We've spent a lot of time farming for items and monster abilities there, but it's now time we fully complete Mu's Tomb and claim the VictoryRune within. Trying to enter the eastern-side of the fork at the entrance of the Tomb greets the character with a warning in English, German, AND Spanish. Ignoring the theatrics, enter anyway and slip by the two bug monsters and search the stone door to your lower-left to proceed.
Just past the room with two bug-types, you'll find a smaller one with a slime monster and a treasure in the left-side corner holding a ShadowDagger weapon. If you didn't recruit Mesarthim, or have one dropped from a Shadow enemy, this is your first of this weapon. At only +9 attack, it is almost useless offensively, but has the added benefit of a +3 to a character's Psychic making it a decent choice for one of your mystic's unused weapon slots, for now. This weapon also holds the unique ShadowHold ability, which simply attempts to paralyze the target, and isn't of much use, in my opinion.
Exit south, then down a set of stone stairs, passing a mystic and beast, and into a room with multiple exits and monsters. Using the steps to your right, you can exit to the south, or further southeast. Before deciding, take the treasure positioned between the paths for a Katana. Buyable in Koorong with a +34 in attack, it will likely be your go-to katana-type weapon with stronger ones being very rare finds. Remember the stairs heading south, as these lead to the boss and VictoryRune, but the exit to the right of the Katana takes us to more treasures. Southeast, snatch up the Credits bag worth 200 and windup the stone steps nearby; taking the lower-left stairs into the next area that is to your west of the upper-portion of the room.
The following area has four nearby doors that lead to the same interconnected room. There's a bag of 500 Credits to pick up and a chest with a BloodChalice accessory. Besides the outrageous cost of 4000 Credits in Manhattan, the BloodChalice is a forgettable piece with a +5 to Psychic and protects characters from instant-death attacks (But not all), at the expense of lowering your heat, force, and status resistances by -15. The exit to the upper-right takes you back out to the area you came from (A one-way door), which is ideal for returning to the the area that leads toward the VictoryRune. You could, however, if wanting to fight some more or needing to heal at the Shrike inn, go back out to the narrow corridor and venture further west on a linear path that eventually places you outside of a crypt (Another one-way door) near the entrance.
To find the VictoryRune, retreat back to where you found the Katana and take the steps down. For whatever reason, there's a completely empty large structure in the center of the room, so turn southwest to a corridor that is flooded with monsters. Fight your way through and into the doorway at the end. The next room looks like it should hold some kind of treasure, but is void of such, so just exit to the north and into the boss room. Before reaching the center, make sure to save and bring a character with the JackalSword equipped and any mystics that have learned GlassShield to make this battle rather simple. If you want to be totally prepared, equip any FireCrystal accessories or the SeaStone for some extra heat-based protection, the Shield spell, and any gun-users that know the CrossShot ability, but these are not really necessary.
Approaching the VictoryRune throws the party into a battle with...a pile of bones? The thing is totally immune to all attacks in the first round, so use your supportive abilities; Shield, GlassShield, VitalityRune, PsychoArmor: whatever you would like. When the round ends, the Skulldrake roars (literally) to life. A bit later in the game and coming with the JackalSword, this thing is easy. Use DirtyFang to prevents its 1000 HP regeneration each turn and deploy your gunners to use CrossShot for heavy damage. The majority of the Skulldrake's attacks are physical, so any mystics that are targeted with GlassShield intact will launch a devastating counterattack on it. If you get unlucky, you may get sprayed with fire-based attacks instead, but it shouldn't be anything you can't recover from. Overall, not a challenging boss unless faced early in the game.
Although not necessary, try to snag another excellent EMES Tag accessory, that we talked about in the previous chapter, from the boss. The drop isn't incredibly rare, but be prepared to reload your save a few times to get it. Afterwards, the party secures the VictoryRune and only the HideRune remains to obtain the Rune magic gift.
If you fought your way through every monster in the Ruins, you've likely pushed past rank 6 and on your way to 7 now, so let's take a break and farm a few items and monster abilities as the next dungeon will be another trek that will be filled with battles. The good news is 6 is the final rank you need concern yourself with specifically stopping your game progress to look for rare items. Once you reach the maximum rank of 9, rank 7 monsters will still be available, albeit rarer than 8 and 9 ones. For rank 6, let's start by looking for male mystics. My preference is Owmi's Lord's Manor basement or the Shingrow Ruins, taking the right pathway from the entrance.
We're searching for Gremlins whom have two rare items to drop and some abilities, as well. The most likely, and useful item, is the SilverSpread sword. Its +22 attack is decent, but it also grants the same number in bonus to a character's Psychic. In terms of statistical bonuses, the SilverSpread is, arguably, the best weapon in the entire game for a mystic to equip as the +22 to their Psychic will aid their magic abilities greatly. I would try to get one for each mystic in your party, but thankfully, there are more opportunities to find this later on, however, you're likely to get a few searching for the next item...
Note: The SilverSpread has a special ability when combined with the Arcane-based Fool spell, however, I will cover this when we obtain the Arcane gift.
The Gremin's SplashSword is one of the rarest drops in the game to acquire; so be prepared for a potentially long grind. The thing is strong, however, at a +49 attack, and gives you the additional ElementDissolve ability that attempts to instantly destroy an enemy. It's very nice for a mec, as well, providing them a +100 in HP and +20 to Strength/Psychic. Be vigilant in trying to get one to drop!
The Gremlin has the Junk accessory that is a 100% chance to drop if it
does not cough up one of its other items. You'll find one as treasure,
and it is also a common item from the Junk Shop in Scrap, so this is
only noted if you wanted to pick up multiple of it. It has a +2 defense
against all types, with a +12 to status defense, so it's not totally
"junk". While searching, bring your monsters and grab the Chop ability
from the Gremlin; it can be a bit of a rare find later, also, its
GremlinTouch ability can wreak havoc upon mec-type monsters and is easy
to procure from the winged critter.
Note: Gremlins show up fairly frequently with other creatures at later ranks, but with the SplashSword being so rare, you don't want to have to depend on trying to find one later.
Look for a plant-type monster, next. There are several at the very bottom of the Lord's Manor and also a very easy to find one right at the entrance of the Ancient Ship in Shingrow. Pick a fight with a Treant and have your monsters absorb its Beat ability. Nothing fancy here: just a basic, physical attack, but it's surprisingly rare.
Head for Koorong and into its backstreet sewers (By the demented Dr.'s office) to find two human-types wandering around we want to hunt. The dangerous Gunbird is our target in this awful place. Be wary: if the Gunbird decides to use his ReactionShot ability, he can put a hurting on the entire party AND cancel their attack if he is targeted. We need to hunt him down for his KillerRifle, though, and it's surprisingly common to drop. It has a +25 attack, which isn't much better than lower-end, purchasable, guns like the TroopRifle, but Emelia can only obtain one through drop.
Gunbirds also hold two buyable-only weapons to drop, too: the AGUNI-MBX and the LethalGun; the latter being the best, or second best, depending on ammo count, gun in the entire game. I would try to get at least one of each to outfit your gunners and save some Credits, otherwise, they are buyable back in Koorong.
Rank 6 is an important rank for one specific area of the game: the Koorong Backstreets. The one with the three bird-type monsters that sometimes carry a bag of Credits (See
Chapter 1 for that) and the spooky doctor's office. Once you've hit rank 6, it caps, and battles here always spawn a Wyvern monster and a pair of useful cronies. The Wyvern has two rare items and some useful abilities. The first item is the superb WindShell accessory. It's the strongest physical defense accessory in the game with a +5 to slash/blunt and +15 to pierce. Its elements are solid, as well, with a +25 to force/ailment, +15 electric, and +5 to cold/heat. A bonus of +5 Quickness/Will is given, also. They are fairly easy to acquire, too, given the Wyvern will always be encountered from now on once you reach rank 6.
The other item is an excellent piece of armor, CelestialLeather. If you haven't purchased any Electro/WarLord Armors or a PoweredSuit, this is the best overall armor at this point in the game. It provides a +34 to pierce, blunt, heat, cold, and electric defenses and +24 to slash, force, and ailment. I would consider farming a few of these for your humans, if you don't have any of the former-mentioned pieces. In addition to the items, you can pick up the GliderSpike and Windblast monster abilities from the Wyvern that are very useful.
Frequently spawning with the Wyvern is a unique T-Walker mec. The T-Walker is the only basic encounter in the entire game that has a Board-type item as a drop: the SecretBoard. We're actually going to get one of these a few paragraphs down, and it is not particularly useful for generally mec-less Emelia, but for other main characters and item collectors is it worth noting. I'll talk about its parameters when we pick it up as treasure below. Mecs can also steal the extremely-powerful Magnify ability from the T-Walkers and is unique to them.
Encountering a Wyvern is a cornucopia of other useful monsters that only spawn at lower ranks. The K9Mec can drop WaterCannons (One found as treasure), buyable LaserCarbine, and excellent ExcelShields. ElectroSheep are guaranteed to drop BeastLeather if no other item is and can be sold back in Koorong for 100 Credits. They also can very rarely drop a soon-purchasable HEAT Bazooka or Thunderbolt weapon. The Platoonpus drop Egg Hats, which are decent, and only available via drop, but a later encounter will fill your inventory with them so they shouldn't be prioritized. Trapvines have the Sweep monster ability if you didn't get it earlier from the Whipjelly. The Armorpilla has SpiderNet in place of the KillerBee from an earlier chapter. Lastly, the Battlefly can make an appearance with Wyverns to pick up the Painpowder and Pheromone abilities from the previous rank.
Note: At rank 6, mec-types produce the Hermes encounter. They have the BigMissile and HEAT Bazooka weapons for drops, and although they can be purchased in a shop soon, if you want to save several thousand Credits, you can attempt to get these to drop now, also.
Now, let's take a quick look at some suggestions for your Mystic weapons at rank 6. Recommended weapon type absorb, for the ability, is in parenthesis.
- Manticore (Beast): +16 Strength, Will (Glove)
- Treant (Plant): +18 Intelligence, Psychic (Sword)
- Trisaur (Aquatic): +20 Strength, Vitality (Boots)
- Slugger (Bug): +18 Strength, Vitality (Sword/Boots)
- Wyvern (Bird): +17 Strength, Quickness (Boots!)
- Ankheg (Undead): +15 Strength, Quickness (Sword!)
Monster Abilities:
- Treant (Plant): MagicHeal (Sword)
- Trisaur (Aquatic): Tremor (Boots)
- Slugger (Bug): Bloodsucker (Sword), Quicksand (Boots)
- Wyvern (Bird): Assassinate (Boots)
- Ankheg (Undead): GriffithScratch (Sword)
To find the last RuneStone we need to return to Koorong and the alleyway outside Gradius' hideout. Exit out to the lower-left and you'll be on the northern-side of the city's drenched backstreets. Attempting to climb down the stairs has our hero confronted by two muggers who want us to pay 100 Credits to get by. Yeah, right. Refuse and you'll have to fight a BlueFighter (What happened to the other one?).
While incredibly easy, these BlueFighter ruffians have a chance to spawn rank 1 monsters with it that have long since disappeared from battles. None of are particular note (No, the D-Tractor won't show up, unfortunately) except for the beast-type Rocky. The Rocky is the only enemy in the entire game your monsters can absorb the Psychout ability from. It's a useless one, but if you want your monster's maximum HP to be the highest it can, you'll need to bring them to this battle. Thankfully, Psychout is not tough to absorb; the hard part is getting a Rocky to actually spawn with the BlueFighter.
Like the Mu's Tomb chests, these muggers can be infinitely respawned and fought by drawing fortunes in Devin, so you can get Psychout absorbed with all of your monsters by doing so. To bring them back, visit the skeleton psychic in the center of Devin, near the fountain, and draw the weather being either "beautiful", "raining", "snowing", or "cloudy"; any one of these will force the muggers back out onto the rainy backstreets. Remember: you can change your fortune by simply entering and exiting Devin's skyport.
Note: The BlueFighter can drop a semi-rare piece of armor, the RubberSuit, you should already have one of, but there's a better place to obtain them in another dungeon.
At the bottom of the staircase, you'll uncover two manholes you can enter: the one closest to the descent places you in a small, dead end space with two aquatics; so use the one further in the back. Wrap around to the north, past the dropping, ambushing slimes, and grab the bag of 200 Credits before exiting to the lower-left.
Outside, climb the stairs, past a red, unopenable door, then
across a plank. In the screenshot, you can walk through and down into a
concealed passage to find a scientist.
He'll try to hawk you a special item for 200 Credits, but there's a catch! Refusing, leaving the screen, then returning to talk to him will see him lower the price to 100. Repeat this and the next time he will drop the price to the final one of only 50. This nets you the SecretBoard accessory for mecs. Unless you are using CommonMec, this is of no use to Emelia, who cannot recruit any mec characters, but will keep you from having to get one from a drop. It provides a +100 HP, +20 Quickness, +15 Intelligence, and +20 Wisdom. To the northwest of the hidden passage is the manhole that takes you further in. To the upper-right, past a swath of monsters, is another mec board treasure: the rare MemoryBoard. This one boosts a mec by +100 HP, +20 Quickness, and +25 Intelligence.
Just to the left of the entry ladder is the exit. Outside, you can't see it, but there is an opening back into the sewers to the left of where you start. Run past the ladder and to the northeast to pick up an IceCrystal accessory. These are for sale in Manhattan, but is probably your first to find. These don't do much other than providing a +25 to Cold defense, however, you can use them during battle to create an IceBarrier over the character, but the accessory itself is lost in the process. Ascend the ladder you passed back onto the rainy streets. There's another red door here, but this one can actually be opened!
Unless you like to use mec weapons with other character types, this armory won't interest Emelia players too much. Unfortunately, if you want them, every single one will need to be purchased as none of these weapons are found anywhere else (Although some can be dropped, but not easily). Here are the stat bonuses when equipped to mecs:
- Flame Thrower: +125 HP, +20 Psychic/Vitality
- SonicCannon: +150 HP, +20 Quickness/Will
- Thunderbolt: +125 HP, +20 Will/Vitality
- HEAT Bazooka: +200 HP, +30 Will
- BigMissile: +150 HP, +20 Strength/Will
- GrainCannon: +150 HP, +30 Will, +10 Strength/Vitality
- MachineVulcan: +150 HP, +18 Quickness/Will/Vitality
- HyperBlaster: +175 HP, +25 Quickness/Will
The Flame Thrower is exactly like the Bolt Thrower, but fire-based, with a wide-range of effect and extremely useful. SonicCannon has 16 shots, but is otherwise a bit forgettable. I would completely skip over Thunderbolt. The rest of the weapons are good, although HEAT Bazooka only has two powerful shots, and MachineVulcan is weak but has nearly limitless ammo and a huge area-of-effect. I would really only concern myself with the HyperBlaster which is one of the best mec weapons in the game when balancing power/ammo.
Note: As stated earlier in the chapter, Hermes, of the mec-type, have
BigMissile and also HeatBazooka for their drops at rank 6 if you want to
save the Credits for them. The Thunderbolt and HEAT Bazooka are very rare drops from ElectroSheep sometimes seen with the Koorong Backstreet Wyverns, as talked about earlier in the chapter, and also show up at many different ranks/types later on. Because of this, I would count on having to purchase them. At rank 8, you will have a shot at the GrainCannon and HyperBlasters from the Skylab mec if you want to wait (And is smart to do so).
Back outside the armory, the pitch-black opening to the door's right takes you further in. Climb down the manhole inside, then the craggy, broken steps to the lower-right. Due east is a ladder that is always sealed, so pass it and grab the FireCrystal treasure at the far, lower-end of the path. Just like the Ice version, it is buyable in Manhattan, gives a +25 to Heat resistance, and the FireBarrier during battle at the expense of losing the accessory. The passage off to the right before the FireCrystal takes you back to the Koorong skyport, but only one-way, so use it if you need to recover at the inn.
Note: To the lower-right of the ladder, near where the slime falls, a prompt appears where the character can attempt to cross over to opposite side, but this is limited to Red's game.
Return back up to the two-way area with the broken road, then descend the left-side manhole. This area is extremely special! There are mystic-type monsters here that produce: beast, plant, mec, and bug types when you get near, but that is not the special part. What makes this unique is that the battle rank caps here at 7; making it the ideal place to grind for items and abilities at the rank. In the next chapter we'll cover rank 7 in-depth, but for now, circle the islet and enter the green-lit opening into the Natural Cave.
Right inside the beautiful, waterfall-flowing Natural Cave, there is a bag with 200 Credits. This screen is populated by a couple of human-type enemies and, as they are hard to come by, is an excellent place to farm them besides the previous Sewers. There are three beast-types here, that are somewhat rare, too. The Natural Cave may seem like a difficult place to get to farm, but there is actually a shortcut we can use I will show a bit later.
There are multiple exits on the first screen, but we want the one to the upper-left. Near where the mec enemy is, there is a hidden bag of 300 Credits obscured by the rocks. Head down the ramp descent and take the exit there.
An undead-type will try to ambush you when you try to proceed inward. There are vines you can use to climb downward to the lower-right of the center of the room. There is another hidden bag of 500 Credits where the mystic is waiting at the bottom.
A rare StardustRobe armor is waiting through the passage at the bottom. It's an okay piece with bonuses of +5 to Will, Psychic, and Charm. It also has a +51 defense against Electric attacks, but average to below-average other defenses. It does provide protection against instant-death attacks, though, making it useful in some situations. Back where you used the vine, the upper-right exit takes you back to the Cave's entry screen. Battle past the human and beasts and use this exit to the southeast, this time.
The following room is loaded with stalagmites and monsters. In the lower portion you can see a glowing Magi-Water treasure to snag, then exit to the northwest. Climb the vines and you'll come across a chasm to jump across, however, don't run: instead, walk off.
You'll drop down to an otherwise-inaccessible area where an AngelArmor treasure awaits. This great piece of armor completely protects wearers from Tremor/Quake-type attacks and has a bonus of +10 to Quickness. It provides a +27 defense against all physical attacks, but drops to +17 for elements. It's very solid for a mec, also, providing a +100 HP and +20 to Quickness/Vitality. Leaving the area to the south places you at the top of a barren room, but you can slide down to another area that exits out to the large stalagmite room. This time, jump across the chasm and follow the linear path, but make sure to save in the room with the mec/aquatic monster. Equip the AngelArmor and any JetBoots you have, or not if you want to try to learn the DodgeTremor ability with some characters. Equipping any multi-target attacks is advised, also. When prepared, exit to the west to find the HideRune.
The Quakeworm and its Wormbrood brethren aren't too different than the slimes back in Tanzer. The Wormbroods protect the Quakeworm, and itself, by constantly casting Magicheal, and Assist, while at the same time, recovering HP at the end of every turn. You can use DirtyFang on each one to stop the HP regen, but you'd likely be better off trying to combo as many multi-target abilities to wipe them out quickly. Make sure Shield is cast before all three Broods are defeated as once they are out of the way, the Quakeworm begins to uses Quake, which can spark DodgeTremor, but will completely whiff a character with the AngelArmor or JetBoots equipped. Besides Quake, it may pull out Oscillation, but otherwise, you should be able to dice up the Quakeworm easily without his cronies.
Note: The Quakeworm can drop a fairly rare GolemSuit or HyperScale if you want to try for one, but they can be gotten from other monsters later on.
Emelia, Liza, and Annie now have the gift for Rune magic (Mesarthim also automatically has the gift if you recruited her). By using Rune magic during battles, you can learn the other buyable Rune spells along with 4 additional, advanced ones that I will cover below.
- WallRune: This works similar to the Mystic's GlassShield, but only against attacks of the piercing-type (Generally most long-range attacks like bullets); and has no devastating counter-attack. Not really worth an ability slot unless in certain circumstances.
- DwarfRune: Lowers one enemy's attack power. Like most buff/debuffs it degrades by 20% each turn, making it pretty much a waste.
- SoulRune: Boosts a multitude of the character's stats. The great thing about this spell is that the effect does not reduce every turn, but rather just expires after your fifth one, so it can be very useful.
- StasisRune: Totally useless in Emilia's game or any game outside of Blue's where you don't recruit the TimeLord and have access to the Overdrive spell. Even if Emelia recruits TimeLord, he can't get the Rune gift, but anyway...This spell freezes the targeted enemy and caster for several turns and the latter losses all their JP. You can use a SnakeOil to "unfreeze" your character, but the loss of all your JP renders it without much practical use.
Note: If you equip the StasisRune, and then the RuneSword weapon, the stone-inducing Cockatrice Mirage-type spell becomes available for use. It's the only way to use this spell outside of Asellus' game, but hardly worth wasting the spell slot.
You can return back into the Quakeworm's den to infinitely fight Wormbroods, which has some worthwhile benefits, but we'll cover that when we come back to the Cave and Sewers for rank 7 (There's a shortcut, as I mentioned before). Unfortunately, you still have to fight your way out of Cavern and Sewers to get back to Koorong. Remember: If you take the path down the broken road, just up the manhole and to your right from the Natural Cave exit, you can use the shortcut to the Koorong skyport.
Now that we finally have the Rune gift, which previously locked us out of all the Arcane quest's characters, they are now open for us to recruit, but for item collecting purposes, if you still have at least one empty party slot, fly out to the IRPO from Koorong. Talking to the receptionist begins the Shield Card quest and Fuse joins
your party, which is temporary, as long as you purposely loss to the boss at the Mountain's summit.
Note: If you recruited Rouge, and need an extra character slot, try to visit the Magic Kingdom and he will leave. Afterward, you can pick
him up again back in Luminous.
Note: Unless you want two of the same item, if you decide to recruit the character
Silence, you won't need to do this as he comes with a HandBlaster also.
Fuse comes equipped with the ultra-rare HandBlaster, of which there are only two in Emelia's game. Strip him of all his equipment (The Defendwear is awesome, too!). If we were able to get it earlier in the game, the HandBlaster would be fairly decent, but at this point, it's just for our inventory. It has three different attack varieties: one pierce, the other slash, and the Paralyzer that attempts to render Palsy on all enemies. Having pilfered Fuse's items, we need to rush to the summit and avoid as many monsters as we can. The Mountain is almost entirely linear, but you'll need to avoid the dragon-filled cave on your left-side on the second screen, and then when inside the mountain, take the exit to the upper-left, then continue north a few screens to inspect the flowers at the top of the fiery mountain and fight the Suzaku boss. Intentionally lose and you'll be back at IRPO, but without Fuse, and can continue the quest at anytime.
Although the option is entirely yours at this point, I do not recommend recruiting Fuse with Emelia; if at anything, because of his accusations that she murdered Ren (Which he conveniently forgets here) and is quite boorish about it. Also, the Mosperiburg Mountain is home to two incredibly difficult bosses other than the Suzaku at its climax, but at the same time, another recruitable monster character (Suzaku Jr.) that requires you to fight one of said bosses is available, too. If you want to attempt to fully do this now, head over to Chapter (Will update when completed). You can use this same method of losing to the Suzaku boss to keep the Suzaku monster in your party while at the same time dumping Fuse, but you'll need to keep two party member slots open until that time comes.
The other Arcane-specific character is one of SaGa Frontier's most beloved: Gen. Attempt to fly to Wakatu from Koorong and the attendant will warn you that you require a native to travel there. Talk to the skeleton near the shops in the lower-left portion of Koorong and he'll tell you about a swordsman (Who can cut a rope with a lead pipe!), probably from Wakatu, getting sauced in Scrap, apparently.
Sure enough, Gen is from Wakatu and will join your party after he sizes you up a bit. His drinking buddy, T260, still won't join you, though. Even if you have all your character slots filled, the game still counts Gen has joining, so you can travel to Wakatu without him. Gen is woefully behind your other characters at this point, but if you can build him up before you head to Wakatu, you can obtain the second-best (And one-of-a-kind) katana.
Note: After this, return and talk to the Skelton for a humorous scene with Gen.
Now that we have every human character available to Emelia, it's a good idea to acquire the gift for Mind magic. Head over to Kyo and the Doujou in the northwest of the town map. Make sure every character has MindHeal, or one of the other spells, purchased and ask the teacher about the gift. Each character will have to fight a battle by his/her self, which shouldn't be too difficult, and just like that, every successful battle has acquired the Mind magic gift for that character. You can only attempt this once! So make sure you win all your battles. If you recruited Gen, it may be difficult to win his battle, but with powerful equipment and picking the right battle for him, it is completely doable now.
Note: Rouge can never acquire the gift for Mind magic. This is explained in Blue's game. Also, if you still plan to recruit Fuse, he already has the gift for Mind magic.
The gift for Mind-type magic gives access to two additional spells you can learn:
- Lifewave: You probably have already used this with Roufas, but it is an excellent attack spell to use against undead monsters.
- Awakening: This is a lesser version of the SoulRune spell: boosting all stats and lasting for five turns.
