Part 35: Part XXVII: Hear the Victory of a Teacher

Part XXVIII: Hear the Victory of a Teacher - A

It was only because I met Mr. Keith on that day in the herb garden that I set out on my journey to find Nio. Although I visited the herb garden every day, if it wasn't for Mr. Keith telling me that I could use alchemy to find and save Nio, I probably never would have gone on my journey and done so many amazing things. He's a great teacher, and I still have a lot to learn.



(Nio's back at the workshop... Hmhmhm, I'm so happy.) Oh, I wonder what I should do for dinner today...

You have a stupid expression on your face again. Your mouth is open...

Mr. Keith! I was just thinking about today's dinner and Nio and...

Well, you have been dealing with a great amount of tension, day-after-day, for so long that I can understand. However, aren't you forgetting something?

Forgetting...? Umm, was there something? Did I promise to meet you somewhere?

That's not it. But you did leave the big slag out in the wild...

Ohh, that's right. I completely forgot about that.

We confronted it as soon as it woke up, but it escaped, and... It's saving up power somewhere. Do you realize what will happen if it regains its full power and capabilities?

Umm...I feel like something not-so-good would happen.

That's right. If it wants to, it could bring disaster to this entire region.

Eh...



You're right! Now isn't the time to be gazing up at the sky... Huh? But wasn't it you who woke it up...?

If you look up to me as your teacher, I thought I should do something like this. It'll be a test of your strength. You must go take care of this. It's currently roaming around west of Hornheim.

Okay. I'll try...! I can't just stay here and take it easy!

The area west of Hornheim...that's a big valley, though. It'll be tough to find it by myself.



Maybe I should ask someone about it... A good source of information is...



A big slag? Nooope, I haven't, but there aren't a lot of people around here to begin with... This slag you're talking about, how big is it?

Let's see... He's as big as a mountain...

A mountain? If someone that big was crawling around, I'm sure someone would've noticed it.

But, it flies, since it has wings.

Seriously? A slag as big as a mountain that flies...? Oh, could it be that?

It probably is! Please tell me about it.



All the regular balloon services were stopped, but the cancellation period for the flights was so long... That one balloon eventually flew into the fog... Rumor has it someone said they saw a giant in the clouds. It was decided that it must've just been a shadow of an island seen through the fog, but it might've been a flying slag.

Hmm, that is possible. Do you know where it was?

I don't know too much about it, but looking from here, I can tell you it was on the opposite shore. But with the dense fog and the distance, the witness' story was pretty vague.

Okay. Thank you so much. (Yeah, that has to be it. I should go search the other side of the valley.)

In the opposite direction from Hornheim...there's three locations: Hom Village, Salt Desert, or the island with a lot of ruins on it. I really hope it didn't land in Hom Village, but I don't think it would. Salt Desert is pretty far from the Steinfeder, so it probably wouldn't have been able to make it there with the damage me and Mr. Keith inflicted on it, so...the best chance is the Decayed Ruin Isle.



There it is... It looks so powerful now. I really wish me and Mr. Keith could have destroyed it back when we first saw it, but I can't hold back now! If the mistakes of past alchemists are still in the world today, the alchemists of today have to make up for them! Versus Rampage Dragon



Welcome to the hardest necessary boss in the game. The name Rampage Dragon, the Mecha-Dragon's new moniker, should be an indication how much trouble this guy can give you. Unlike the other chumps that are bosses in this game, this guy's the real deal. Gets 3-4 turns in a row, is pretty damn powerful, and has several powerful area attacks.

Buuut, if you watch the video, you'll clearly see I didn't have that much trouble, for the most part. The benefits of ultimate equipment are potent, indeed. He also went a little easy on me, because he didn't use his most powerful attack, Ice Storm, until nearly the end of the fight. It hits everyone on the field for pretty powerful ice damage. You can see what kind of damage he can inflict when Sagittarius starts playing, but since I had a God's Miracle Drug after he used Ice Storm twice, it didn't matter much.



Indeed, Keith and Wilbell mopped him up pretty nicely. I don't know, this guy is just kinda quaint after dealing with the first boss of the second bonus dungeon. He's a whole different ballgame. Oh, and there's another of this guy's ilk hiding in (Alt.) Zweiteturm, but he's an even bigger pushover, being both weaker than the Mecha-Dragon and this guy. Shameful indeed.



Music: FJ: Meteo Storm



But, that's game. Also, after this fight, the game will say you're done with Keith's events, but that's not true. There's one more event back in Vierzeberg, and one final event that happens in the Zweiteturm in January, that actually finishes off Keith's events.

One final note is that the Decayed Ruin Isle-Steinfeder area is the best place to grind for each character's best weapon. Decayed Ruin has a battle with three "boss" slags that all have the chance to drop highest-tier equipment, but only will drop weapons for the characters in the battle. For example, if I had a team of Regina and Wilbell, they'd never drop, for example, Keith's or Marion's best weapon.

However, when I was grinding for Marion's best weapons, I fought that group a few times, but they wouldn't drop Marion's best gun.



But, this gold slag in Steinfeder did (the path to the Lab of Dusk is at the top of the screen), or at least one of the mooks in it did. This is a fairly hard fight, but if you can beat the Rampage Dragon, there's nothing to worry about. One final note about weapons is that Nio, Odelia, and Marion all only have three weapons, so don't blow your brains out searching for the other two if you're a completionist.



(The view from here... I've gotten used to it, but...it's still really nice.) Hehehe, I wonder what I should do for dinner today...

Goodness, are you always thinking about supper? I can't believe that those words could possibly come from the person who defeated him.

Oh, Mr. Keith.

The world is vast, but not many people could have defeated him. I'd prefer if you looked more suitable, instead of having that stupid expression on your face.

Hahaha, I'm sorry. This is me in my normal state...

I guess that's fine, as well. It's more fitting for you. From everything I've learned, nothing in this area is stronger than him. He was the last remnant of negative alchemy from the past. You should plan your supper to your heart's content. Farewell.

Eh? Already? Stay with me for a change. It feels so nice to sit here with the sun so warm...

...All right. It might be nice to have a worthless conversation every once in a while.

Oh, that's great! I didn't think you'd really stay with me. Hehehe, I guess it was worth bringing it up.



But, before we finish up Keith's events, let's take on another dragon, this time hiding at the Salt Desert Lighthouse (also where the Old Oath Dragon was. Actually, he showed up right after I slayed that dragon).



This little guy. Now, I mentioned this guy is hiding a secret.



A secret of how weak he is! Ahaha, look at that, only after one round of attacking by Keith, Regina, and Ayesha. You may be wondering what the big deal with this guy is. Now, if you don't care about what this guy has up his sleeve, you can just go all out on him at the start and wipe him out pretty easily. If you do that, you accomplish (Alt.) Salt Desert and you can be on your way, but if you wait on it a bit...











Whoooo boy, the Grand Dragon. Hardest boss in the game, I think. He doesn't have the most HP in the game (10,000 HP), but his defense is through the roof, and he just takes forever to kill. This is one of those bosses that just will not fucking die.



And it's mostly because of the Chin of Death. Despite the humorous name, it's your worst enemy. Chin of Death recovers quite a bit of his HP, and if he decides to spam it... I'm sure you can see where this is going.



What I used here, the Forbidden Capsule, stands to be elaborated a bit upon before we go any further.



Making the Forbidden Capsule in the first place. Here's what I did for it: add the Spirit Magnet in first to get Usage Null in, Draw Power from the Scorching Drink and the Dunkelheit, and finally, Power Pour the Bone Powder, then add the Bone Powder in finally, leaving you with 19 CP.



Notice that the Earth bar at the bottom of the the menu there used to have a ???, but now has nothing. That's because if the final product doesn't have a high enough Earth value, the Forbidden Capsule has some horrible effect attached to it. I'm not sure what it is, but again, not especially interested in finding out. Now, the Forbidden Capsule has two effects. KO Recovery XXL is boring and no one cares about it, but the real gem is Force Backup.

The incredibly misleading description for that effect says "Greatly increases target's abilities, but will deal large continuous damage". Doesn't sound like much, huh? Well, by "target's abilities", that means the target, assuming they're not KO'd before their turn comes up, means that character can move three times in a row before giving up their turn. It's even more effective used on Ayesha. If Ayesha uses it on herself, she can move twice more before giving up her turn, and when it comes back to her turn again, she can move three times in a row. So, that's five turns with one item.

Needless to say, an incredible item, and don't worry about the "large continuous damage". It's a whopping 8 or 9 damage a turn. Not even worth commenting on. The only problem is that each Capsule is only one use, which means you should register at least two or three of them at Marietta's, and clean out her inventory every time she restocks when you're going to take on a powerful enemy. These things can easily turn the tide of a difficult battle. Unfortunately, I didn't stock up on many before fighting the Grand Dragon, but things worked out...eventually.



One thing that really bears mention is that when the Grand Dragon gets really low on health, your physical attacks are going to miss constantly. I'd say when he drops below a quarter of his HP, you basically have about a 50% chance, if that, of hitting your mark. Doesn't matter if it's a skill or physical attack. Both are going to miss pretty frequently, making super attacks your primary source of damage this late in the game.

Combined with him getting more HP regen than ever, and his defense going through the roof, the last quarter of his HP might as well be half the battle.



Hey Grand Dragon, kindly...



Fuck...



OFF. I don't have a great strategy for this guy, simply because there isn't really any. This is just an incredibly long slog against an enemy who never seems to die. As long as you have a ton of healing items, you'll outlast him eventually. Of course, don't even think of fighting him with less than ultimate equipment. It'll take a quarter of an eternity to win. Actually, if you want to see what a quarter of an eternity looks like, you can watch the whole battle here. Versus Grand Dragon. I guess it's kinda appropriate, the ending, since the first time I beat this guy, Keith got the killing super blow move, but that time I was using Linca, not Regina.

Thankfully, I assure you, no other fight in the game is that much of a slog. Well, that was pretty horrible, but let's wrap up the grumpy old alchemist's events. This can take place as early as January of Year 3, as long as the Rampage Dragon has been defeated. A new journey

*sigh*

Master, you look very bored.



Then, should I make you some tea?

No, that's fine. I'm not thirsty. Now...where should I go next? I've already traveled half the world...

...Are you parting from this land?

Yes. It's about time. The rest of the world still contains many secrets that I have yet to discover. I wish to see everything while this body still moves... Although, I know that's being too greedy. I want to see as much as possible with these eyes. I need to say farewell to you. It wasn't very long, but thanks for the hospitality. As your master, I'll give you my final order. I cancel all your commands. From now on, act on your own and use your own judgment. You have no need to be bound by the past, or by me. You are free.

...Understood. I accept your final order. Now...excuse my haste, but I shall make preparations for the journey, as well. If you will allow it, I shall accompany you wherever you go.

Hey, there's no need for that. I told you that you're free.

Yes, so I will do as I please.



Well, I guess that's fine, as well. There were a few things that I've obtained since coming to this land, but... Odelia, obtaining you was quite a reward to reap.

Thank you. Even so, to think that I am probably no match for Ayesha... I feel slightly insufficient.

You're right. The possibility that she could carve out a new alchemy that even I don't know of is also...



Goodness. Speak of the devil...

Huh? What are you talking about?

Nothing. We were just talking.

That is correct. It was a secret conversation between Master and me.

It's not like you two to have secret talks...

Hehe...Mr. Keith has grown a lot more humorous since I first met him. Still, I do have to wonder what they were talking about. Hm...