(hollow knight)

I know why.

Oh nice another HK player

that picture tho

Please explain.

Are you ok with spoilers?

I'm never gonna play the game any damn way.

I then later learned that the path of pain is actually an offshoot of this area which is basically the white palace on hyper steroids

I never actually finished that part

It took you almost a whole year to say that?

I meant to say it at the time then remembered while looking through old posts

It's really good though, you should try it.

Anyway, at a certain point in the game you encounter a glowing tree lady who gives you half of a white charm

Charms give you various abilities like enhancing your magic or increasing your weapon reach

To get the other half of the charm you need to upgrade the dream nail until it "awakens". Basically all the dream nail does is unlock various bits of the story. "Nail" is also this game's term for sword since all the characters are bugs

After you awaken the dream nail you can use it to unlock the white palace, which is where you eventually find the other half of the white charm

And this place is HARD

Hence the nickname "path of pain"