Part 47: A Gentleman and/or a Scholar

Update 47: A Gentleman and/or a Scholar






Music: Huge Game Table


Now that we have our precious Clear Data saved, it's time to get out of here and head back home for an important scene.





Apparently someone discovered a new dungeon.

That isn't surprising.

Well, no...but that's not the interesting part. “There was a master swordsman with long, blue hair inside the dungeon.”

Wait...Is that -

That's what I was thinking. Care to visit an old friend?

Arlin...

So he's alive!?

I don't know about that...But it's someone who looks like him.

Where's the dungeon?

From what I heard, it's a hole or something over by Ka Luda's Playground.


I've heard that you can actually make this cutscene trigger in the maingame if you do like 99% of the sidequests and synth recipes. Conversely, I think the scene may NOT trigger even with clear data if you've been particularly lax about optional content. I have never experienced either situation so I can't say for sure, but triggering the postgame dungeon early is kind of a neat idea.





Ka Luda's is pretty much the same as usual, but I haven't been back here since we could fly.





Oh, except this is different – there are new chests. Two Glowing Mana and a DAMN RING





And then there's this mysterious teleporter...







I don't really know why this place is called Mull's Dungeon. I don't think he really has anything to do with the area.





I really like this screen. It's just a pretty, soothing little spot to relax the player a bit before they enter. There's also a Growloon hiding in a little cave here to remind us that we have a few more of those to kill off to complete that sidequest.





Music: Undeveloped Region


...Hmph. I did not expect to see you out here.

I knew it! What are you doing here?

...There are many strong enemies here. I must train so I can defeat Mull.

Didn't you die? What happened there?





You're a...Mana!

I am Luplus, the Mana of Time.

You can roll back time, eh? What won't they think of next?

Well, I do have that power, but I'm not supposed to use it. Each time I use my power, I risk disappearing entirely. But I already owed Arlin for saving me before. Without him, I would have died...So I had to return the favor.

Interesting...So, Arlin, you plan on joining us again? It'll be a lot easier to defeat Mull if it's a group effort, right?

Are you sure you'd take me back? I did abandon you without notice...

You're still welcome as far as I know.

Of course!

Arlin rules, meow!

I see. Then I suppose my answer is yes.

In that case, I guess I'm coming along, too.





And just like that, we have our old friend and anti-boss specialist back!

...Were his stats this shitty before? Oh wait, he doesn't have anything equipped.





That's better. I have a few options with Arlin's equipment at this point – I decided to make him super tanky, but he also has a weapon that forgoes that in favor of a magic boost. I also don't have a Mana Crystal to put on any of his stuff, so he can improve from here.

Oh yeah, note the Don's Clothes. I think DonProtect is just an enormous Dark Res boost because it didn't seem to do much else.





Arlin's also learned his ultimate ability since he left. Bull's-Eye works like Lita's Rock Smash – he disappears for a bit, then reappears and executes the attack. Bull's-Eye extremely powerful – I didn't use it in this update but you can bet you'll see it before I finish this dungeon.





We also finally have our Time Mana! He also does Light and Dark but those are less interesting and mostly exist to improve the range of presents he likes so you don't have to spam Felios Globes just to get him to like you.





I don't know why, but this line cracks me up. It's like he's not quite willing to give you the full compliment that you are definitely both of those things.





He also gives skill point boosts comparable to Transformed Mana or Aion (incidentally, Luplus himself cannot transform) along with a hefty Speed and Magic boost. I gave him to Marietta to boost her tanking/healing/paladining role.





Arlin himself got Aion, also to further the tanky setup I gave him and get some good skill boosts on top of it.





And of course, I quickly put Luplus to work making me some more Dragon Gems. I even got a freebie out of it!





Okay, let's talk a bit about the dungeon itself now. The first room is enormous with a lot of empty space, some of which is secretly not empty and has pillars or whatever with prizes on them. Basically, it boils down to flying around and exploring that way.





The enemies in this section aren't anything special. There are a lot of incorporeal foes, so Lita's a bit out of her element. On the other hand, Arlin's Mana Strike still hits quite hard.





There are also pigs.

...We'll, uh, be seeing more of that later.





This tunnel is one-way from the other side, a shortcut back to the entrance. Sadly, I can't find any way to manipulate my movement to get through the other way.





Of course, there's a Growloon or two in here as well, so be on the lookout for those.





The spiky rock platform nearby holds a secret...





Not bad at all! I need to experiment/look up what these super rare Mana do. I suspect I'll have to use them sooner or later...





The exit is in the upper right corner, so once you're done exploring it's easy to get to the next section.





Now we enter the area of colored blocks. There's a red area, a purple area, a blue area, and a yellow area, connected by transporters. We ultimately want to get to the purple area to progress, but there are goodies and Growloons throughout all of them.





We also start running into more Endgame level enemies around here. I try to slug my way through most of them, but a couple of the matchups just aren't really worth it.





The lack of visible walls in this area can make platforming (mostly flight) a bit irritating, and occasionally causes problems like this. I look like I should be able to hit the Growloon from here with Destruction Blast, but no such luck.





Not even ambiguous walls can save you from the Tactical Espionage Bunny.







I tricked myself into thinking I had to find a really high spot, then fly back here from there to reach this Growloon. Turns out I could have just destroyed the pillar blocking the way. Oops.







The mine traps would be dangerous if I couldn't just ELE EXTRACT them for free fire elements instead.







Oh yeah, remember when I was talking about Amalgam Candy for Blaire? Baal spawns here sometimes, and we can get some from here.





That would be cool, except Baal takes great pleasure in nuking everyone's MP and also inflicting Curse and I decided I didn't want to blow all my MP recovery items yet (I have Mana Jars, of course, but those still take Spirit Elements and meanwhile it takes like five to completely refill Norn's MP). I'll see if I can find a good spot to farm Flame Virums instead – I haven't run across a single one yet, but I'm sure I'll find them somewhere.





At least they give a ton of EXP.





This Growloon is a pain to reach. There's a teleporter on the sorta visible green block (Accessible from the area with yellow blocks) that gets me enough altitude to fly over to this Growloon, as well as the Mana Stones up there. It took a lot of backtracking to get this jerk.





Finally, the path forward...





...to a safe zone!

This place is pretty cool. We can talk to our Mana here (or at least Mana that are the same species as ours, I don't really know for sure – Luplus and Popo aren't here, at any rate). And there are a couple of other noteworthy things as well...





...Such as a Sans Gear! I really thought there was only one in the game.





Oh yeah, Mr. Black Market Fairy also shows up here. He'll offer these deals anywhere, by the way.


What is it?

Under the table, huh? What is it?

Why are you so excited Delsus?

Well, uh, you know...It's pretty exciting to buy something like this.

You guys get a special price, since you're regulars. It'll be 29,800 Cole. How about it?


For reference, this is about half of my money, and I haven't even bought anything recently.





...You're kidding me.


Hey, what's this?

It's a very hard to get forbidden item.

Damn...It's not as cool as I'd thought.

Buyer's remorse, huh?

Delsus looks disappointed, meow.


Like Pattet's Happy Bags, what you get from this is random. Pattotte's stuff tends to be much rarer, but I don't think I've ever gotten something from him that I thought was seriously worth that kind of money. Then again, once you've synthed everything, there's not much left to spend money on, I guess...





Huh?





Oh. That's...cool, I guess.





Anyway, I figured I'd go ahead and transcribe what our Mana friends have to say. Have a read!


Flay (Spirit): I have many friends here. I don't have many friends away from here...It's sad. It's just so beautiful here...


Plua (Dark): It's quiet and peaceful here...I like it very much.


Eital (Light): This place doesn't get any sun at all...but I guess it's okay.


Zeilia (Lightning): There's a golden pig around here...Man, those things are FAST! I'm a fairly decent sprinter...I say, bring on the pig!


Nymph (Water): It's safe here, even when surrounded by badguys.


Aion (Life): Legends say this place is the origin of all life...Life Mana once filled this place.


Paltia (Holy): This place is a spiritual garden...Can you tell...?


Fanatos (Evil): I sense something strange nearby...I feel as evil as well...Something very devious.


Silwest (Air): Wow, you sure worked your butts off getting here, huh?


Grupt (Power): I hear there's a pig thing nearby. I think I could take 'em.


Uru (Fire): Man...I'm pumped just being here!


Deimia (Stone): So you managed to reach the origin, eh?...Not bad. This area dates back to the first land created on earth. Stone and Life Mana used to flow as far as the eye could see. Then Wood and Water Mana...They all started spreading...There's still Mana here. You can feel it if you try.





And there's a save point, too!

That's it for now. Join me next time as we take on the second half of the dungeon and the optional postgame superboss!*



























*victory not guaranteed