Part 56: The Future Refused to Change

Our next stop is the colorful Gemstone Valley, which is still a pain in the neck even at relatively low levels.



Although the enemy types are a bit mixed, having a level 2 wind spell helps clear out a lot of the more troublesome enemies quickly. It's a little bit weird, though, because the level one wind spell actually produces small tornadoes while the level 2 is lightning based. And as for Duran's saber version..



"We're… underground. Where the hell did that lightning come from?"

"You've got to accept the metal into your soul and rock out with it."



"This doesn't make any sense! Aren't rock monsters going to be strong against lightning?"

"It's okay, I aimed for the horn."

"It doesn't even have a horn!"



"Of course it does. See, it worked."

"I can't believe that thing was napping just south of Forcena."

"…alright, where are we going to next?"

"We've already hit everybody's home towns… how about north of Wendel next?"

One short flight later...



"Now, I'm not an expert on geography…"

"Or much of anything…"

"Or much of anything, yes, but.. hey, wait a second!"

"I'm sorry, I had to. Please, continue."

"As I was saying, isn't it a bit weird that there's a swamp on top of a mountain?"

"Makes sense to me. Where else would the waterfall come from?"



As a side note, I have never actually gotten this chest here. I'm not even sure if it can be gotten, or if it's just there to taunt the player. On the other hand, since it's almost certainly nothing more than a healing item I can buy at a store for less than 100 luc, it's not worth the trouble of finding out.



"Okay, so what are we going to do with this one?"

"Just from looking at it, I'm going to guess that it's weak against pointy objects.

"That sounds messy. Even more so than usual. I'll just stick with darkness magic.



"What the hell? Light and lightning are two different things!"

"I think that when you're a centuries old abomination that represents one of the eight primal elements, you can ignore little things like that."



"But you can't ignore being repeatedly stabbed and clawed in the face until you stop being so damn creepy."

"I guess that's the moral of today's story?"

"Sounds good to me. So, what's the next closest God Beast?"

"Rolante, I think? We're halfway done!"



"That's nice… now, what's my motivation to buy anything from you now that you just told me where there's a better store?"

"I'm here, and they're not. You could go ahead without the best armor available to you, but…"

"That cat's pretty good at her job."



"No, it's a bird!"

"Don't even start that."



"I feel ridiculous doing this… I know it's earth magic to fight the Wind Beast, but…"

"If it helps, tell yourself that it works because birds are weak against shiny things."



"They're also weak against giant rocks."

"So's Flammie! Be careful with those things!"



"And it all worked out in the end."

"So… Navarre or the forest out near the elf village?"

"Navarre. There's at least two towns with bars there, and it's been way too long since my last drink."



"Oooh, I want it!"

"When you have weapons like that, how can you be surprised that we questioned your sexuality?"

"Oh, come off it… you act like you've never seen a rhinestone before."



"Sometimes I just have to wonder… who carved a spot like this, and why?"

"It seems to be a pretty obvious fishing spot to me."

"Fishing, seriously?"

"Where else would you catch lava fish?"

"… let's go find that God Beast."



"Well, we've definitely found it… did that spell even do anything, or did it just land right in the gaps and pass harmlessly through him?"

"I think it at least winged him…it's really hard when you're dealing with an enemy that's not really solid."



"I'll fix this…let's see him get away from my sword!"



"You're just way too enthusiastic about that."

"I just want to see some explosions. Is that so wrong?"

"I guess not… but do we have to go to that forest? I've heard things about it..."

"Yep. Look on the bright side, we've only got two more God Beasts left."



"This place doesn't seem so bad… what could possibly make you not want to come here?"



"It would mostly be the giant bugs about the size of a small pony."

"Thankfully there don't seem to be any spiders. I can deal with giant caterpillars if that's the worst we're going to deal with."

"…if these are giant caterpillars, what do they turn into?"

"I can live the rest of my life without finding out the answer to that question."



Like the Moonreading tower, this is meant to be some kind of giant forest maze for you to wander around in until you stumble across the boss. It's actually not that bad, as pretty much the worst thing you'll run across is a dead end. They could have been real dicks about it and made some of the wrong paths loop around to the beginning. Even brute forcing it, this place actually doesn't take too long to navigate.



"It's just so cheerful, and happy to see us."

"Where do you even get started attacking something like this? What are trees weak against, anyway?"

"Have you ever seen what happens when a tree is struck by lightning?"

"Grew up on the plains, remember?"

"I won't ruin the surprise for you, but let's see if the same thing happens with giant pumpkins."




"Is it working yet?"

"All together, now…"



"And pop goes the weasel."

"That's not quite right, but I'm not complaining."

Oh, how far they've come.



"And every minute we spend looking for it, it's getting stronger…"

"Well, we've literally been just about everywhere in the world, so by process of elimination…"

"Only about four places left. Where do we start?"

With new weapons and armor in that Pedan place the cat told us about. We can figure out the rest from there."



"It's really amazing to see such a big city in the middle of a wilderness like this."

"I'd think you'd be more weirded out by the fact that it wasn't here when we went to sleep."

"He's not the kind of guy to let little things like that disturb him."

"Exactly. It's here now, and that's all that matters."



"The island itself is made of a fine glass powder… and the Dragon Emperor lives somewhere on it."

"The Dragon Emperor is stronger and smarter than any human."

"Not strong or smart enough to keep my old man from kicking his shit in. Sounds a bit exaggerated to me."

"Sounds like that island would be hell on my skin. Too bad we're probably going to have to go there."



"He's a king now, you know."

"Nah, I'm pretty sure he's still a prince. Unless something changed in the last few minutes."

"Wait… what?"

"I don't think the town appeared out of nowhere… we did."



"Three heroes, wielding the Sword of Mana, will stand against the Dragon Empire…"

"… the tablet is broken there. One day, this time will come. Perhaps in the distant future…"



"Only two heroes, not three. So the Dragon Emperor can't be the one in the prophecy…"

"Unless it is the same one, and they're going to fail…"

"By the way, Prince Richard and Loki are here for supplies! I should get their autographs…"

"WHAT? Where are they? What store!? I've got to tell him…"

"Eh…? The armor store, I think."

"Duran, it's not going to…"



"I… guess that's true, isn't it? I'm sorry, your Majesty. But…"



"Eh, who are you? I have a son, but he's only five years old."

"You do have his eyes, though. Well, I hope he turns out to be a sharp looking fellow like you!"



"Right!"



"I'm sorry, Duran… there's no way you could have changed anything. The past had to happen to create our present."

"But… they never had a chance. They were doomed from the start, with it just being the two of them…"

"Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe they were only supposed to slow the Dragon Emperor's plans down enough so that we could come along and finish the job."

"If that's the case, we're going to need to get the Sword of Mana somehow…"



"Yes, he is. And I don't think there's anything anybody can do about it."

"It sounds pretty depressing when you put it like that."

"Doesn't it though? I think I need to kick something's ass to get me out of this funk."



"It's on the island of the Glass Desert… near Dragon's Hole."

"…and I guess that's where we're going next. Good, there should be plenty of things that need an ass kicking there."



We'll get to the Glass Desert next time, but in the meantime we're here at Pedan with 2 levels to grind up ??? seeds. While I'm busily doing that, let's talk about class changes...