The Dark Palace
***** Elemental of Darkness Shade *****

Now, you can use Flammie!!!! He can travel all over the world very quickly, and he can take you wherever you want. Take Truffle back to Matango, he'll tell you about the Palace of Darkness in the Lofty Moutnains. Mandala is a very old village... There's nothing interesting in the temple to the north (you can explore the videos inside, they have recorded some events from the War of The Mana Fortress from long ago). If you go down the mountain, you'll find the Palace of Darkness. Go right. Break the spikes on the right. Go down, left and up, you find a switch, activate it. Go down for another switch. Now there's no barrier at the beginning. Don't go back there yet. Go downstairs, enter the corridor. Go upstairs, use your whip, press the switch. Come back using Magic Rope. You're at the beginning. Go left, up, cut the spikes on the left, enter the room. Press all switches and follow the light. The boss is a little tough. It'll use dark magic on you. Its normal attacks are painful as well. But Fireball will finish him. He won't hit you much is you use rapid fire magic. After the battle, Shade will give his powers to Sprite. Evil Gate is pretty much useless, and also costs lots of MP. Dark Force is pretty good spell though.

Golden Tower
***** Light Elemental Lumina *****

Head for the Gold City. They have some GOOD armor over there. In the city itself, you'll find nothing interesting. Walk up the stairs that lead to the city wall. Walk all the way around and talk the the old man that's up there. He will tell you about the Gold Tower and how the King sealed it up, but the key was stolen by a Tasnican spy. Call Flammie and go back to Southtown to talk to Mara. She will give you the key. You must have good armor before entering the tower. It is pricey in Gold City, but it is a must. Enter the tower. In the first room you will find a treasure chest with an orb in it. Fight your way through three rooms and go up the stairs. Here you will fight the Blue Spike. The only way to beat him is to cast Earth Slide on him. (It won't do very much damage, but it will help tremendously.) After you defeat Blue Spike, go back to town and save your game, buy Faerie Walnuts, and whatever else you need. Go back into the tower and fight your way through all of the monsters until you reach the next boss: Gorgon Bull. Gorgon Bull is easily defeated when using a high level Thunderbolt. After you beat Gorgon Bull, go up the stairs. Here, the Girl recieves the magical power of Lumina, Elemental of Light. (Don't forget to seal the seed.) Raise your magic levels and continue on to the Moon Palace. If it won't let you in, go back and visit Sage Joch and then go back.

The Moon Palace
***** Moon Elemental Luna *****

After you've raised your spells, it's time to go to the Moon Palace. Take Flammie to the desert and land him in the middle of the black hole looking place. Here you will find a path leading up. Go up, and you will find a ship that will take you to the Moon Palace. WHen you get to the Palace, don't worry about killing the Marmablues. Just enter the palace. There are no bosses here, so don't worry about that either. WHen you get into the palace, go northeast until you find a crystal orb. Lumina's magic will break the orb. When the light fades, you will find yourself before the stage room. Go up, and talk to Luna. She will give you her powers. (Don't forget the seed.) Go and raise your levels again, and then head for Tasnica.

Tasnica

After you raise your levels, head for Tasnica. Jema is waiting for you at the entrance and he tells you that there is an imperial spy in the castle. Make your way to the king and talk to him. Whoops! That's not the King! It's actually a Dark Stalker. If you want to be brave and try to kill him with weapons, by all means, do so. But, if you want to take the easy way out, cast Lucent Beam on him once or twice and be done with it. After you kill the Dark Stalker, the King returns and gives you a sword orb. Talk to Jema and he will tell you that you should go to Sage Joch for a test of true courage.

The Test of True Courage

Go back and talk to Sage Joch. The Sage will see you now. He tells you that you must undergo a test of true courage. Make your way through the cave (don't bother with the enemies. They're too hard for you at your level.). Just run through until you reach the shadows of yourself, otherwise known as the Doppelgangers. The battle can be difficult, if you don't do it right. The hardest one to kill is the Hero's. It has the most HP. What I suggest is that you kill the shadows of your companions first, then try to kill the Hero's shadow. If you win, you pass the test of true courage. Jek will tell you that he is really the Sage, and he tells you to go immediately to the Tree Palace. The Sunken Continent is about to rise...

The Continent Rises
***** Tree Elemental Dryad *****

When you first enter the palace, you will see the Emperor, but he isn't in the best mood for talking, since he's dead...Go to the back room and find Sheex and Fanha. You learn that Sheex was the Dark Stalker, and he is out for revenge. This battle is another one of the hardest in the game. I suggest strongly that you level your Shade to it's highest so that you can dispel the wall spell that it casts on itself. Cast Earth Slide and THunderbolt on it, and keep dispelling it's wall. It shouldn't be too god awful hard then. After you defeat the monster, you race to the seed, but it's too late. Thanatos has already broken the seal on the seed. Dryad appears and tells you to leave. The sunken continent is rising. She tells you that she will go down with her palace, but you persuade her to come with you. This is probably the most important magic in the game. Level it as high as it will go. You will need to cast Dryad magic on the Mana Sword when it comes time to defeat the Mana Beast.

The Underground City

Talk to Jema, then go left and downstairs, to the lake. Work your way around to the right and go down the stairway. Now you're in the city. Use the axe to cut down the spikes. Go across the waterfall and get the orb in the chest. Go up. There will be a lot of spikes blocking your path. Cut them out of your way with the axe. Go upward, and when you reach the top go left. Fall down the waterfall, but be sure to hit the switch on the left on your way down. The water will disappear. When you get to another waterfall, fall down it and hit the switch on the left. (The other ones don't do anything.) When you go through the exit you will find yourself in the room with a Hydra. Use rapid fire magic with Exploder, and the Hydra will soon die. Now you find yourself in another part of the city. Go downstairs and enter the middle door. Step on the escalator and go down. Go into the hidden room on the left and step on the switch. Now there will be no barrier downstairs. Now you find the resistance base, and Krissie will heal you. Watts is also here for any weapons you might want to forge. (There is no way to save once you enter the city, so just be careful.) Also talk to the soldier there and he will tell you a secret code. "Red-Blue-Yellow-Green." Remember this code. You will need to later in the city. Go back into the hallway, and go right to the end of the corridor. Go left. Then you will find another escalator. Go on the right to press the switch, and a barrier is removed. Don't worry about the barrier near the switch. You'll find another long hallway full of monsters. You should see four blocks on the ground. Step in between the two in the middle and another barrier will be removed. From another corridor, you will find four switches in the colors of Blue, Red, Yellow, and Green. Hit each switch in order of the code that the soldier told you and go down. YOu are now in a room with two Kimono Wizards. Be sure to press the switch before you go down, otherwise you'll have to go through the city again. Go up. The barrier is gone now! Here you'll find the subway. If you want to be brave, you can fight all of the Ghouls, but remember that there is no place to save, so if you don't want to risk it, you can just run down the middle of it all the way to the end. Exit the subway and work your way around. When you get to the end you will be face to face with the Scorpion Army. Now you have to kill their new robot, Kettle Kin. There isn't really any magic that will help you defeat Kettle Kin, but use dispel magic when he casts Lucid Barrier. Also, you can use HP drain on him. He shouldn't be too hard. This is the end of the Underground City.

The Grand Palace

When you enter the palace, you will see a set of stairs on either side of you, and a stairway directly north of where you're standing. Go up the stairs directly north. Go up and to the left. Enter the room, and go up to the side of the stage that the orb is on. Cast Gnome magic on this orb, and then exit the room. Then go to the door on the right. Cast Undine in here. Go back down the stairs and go up the stairs either to the right or the left. Now go up the top set of stairs. Use your whip to get across the gap. Go to the left, and go in the room. Use Sylphid in this room. Come out of the room and go down. Work your way around to the right and go back up into the room. Go into this room and use Salamando. Now go back down and go up the stairs in the middle. Go the the left and down. Go into the room on the left and use Lumina. Go back out and go to the room on the right. Here use Shade. Now go back up. Go up the stairway on the right and work your way around to go down the room on the left. Hit the switch on the right and go back out into the room with two stairways. The barrier will be gone from the doorway. Go through here. Go up the stairway. Now you are in a room with six torches. Go to the left and go down the stairs. Follow the path around to the right and go up the stairs there. Now are the last orb room. Go to the left and go into this room. Use Luna here. Now go to the stairs on the right. Here you will fight the Snap Dragon. Beware of his tongue. He can cast Cure Water three times before he dies, but cast exploder on him and his days will be numbered. Now go up the stairs on the left. Here you will see the Emperor on the seed stage, but he is dead. Go through the opening in the back of the room and you will fight Hexas. Hexas is a real hard boss. Beware of her attacks. Use Earth Slide on her, and she will soon die. When you defeat her, go through the opening in the back and step on the switch. Go back out and talk to Jema. He tells you that you must go find the Mana Tree in the Pure Land to ask it if it will revive the Mana Sword. Now you're off to the Pure Land.

The Pure Land

The Pure Land is a white and gray island to the west of the Ice Country. The enemies there are some of the hardest in the game, so be sure to stock up on very good armor. If you look behind the Tree Palace, Neko is there. He has some good stuff, even though it's a little on the expensive side. The Pure Land is dangerous, but it's the best place in the game to gain levels before you have to go to the Mana Fortress. Beware of the Mushglooms and Gryphon Claws. You'll need Sylphid, Gnome, Undine and Salamando spells to be at a high level (6 or 7 if you want to do this quickly). The first boss is a little difficult, because he casts such high level magic, but keep casting Thunderbolt, and he will soon die.

After you defeat the first boss, you'll reach the First Gate of the Pure Land. Save your game, then fight the Snow Dragon. Use Fire magic. After you defeat him, go back, and pass through the gate.

The next part of the Pure Land will be a cave full of Ice Thugs. You'll find Axe Beak in the middle of the cave. He can be easily defeated if you use Undine. Leave the cave and search for the Second Gate. Defeat the Red Dragon, and go on through the Second gate.

Now you will have to fight Thunder Gigas. He has a lot of HP and strong magic attacks, but he's weak against Gnome. The last boss is the Blue Dragon. He is weak against Gnome as well. When you defeat him, pass through the gate. Here stands the mighty Mana Tree.

THE MANA FORTRESS

This is the final stage of your adventure. Enemies are extremely hard when you get through to the end, and thereare lots of them. When you first wander into the fortress, you will encounter Tsunamis. Pass through room with Tsunamis, and another one with a Fiend Head and some Dark Stalkers, and then one with Heck Hounds. Press the switch and the Tsunamis will attacks you. Cross the gap.Keep wandering, and you'll get to a room where 2 Turtlances are wandering around. You have a choice. Left, or use the whip to cross the gaps. To the left is a very long path that inevitably leads to a dead end. Use the whip to cross the gaps, and you'll find yourself in a room full of blue spikes. Use the axe to cut them down. Ignore the switch in the middle. This only brings the spikes back. If you keep wandering, you'll find Buffy the Vampire. Use Lumina's magic, and Earth Slide. This boss is not that hard, but don't let your ego run away with you. There are two more to go.

Exit the room where you fought Buffy, and there will be a right and left path. They both go the same place, but the left one is a short cut. Wander through until you come to the next boss, the Lime Slime. A trick to fighting Lime Slime is to cast wall on everyone. His magic isn't really bad, but what doesn't hit you hits him, and I personally would rather it hit him than me. Cast Shade on him, and eventually he will die. You will know it's about to die because it gets bigger towards the end. It has 5000HP. Now for the last stage of the fortress.

This stage of the fortress is the hardest and longest. It is full of the hardest enemies in the game; Master Ninjas. They can kill you in one to two hits if you aren't careful. Stay away from them as much as you can. You will wander around for quite a while, but the path is clearly marked and there's no way you can get turned around. When you get to a big empty room, cast all the spells and such that you want on everyone. The end is near.. Thanatos and Dyluck are in the next room. Thanatos is about to steal Dyluck's body, and Dyluck is very weak. Eventually, after the big scene with them, you'll have to fight Thanatos. His true form is the Dark Lich. The graphic is very cool. He isn't too hard, but you have to watch out for some of his attacks. If you casted wall, you should be alright for most of them. Watch out for his beams,and if he's underground, don't go near his hands. Instant death awaits you there. Lucent Beam will work well, as well as Earth Slide is The Dark Lich has 6666HP.

When Thanatos is dead, the Mana Beast attacks the Fortress. You and your companions have to decide whether to fight the Beast, or let the world die. I think the choice is pretty clear... If you decide to fight, the only way to defeat him is with the Mana Sword, and so Dryad's Mana Magic is released from its confinement. The end is now.

The final battle:

The only way to defeat the Mana Beast is to beat on it repeatedly with the Mana Sword. To make the sword appear, Sprite and Girl have to cast Dryad's Mana Magic on the Hero. Be cautious, though. Mana magic doesn't last long, and it take both the Sprite and Girl magic together to restore the sword. You can tell if the sword has run out of power by the color. The regular sword is silver. The Mana Sword is a greenish tint. When the sword runs out of power, cast Mana Magic again. Do not try to hit the Mana Beast when it is on your side. Only when it is in front of you can you hit it. Don't worry about charging your sword, but just wait until it reaches 100% power. If you do it this way, you should have no trouble beating the Beast.