PART III: AFTER THE UNSEALING OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 7: Mastery of Power

• (A/N: This section is mainly for several 4th job advancements for various classes, as well as questlines for several of them set afterwards. Many of these job advancements and follow-up quests have no important details worth covering, and so this abridged section will only be covering things that are actually important in a long-lasting way to the overall story.)

• While training, Shade was summoned by the Fox God, who asked him why he had not yet spoken to Moonbeam now that she wouldn’t forget him again. Shade revealed that he intended to see Moonbeam only after defeating the Black Mage, to which the Fox God - believing that it would cause him pain to stay away - teleported him to see Moonbeam in order to fulfill his longing desire to see his friend again.

• Though Moonbeam didn’t remember Shade, the two were able to befriend each other again. Shade then made a promise to tell Moonbeam his name on the day that he could be with the person he missed the most.

• Following the lead from Von Leon about finding answers in the Temple of Time, the Demon traveled to the Gate of the Past and encountered a hooded Damien. Unable to see his face, the Demon only recognized Damien as the new Commander. Damien cryptically revealed that he knew the Demon and gave him back the locket containing his family picture, which he had lost in the battle against the Black Mage.

• Hoping to get answers about his memories, Xenon and Roo-D traveled to the abandoned laboratory where Gelimer had secretly performed his Xenoroid experiments. However, Xenon learned that Gelimer had erased nearly all the data within his computers, with Roo-D piecing together the fragments to learn that Gelimer - unable to fully erase all of his Xenoroids’ memories - had instead overwritten those memories his soldier programming, making it impossible for them to be ever recovered.

• Soon after, Xenon was asked by the researchers of Veritas to travel to Magatia in order to learn whether Gelimer had utilized alchemy in his Xenoroid project. During his investigation, he learned that Orchid and Gelimer had both been working against each other to get their hands on the alchemy research of the Black Mage.

• Beryl soon discovered Xenon in Magatia while being dispatched by Gelimer to obtain the Black Mage’s research. After being defeated once again, Beryl expressed her hatred towards Xenon over the fact that Gelimer still favored him, despite the fact that Xenon was a ‘defect’ because of his emotions. After she retreated, however, Xenon noted that Beryl also seemed to have emotions, despite her belief that she didn’t.

• Some time later, Beryl lured Xenon back to Gelimer’s abandoned laboratory for a final confrontation. After being defeated, Beryl admitted defeat and resigned herself to be dismantled for her failure. Though Xenon pleaded with her to come back with him, Beryl told him that she had no choice but to follow her protocols.

• Though she wondered whether their fates would have been different had they been human, Beryl ultimately decided that it would have been the same, as fighting was what siblings did best. Though Xenon begged Beryl not to go, Beryl merely turned and walked away, with a sad smile and a single tear in her eyes.

  After searching endlessly, Illium and his friends discovered the Sanctuary of the Ancient God once again, where the God of the Verdant Flora bestowed more of his powers into the Elder Crystal.

• Having grown stronger, Ark was called back into the Abyss by the Specter, who revealed that there were two reason why Ark was a partial Specter. The first reason was that Albaire had interrupted the ritual, while the second was that Ark possessed a special soul, which the Specter described as an impurity that made Ark’s soul impossible to process.

• In order to get stronger, Hoyoung returned to the Hermitage through his dreams, where he met the spirit of his Master. His Master revealed that the Hermitage was part of the realm of the sages, where a true sage or those given permission could gain entry, which was why it had seemingly disappeared from the physical world.

• He explained that he had been tasked by the elders with putting an end to the chaos of the outside world, and that he had rescued Hoyoung as an infant from a ruined village. After seeing Hoyoung’s immense magical talent and lack of discipline, his Master had sealed away Hoyoung’s power until Taotie had loosened the seal. His Master then taught Hoyoung his final spells as an apology before sending him back to the real world.

• During this time, Adele met with Illium and learned that the former God-King had once been a man of excellent character before he had turned into a tyrant, leading a campaign of domination against the other races. This triggered one of Adele’s latent memories, in which she recalled the God-King giving a speech that denounced the other races as ‘savages’.

• Illium revealed that though the Verdant Flora had been accused of killing the God-King, the true culprit was unknown, though he suspected that Darmoor was involved somehow, as none of the records added up with each other. However, Adele’s memories confirmed to Illium that the attack on the God-King’s palace had been an internal conflict between the High Flora.

• Meanwhile, Kain discovered old coordinates that he had written in the past before his memories had been taken, which led him to a ruined village where he and Luska had lived in hiding with the other surviving Black Nova. There, he recalled a memory of Luska telling Kain about how the Black Nova had removed their Nova features in order to hide, though they had still kept their Malice. In the ruins of his village, Kain build a gravestone for Luska in her memory.

• In Narin, Lara and Gri returned to Hannah’s studio in order to find more clues about mysticants. There, they encountered Kaling, who revealed that she had been investigating Lara’s bell, which had the power to destroy other mysticants. Though Kaling appeared to be an Anima, Gri noted that she didn’t have an Anima scent.

• (A/N: This line was never fully explained, but there are two possible explanations suggested for this. The first is that Kaling - like the elders and the other researchers of Odium - were blessed with the power of the Overseers, allowing them to ascend to sagehood, masking their Anima scent with divine energy. The other explanation is that Gri was sensing the contamination inside Kaling, which masked her Anima scent with corrupted energy. Either way, it doesn’t change the fact that Kaling is indeed an Anima, despite whatever Gri senses.)

• Kaling then attacked Lara in order to take the bell, though Lara freed herself with the help of the spirits. As the bell began reacting to Lara’s energy, Kaling realized that the bell had been created by the elders of Grandis. Cursing them for their continued interference, Kaling warned Lara that she always took what she wanted before retreating.