It is well past sunset and rain is falling as Aloy smashes the skull of a Stalkoblin with her spear, an animated skeleton of a Bokoblin. It was the last one around.

"Sheesh! And I thought the living ones were bad!" Aloy clamored.

Aloy was startled when they first came up from the ground, but managed to rein in her wits and go on the defense with Link. Worse, when the Stalkoblins had their heads knocked off, their bodies did not stay on the ground but reassemble themselves and got back up to search for their head, or for any of their fellow Stalkoblin's heads.

With the last of the Stalkoblins vanquished, the duo make a run toward the gate up ahead that marks the boundry of Hateno Village. Once past it, they are stopped by a man with a pitchfork.

"Who . . . Who are you?!" The man demanded as he threatens them with his pitchfork. "I demand answers! If you're up this late, you're up to no good!"

Link assures him they are travelers.

"Hmm?" The man pondered as he eases up his menace. "You certainly do appear to be a Hylian like the rest of us . . . But she doesn't look like one of us on the count of her funny-looking ears."

"I came from a far off land where everyone has ears like mine," Aloy gasped. "Look! We just fought off a bunch of skeletons that popped up out of the ground and we really want to bed down somewhere for the night, okay!"

"Oh, you fought Stalkoblins, did you?" The man said sympathetically as he puts up his pitchfork. "Hylians are generally good folk, so . . . Sorry for getting all worked up . . . You're free to go. We're just a way on your winding road, huh? Ah, the life of a traveler. Well, you can get most things you need at the general store, and the inn is just back there." As he briefly gestures behind himself with his pitchfork.

"Thank you," Aloy said, as does Link. "So what now, Link? Should we go to this inn for the night?"

Link nods and motions for her to follow. They go up the hillside that most of Hateno is built upon in search of the inn. There are lamps lit about the road so that they can see around them that there are buildings. They head down the main street in search of what might be an inn and come upon a large building before them that has two sets of stairs. There are lights lit about it and they can see movement through the windows.

"I wonder if that's the inn," Aloy mused. "Let's check it out."

They go up to the door and Link gingerly opens it, then enters with Aloy in tow. The interior is not that of a simple house as there is a counter nearby with a girl working at it. They go up to the counter and Link asks the girl if this place is the inn.

"Yes it is," the girl answered cheerfully. "Would you two like two beds for the night? It's twenty rupees for a regular bed and forty for a softer bed? The softer bed will help you wake more refreshed."

Link informs the girl that they will both be having a regular bed for forty rupees in total.

"At what time do you want me to awaken you?" The girl asked.

Link informs her in the morning.

"Very well," the girl said. "Morning it is. Hold on a moment. You, girl. What's wrong with your ears?"

"There ain't nothin' wrong with them," Aloy answered with annoyance as she briefly strokes one of her own ears. "I'm just not from around here, that's all. Now about those beds?"

The girl stares blankly at Aloy for a moment, then does a facial shrug. "Then again there are Zora, Rito, and Gorons out there. Very well, I'll show you those beds now."

Link and Aloy are shown their respective beds, which are across from each other, and bed down for the night.

"Goodnight, Link," Aloy said.

Link also bids Aloy a goodnight as well. The pitterpatter of rain lulls them to sleep.

They are awaken by a knock and they open their eyes to look around to see that it is now sunny, though the light is dim.

"It's morning," the girl called cheerfully. "You did want me to wake the both of you up in the morning last night, remember?"

Link and Aloy nod as they get up. They have a quick meal and are out the door into a partially cloudy morning as the sun is just over the horizon. Wetness is about the place and the smell of the humidity that soon arrives after rainfall. Now that it is daylight, they have a better look about the place called Hateno Village.

The buildings have pale mortar walls and red tiled rooves, many of which have a tower attached to them. There are windmills about the place. Link informs Aloy that there is a delay in plans for the time being.

"Why? What do you want to do?" Aloy asked.

He takes out his paraglider and tells her that he wants to see if there is anyone in this village who can copy it.

"Oh, so you want me to have my own paraglider then," Aloy mused. "That would make sense if you're gonna have to jump off high places in order to get to somewhere more quickly. If I had something like yours from the get go, we'd have been here yesterday before sunset and wouldn't have ended up fighting those . . . Stalkoblins." Struggling to name them.

Off they go in search of someone who could copy Link's paraglider. They encounter a woman with short brown hair as she sweeps a lane with a broom and waves them over with a smile. Aloy and Link walk over to her.

"Hullo! What great weather!" The woman said to them. "The East Wind general store is open . . . and it's just as lively inside there as it is out here! Go take a look!"

"Is there someone in there who can copy his paraglider?" Aloy asked her, and Link takes it out to show.

"Hmmm? You could try the lab at the top of the hill," the woman answered as she gestures behind herself. "The man and old woman up there are geniuses. They might be able to create what you are looking for."

"Funny, that's where we need to head," Aloy mused. "How do we get there?"

"Just follow this road up and you should be able to see it. It's on the topmost hill. Hey, you got strange ears."

"I get that a lot," Aloy said with a somewhat flustered tone. Are my ears really going to give me this much trouble?

Link thanks the woman, then informs Aloy to come with him into the general store. They enter and see bins and shelves stocked with various sundries. Link sells some of the stuff he acquired in his travels and even buys some more stuff as well. Such as a bottle of milk. Once outside, Link opens the jar and takes a long drink, then passes the rest to Aloy.

"What is this white stuff?" Aloy asked as she peers into the jar with a wry expression.

Although Gaia had resurrected Earth's flora and fauna, not all its fauna had been resurrected because the usual farm mammals have not been bought into existence.

Link tells her that it is milk and where it came from.

"Uhhh, and you drink it?" she winced. "Isn't this meant for the young of mammals?"

Link merely shrugs and tells her that most Hylians drink it. Aloy takes a sip, then another, and another, and another still. Soon, she finishes off the bottle.

"That tasted unusually," Aloy said as she hands him the bottle.

They continue up the road that takes them around a bend. As they cross a bridge, a little girl with short hair runs toward them.

"It's true!" The little girl suddenly shouted up at Aloy and Link as they were about to pass her. "I really saw her!" Only to get embarrassed just as quickly. "Oh . . . oops. Heheh . . . sorry."

"Who did you see?" Aloy asked.

"There's a girl staying up at the Hateno Ancient Tech Lab!" The little girl stated intently. "I saw her come outside! She was right over there!" Pointing up in the direction of the lab. "It's true! But when I tried to tell a grown-up about it, they said the only people who've lived there are an old man and old woman . . . She was a Sheikah girl, I swear! No one ever listens to kids."

"I believe you," Aloy said. "Maybe it was her granddaughter who came last night. Even though it was stormy, there was hardly anyone outside; so she could've arrived without anyone seeing her."

"Yeah, you're probably right," the little girl said. "Hey, you got funny ears."

"And I could say the same of you," Aloy said with a slightly peeved tone.

That is when Link tugs on Aloy's sleeve and he directs her attention to a Sheikah Shrine past some houses.

"What's a Sheikah Shrine doing here?" Aloy pondered aloud as her focus reads, Sheikah Shrine.

"Oh that," the little girl said. "That was always here long before Hateno Village was built. No one has ever been able to get inside that thing though."

Link tells Aloy to come with him to that Sheikah Shrine, saying that the inhabitants of the lab were not going to go anywhere, and that they might not be awake just yet. They make their way over to the Sheikah Shrine, past strange cube shaped buildings. They arrive at the shrine and Link activates it so that they can go inside and be lowered into it. They arrive at the bottom and step off.

TO YOU WHO SETS FOOT IN THIS SHRINE . . . I AM MYAHM AGANA. IN THE NAME OF THE GODDESS HYLIA, I OFFER THIS TRIAL.

The disembodied voice had spoken within their minds instead of their ears.

"I guess every monk in every shrine we enter is gonna talk in our heads," Aloy mused.

They see a straight path with a row of light columns on either side, creating a path to a monk off in the distance, of which Aloy also reads with her focus. But access to that monk is barred. Over the side on either side is what looks to be a bottomless pit and to their right are three flights of stairs that almost make up one flight of stairs that lead up to a platform.

"Well now this is definitely different," Aloy marveled as she looks about the huge interior. "It's hard to believe that this place has been here for thousands of years while a village grew up just above it. Then again, the Nora do live above the ruins of the Metal World."

Link walks up the flight of stairs with Aloy in tow. They arrive on the platform that is a metal grating colored black. At the end of it is a device that looks like a gyroscope with a pedestal before it. They walk up to the gyroscope and see a platform suspended in space that has fences put in place to create lanes. Off to their left is an inclined plane with metal gratings for walls, as if to funnel something downward. It is attached to the same platform that the monk is located, with a large indentation that has orange markings near the entrance to the monk.

Link places the Sheikah Slate upon the pedestal and begins moving it around. Upon doing that, the strange platform begins moving and a giant sphere with orange markings falls down out of a black tube above it.

"Oh, now I get it," Aloy marveled. "You have to navigate that large ball onto that ramp so that it can roll down onto that lane so that it can roll into that pit."

Aloy watches as Link manouvers the platform so that the sphere can roll down lanes. At times, he reaches a dead end and has to backtrack. Carefully, he manouvers the sphere to the top and finally has it in the last lane.

"It looks like you're gonna have to flip that platform to toss that ball over there," Aloy noted.

Link tilts the platform at an angle away from the corridor, then tilts it toward the corridor. As the sphere is about to go off the edge, Link quickly tilts the corridor back so that it ends up tossing the sphere to land successfully in that lane. From there, it simply rolls down toward the indentation.

"Good work, Link!" Aloy congratulated him with a pat on the back.

They watch as the sphere rolls into the indentation so that it glows blue and the sphere disappears. A metallic thunk lets them know that the bars blocking their path to the monk had risen.

"Finally, we can get to that dead guy," Aloy said as she turns to walk, but Link informs her that he will be over as soon as he can, saying that he wants to get to the chest upon that platform first as he manouvers it so that it is tilted toward them.

"Okay, I'll wait for you down there," Aloy said as she points to where the monk is located.

Aloy walks all the way up to the room with the monk in it. By the time, she reaches near the opening, she sees Link walking down the path that the sphere rolled upon. He meets up with her.

"So what was in that chest?" Aloy asked, and Link shows her a brown bow with golden markings and a white drawstring.

"Okay then, shall we?" Aloy asked as she gestures where the monk is.

They enter the room and Link walks up to the monk. Aloy notes that this monk's appearance is the same as the other one; save that this one has his knees lifted, hands raised slightly with palms pressed together, and no hat to reveal a balding crown with part of his long flowing hair gathered in a topknot. Once again, that disembodied voice speaks to them, congratulating them on overcoming that test. Next is the shared spirit orb that Aloy and Link are given and the monk vanishes into motes. The duo return to the surface.

They exit the shrine and make their way back to the road to continue their journey up to the lab, passing a Goddess Statue along the way. As they are going up a hill, they pass an outcropping that partially encircles a device that resembles four large sacks stuck together with pipes leading into the ground from it. The device in question is a furnace, but glows blue and has a blue flame burning from its vent.

"That is a strange furnace," Aloy mused as she walks up to it. "The Oseram would really be interested in something like this." She then places her hand near the flame, only to pull it away suddenly. "Whoa, that is one hot flame. Anyway," while looking around and seeing their objective, "that must be the lab over there." As they see a building with a tower on top of it on the highest point.

They walk toward it, having to pass by a fenced in area where there are cattle grazing. Aloy stares at the creatures as they resemble broadbacks. They reach the path upward and read a sign that says, Hateno Ancient Tech Lab. No Soliciting.

"What's soliciting?" Aloy asked.

Link explains that it means to ask someone for favors.

"Oh great, then they might not help us out," Aloy said dryly.

They continue up the trail up the hill to the lab in question. It is a large building with a tower on top that has a stairway winding upward. The stairway starts on the roof of the building.

"I wonder how the occupants get up there," Aloy mused. "And what will they do if it's raining like it was last night."

They walk up to the double doors and enter.