HKSSR 2.0: Part 15 - A King's Brand

Starting in an unusual placement, the Colosseum of Fools. I guess since i'm in the Kingdom's Edge, I should fight Hornet 2 now...

Except I won't!

I recently learned where to find the Shade Soul upgrade again, so that's where i'm going first. I walk out of the Colosseum to the City of Tears, into the King's Station, and take it to the City's Storerooms to save time. My goal is in the Soul Sanctum, so that's where i'm heading too.

I enter the Soul Sanctum and find a door where I have to use the Elegant Key. This is the only place I can use the key, so obviously I will. In there I find two things. Another fight with a Soul Warrior, and a very weird looking Shaman Snail guy. Being held up on some sort of board, and he was not happy, as they let out a loud shriek.

But it was fine, I now have the Shade Soul upgrade! This will be very helpful later on.

I think it's time we just fight Hornet 2 now, and finally get it over with. I'm gonna head to Dirtmouth first though, just to see what I can buy. On my way to the nearest Stag Station I find a Simple Key that I have suprisingly not used yet. I know exactly where I will use this though!

I take the Stag Station up to Dirtmouth, and head all the way left towards the Crystal Peak elevator. Over there is a locked door that I can use the Simple Key on. In there I find a character known as Jinn. Jinn can only appear in Steel Soul mode, and they replace another character usually found in this room in normal save files. This is because they do different things, depending on what save you're on.

In the normal mode, you would find Confessor Jiji. If you trade Jiji a Rancid Egg, they will summon your Shade Soul to the room your in, after you die. This is so you don't have to waste younr time exploring so far and recovering your shade. But in Steel Soul mode, if you die, the game is over. Meaning Jiji is useless in Steel Soul mode.

Instead, Jinn is here. If you give Jinn a Rancid Egg, you will get Geo in return. I never documented the Rancid Eggs since I thought they weren't very important, but I had 10 of them. I traded them all in and got over 4000 extra Geo. Amazing. After getting all this Geo I walk into Sly's Shop and by the two remaining items there. A Mask Shard, and a Vessel Fragment. Now his shop is empty, again.

Ok, now it's time to fight Hornet 2!

The first thing I do is take the Stag Station in Dirtmouth straight to the King's Station, as that will take me the closest to Hornet 2. I stop at a bench near the fight and find a Wanderer's Journal next to it. While i'm on the bench, I unequip the Wayward Com and Gathering Swarm charm. Naturally I put the Fragile Heart back on too.

I make my way to Hornet, and battle with her. For the entire fight, I thought I had the Shade Cloak, the ugrade that turns you into void when you dash. It makes you invincible, but I don't have it, so I was always getting hit when dashing. Got hit quite a lot during battle! But I eventually won!

After the Hornet fight, I walk to the Cast-Off Shell and acquire the King's Brand. This shell is where the Pale King of Hallownest was born, and this Brand is used to open up The Abyss. The shell starts to collapse while i'm in there, but thankfully Hornet was there to get me out safely.

It's time to finally explore The Abyss, and see what it has to offer. But for now, i'm ending the post here.