Part 1: Explanations
Part 2: Shilla Legends


Getting out of the Volcano
After all the stuff in the last section, you should now have a stash of money in your bank built up with money from Odin, like 100 Million. Always useful for recovery, or helping other people out. But right now, money isn't an issue anymore. It's the experience that's becoming more of an issue, and in the Volcano, you only get this much exp. You'll definately want to move on to the Canals, and after that, to the Clouds. That's where the good exp is. But before you can make such a big jump, you're going to have to do some upgrades. Training in the Hatchling or Young Red Dragon level is sort of boring, so I'll teach you everything about Speciality guilds, something I've waited with, because I wouldn't want you to do the quests all in vain, if you had to drop it all anyways because you wanted the Scepter. Now is a good time to choose which speciality you want to follow. I would stick with the speciality you choose, since then you'll only have to do the quests one time, and you will certainly get improved fighting skills. First of all, there's the Ranger Guild. I wouldn't try it, and you might've had it already. The best weapon there is the Silver Throwing Daggers (STD, 5500 avg damage, 5% misses). Then there's the Staff Guild, which is located in the Draconian Lair. Go to the spell shop, but instead of Southeast, go Northeast, then East. The strongest weapon is the Steel Banded Staff (SBS, 7375 avg damage, 20% misses, uses lots of fatigue). I personally wouldn't join this one because the strongest weapon kind of sucks. it has good damage, but that's not important anymore. The miss rate and the fatigue usages are really crappy, so I'd stay away from it. Then there's the Axe Guild, East of the Weapon Shop in the Dwarven Stronghold. The strongest weapon there is the Giant War Axe (GWA, 8300 avg damage, 20% miss rate, enormous fatigue usage). Stay away from the Axe Guild, seriously. Unless you want your Dwarf or Ogre to fit with it, or something. The GWA might be the strongest weapon in damage, in whole shilla ever, but it's miss rate and fatigue usage are horrible, and the guild quests don't compensate much. Who would want to miss 80 attacks every time? Then there's the Club Guild, located in the Orc Outpost. From the entrance, it's N, E, N, E, N, N, E (x3). The best Club us the Scepter of Alura Dhir (Scepter, 6000 avg damage, 5% misses, decent fatigue usage). This is a good guild to join, as the Scepter already has a very low miss rate, and with the quests you can eventually have a no-miss weapon. The fatigue is pretty low, and as for the damage, it's one of the lower ones, but it gets compensated by the other things. And you can always up your grope to do more damage. Then there's the Swords Guild. It's located in the Draconian Lair. From the Lower Volcano Teleport head Up, E(x5), N, E(x3), N, NE. The best weapon is the Frosted Saber (Saber, 6800 damage, 20% miss rate, low fatigue use, +10% critical hits). It's a very good speciality to join, since the Frosted Saber is probably the best weapon in shilla, because of it's all-round abilities. It's damage is just good, it has low fatigue useage which makes it comfortable for training, it does have a 20% miss rate, but you can lower this up to 5% if you do all the quests, and it already starts out with 10% critical hits, which you can beef up with several percent too. The final result would be a weapon that does good damage, has 5% misses, 15% critical hits, and low fatigue useage. Especially the critical hits you'll love. Then lastly, there's the Thief's Dagger Guild, which you can only do if you're a Thief. You can still change to a Thief if you want. It's located in the Halfling Shire: From the center, head all Northeast. The best weapon is the Skulped Dirk (Dirk, 8050 damage, 20% miss rate, low fatigue). It's a good guild, but it's also the only weapon guild for Thiefs. You can get 5% misses with alot of quests, and the damage is already high for the Dirk. The fatigue is low as well, so it's possibly the best weapon, tied with Frosted Saber. Make your choice, but whatever you do, stick with it. I would go for Frosted Saber, Scepter, or if you're a Thief, the Dirk. How to get those weapons? Well, the Scepter's easy from the EE, the Dirk is already alot harder, and gotten from King Valhostro, the strongest creature in Atlantis, with a bad drop rate. That means getting a bunch of scrolls and hope for the best. And the Frosted Saber is forged, but you need a Mythril Buckler from Odin. It doesn't matter what race or whatever. Just get a bunch of scrolls, and what you don't need, you can always sell. Ask for a Raw Imp from one of the higher players. Then start doing the quests, and I can tell you it'll definately be worth it. After having done everything you can already, it's time to check on areas again. you should be alot closer to the Canals already .. if you can 1-rd it, then great. If not, train a bit more on Young Red Dragons.. you'll get there soon.
As a Mage, you won't really get much of a boost now, unless you've got to do alot of Mana Weaponeer quests. However, you've still got your Ferrule, and basically, you've already gotten more boosts than fighters have had. You just got them sooner, too.


Lengthy areas: Canals & Clouds
When you get to the Canals, you can congratulate yourself, because that's already one of the better areas in shilla, and while alot of people make it to the Volcano, alot less make it out of it, so that's an accomplishment on itself. The Canals has three parts, actually, although it basically doesn't really make much of a difference in experience, if you check the Creature Reward Page. Train with the Alligators/EE/Terror Rats, and you'll get Bbq Rat Toes, a nice food, that weights alot however (2.5 Str). I suggest you don't pick it up, and use Yellow Snow Cones, bought in the Catacombs. That saves you quite some time, and you'll get faster exp. Spend your exp mostly on Dex, which you'll need to get to the Clouds. Dex is really important in this stage of the game. Later on you'll want to boost Str & Con too, manly to level up in the guilds, but right now you'll need the attacks. As for some distraction.. there's not much left to do, actually. There's one quest you can try, although you really need a bunch of Wis and Int to do it. You'll need 2000 of each, I believe, although I'm not entirely sure on the Wisdom part. Then you'll get sent to the druid Temple by the Mayor (west of the Druid Valley Crossroads), and there you'll get the quest to save the princess. She's held captive in the Ice Palace, which is located in the Glacier. Use the Quest Page for the directions to the Ice Palace, and the Ice Palace Map to get around there. It can be tricky to find. Also, be sure to have a scroll that can do 11 million damage. Just one will be enough. Walk to the very top, where you'll encounter the Storm Giant. Use the 11 mil life scroll on him, and he'll be toast. Rescue the Princess, and get 600 mil exp and 60 QP. It's not alot, but it's a slight boost, and it was a good distraction. Now you'll just have to get back to training.. you've done alot already.
When you've boosted enough dex, you might want to check out the Clouds. You can try the other sections of the Canals too, but that doesn't really help. In the Clouds, there's generally one problem: The valkyries have tough armor, so you'll always need more attacks for them. There's a solution, but it's not surefire: You can try and rent a Helm of Seeing from the Rental Shop, which will give you quite alot more critical hits, and still the 200 Str the Dwarven Helm gives. Great Helm. It might just help you to 1-rd the Valkyries. However, you can only ren it for 3 days, and then you'll have to wait. Or maybe you can't even rent it. So you have to be lucky. Still, it's a nice trick nonetheless. You can try that for all future areas. Also, when you start training in the Clouds, always have like 5 Pegasus Wings (unless you're a Pixie or Avian). That way, if you accidentally eat a few, you won't be dead. And that's pretty much everything there's to say about the Clouds. The area that comes after this one is the Desert, but there's a few problems there too.. Oh, and if you manage to get 12.5k WS you can receive E-rings. At 13k you can receive the fabulous Eye of Ra (+300 Dex, +300 Int, +300 Wis).. although not many people have spares of such a rare treasure.


The Desert, Lack of Lower Volcano & River Monsters
The Desert has three cretaure groups, but it's sort of hard to stay in the same group. Furthermore, you wouldn't want to train if it's cold or hot, since that damage can get really harsh, and you'll want to have an Eye of Ra (EoR). Searching for one can take really, really long, so ask nicely in chat if someone has one you could have (or borrow). Dying with it isn't a very good idea either. If you can't get an EoR, you can always try the Desert with an Ankh, which reduces the Desert Heat by 50%. It's not full protection, but at least it's something. But once you're in the Desert, it's really nice exp for sure. Also, be sure to have a Compass (from the Maze) so you can stay in a creature group. You'll be here for a long time too, because the Lower Volcano has really tough armor. There's one more trick up your sleeve though, and you can actually use it more than once. You can change align, and I'm sure you know that by now. However, it goes with pain and effort, and I haven't let you done it before because once you do it, the longer you'll have to wait before you can change again. The day you create your character, you already have to wait a month (=4 weeks) before you can change again. But if you change once, from the day you do that, you'll have to wait 4 weeks + 2 or 4 weeks. I'm not sure, but I think there's 2 weeks, or 4 weeks added. So change wisely! Don't even bother changing to go to the Lower Volcano, since it's just not worth it. No.. your next goal is the follow-up on Black Dragons .. *gasp*. The River Monsters. To be strong against them, you'll need to be Earth Align. You can change your Align in the Maze. Randomly at the dead ends, shrines will appear rarely. You must seek out the Earth Shrine, and change. Then you'll have a good boost towards the River Monsters, that are found in the River west of the Ocean. There is also another way to find the Shrines, and perhaps that way is alot easier. In the Catacombs, you can also teleport instantly to one of the 4 Shrines. Just get to the third level, and align the four statues to face the middle. Use the Catacombs Map to get your way around there. On the spots where the statues are, a (very, very strong) creature will appear, so run away from it to make the statue visible. Check the colors of the robe, or use the Map page for info. When you've done all 4 statues, head to the middle (run away from the creature there), and step in the middle. If it doesn't bring you to the Shrine you want to get at, you'll have to get out of the Maze and try again. The statues will be in the same position though. If you need to beat the Limbo Keeper or Salena easily, here's also your chance to do it.
You ALWAYS need to wear a Mermaid Scale in the Ocean, so EQUIP it. Buy one from the jewelry shop in the Dwarven Stronghold if you lost it (if you didn't lose it, give yourself a small applause). You probably won't 1-rd the River Monsters right away when you've changed, although it would be awesome if you did. Train more on Skeleton Mages and Raiders, Green Dragons and other species in the Desert. Then move to the River Monsters. You'll be stuck there for an eternity, so no hurries. One other thing that can help you with getting to River Monsters is renting the Shining Scale. This will also let you swim in the Ocean, just like a normal Mermaid Scale, but it adds +150 Str and +150 Int. It's good for both fighters and mages. But BEWARE! Bring it back when you're done fighting for the day. If the rental date expires, and you're still in the Ocean, you will drown instantly when logging in. So you've been warned.
You can also think of getting Groping Carnage Rings (GCR for short, +300 Str, +300 Con), from Phanganon in the Catacombs. Although they're not really better than Ice Rings, they save you attacks when you're already attacking a creature, since they give more grope, and that saves attacks. Phanganon has 13 million life, if you want to scroll him. The GCR's can also help you getting the life for Fighter Guild Quests.

Move on to the Shilla Legends "Guide".