Never ending dungeon.

Allegedly.

A man who speaks with broken English will trade knowledge of the Light Guardian for a Summon Pot in the Forbidding Ruins. The dungeon itself is one long battle that only changes when we end our turn on a stair. The Pot is in a chest on the fifth floor, but I tried to keep fighting down. I opened a chest on floor six and left. There were a few too many tanky mobs, so continuing on would be bad. Unfortunately, you have to walk the way back out, and monsters have returned. Kinda lame... But, ultimately, getting down and out isn't too hard.
Chongara tells us that Azenda Highland houses the Light Guardian. He also asks why we'd even do such an act as there's no personal gain in it. Kurkuru says it's because many people do things out of kindness and a sense of humanity. This triggers a flashback where we (the player) see Chongara treasure hunting in the Ruins. He gets trapped by mobs, but Yoshua saves him. Dad foretells Chon that Arc will one day visit him. Aid provided to the boy will be the debt repaid. He uses very flowery language. Chon tells us to spend the night, and he'll guide us to the highlands in the morning.

The battle in Azenda is against some very strong mobs. The bats can one shot weaker party members, and the stone golems aren't fond of dying. I split my team, and I probably shouldn't have. There are four chests here, but I only managed to get one. The guy in the back explodes when he reaches you... Chongara joined us for the battle, but I didn't find him to be useful. He uses the Pot we got him to call forth monsters inside. He has access to a healer and a creature that spawns floors. He's an interesting concept. You'll only be able to visit this location once, so do what you can.

We'll meet the Light Spirit, and they'll reiterate that humans suck. But if we can listen to all five Guardian Spirits' stories, then we'll save the world with the Power Stone. We then thank Chongara for his help and wish him luck in his future hunts.

Go to the sky port, and we (the player) see Cong feeling some guilt. Our main team is wondering where to go, and Gogan suggests talking to the stone. It tells us the Earth Guardian is in Amaidar. Chon rushes in and joins the group. He informs us Amaidar, Greyshinne, is home to violent, robed monks.

We (the player) see a scene with the Archmonk speaking to three subordinates. They know of our coming and believe us evil. They think we want to destroy the sacred texts. They call forth their best warrior, Iga, and demand he kills us.

The party arrives at Greyshinne and is met by an army of monks led by Iga. He doesn't kill us, but he won't let us pass. Gogan makes a deal with him, though. If Arc defeats Iga in a one-on-one fight, we can travel to the sacred mountain where the guardian lives. If Iga wins, he has to listen to us. I don't know what that last part meant, but it's not relevant. If we lose, then it's game over. Ask me how I know! I got wiped and gained a few levels. Even at 21, I still got beat. Not even close... I'll try again...

...tomorrow!

I think I'm halfway through the game, which is nice.