Shortcut to the Castle Circuit Underground

A good start works miracles in Castle Circuit. If you manage to take the shortcut to the underground area, you’re basically golden. It is a lot harder to get lost in the underground , there are tons of boosters and most corners are more forgiving. 

To get there, take a left after the first ramp, then after a right turn take the small ramp to jump into the fenced-off area. When taking the corner to the right before this small ramp, it’s important to go at a controlled speed. Go too quickly and you’ll likely miss the ramp, but even if you don’t you’ll fly over the fenced-off area. Go too slowly and you’ll ram into the front of the fence.

Rest of the Race and Checkmarks

Assuming you made the shortcut to the underground, you can take it pretty easy. The optimal path is to go right when you can and stay on top, but it’s no big deal if you fail. Stuck for a few seconds in a corner? Also not a big deal. If you missed the shortcut in the first lap, restart, but if not just keep going.

Each lap you take the shortcut successfully can be finished in a minute or less, even with some setbacks. You need to finish 5 laps in 5 minutes and 30 seconds to complete the Mirage Arena Mission. That gives you an extra 30 seconds of leeway. That means you shouldn’t immediately quit the race even if you miss the shortcut in later laps, as long as you have more at least 1 minute per lap remaining.

The Rapid Racer Trophy

You may think that the Rapid Racer Trophy is more difficult than the Mirage Arena mission for Castle Circuit. In my experience, this is not the case.

It may look like that because it is hard to stay in first place even if you do make the shortcut, but there is a reason for this. The game makes sure you can’t get ahead of your opponents too much during most of the race, regardless of how well you do. This is to make sure the race stays suspenseful. If this is good design or not is not something we’ll get into here 🙂

This system weakens in the last lap and collapses during the second half of the last lap. If you get the shortcut there, you can win. This makes that unlike with the Mirage Arena Mission, the last lap rather than the first one is vital here.

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Melding Thunder Surge Recipes

To Meld a Thunder Surge in Birth By Sleep, you need to combine a Thundara with one of these commands:

• Freeze Raid
• Stun Edge
• Confusion Strike

If you don’t have a Thundara available and they are not in the shop yet, you can Meld Thunder + Thunder to get one. At least one of the other ingredients will be available in the shop for a low price early in the game. Remember that you will need to level both commands before you can Meld them together.

Getting More Thunder Surges

You can either Meld all the Thunder Surges you want or Meld one to unlock it in the shop and buy the others. Terra can also find a Thunder Surge in a chest in Radiant Garden, in the Fountain Court (past the Castle Town Savepoint). This will unlock the command in the shop as well, so technically he doesn’t need to Meld one at all.

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The Best Place To Get Abounding Crystals

The best place to get Abounding Crystals in Birth By Sleep is Radiant Garden. Go past the Castle Town Save Point (near Merlin’s House) and through the Fountain Court to reach the Aquaduct.

Here, in the water, you’ll find 3 Mandrakes (plant-like Unversed that shoot circle-ish Wind attacks). Mandrakes have a modest chance of dropping Abounding Crystals.

Getting your first Abounding Crystal can be a bit frustrating. After that, however, you can Meld Blizzard + Blizzard with an Abounding Crystal to get your first Lucky Strike. Even though you can have up to 5 Lucky Strikes, even a single one makes a big difference in getting crystals faster.

If you are further along in the game and have maxed out Pete’s D-link, this will further boost your odds. Pete has Steal at Level 2, allowing you to occasionally steal enemies when hitting them.

Alternative Ways of Getting Crystals

1. If you haven’t spent them yet on random Melds, there are some Abounding Crystals in Chests:Terra: A) Disney Town Raceway, second level B) Deep Space Launch Deck (with Gravity on), C) Neverland, Rainbow Falls: Crest
   Ventus: A) Deep Space Durgon Transporter B) Neverland Gully
   Aqua: A) Disney Town Raceway, second level B) Deep Space Turo Prison Block, West Wall
2. You can also find Mandrakes in Neverland’s Indian Camp or the Keyblade Graveyard (inside of the Tornadoes). This is, however, a bit less consistent and also much later in the game.
3. Axe Flappers actually have a higher chance of dropping Abounding Crystals than Mandrakes do, but you encounter them randomly rather than at set locations.
4. If you like the Mirage Arena Battles or Command Board, you can also buy them for 400 Medals. Note that the Mirage Arena also has exclusive items you’ll need to complete your reports. These add up to 8640 Medals. As you need to earn 9999 Medals to Platinum the game, you do have some leeway. Spend them too frivolously, however, and it may slow down your progress.

How Many Abounding Crystals Do I Need?

That depends on what your goal is. Most players will prioritize the previously mentioned Lucky Strikes, with EXP Walker being a close second. Those add up to 6 Abounding Crystals. If you want to platinum the game (or at least the reports, but honestly, it’s the bulk of the platinum process), you’ll want 10:

• 5 Crystals for Lucky Strikes (Blizzard + Blizzard)
• 3 Crystals for Link Prize Plus (Fire + Fire)
• 1 Crystal for EXP Chance (Fira + Fira)
• 1 Crystal For EXP Walker  (Blizzard + Aero)

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