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Rock the Omni-Blue Mage - Part 5: NOW I HAVE YOUR POWER!
Last time, Rock was picking through smoldering ruins for crystal shards. This time, he heads out to the Library because Learning is fun!
A quick recap - Rock is level 20. This is extremely important.
Past the exploded fence, there is a relatively small desert area. For the most part, most beginning playthroughs will want to keep to the grassy area off to the sides.
With Rock still rocking the 
Ribbon, he heads straight for it.
Dhorme Chimeras are fairly nasty for this point in the game, having more HP than other random encounters found at this point in the game.
Additionally, they have a rather damaging all-party attack called Aqua Breath (or Aqua Rake if you're old school 
smile:.
This is part of the reason why the Ribbon is staying on for now.
For the most part, it's nothing too exciting. It's a strong attack that targets all enemies for non-elemental damage ( 
).
It does, however, have a secondary attribute that will be shown off at a later time. It will not be shown this update.
Rock presses on to a remote building surrounded by forest.
Welcome to The Library of the Ancients, where Blue Mages prove their worth.
Case in point.
There seems to be a bit of a problem with the ancient tomes here - evil spirits seem to be getting restless what with all the crystals shattering of late.
Luckily, Rock is prepared for any Necronomi-nasties after borrowing a page from West's book.
Rock
West
Speaking of pages, all the enemy encounters are quite literally something out of a book. Page 32s will cast Aera if you didn't grab it from the gigases (gigants? gigasi?) earlier.
Page 64s, however, know one of the Blue Mage's signature moves - a move that has beginners raise their parties with care and veterans excited for the power it holds.
Remember how Rock being level 20 was extremely important?
And how Blue Mages have to be hit with the technique in order to Learn it?
And how Undead types get full heals from Death spells? 
After 64 comes Page 128. They don't have any !Blue spells, use Slimer to annoy you with sap and slow statuses, and can be Goblin Punched with extreme prejudice.
Er, wait, that's right. Talking about Level 5 Death.
It hits any enemy target with a level that's a mult-...Huh. I think there's something wrong with this screenshot. Heh heh heh...
Anyway, for the next techniques, Rock studies up on Ganpp's latest methods.
RockGanpp
The last page is Page 256. This guy has 2 spells Rock can learn, with one being exclusive to !Control.
The other is used as one of its stock attacks, and can wipe unprepared parties due to the fact that the game cycles through different pages once each one is defeated before deciding that the encounter has ended.
Meaning that if you're switching between Undead and Equip Ribbon to get these spells you can get fucked by Page 64s casting Level 5 DEATHS: 11 or getting hit with Slimer while being in back row for slow DEATHS: 14
Off-Guard lowers a target's defense.
Moon Flute 
berserks the entire party and will ONLY target the party
After logging his latest lessons, Rock forges on.
Frickin' smartass books. Looks like Rock'll need some extra muscle.
DEATHS: 0
Rock's done enough Learning to know that he don't have to take shit from no fancy talkin' books. 
+1 Agility, +2 Defense, -1 Equip Weight. Not bad! 
Soon...
Tucked away in the back of the library is the big bad Byblos. Rock's got a plan for this one, starting off with an Off-Guard to soften him up.
Rock then bides his time until he gets smacked in the head by Byblos' Magic Hammer, picking up the last !Blue spell in the library. It cuts the target's current MP in half.
That still leaves Rock with half of his MP to work with - more than enough to cast Death Claw on Byblos.
By the way, Byblos isn't immune to Death Claw.
With one arm tied behind his back...
...and reducing his physical attack by being in the back row...
...in addition to not having Barehanded equipped...
...Rock finishes off Byblos' now single-digit HP, shelving whatever evil remained in the archives.
Whoops. You missed one, Rock!
And with that, the Library has been thoroughly cleared out.
ENDING LEVEL: 20
DEATHS: 0
Next Time: Rock travels across the skies, searching far and wide, to be the very best Blue Mage.