Dragon Quest Emblem of Erdrick Level 3

LEVEL 3: THE SAGE QUADAL

When we next find the party, they're sailing their sandship across the Isis Sandsea. Suddenly, a three-eyed red dragon bursts out of the sand and roars in their faces. Arus wastes no time busting out his Sizz spell, which the dragon merely sneers at. Tarkin's Whoosh spell gets similar results. The dragon breathes fire and casts Crackle on them. Wait, since when do dragons know that spell? Arus makes a mighty leap and slashes with his divine dagger, landing a teensy-weensy nick on the dragon's talon before getting summarily swatted to the ground. Tarkin's ready to resort to death magic to deal with this thing, but the dragon quietly casts Fizzle under its breath. When Tarkin casts Whack, nothing happens. He tries again. And again. Still nothing. The dragon crows that they'll never stand a chance against the Dragonlord in their sorry shape... then it detransforms.

Standing in the dragon's place is a fairly young-looking man with long blond hair and a third eye in his forehead. He grins and apologizes for giving them the third degree (literally), and he gives credit to Arus for nicking him. He hasn't taken an injury since his fight against the Greater Archfiend Zoma. Yes, apparently this guy is the Great Sage Quadal, one of the Three Crusaders that fought alongside the Hero Alheru in his battle against Zoma over 100 years ago. Kira says he barely looks 20, let alone a hundred. Quadal explains that there's a spell called Sands of Time that renders age irrelevant, demonstrating by turning Kira into a baby and back. Okay, Kira's convinced.

Quadal's got a dose of exposition for them: The northern Kingdom of Loran is on the verge of crowning an evil conqueror called the Fiendlord. That part they probably know. But what's news to them is the greater archfiend that lurks behind this plot, something called Imajin. What is it? Nobody knows. Quadal can't make any sense of it himself, and his assumption is that it's an archfiend from another dimension.

Quadal believes that only the chosen hero can do battle against the Fiendlord and save the world from the clutches of Imajin. But Arus wouldn't stand a chance against the Dragonlord in his current state, much less Imajin itself. So, how would Arus like to do some training under a sage? Sure! With a wave of his hand, Quadal reveals his residence, the Mirage Tower. He's about to walk off with Arus in tow, when Kira stops him and begs to come along too. Quadal starts to tell him that's not a great idea... then he pauses.

Upon closer inspection, he notices something about Kira's eyes—He has "ring eyes" (sharingan), marking him as a potential Crusader and hero companion. Fine, Quadal agrees on the condition that he'll kick Kira straight back out into the desert if he even tries to whine. Deal. He then dismisses the rest of the entourage, telling them to go back to the hermitage for a while and come back on the night of the Dragon Moon three months hence.

In the tower, Kira's training is to pick a sword and cleave through a big floating crystal. Brute force isn't gonna do it, so Quadal suggests that Kira use his head and figure it out. Use his head? Kira tries headbutting it. No dice.

Arus's training is to make his way through a room inhabited by a giant joro spider and retrieve a stone tablet from an altar on the other side. It's a legendary tablet called the Words of Wisdom. Arus can use any magic or weapon he wants, but the catch is that he can't kill the spider. So the goal is to get past the spider without killing it or agitating it.

Arus tries to use his divine dagger to cut the webbing filling the room. The dagger gets stuck, and the spider promptly wakes up, snares it, pulls it in, crushes it in its mandibles, and goes back to sleep, all in the span of seconds. Arus finally crawls his way under the webbing, losing his headgear and cape in the process. He's not sure he can get back out alive, so he turns to the Words of Wisdom for guidance.

"Believe in yourself. When you empty yourself and open your mind, the way will be opened. Open the mind—Then I will be he, and he will be I."

Somehow, meditating on this enables Arus to mind-meld briefly with the joro spider, which opens a path for him to walk out through. Quadal is pleased that Arus has reached the first enlightenment. They go to check up on Kira, who has been systematically going through every sword in the training room, trying to find one that will cut that crystal. He's down to one left, a shabby-looking copper sword. Well, he's too tired to think, so he just picks it up and gives it a swing with no real strength behind it. It cleaves right through the crystal and glows brightly. Right before Kira's eyes, the sword transforms into a much fancier Aurora Blade.

Kira thinks it was the sword that did the job, but no—According to Quadal, it was a regular copper sword, and Kira was the one that made that cut work. The way he explains it, in Kira's exhausted state, he swung a sword with the most natural motion, and that natural motion generated a sacred battle aura that worked a minor miracle. That aura resonated with the crystal to empower the sword. Does that mean Kira's gifted? Don't let it go to your head, Quadal warns.

Quadal wasn't actually expecting the Aurora Blade to come from Kira's training, and he says it's not even meant for Kira to use. It's for the hero Arus to receive once he completes all of Quadal's challenges. What about Kira? Quadal will work something out there.

Quadal plans for Arus to master mage and priest magic, but he brings up the existence of even more powerful hidden magics like Zap, Kazap, and Kaclang, that can only be used by a true hero. After a lecture on the importance of hard training, he interrupts their dessert and orders them back to it.