quirrel also reached out to touch the door before nodding with a smile.

"I guess you and I are more similar than I thought. Are you too going to explore this ancient kingdom?"

He had an excited expression as he asked the question.

His upbeat temperament was slightly infectious as I found myself answering with a smile.

"I think I have to."

Quirrel gave me a friendly slap on the back as he said.

"Attaboy! That's the spirit! In that case, you and I will be meeting each other more than we expect! I hope by then you will have either upgraded your weapon or found a better one. That old nail in your back is not going to do you any good when you go deeper into Hallownest.

Don't worry though, plenty of adventurers like us have come and gone through here. So I am sure you will find something more suitable for you. That nail looks so dull you probably wouldn't be able to cut anything with it."

Taking a better look at the weapon on his side I saw that it appeared to be quite sharp and in good condition.

"Hey, Quirrel. Are you any good at wielding your weapon? Do you think you could give me some tips? I have just sort of been using my weapon as a beating stick so far and I don't think that it is going to be enough for me to be able to survive down here. I just fought with one of the Zombie husks and I almost got myself killed stupidly." I asked as I pulled out my sword and gave it a couple of swings as an example.

Quirrel just gave me a blank look as he saw me swinging my weapon wildly before asking in a bit of shock.

"Kid… how have you made it this far without getting yourself killed?"