Seiken Psycho Calibur/Area 3

A) Area 2 B) "Don't be afraid of hell." C) Shop: 100 Bread: 120, 3 Feuru Leaves: 50, 3 Trent Fruit: 50 D) "A tunnel is hidden to the south." E) Broken translation F) Blue Tear Stone G) To Pyramid H) To Village

Learn about your environment
Once you enter the desert, you are immediately at risk. The harsh desert environment will begin to drain your health. In addition, you will find pockets of quicksand scattered throughout the desert. If you fall in most of these pockets, you will be instantly transported back to the start of Area 1. However, a few pockets of quicksand actually hide secret entrances. You will encounter some new enemies, and most will not present a new threat. However, when it comes to the blue insects known as Dagunieru, you're better of leaving them alone. They are not indestructible, but they have so many hit points (more than even the final boss!) that it's not even worth bothering trying to fight them.

Take care of yourself
There is only one item which can protect you from the desert harmful effects: the Lotus Leaf. And the only creatures in possession of the Lotus Leaf are the Dwarves. The trick is figuring out how to convince them to give one to you. Dwarves love juicy apples. So drop one in front of the first Dwarf that you encounter (the closest ones are near the tent labeled C on the map). When a Dwarf touches the apple, the screen will flash, all of the enemies will disappear, and the Lotus Leaf will be available to you. Once you have it, you will no longer lose energy while you roam the desert. The next thing to do is head up to the spring of recover to the north (labeled 1 on the map). Approach it from the right and stand on the dock to immediately restore all of your health. You may do this as often as you like.

Journey to the Pyramid
The next destination is the pyramid entrance, labeled 2 on the map. You'll need to travel south until you can access the entrance to the right, and travel back up. On your way to the pyramid, you'll want to explore one particular quicksand location. The location in question is the left-most quicksand on the second screen up (labeled F on the map). This particular quicksand is hiding the home of a man who will give you a free blue tear stone. If you didn't do the Force training at the start of the game, you will absolutely need to collect this stone to reach the next area. Head up one more screen to find the entrance to the pyramid.

Conquer the Pyramid
You won't obtain anything of vital importance in the pyramid. It's just an opportunity to fight a boss and earn more blue tear stones, which are required in order to reach the next area. There are two locations of interest in the pyramid. The first one, labeled 3 on the map, is another recovery location. By traveling to the top of the pyramid, and standing on the gold tile in the center of the spiral, you will recover all of your health. The other location, labeled 4 on the map, is the location of the pyramid boss, the Gobludo. This boss bounces around in a rather small chamber, which makes it slightly more likely that you will be successful hitting it with the small Cherry Bomb explosion and putting it to sleep. It is invulnerable to the Dragora Fang, so you will have no choice but to attack with your sword. If you like, you can summon Pipi and throw your sword at it, but you will still need to high degree of health to survive the battle. Once you defeat it, it will drop two blue tear stones. Then you can leave.

Locate the village
Once you're done with the pyramid, head to the spot labeled 5 on the map. The pocket of quicksand labeled H on the map is actually a secret tunnel to the village that lies beyond the desert. It is a one-way trip, and although you will eventually return to this area when the time is right, be sure that you are ready to advance to the village before stepping in the quicksand. A) Shop: 3 Cerry Lamps: 80, 3 Feuru Leaves: 40, 100 Bread: 80 B) "Without protection, the desert will drain your power" C) "You still have a long way to go." D) "The scarf from the south is cursed."

Climb the starry-sky path
After passing through the quicksand, you will find yourself at the bottom of the hidden village. There's not much of value here, although if you haven't obtained any Cherry Lamps by this time, you'll want to purchase some, even though they are sold at an inflated price. When you are finished in the village, head north through the path in the upper right corner, and start your journey along the starry-sky path. This path winds through six screen, along very narrow trails where you will be forced to encounter several enemies along the way. Fight your way through them until you reach the end of the path where you will encounter the boss Scornpede. Unlike Gobludo, the Scornpede is vulnerable to the Dragora Fang, which means you can employ the same strategy that you used against the two headed lizard that was guarding Pipi: Stand in the entrance and throw the Dragora Fang over and over until Scornpede is defeated. It is slow, but you stand no risk of getting hurt. Alternatively, you can try a more direct approach.

When the Scornpede is defeated, it will drop one blue tear stone. If you collect this one, and if you have obtained every blue tear stone available prior to this one, your Force meter should be at level 8. If it is not, and you didn't do the Force training at the start of the game, you missed a blue tear stone, possibly the one hidden in the desert mentioned above. If you do have 8 bars, you should now have access to the Ice Sword. Switch to it on the status screen, and summon Pipi, and fire an ice beam at the wall in the arch. This will open the path to Area 4. When you are ready (and have Cherry Lamps) head inside.