Mysidia

Mysidia has five magic shops and the White Mask destination. You'll buy the Holy spell, gear up at five different vendors, and place the White Mask on a goddess statue underground. This chapter has 10 new bestiary entries and one new location.

Sailing to Mysidia

Heal up in Fynn if you need to. Head back to your ship and sail southwest; Mysidia is on the continent in the lower-left corner of the world map. Dock on the northern coast and walk south through forests and marshland. The path curves southeast along the mountains until you reach town.

The overworld around Mysidia hits harder than anything since Castle Fynn. Cockatrices (370 HP, 40 DEF) are the most dangerous enemy here; their Beak attack can petrify a party member, and if that lands on your healer it's usually a reset. Keep Gold Needles on hand. Big Horns (1,140 HP, 50 ATK) are the toughest physical threat and take a while to bring down. Werewolves (540 HP, 50 ATK) show up in groups and hit nearly as hard. Bombs (640 HP, 60 ATK) self-destruct when their HP gets low, dealing heavy damage to your entire party; kill them fast before they blow. And Vampire Girls (540 HP, 50 DEF) drain HP with their attacks, so fights that drag on work in their favor.

Black Flans (370 HP, 210 DEF) and Red Mousses (100 HP, 210 DEF) resist physical attacks almost completely. Use Fire on Black Flans and Ice on Red Mousses. Both can inflict Poison, so keep Antidotes ready. Ghosts (540 HP) and Imps (300 HP) round out the encounters; Imps cast status magic that can disable a party member at a bad time. The encounter rate is high on this stretch, so expect 5-6 fights between the coast and town. Save frequently.

Mysidia

Rest at the inn. Mysidia is the town of mages, and the five magic shops reflect that. Work through the vendors before heading underground.

• Weapon Shop: Ice Bow (5,000 Gil) is the best pickup for back-row characters like Maria or Leila. Power Staff (8,000 Gil), Flame Lance (15,000 Gil), and Ogrekiller (15,000 Gil) are also stocked; hold off on those unless you have Gil to spare.
• Armor Shop: Knight's Armor, Giant's Gloves, and Ice Shields. Worth upgrading if you haven't found them in chests already.
• Item Shop: Stock up on Cottages (they fully restore HP and MP on the world map) and grab Ethers for your casters.
• Magic Shop: Five vendors covering white, black, and green magic. Holy (20,000 Gil) is the priority buy; start leveling it on your primary caster right away. Grab Life, Esuna, Barrier, and Teleport if you don't have them.

Placing the White Mask

Before heading underground, visit the bookcase in the bottom-left house. Ask about Mask and Ultima Tome to learn how the two masks seal the path to the ultimate spell. Not required for progression, but it fills in the story behind what you're doing.

Walk to the pond in the center of town and take the stairs down. Follow the path left to the goddess statue on the platform.

Use the White Mask on the statue. The mask locks into place and you're done with Mysidia. But you still need the Black Mask to unseal the Ultima Tome, and that's on the Tropical Island.

Head back up and leave town. The Tropical Island is a 20-chest dungeon with tough undead encounters (your new Holy spell gets put to work immediately). Level Holy to 3 or 4 on the overworld before entering; low-level Holy barely scratches the undead inside. Stock up on Ethers and Antidotes before you go, because the enemies there burn through your MP fast.