I elect to keep exploring, and run into some more returning FFA enemies. They still die too easily to care about.
Revi also runs into this cat, who runs a combined shop-inn just before the Water Palace. He sells a bunch of bizarre consumables and headgear Revi can't afford. So he settles for a bar of chocolate and moves on.
He also runs into this battalion en route. He chats with their commander and the soldiers before they leave for the "Haunted Forest". Which is apparently west, through a teleporter. Rather than mess with it, he continues on to the Water Palace.
Well, none can fault its name, for sure! Though, I wonder where they get all that water, and where it flows.
The sage within, Luka, tells them of how Mana's power is indeed growing weak, and how pulling the sword did indeed summon monsters. Damn. She then tells Revi that he can restore the sword's power by defeating evil monsters. So that's how the level up mechanic works? Cool!
Actually, no, it gains power from orbs, like the one the mantis ant dropped. So Revi has to go hunt bosses then. Aight. Oh wait, but he also needs to find someone who can reforge the sword to power it up with every orb. This seems a bit complicated...
She then warns about an evil empire trying to restore the weapons of the Vandole Empire by unsealing them with Mana seeds. Then the knight, Jema, talks of strange happenings in Pandora, and directs Revi to Gaia's Navel, as there are dwarves there and they're good at metallurgy, like most dwarves in fantasy stories.
The knight leaves, and Luka urges Revi not to fail. Then she makes him power up the sword with a Mana seed, and tells him to go collect power from more such seeds - eight such ones, to be precise. She gives him a spear, tells him it can be upgraded just like the sword, and that there are other weapons like them, and offers to save the game, abruptly breaking the fourth wall. I appreciate it though, because wow was that a long cutscene! Finally she gives him directions to Gaia's Navel - it's all the way south, past Pandora.
Oh, but surprise! He gets caught by cannibalistic goblins!
Only to be rescued by this girl in pink pyjamas! Revi tries to ask her for her whereabouts, but she just says she mistook him for someone else and so saved him, and takes off.
To be honest, I'm not impressed by the storytelling so far, it seems a bit too long winded and too straight with the cliches. But eh, it's the literal beginning of the game, it'll probably improve later.
I try out the spear. It's alright, it unfortunately no longer has the range it had in FFA, but it still has greater range than the sword, and has decent horizontal reach even, making it hit multiple enemies often! This made it a pretty easy switch, I sure as hell wasn't going to use a rusted sword over it!
After a long, uneventful jaunt, Revi finally entered the game's first dungeon, the caves leading to Gaia's Navel. It had sleeping goblin guards, obnoxious slimes that constantly multiplied themselves, and regular ass bats.
It also had lava on its lower level. Which was easily cooled by a skull switch. Man, FFA Revi sure could've used it back in his day!
Deeper inside, he ran into the dwarven village. Who talk of rumblings from deeper within the earth, a sprite's child who somehow ended up with them, and the Underground Palace having sunk deep into the earth a long time ago. Curious that none of them tried to dig it back up, considering, y'know, their expertise in metallurgy, which would involve digging up ore for raw material, y'know? I seriously doubt they BUY it from elsewhere, that would just be inefficient and silly.
Watts is a blacksmith again, and he reforges Revi's sword using a lava pool as a smelter, which is metal as fuck. The sword's power makes his hammer glow, which gets him to try forging an axe. His reforging makes the sword look a lot more shiny and also boosts its attack over the spear, making me switch over.
The dwarven village also has a theatre! Between it, the reforging, and the new armor, Revi's wallet is drained quite quickly in this place
.The sprite child is part of the theatre! He racked up a ginormous debt, and is working to pay it off. Hmm. Sounds a bit like a scam...Unfortunately, Revi is forced to pay 100 gold by the narrative. Oof.
Oh joy, it was a scam all along. Who could've figured!
Thankfully, the elder apologizes and refunds Revi.
That little vignette out of the way, Revi heads out and....
Surprise! An earthquake!
And an impromptu boss fight! With some weird oversized pineapple! It's fairly unimpressive for an opponent, only throwing easily dodgeable pumpkins that barely deal damage. It swaps positions upon being hit, but that does little to save itself, and it soon falls.
The elder and the sprite thank Revi after the fight, well, the elder does. The elder explains how the sprite lost all its memories, and apologizes for its rude behavior. The elder then hints at the Underground Palace being accessible from here, and the sprite gets all perked up to receive its seed! Thus, Revi's next quest, and first companion!
Unfortunately, they can't quite head there yet; there's lava blocking the way. The elder directs Revi to Elinee, who made the lava to seal it, and who has apparently turned evil. She lives in the haunted forest, the very same place the battalion travelled to! Funny how coincidences happen in these kinds of stories, isn't it.
Watts gives Revi the axe, but again charges him 100 gold! Had the boss not dropped money, Revi wouldn't be able to afford it! He also opens a shortcut to the surface. But that shall have to wait till next time, as I've played enough for today. Until then!
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