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RETURN TO THE MONASTERY
Return to the Monastery
I begin by travelling northwest along the Arnika-Trynton Road, fighting numerous monsters along the way. I then enter Arnika itself.
I fight a few more Savant Slashers and Savant Gunners near the Savant Temple. RFS-81 had another close call, but luckily I managed to heal him up before the Slashers could finish him off.
I visit Lord Braffit in the Temple. I purchase 10 Potions of Cure Lesser Conditions, 20 Potions of Medium Heals and 20 Potions of Light Heals. I merge 10 Potions of Medium Heals with 10 Potions of Light Heals to get 10 Potions of Heavy Heals. I merge those with the Potions of Cure Lesser Conditions to get 10 Potions of Cure Disease. I merge the remaining 10 Potions of Medium Heals with 10 Potions of Light Heals to get 10 another Potions of Heavy Heals. I merge those with the Potions of Cure Disease for 10 Potions of Renewal, which I sell at a hefty profit.
I also have Vi Domina practice charm on Lord Braffit, while Chun-Li practices Mind Read. I thereafter leave town.
I leave the Arnika-Trynton Road through the northwest exit.
I arrive at the south entrance to the Arnika Road. I travel north and then east, battling plenty of monsters along the way, to reach the entrance to the Monastery.
The Start of Iron Will Training
I start off at the entrance on the west side of the Upper Monastery. I go north and east and then down the stairs to reach the Monastery.
That brings me to the stairs in the southwest corner of the Lower Monastery. I make my way to the room labelled "Crypts" on the Lower Monastery map.
Clicking on the middle sarcophagus on the left side of the room will cause a little bit of damage and possibly nausea or unconsciousness. And that effect will occur each time you click on the sarcophagus, without limit.
That makes the sarcophagus the perfect opportunity to train the Iron Will skill for Vi Domina, Rothgar and Chun-Li. And the opportunity to cast Cure Lesser Conditions also trains the Water Magic skill for Vi Domina, Rothgar, Terra and Chun-Li. I show the first cycle, which involves clicking on the sarcophagus until my characters have run out of Water Mana by casting Cure Lesser Conditions.
I show the next part of the cycle by going over to Burz, and having Vi Domina cast Charm and Chun-Li cast Mind Read on him respectively. They each still have a skill that needs perfecting.
Bishop Masters Water Magic
Here I show the cycle where Chun-Li reaches a perfect 100 for the Water Magic skill. So she no longer needs to participate with Cure Lesser Conditions anymore.
Valkyrie Masters Mental Magic
A couple of cycles later and Vi Domina reaches 100 points in Mental Magic. So she no longer needs to practice the Charm spell on Burz.
Ninja Masters Water Magic
Several cycles later and Terra reaches 100 points in Water Magic. But I still have her cast Cure Lesser Conditions spells during the cycles because she's still just a little short on the Power Cast skill at 100.
Terra thereafter returns the Brilliant Helm to Chun-Li.
Power Training a Ninja
She reaches 100 points in Power Cast on the next cycle, and so she no longer needs to participate in future cycles.
Lord Training in Iron Skin
I make my way to the lower reaches of the Lower Monastery. I fight groups of slimes and seekers along the way. Since I'm fighting lower level monsters, I treat that as an opportunity to train characters whose skills have fallen behind. I have RFS-81, Vi Domina and Ryu go into defense mode without attacking, since their weapon skills are topnotch. Terra, Rothgar, Errol and Chun-Li continue to make physical attacks to train their weapon skills.
Furthermore, Terra casts Toxic Cloud over large groups of monsters whenever she can, in order to train her Air Magic skill.
There was a point where Chun-Li blinded a Spewing Slime with her Ebon Staff. That is one instance where I had RFS-81 and Vi Domina attack it for double damage, in order to save myself the trouble of chasing after it.
Now I make my way to the room with the three Cockroaches. I start off by having Rothgar unequip all his armor and any other item that increases AC. There's a reason why. I also have Rothgar occupy the sole position on the front line by himself.
I open the door to let the three Cockroaches attack Rothgar, while everyone in the party stays in defense mode.
The trick here is to find the right balance between the Cockroaches score a significant number of hits on Rothgar to train his Iron Skin skill, but not to the point that it outpaces his innate regeneration ability as a Lord. I sometimes have to use the Equip action to make adjustments either when it seems like the Cockroaches aren't hitting enough, or if they're hitting too often. I end up finding that Rothgar wearing only his Rings of Protection provides the balance that I'm looking for.
Once I do get that balance, I toggle the continuous button in the lower right-hand corner of the screen so that combat runs on its own.
Also, I let the game run overnight. Rothgar reaches 92 points in Iron Skin by the time I wake up and check it in the morning.
So now Errol puts the Cockroaches to sleep with his Poet's Lute, and the party runs away. I go back and shut the door after combat ends.
The video concludes when I go back to Burz, have Chun-Li cast Mindread spells on him, rest up, and put my buffs back up.
Lord Masters Iron Skin
There were a few more cycles of training Water Magic and Iron Will at the sarcophagus. But now I set up the process for Rothgar again before I took an hours long bike ride. He now reaches 100 points in the Iron Skin skill.
The perfected Iron Skin skill will augment his innate abilities as a self-regenerating tank. He'll suffer less damage to be regenerated.
Bard and Valkyrie Training in Iron Skin
I do a few more cycles at the sarcophagus and then I'm ready to go to bed. I go with a different set up with a view towards training Errol and Vi Domina in Iron Skin.
I have to keep in mind that neither will have the innate regeneration ability of a Lord. So I can't let them be hit as often. For starters, they'll occupy the front line together. Having more than one character reduces the risk that either will be hit so often by the Roaches that it will outpace the regeneration.
Vi Domina keeps her body and leg armor on, but unequips her Steel Gauntlets and Silver Solleret. She also borrows Diamond Rings from both Terra and Chun-Li. Physical attacks will target the body and legs most often, but will miss since Vi Domina is wearing heavy armor over those parts. But attacks against the head, hands and feet will occur much less frequently, but will likely connect when they do target those areas. It's a way of keeping the frequency of successful attacks by the Roaches manageable, and where the Diamond Rings will be able to provide enough regeneration so that she won't be in any danger of dying.
Errol borrows the Amulet of Healing from RFS-81, and the Shield of Sacrifice from Rothgar for regeneration. The loss of Stamina from the Shield of Sacrifice won't be a concern as long as stays in defensive mode, which replenishes Stamina. He won't be hit as often as Vi Domina. The Amulet of Healing and Shield of Sacrifice together and by themselves will make him a challenge for the Roaches to hit. But he'll get some Iron Skin development out of it, and he provides a distract to reduce the danger for Vi Domina.
I let the cycle run overnight. Errol gets 14 points in Iron Skin, while Vi Domina gets 60 by the time I check in the morning. That's when I put the Roaches to sleep, run away a bit to end the fight, and then close the door.
A problem now is that the Shield of Sacrifice is draining Errol's Stamina, so Chun-Li has to use her Uncurse ability so that he can remove it until when I set up the next cycle.
I return to Burz, have Chun-Li practice Mindread on him, rest up, and then put my buffs back up.
Lord Masters Water Magic
Here I show the sarcophagus cycle where Rothgar reaches a perfect 100 for the Water Magic skill. And Vi Domina is very close as well, having obtained 99 points during the same cycle.
So now I adjust the cycle, as there's only one character left who needs to perfect her Water Magic skill.
I just keep clicking on the sarcophagus itself, over and over and over again. Vi Domina will once in a while cast a Cure Lesser Conditions when she's recouped enough Water Mana. But it otherwise just amounts to clicking on the sarcophagus non-stop, and once in a while having Vi Domina, Rothgar or Chun-Li cast Heal All when the party's taken enough damage. I keep going until those three characters run out of Divine Mana. The new cycle kicks training the Iron Will skill into high gear.
I then return to Burz and have Chun-Li practice Mindread on him, rest up and buff up.
Valkyrie Masters Water Magic
A few cycles later and Vi Domina reaches 100 points in Water Magic. Now the cycles will emphasize clicking on the sarcophagus non-stop, with Heal All spells when the party has taken enough damage until Vi Domina, Rothgar and Chun-Li run out of Divine Mana.
Chun-Li reaches 99 points in Psionics after practicing Mindread on Burz as well.
Valkyrie Masters Iron Skin
Vi Domina, after a few more night runs, is pretty close to perfecting her Iron Skin skill as she's at 96 points.
I decide to force an end run to 100. I strip her right down of any armor, including returning the Diamond Rings to Terra and Chun-Li. She occupies the front line position by herself, so that the Roaches peck at her alone. Everyone else in defense mode.
The thing is I can now run this in continuous combat mode too. It takes a while for the Roaches to whittle her down. I cast a Heal Wounds spell at full power level 7 on her when she's down to about 70 hit points or so. The cycle starts with her casting them on herself, then Rothgar, then Terra, then Chun-Li. I of course also cast Stamina on any Roaches that become unconscious.
Vi Domina will have actually regained all her Divine Mana by the time Chun-Li completes her cycle. That means I could in theory keep this going infinitely.
But at some point I take to having Vi Domina using her 'equip' option after every time I cast a Heal Wounds spell, so that I can check her skill points. I do that until I confirm that she has reached 100 points in Iron Skin.
I then put the Roaches to sleep, run away to end combat, and close the door on them.
Vi Domina puts all of her armor pieces back on. I also change her position now that I have perfected her Iron Skin skill. I place her on the left flank alongside Zarax. They act as off-tanks for my left side. Whereas Rothgar can hold my right side by himself as he uses a shield and has regenerative capabilities, I have Zarax and Vi Domina together on the left side to take the heat off each other when faced with monsters that encircle the party.
I then return to Burz to have Chun-Li practice Mindread on him, rest up and buff up.
Bard Masters Iron Skin
I use a different cycle now that I only have one character left to master Iron Skin, Errol. He strips down not wearing anything but Prospero's Cloak, which provides +20 Intelligence. Chun-Li loans him her Brilliant Helm. More Intellect means that the accumulation of skill points will go faster.
I set things up the same as when I wanted to finish off Iron Skin for Vi Domina, except that it's Errol taking all the heat.
I run combat on continuous, but this time only Terra casts Heal Wounds at power level 7 on Errol when he's reduced to less than 60 Hit Points. She can't cast Heal All, which makes her the perfect healer for Errol and allows Vi Domina, Rothgar and Chun-Li to save their Divine Mana for a different part of the cycle.
When Terra is so low on Divine Mana that she'll be pretty much out of it when she next casts Heal Wounds on Errol, that is when I set the combat back to phased. She casts her last Heal Wounds on Errol, and Errol uses his Poet's Lute on the Roaches. I run away for a bit to end combat, return and close the door on the Roaches. Errol also gives Chun-Li her Brilliant Helm back.
The next part of the cycle involves returning to the sarcophagus, and clicking on it non-stop. Vi Domina casts Heal All to power level 2 on RFS-81 when he's down to less than 80 Hit Points. He seems unusually susceptible to the damage from the sarcophagus for some reason.
I keep going until Vi Domina runs out of Divine Mana, and that's when Rothgar takes his turn.
And when Rothgar runs out, Chun-Li will take over and cast Heal All to power level 6 whenever RFS-81 is down to less than 40 Hit Points.
And at some point Chun-Li runs low and Divine Mana and can only cast Heal All to power level 6. Vi Domina and Chun-Li at that point cast Heal All with whatever Divine Mana they've recovered.
That's when I end the cycle and return to Burz to have Chun-Li practice Mindread on him, rest up and buff up.
The video shows the last cycle, where Errol reaches 100 points in Iron Skin. He now puts all his armor pieces back on, and return the Brilliant Helm to Chun-Li for good.
Bishop Masters Iron Will
The last remaining cycles emphasize only the sarcophagus now. Chun-Li obtains a perfect 100 in Iron Will partway through. She lends her Brilliant Helm to Rothgar for the rest of the cycle.
She does take the Brilliant Helm back when it's time to practice Mindread on Burz.
Lord Masters Iron Will
Rothgar obtains a perfect 100 in Iron Will a couple of cycles later. He hands over the Brilliant Helm to Vi Domina, the last remaining character who needs to perfect Iron Will.
Valkyrie Masters Iron Will
A couple more cycles later, and partway through the third one after, Vi Domina obtains a perfect 100 in Iron Will. She gives the Brilliant Helm back to Chun-Li. My training in the Monastery is now finished.
Demonsbane and Demonsting
It is now time to leave the Monastery for good. I return to the central room, but then go down the hallway that slopes downwards and north.
From there I go east a little bit until I reach the underground river, the spot marked "Elevator" specifically. I place myself on the steel gangway and then press the red button. The steel gangway lifts the party upwards.
The party continues eastwards. Just ahead is a door with a strange symbol on it. Here is where the Wheel Key is used.
Once it opens, a couple of Screaming Heads who can cast spells. Fortunately, they have few hit points and their spells aren't particularly devastating, so I end up killing them in short order.
The crypt holds a bow, Demonsting (+1 to hit, +3 initiative, 2% knock out, double damage against demons, +10% damage), and a sword, Demonsbane (+1 to hit, +1 to hit, 5-16 damage, double damage against demons). Errol can't use the sword, but he can use the bow as an interim weapon.
I sell off my excess loot to Burz, return to the central room and then to the stairs to the west in order to leave the Lower Monastery.
I arrive at the stairs to the Lower Monastery on the north side of the map of the Upper Monastery. I go to the Arboretoreum to fight some Poison Seekers there. From there I go west until I reach the door leading out to Arnika Road.
I continue west from the Monastery, fighting Bats and bands of Higardi Brigands along the way, until I reach the road to Arnika. But this time I take the road north to reach the Northern Wilderness.
