Part 25: Aroma Salts

Update 25: Aroma Salts






Music: Cute Witch


Before we continue the main story, let's make a little detour to Zeldalia's and witness the rest of the massage scenes.


Ah, just in time...ow!

What's wrong, meow? Are you in pain?

I apologize, but I need another massage. Let's see...who should I pick today?

You're up, Arlin.

All right, this ought to be go-





Bullshit.


That's a shame. Okay, Norn...I guess it's you.

Okay, meow.





Does that feel good, Zeldalia?

You're the best, Norn.

Purrrr...



- - - -






Me? *shrug* This could be kinda fun.





Can you press a little harder?

Okay...How's this?

Ack! What are you doing!? Move lower!

Oops...How about here?

Don't touch me there! Just stop.

I'm not trying to hurt you on purpose!

Ooh! Ow! My neck! _{Can't...breathe...}

Huh? Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry!

Ugh...That's it. We're done. That didn't help at all.

Don't complain! You're the one who asked me to do it.

Well if I knew you sucked at it, I wouldn't have!

Hmph!

Lita's quick to anger, meow.

I am not!

Can you please keep it down?



- - - -






Me?...Okay, I'll do it.




...This'd be a lot easier if you were actually a young woman.

If you're going to talk, at least move your hands while you do it.

Okay, okay...

...Mmmm...you're pretty good at this once you get going.

Really? Maybe I can use this to pick up chicks...

Oh yeah...You'll be very popular with all the grannies.

Ohhh gross...




I feel a lot better, thanks.

I wish I had a girlfriend who could give me a massage.

I could rub some scented oils on your body if you wanted.

...Uh...no thanks.


Dayum, old lady witch wants some Delsus for dessert. Figures the one woman who's shown any interest in him is both jailbait and an old lady at the same time.


Anyway, after giving Zeldalia a second massage, something new happens when we talk to her.





It's going okay...You've never asked me that before. Is everything okay?

Er...Well...You know. Did you like that Ether Bulb I gave you before?

Yeah, it was pretty useful.

...Have you thought about asking for the skill?

...The skill?

Zeldalia is being nice, meow. She's offering you the other choice...duh.

Well...something like that. So, do you want it or not?

Well...Yeah, okay.

You need to be more assertive, Klein. Here, let me teach you the skill. This is called Living Item.


And just like that, we have Klein's last skill. Living Item is a skill I never really got the hang of...I'll try to show it off sometime because it's probably secretly fantastic and I just don't know, but I didn't happen to try it out this time.





Okay, back to Avenberry.





As we approach the end of the library, we start finding a ton of these Mana pieces to extract, in case you're running low.





There are several ones, incl-wait, time? Since when is time an element? I don't have anyone that can handle time. I don't think I have any recipes that call for time either. I guess that'll come up later, then.





I also found this item that has no apparent use. I'm guessing it's yet another item that exists solely to create another through synthesis.







Is this another one of those stupid Growloons?

This place is full of books to eat, but only these alchemy tomes truly tickle my palate. I won't share them with anyone!





Music: Horned Enigma


Time for a new boss. Book Eater keeps up the proud tradition set forth by Elder Vilum and Prism by being a never ending torrent of damage.

(he has minions too but Lita killed them)







The thing about Book Eater is that his attacks aren't quite as devastatingly powerful as his predecessors, but he likes to nail you with status effects and damage at the same time, and this is one of those games were negative status effects actually matter. He hits multiple targets at once too, so sometimes you're entire party just is asleep all of the sudden.





ALIAS FALL





In particular, he likes to hit everyone with poison so you're always taking extra damage anyway, and if Klein stops to fix that then he's not actually healing, so you're kind of boned either way and meanwhile it's hard to get a free turn with him to actually use buffs.





He's also really fast so he gets lots of turns and sometimes he gets to just do an extra attack on one character, so even though he doesn't hit as hard it's perhaps even more difficult to keep up with his damage output than it was with the last couple bosses.







I kind of like to think of this fight as being on a timer. When it comes down to it, you just won't win a battle of attrition with this guy because he'll put Klein to sleep and then everyone will die of poison and assorted other damage, so it's best to get as strong as you can as fast as you can and then just unload on the guy.





It worked out pretty well. It's hard to see, but that's 706 damage Lita did. Nice.





He also dropped this neat sword for Arlin, which is really funny for reasons that will be apparent soon.





Music: Spirit's Hometown


I created the Ruby Prism for my...daughter. The crystal holds great power. It continually releases Mana, like an endless generator. I prefer to think of it as the origin of life...Unfortunately, such a power brings out only the worst in human beings. Some even tried creating an artificial Mana, whose power would surpass even the Ruby prism. In this way, Amalgam was created.

Amal...gam?

The Mana of Beginnings and Endings...Only humans could create something so vile. Amalgam is capable of absorbing Mana into itself, destroying them completely.





I assumed responsibility for capturing the beast using my Ruby Prism. I was successful, but only after a long battle which cost the lives of myself and five of my creations. I entrusted the Ruby Prism to my last surviving creation, my daughter, and put her to sleep. When she awakens, she will live a normal human life with a normal human lifespan. I sealed away this knowledge, to prevent such a horrible thing from happening again. I designed the gate so that only one with great wisdom could inherit my power.

You are the one. Please, inherit this gift with discretion. You must not repeat the mistakes of others. Create a Ruby Prism only in times of great need. Keep this in mind, for...the sake of my daughter.


Mother...








Gurgu's Cane, a powerful relic from the Tower of Marcus in Parodius...and a Reptile Egg. Salamander, to be exact. They thrive in areas controlled by fire Mana. Also, the ingredients can only by synthesized using the machine in the Land of Mana.

A tower in Parodius, huh? My father should know something about that. We can ask the Mana Chiefs about all that...flaming salamander fire egg crap.

I'll do whatever it takes to create a Ruby Prism...I WILL surpass Mull!

I need to do this to help Lita.

This is...





I've never even heard of it.

I only need one. You can have the extra.
























Music: Popo's Pleasant Money Lecture


Yes, I know, it's sad but true...This is my last lesson. We're very lucky, though, because we have a super special guest to talk about Aroma Material...Today's special instructor is Miss Iris, the master alchemist!

Hello, everyone.

They're all yours, Iris.

Thank you, Popo. Aroma Material is an item I created. It brings out a Mana's inner power, making it into a whole new Mana. However, not all Mana have the ability to transform.

She's talking about me! I can't transform...

You can look at a Mana's status screen to find out whether or not in can transform. Simply choose that command, and you'll be well on your way to Mana transformation.

Yowzers! So, what are the benefits of transforming a Mana?

There are several, actually. First of all, it will be easier to give Lita protection. Secondly, it becomes easier to handle high quality items which are difficult to use.





I think today's instructor has one last piece of advice.

There's a limited amount of Aroma Material, so don't waste it. (author's note: we can totally waste it). Experiment, and try to find a combination that works for you.



I'd like to thank everyone who attended my class. You made it a lot of fun. As always, you can find a transcript of this lesson in the Handy Travel Edition. Remember, knowledge is power. That's it, folks. Be careful out there!


























Music: Beat of Illusion


This is the new random battle theme. I didn't get into any randoms worth noting on my way back out (and I don't think it actually plays until I get back to the world map anyway) but listen to it anyway. It's pretty good for a common battle song.


Anyway, let's see what our powered up Mana are like! What's cool is we can use Aroma materials to transform one, then when we untransform them back to normal we get the Aroma Materials back. So it's basically just a limit on how many Mana we can have transformed at once, rather than that we can only do one transformation and then we're just done.





Uru's transformation, Grupt, offers an asston of attack power, making him great for Lita or Arlin or possibly Delsus. Not so much Norn. He can handle Power elements at a x1 modifier and fire at x1.5





The mana react differently to transformations. Several of them suggest that they're happier as their normal selves, while others seem disappointed to revert. Kinda neat flavor if you ask me, and it sort of plays at the idea that transforming Mana might have moral ramifications. I mean, the game doesn't really explore this particular idea any further, but it's an interesting thing to think about.









Silwest becomes Zeilia, Mistress of Lightning. She still offers a speed boost and that's still pretty cool. She can handle lightning at x1 and wind at x1.5.









Nymph becomes Flay, the Mana of Spirit. She just offers boatloads of MP. Sadly, this doesn't seem to really work for Lita correctly (I might check again after I've replenished her Mana, just to check), but it's still nice on anyone else. She can handle Spirit at x1 and Water at x1.5









Eital becomes Paltia, the Holy Mana, who is basically a caster's best friend. Check out all that magic power! For those who haven't picked up on the trend yet, Paltia can handle Holy at x1 and Light at x1.5









Plua becomes Fanatos, queen of eeeeevil, and offers a...kinda underwhelming attack boost and lots of Dark resistance. Eh. She handles Evil at x1 and Dark at x1.5


Sadly, Deimia and Aion (and Popo, as mentioned in the toturial) cannot transform at all.

Okay, let me sort this out. We have...

Wood = Popo
Fire = Uru
Power = Grupt (super Uru)
Dark = Plua
Evil = Fanatos (Super Plua)
Stone = Deimia
Water = Nymph
Spirit = Flay (Super Nymph)
Wind = Silwest
Lightning = Zeilia (Super Silwest)
Life = Aion
Light = Eital
Holy = Paltia (Super Eital)
Time =

Uh...

Time =





Goddammit.

I mean, it's not like we've seen a character who is probably a Mana and who is definitely time-themed.





I went ahead and transformed Eital and equipped her on Norn so Norn can have ultimate power. Probably not all that worth it – I'm really considering switching to Grupt and slapping him on Lita so she can be extra angry – but at the very least there's one thing I need to do with Paltia...





Yep, I have nine Elixirs now. Yay.

Not much happens on the way out, but at the library exit...





Music: Sadness is Whisked Away By the Wind


Of course I am.

We must part here. I have business to attend to.

What kind of business?

This is my problem; it doesn't involve you.

Can't you at least tell me what it's about?

..There...isn't much time.





Did he just say what I thought he said?

However, Mull did not complete me...I am a failed experiment. That bastard threw me away like garbage...But that allowed me to escape.

He must suffer for killing my brothers and tossing me aside. I will kill him.

Why don't you just stay with us until Klein finishes the Ruby Prism?

As I said...I'm incomplete. The Ruby Prism means nothing to me. It's power would shatter me. I am not like you, Daughter of Iris. Death fast approaches...I can feel it.


And then Arlin just kinda...leaves.


Arlin!

He made his choice, Klein. There's nothing we can do. You're going to make a Ruby Prism, right? Finish what you started. That's all you can do.

… …

(I'll surpass Mull...)





Hmhmhmhm...Almost. This should be the last piece. Once I've finished, the “Lineage of Iris” will be ancient history...When I unleash my ultimate power, the world will understand that supreme dominion belongs to humanity! The world must end before it can be reborn...And I shall be the one to rebuild it!


shut up Mull no one cares







Arlin's departure opens up a convenient pathway that spits us out at another warp gate thinger back near Kavoc, making it yet even easier to travel around. I chose to head off to Lake Forwel instead because I think going to Kavoc triggers plot and we've done enough for now.





I still don't know how I feel about this. On the one hand, I like that a major character has their own motives and leaves when their motives stop aligning well with the protagonist's. On the other hand, my strategy of “throw Arlin at bosses until they die” is kind of fucked now, but maybe that's good too because now I have no choice but to learn the individual merits and flaws of the other characters for fighting tough enemies instead of having one character who is just ridiculously good at basically everything. I actually kind of wish I'd given him that Damn Ring just to see if he takes his accessories with him when he leaves.

Join me next time as we fill the gaping void in our roster and probably synth a lot.