How to Use Bells in Phantom Blade Zero (The Beginning, Weeping Creek Valley)

Bells are the rest points of Phantom Blade Zero. You find the first one early in Chapter 1, “AGAINST THE FLOW”, and it handles healing, map reveals, saving, and ability training.

Quick answer: Touch a bell with E to restore your HP and Medicine. The first touch also reveals new areas on the map. After that, the bell menu offers Train Abilities, Save, and Leave.

Where the first bell is in Phantom Blade Zero

The first bell is called The Beginning, and it sits in Weeping Creek Valley. There is no bell in the prologue, so don’t go looking for one there.

Chapter 1 starts by a waterfall. Above it is a rock face with white scratch marks. Climb it, then deal with the masked brutes who ambush you at the top. The Beginning is past that fight.

Bells are recognizable by their distinctive design: a post of wood supports a little bronze bell and dangling red fabric, while white figures kneel below.

What happens when you touch a bell for the first time

Walk up to the bell until an “E” prompt appears. Press E to touch it.

Soul at the first bell with the E prompt in Phantom Blade Zero — Walk up to the bell and press E

Watch the short cutscene that follows. The camera moves in close on the bell, and a voice captioned “Inanis’s Voice” says, “This bell rings for you alone. It will mend all your wounds.” It ends on “A small blessing. May it help you find the right path.”

Close-up of the bronze bell in the first-touch cutscene in Phantom Blade Zero — The first touch plays a short bell cutscene

Subtitle from Inanis's Voice, A small blessing, in the bell cutscene in Phantom Blade Zero — "A small blessing. May it help you find the right path."

Read the tutorial card titled “Bells” that pops up next. It reads, “Touch the Bell to restore HP and Medicine. The first touch reveals new areas on the map.”

The Bells tutorial card: touch the Bell to restore HP and Medicine, in Phantom Blade Zero — The Bells tutorial card

Check the map, which opens on its own to WEEPING CREEK VALLEY. The newly revealed area is visible, and the bell is marked by name as “The Beginning”. Map Completion rises from 0% to 1%, and the bottom left shows “[R] View Collectibles”.

Ink-wash style map of misty mountains and a river, with a marker labeled The Beginning and a gold diamond icon. — The Weeping Creek Valley area map at 1% Map Completion, with The Beginning marked beside a river through ink-painted mountains.

Use Tab to bring up the World Map, a parchment-toned view of the entire land that marks your current location.

The parchment World Map overview in Phantom Blade Zero — Tab opens the World Map

The Beginning appearing by name on the map and the Map Completion counter ticking up confirm the bell is registered. Your HP and Medicine are topped up at the same time.

Bell menu options: Train Abilities, Save, and Leave

You see the cutscene just once. After that, using the bell brings up a menu; its name, “The Beginning”, appears in the lower-left corner. On PC, press Enter to choose the highlighted row.

Soul in a wide hat beside a wooden cross with a bell in a green mossy canyon, menu options shown. — The bell menu at The Beginning: Train Abilities, Save and Leave

Train Abilities opens the ability tree.
Save
Leave closes the menu.

Bells also serve as fast travel points. The Beginning’s menu has no travel row, though, so those three options are all you get at the first bell.

How Train Abilities works at a bell

The Train Abilities screen presents a tree of linked nodes arranged in three rows. An item icon and its count appear at the start of each row on the left; in Chapter 1, every count is x0. Your Remnant Dust amount is displayed at the upper right.

The tree runs on two kinds of resources. The game explains it this way, “Collect Blackstones, Sha-Chi Ambers, and other items to increase attributes and unlock abilities.” and “Use Remnant Dust to activate abilities you’ve unlocked!” Items unlock nodes, and Remnant Dust activates what you’ve unlocked.

FLUID FORM is the first unlocked node. Its description reads, “After Perfect Dodging a Red-flash Attack, Parrying a Blue-flash Attack, Guard Breaking or defeating an enemy, press [Left Mouse] or [F] within a short time to perform a Quick Pursuit on a distant enemy.”

Dark ink-style skill tree with three branches of circular ability icons and a Fluid Form description panel on the right. — The ability training tree with Fluid Form selected and a tip saying to use Remnant Dust to activate unlocked abilities.

Training FLUID FORM costs 0 Remnant Dust. Select it and the prompt reads “HOLD [Space] TO TRAIN”.