Awakenings

I got lost in Fane. Stay above the water (once you get the chest) until you reach the cave. I barely saw this, but there was a path down into the water next to it. That leads to another cave system that's the correct path down. The only offshoot here leads to a wetsuit armor, which is great for Ryu, and the other cave has a sea stone in it. Throw that into the puddle in the first room of this cave system and go to the dead end. The Sea Dragon will be standing there. This isn't the official meeting, so he doesn't give Ryu his power. But he does give us a Salt Stone and wishes us luck. That stone is the Blessing of the Sea.

And with that, the captain will allow us to cross the only ocean in the world. Well, some of us. Sailing is hella sexist, so Nina and Ursula can't come. Ershin's fine, though. Fortunately, neither of our official females (I know...) are pushovers. They demand access and are willing to fight for it.

The captain thinks women are too weak, and they're willing to prove themselves. We hear a roar from atop the basketless crow's nest. It's our old friend Kahn! Ursula shoots him.
The captain meant fighting on said crow's nest, so Nina has a sumo match up there. We have two minutes and get bonus points for finishing fast. Jump on the guy's head and push him off. Remember to use the direction buttons to move. Nina wins, but the skipper really sucks. There is one more test.
Nina and Ursula have to spend the night at the bottom of the hull. Kahn could barely do it, and he's a man. During the night, several creepy things happen. A ghost attacks them, which they deal with with ease. Nina confuses Ursula's fox tail for a mouse, which turns into six. Finally, the rocking of the boat triggers sea lice to fall, and that almost breaks them. But they don't. Sea lice phobia aside, all of us can cross the sea!

It's not too long before our first mishap takes place. Ryu and Nina walk around the ship and end up at the bottom. Nina recalls her night, but the ship starts rocking, and we hear a knocking. Ursula almost shoots the two as they return to the deck. Everyone's aware we're under attack. But by what?

Kahn! It's our third fight against him, and this is the hardest. He has more AP and status ailments. I managed to poison him with Chlorine, and that did more damage than my team. We spent a lot of time on defense, but it was pretty manageable with the passive damage. Kahn falls into the water and drifts off. The captain believes he'll be fine.

At about the halfway mark, the wind dies. Sailors speak of a sea god who can affect the area. It's located in a cove nearby, and we head there.

The dungeon here is dark but quick. The first part is annoying as we're guided by a will-o-wisp. It changes color as we approach and look at a floor panel that could collapse on us. Go slow and hope the terrible controls don't ruin you. The second area is just dark and hard to see. The third area contains a boss that looks like the volcano god Fou killed. It fights like it too. I spammed combos all battle, and it went well if you ignore the moment Scias got one shot. Deis goes into more detail about these fake gods, expanding on what Fou thought, and we return to the ship.

The rest of the journey is peaceful, and we reach the city of Lyp! From here, we can walk across the shallow waters to eventually reach the Empire. But first, take the ship back to the ocean. It's another mini game where we get a certain amount of time to manually navigate the sea. I don't know how much is out here, but find the rocky shoals with mud in the middle of them. Stick your ship's nose in the triangle of rock, mud, and sea, and press triangle on the controller. This is the real Sea Dragon's place. Ryu gets stronger, apparently, and I'll head south from Lyp...

...tomorrow!

I feel like we're just getting started, but we're over halfway through the game. According to the chapters, at least.