Part 32: Eridanus Clean Up
Prayer
Alright, so as per our normal routine we'll gather the crew's thoughts before proceeding to do... something or other.
The Joint Project was so sure... all of mankind was! This is imposible! What else don't we know about the Schwarzwelt...!?
It's like there's literally some higher power ruling over us... toying with us... Can we break free from its rule? We'll just keep doing what we can... It's the only thing we have left...
If you keep stewing inside over this failure, it may trip you up on future missions. Keep a clear head. I do my best to care for the crew's mental health, too.
"Is this really the end? Did we maybe overlook something?" And then boom, this happens. I have such good intuition, it makes me wanna cry. Well... nothing will come of me rambling on here. Let's go back out and hope for another chance.
Of course, the Klein Bottle is a rare forma that we can turn into a few more SubApps.
The Klein Bottle nets us a couple of useful, restorative SubApps. HP Regen II is pretty nice as an upgrade to Regen I, but the Regens/Recovers are sort of unique in that the base and upgraded versions can both be equipped for HP and they will stack. You'll have like 2 spaces left afterwards for other stuff, but at least you can stack these.
The other thing that the Klein Bottle gives you is the Green, Green Grass of Home. It's okay I guess. At the start of a fight, demons sometimes ask you if they can join your party straight up. Sometimes it's a trick, sometimes it's not. I guess this just makes that event happen more often. It's... not worth wasting half your SubApp space on.
Ahh, but my heart ain't in it this time. I'm feelin' lower'n a rattlesnake's belly. But I can't stay down. It's times like these that we gotta collect forma to turn things around!
If they went ahead with it, they must have had enough data to believe it'd work... But is anything ever "enough" when it comes to the Schwarzwelt? Anyway, I think we all need to rethink our assumptions about this place. This whole situation just proves how little we know about the Schwarzwelt.
Fornax is... on a second page of sectors, huh? Judging from the bottom screen I mean; kinda figured it would go in that gap in the top-left of Eridanus. Guess not.
I don't know what they want, but they've got some nerve treating us like pawns... I guess talking it over won't solve anything. We have to go. That's the only way we can fight back. A Land Controlling Roads
Alright, so back to Eridanus we go for many things. We have a few doors we can open with the Search C so we'll start there.
...The fuck is this? This... what. Why are there 4 Dis-Paras as the only thing behind a hidden door? What.
On the plus side, we have the entire first floor mapped out now.
Well, that's a plus side to me anyway.
A bigger plus is that these doors around the path of damage and sleep tiles can be opened now.
This exists solely to let us get these... two... Anubis Stones easily. Wow, that's weird. I was expecting it to be 3 fixed ones that give one each. Not one bronze that gives one and one silver that gives the other 2.
Oh and the door to the nort of the teleporter gives a fixed Luck Core. How bizarrely generous!
Gonna take a quick detour to hand these materials over to the Dwarf at Carina before we continue.
You're good at this, boy! I'll make you a mighty fine weapon! It'll take me some time. Mind waiting 'til I'm done?Got another 10 moon cycles to kill, so we'll probably finish this last. Or, uh, thereabouts anyway. I think the materials for shop stock will be very definitely last...
But that's for me to worry about later. Right now, we've got this one door on 2F to open. That other one still can't be opened.
There's a... whatever this thing is just chilling out here. Uhh....
It's not even hostile. It just says whatever this is supposed to mean and that's it. There's nothing else in this room either. Weird.
3rd floor has two more doors for us to crack open. You know where they are, and we know for a fact what's behind one of them. We'll do that one second.
There's an actual Unlock door here, too. But we can't open this one yet, unfortunately. Kinda odd that the only Unlock doors in Eridanus are in sidequest paths.
We Four Devas have come in response to the restoration of a world full of energy. Thou, as we, dost move according to thy beliefs. If thou desirest the strength to carry out thy will... I am willing to train thee. Even should thy way divergeth from our own. Then thou shalt fight me. But this shall not be any ordinary battle. Before our duel, thy spirit shall be limited to the barest minimum.
...Is... is that all? Huh. Yeah, I can deal with this.
'Tis under these conditions that thou must defeat me. Naturally, thou canst not change demons in battle, either. If thou dost accept these terms, let us begin. Wilt thou train?
Yes.
> Koumokuten raised his hand...
Now thy MP hath been reduced to 1. Attack me in whatever manner thou canst!
Kishin Koumokuten Vehement RageStill really don't think this belongs anywhere near here...
So, Koumokuten? Well, yeah, he definitely set our MP to 1. Can't deny that.
Can promptly fix that, though. It's really kind of a weird and pointless gimmick in practice.
I guess he hits hard and it makes healing more difficu--
Wait, no, you heal with items as well. Preventing the Item command from being used would be the biggest threat anything could do in a sense. Bowyer would be a tricky boss from that angle alone.
Koumokuten resists Physical but not Gun (cough, cough) is weak to Wind and reflects Electric. He has a whole 1300HP, for all the good that does him. That's it.
His Source gives Elec Amp so it's a good idea to get that; you saw against Ouroboros before what stacking Boosts and Amps can do to a thing.
End A Land Controlling Roads
But thou must aim for even higher peaks.
As far as rewards go, this is the... worst one for our current situation.
It's a crap weapon anyway, but it can only be equipped if your alignment is Chaos. Ours currently isn't, so this is just going to gather dust. Forever.
We already knew this guy was over on the right, at least.
To think that a human could come so far... It is clear that your power should not be taken lightly. What is less clear is how you shall use that power. It is this factor that will determine whether I am your friend or your foe.> The angel is thinking...
Well? Won't you try to gain greater power here? Perhaps you could fight me? With certain conditions, of course.
If you cannot, then even if you eventually emerge victorious, you will fail the trial. One thing besides... I will not allow you to change demons once the trial has begun. If you have no objections to my terms, then by all means, let us battle one another. Will you accept this trial? Yes.If you can beat Koumokuten, you can beat Aniel is less than 7 turns easy.
Then, here I go! Herald Aniel Vehement Rage
Okay, so Aniel is stronger than Koumokuten but that's about it.
He can and will throw out Ziodynes to make you waste time healing or whatever, but since you throw that to Hitonari to deal with it doesn't matter.
Speaking of healing, he can totally do that just to be annoying but it heals sub-100HP anyway so whatever.
He's weak to Wind and only nullifies Elec, so in that regard he's a worse Koumokuten. He only has 1700HP, so 7 turns isn't exactly a high bar to cross a this point. Notably we do not unlock him for fusion either...
End A Land Controlling Roads
The battle was decided in only 3 turns... Victory is yours. Well done.
Aha... it seems you have conquered Kazfiel's trial. Then both Kazfiel and I together shall be your next opponent... Son of man. If you can enter the door in the back, then do so.Yeah, we can't. It's locked for real, like the one on the left. So we'll be back when we can deal with them I guess.
As you probably expected, the Plasma Sword is a Law weapon. It's... really not good though. It's worse than the Vajra (not by much but that's not the point) but we can actually use it. Not going to, though.
Gonna jump on up to the Top floor next. Inside the room that was already on our map before, we can find Yggdrasil just... hanging out.
Silence
And then this happens when we try and leave.
With Yggdrasil again stabilized, we were able to recover our true power.
This is the true nature of the three sisters you met. And I see you, too, have grown a great deal in power. We scarcely recognized you... But it is this moment we have waited for. Listen, and remember. You wandered the border between life and death here in the past. But you survived. That was due to the aid of a certain man... Have you guessed it? That man... was you yourself.
We know you can do it; we have seen it happen. Change our fate. Will you go to the past? Yes. Thank you very much. We shall now journey to the past. Are you ready? Yes. Then we shall go... to the time of your battle... In The Master's Name
I was right to wrest for myself this power to control time! Thou canst not comprehend what I have done!> Your past self is facing off with Yggdrasil...
Silence
> It was then that the Dis noticed you...
Thou again!? Thou art certainly persistent! But 'twill be no different this time. I shall stop time and smite thee! ＺＡ ＷＡＲＵＤＯ！
...Thou art from another time, art thou not? Accursed human!> Yggdrasil attacked!
Tree Yggdrasil Vehement Rage
Alright, so Yggdrasil is honestly one of the smarter bosses we've seen. Not like it matters though; he can and will Dekaja whenever he wants. I don't think he has Dekunda at all though, so uh...m
Attack-wise, he goes all in on Gun attacks.
And even then he doesn't go for the actual scary good ones so it's only a big threat to someone like Gurr.
He has 1800HP, is weak to Fire and nulls Gun. Honestly, he's way better when we get to use him. In 20 levels. Yeesh.
Gives semi-decent EXP and piss poor macca, as we're used to at this point.
End Silence
Wh-Who art thou!? How dost thou hold such power...!? Arrrrrrgh...!> Yggdrasil became tame.
We send you to this moment when we regain our power, don't we? Still... I didn't think you would return with such strength. The deeds of humans which show faintly in their fading power. The prophecy was true. Thank you so much for saving us. Let us meet again in the future. We will wait for you until then... A Land Controlling Roads
Never for a moment since did I forget that battle... You fought well. Thank you ever so.
I shall return to Asgard and monitor Yggdrasil's main trunk. But should you need me, I will not hesistate to come to your aid.
Then, it will be my turn to help you. Until that day... I shall look forward to it.> Norn and Yggdrasil left.
Norn is, uh, level 72. We might not even get to use her; we'll see.
The Nornir Ring is... eh. It's thoroughly not bad; it increases every Stat by 1. It doesn't do anything else, so it's not exactly good either. Flat stat boosts are pretty boring and uninteresting.
And the last thing on the Top floor is a Dantalian. He's in the same room as the Sword Shard was, which makes him quite hard to miss really.
My store of knowledge grows vaster and vaster. I see the fate of this world as through polished crystal. Hm...? You are human, are you not? I am Dantalian. Do not mistake me for those other foolish demons. Knowledge is my joy. It was thanks to my wisdom that humans, of all beings on Earth, evolved thus... You seem to have an understanding of this world, however unsure. Ah... you store your knowledge in this device, rather than grimoires. Permit me to take a look... Most interesting. Why, some of this information, even I had no inkling of. I propose a task for you, sir. I see you divide your knowledge of this world into "sectors"...
Oh, is that all? I've kinda been doing that already.
If you can map for me 3 areas, I shall reward you handsomely. Have you any interest in the task? Yes. Then, I shall send you to three different lands. You should know them all well. I'd not request you to explore completely virgin territory.
What...!? Can it be!? You've already explored that land from stem to stern. Marvelous! Then I shall choose another land to explore by proxy.
There appears to be a hidden space within its boundaries, but such a place does not interest me.Basically we just have to map the entirety of the normal floor; anything inside the Phase Shifter sanctums isn't counted but only for Dantalian.
What...!? Can it be!? You've already explored that land from stem to stern. Marvelous! Then I shall choose another land to explore by proxy.
What...!? But this is miraculous... You have already completeted this map, too? Such skill, such diligence... I feel as though I know this place like the back of my hand. Here, a reward from me.
Thus does my store of knowledge increase ever more... If you like, you may come to me at any time. I shall pay in good coin for your information on other lands. I look forward to future dealings with you...So if we talk to Dantalian again, he'll send us to every other floor of every sector in the game one at a time for their maps. This isn't an EX Mission or anything, but it does have a reward for doing all of them.
We, uh, we can't even do the first yet though. We can skip ones that are currently impossible but I'm just gonna wait until we have every map done and then hand them in in bulk.
Quick fusion before we continue. Scathach's pretty great; she's normally weak to Elec so we'll remove that just 'cause. She has no ailment weaknesses or anything, so that's fine. She's a Phys demon with a high focus on spells for some reason? But her basic attack has a 10% chance to Fear so that more than makes up for her weird skills.
We're nearly done with everything we can finish at this point, so let's see... what's next...Oh, I know.
Encounter
...How can I tell? Because Grandpa Thoth told me! He said a human would talk to me, and when he did, to give him this book! So this is for you guys. Okay! Have fun!
> The demon left...
Nice and easy. Back to Thoth we go, then.
A Land Controlling Roads
Hoh hohhh... Well done. I knew you could do it.
I can prepare another riddle for you if you want. I'm sure it would lead you to more wisdom.
We'll get to that in a minute. First, we have the Odin Passage here that clearly exists for a password and nothing else.
But it doesn't work. Alright, fine. I suppose "Passage" isn't just the name of the item; it's just a fragment of the password.
So, let's see if we can get the rest.
I already gave volume 2 of the Books of Thoth to another demon... You know the game, my boy. Find that demon and get the book.
Now this sounds all too familiar, at this point...
Let's see how well you do with that one. Encounter
We've seen many a Bifrons, so it's pretty easy to figure this one out.
The Book of Thoth, volume two, penned by the god knowledge and wisdom himself. ...By all means, takest thou the book.
...This god doth indeed possess remarkable prophetic powers. He foresaw thy coming, as though it had happened already. I doubt very much that even I could accomplish such a feat... But I'd never have thought that a son of man could challenge that supremely wise god... Ohohoho... I shall be most interested to learn the outcome. A Land Controlling Roads
Hoh hohhh... Well done. I knew you could do it.
Odin and then Tyr, huh? I'm beginning to see a pattern here.
And sure enough, the Tyr Passage makes it apparent that the password has something to do with the days of the week. Which makes sense, given the names of the passages. The modern days of the week ARE named after common deities after all; Tyr/Mars is Tuesday and Odin/Mercury is Wednesday. Sunday/Monday are... exactly what you think they are.
If this pattern keeps up, we should have 3 more passages to go.
Hurm... It seems you've fallen for the charms of knowledge. If I could see beneath that mechanical mask, would your eyes be shining ferociously...? Ahhh... you'll probably lose interest if I ask too much. But I thought you might be back for more. I already took the liberty of setting up the next riddle.
Well, uh, we haven't run into anyone with scissors in any capacity yet. Between this and the camel-rider, we're swiftly hitting walls on these chains, huh?
A Frivolous Nation
Melchom's got a new quest for us and he wants... a full party full MP restorative. It's actively impossible to have one at this point. Thanks Melchom.
A Squandered Nation
Was about to go to Antlia, but this got done first somehow so...
Here, take it.
One of my best works, if I do say so myself. I might ask you to fetch some materials for me if I run out again, so don't fail me, boy.
The Cursed Sarai is a cool weapon for sure. It's the strongest we can get easily ("easily"), is a single random strike and it can Charm whatever it hits. Definitely gonna use this.
A Scorched Nation
That just leaves the Fairy Village as per usual.
I'd like them to be posted as the village guards here. Things have been dangerous around here lately, so I'd feel reassured having strong demons protecting us. So please...! Can you bring Vivian and Spriggan here?Next two fairies are, uh, the next two fairies. Useful and convenient. It's super-easy to do as well, so whatever the amazing new subapp is we'll snag it immediately.
Here's a little something to say "thank you." Go on, take it!
...Th-That's not a Rare Forma?
It's a terrible, boring weapon! What the hell? Weaker than the Cursed Sarai, doesn't do anything fancy but it can be targetted!
Which doesn't matter all that much in practice. Man, I hope the next Fairy Village reward isn't a colossal letdown.
Prayer
Oh right, the Bookmark! I nearly forgot about that already.
That's what gives us MP Regen II. Which is good but has a size of 7 so we can't stack the MP Regens because there's not enough space.
But anyway, speaking of letdown weapons, let's see what we can get from Irving before we head off to Fornax. Though, uh, for reasons that'll make sense later there will be some left locked when we're done here. The Snake Knife is bland and boring; AT Eridite x2, Snake Runes x3 (Yurlungur and Vouivre) and Drake Scale x3 (Bai Suzhen and Basilisk) to make.
The Caliburn Knife is just a worse Answerer Knife. Disappointing and boring in ever way. AT Eridite II x2, Divine Chain x1 (Dominion) and Fairy Water x2 (Vivian) but don't go out of your way for this one.
The Onimaru is kind of okay, albeit a giant pain to get. Minimum of 2 hits, you pick which enemy it hits, and it can inflict Fear. AT Eridite II x2, Brute Garment x7 (Sui-Ki) and Brute Clothes x6 (Fuu-Ki) to get but uh that might take a while.
Not as long as the Hawthorn Spear from this though. It's quicker and easier to get from the Dwarf in Carina. AT Eridite II x2, Genma Jar x9 (Tlaloc) and Spirit Acid x8 (Legion) is really tedious and time-consuming to get. The Acid is the harder of the two by far just by default.
Speaking of tedious and time-consuming, that sums up the Yoshiyuki very nicely. It's an okay weapon, nothing super fancy but Sleep is a nice ailment. Just a shame it takes AT Carite III x2, UMA Muzzle x7 (Kuda) and Genma Spear x7 (Tam Lin) to make.
And the Gankou Sword is the last one of these things. It's... honestly really bad. Fixed 3 hits is nice, but it hits everythig and that could have some nasty repercussions. AT Antlite III x2, Divine Wings x9 (Angel and Archangel) and Genma Conch x5 (Kurama Tengu) if you disagree for some reason.
Hey look, you can just buy an Abba Dingo. After it's already questionable period of being maybe useful has long since passed! Good job, Abba Dingo. It's also a hilariously cruel joke in making it because it requires AT Eridite II x2, Snake Shell x6 (Gui Xian) and... Sword Shard x2 (Red Rider) for some insane reason. What the fuck?
The Scouter is a weird, niche weapon that I dislike. Soul Scanner is a weird ability; it deals more damage if you've fully analyzed the thing you're fighting. It's really not a good weapon the best of time so I don't get it. It's more reasonable than the Abba Dingo to make but it's still AT Carite III x2, UMA Foot x6 (Hare of Inaba) and Beast Hairball x8 (Nekomata). Just.... just don't bother with any gun here except the Revolver.
Next up is armor. Tsukikage Vest's curse resistance is nice in theory but it's less durable then the Belobog Vest and makes you weak to Gun. Normally not a big deal, but in Eridanus of all places that might not be a good thing. DF Eridite x2, Drake Scale x3 and Yoma Cloud x2 (Shiwanna) if you're not bothered by that.
The Armor Vest would be absolutely worth using without issue. The Elec weakness is only a big deal for Ouroboros (and then you just use the Belobog Vest anyway) and it makes you resist Phys, Gun AND Curse. Shame it's not quite as durable as we already have in raw defense but it's still a pretty good piece of armor and makes a good replacement if you don't have a Hawthorn Spear to give to Kresnik. DF Eridite x2, Jirae Plate x1 (Titan) and Fairy Shroud x5 (Spriggan) are what you need here andthat's relatively sensible all told.
The Thiotimo Vest is a piece of armor I see recommended a lot for things. I'm gonna disagree by sheer virtue of being weak to two of the most common elements, while having no physical defense whatsoever. It's got a bigger defense value than anything else but thats all it has going for it and that's not much of a backup. DF Eridite II x2, Vile Veins x2 (Mishaguji) and Tyrant Glacier x2 (King Frost) if you want it though.
God, the Jet Vest is so bad. It's got no resistances, a low Defense Value and it gives you 10 MP and +5 Agility. The one stat that matters the least for the MC. And then it has the audacity to require DF Bootite III x2, Jaki Hammer x5 (Ippon-Datara) and Enigma Himorogi x6 (Futotama)? Well, at least it's not making you go hunt Fiends for this one.
Keeping up the underwhelming parade, we have the Daruma Vest which crosses the ever-so-low bar of being better than the Jet Vest. And kind of just giving up after that. It's got really high defense, and boosts Vitality by 5 (which means it adds 10 HP! Yay!) but that's all it does. DF Delphite III x2, Genma Jar x4 and Beast Flask x3 (Hsing-Hsing) are what you need here, so at least it's relatively easy to make all things considered.
AC Eridite x2, Brute Gold x2 (Kin-Ki) and Flight Talon x5 (Toufei) for a ring that does a whole +20 HP. And nothing else. Fuck this entire line of accessories. Who thought they were a good idea?
Especially with THIS thing right here. The Supple Ring is frankly unfairly good for how easy it is to get. It makes you immune to petrification. That's all it does. That's all it needs to do. If Hitonari gets petrified, that's a game over and we have no mulligans for that one. There are no do-overs, there are no saving graces. It's an immediate one and done. The Supple Ring is flatout either the 2nd or 3rd best accessory period for wiping out the chance of an errant immediate bullshit game over no questiosn asked. Grab that AC Eridite II x2, Beast Mane x3 (Orthrus) and Vermind Thread x2 (Arachne) as soon as you can and never look back.
The Life Ring is... really bad, surprise surprise. +10 HP and the equivalent to HP Recover I. AC Delphite II x2, Enigma Clay x5 (Kanbari) and Vile Veins x6. Augh, no.
The Cohesion Ring is kind of maybe nice. Bomb is not that big of a deal though; there are so many ways to get around it, and the only things that we've seen that CAN capitalise on it are pissweak baby losers anyway. Bosses that can inflict Bomb (like Ouroboros randomly can) are even less of a threat because everything gets 1 action and no more. AC Eridite x2, Nymph Hat x1 (Senri) and Jaki Hair x4 (Rakshasa) are needed here, but not something I'd go out of my way for.
Dauntless Ring is even less impressive. Paralyze is potentially dangerous due to that whole 1.5x damage thing and all but it's really easy to cure, and I don't understand why this makes you wait longer to get: AC Eridite II x2, Nymph Hat x2 (Senri) and Tyrant Glacier x3.
So, that just leaves items. In particular that leaves 5 items. It is actively impossible right now to unlock all 5, so I just did the one:
Those stat cores are half of what you need to make the Incenses. Each Incense takes 3 of their relevant Core and, umm...
3 of a Fiends forma. Except Matador. Matador gets no respect. And just in case this wasn't already tedious enough, the Core and the Fiend are from different sectors entirely. Strength Cores are in Antlia and the Sword Shard is from Eridanus. There is no reason to bother with actually ever buying these things, because they're super expensive and ridiculously tedious to get but they're there if you really, really want them I guess.
Well, eventually they are but that's not for a long, LONG time. That's for me to worry about though. For now, we have Fornax to go and check out.