ElfLand

A man from Pravoka mentions ElfLand across the sea to the south, so that should be your new destination once you have the SHIP.

Castle of Elf

Like Coneria, ElfLand features a Castle separate from the town. There isn't much to find at Castle of Elf at this point beyond information. You'll find the sleeping Elf Prince who has the mystic KEY you need, but you'll need to go through a long and involved fetch quest to wake him up and retrieve it. The elves in the castle inform you that you need Matoya's HERB to wake him. You will also hear about the Dwarf Cave.

There is a hidden treasure room northeast of the main castle body. To reach it, head east and north from the entrance, hugging the walls as closely as possible. Unfortunately, the room is locked with the mystic KEY, so you won't be able to grab the loot inside just yet.

ElfLand

If you thought Pravoka's new gear was high-priced, prepare for a real shock. ElfLand has spells and equipment with prices up to 4,000 G (!). Don't think you need to buy everything right away—ElfLand will be your base of operations for some time to come. You likely won't be able to cast the 4,000 G level 4 spells for several levels anyway.

ElfLand has the most complete item shop in the game, featuring everything you've seen previously (except TENTS), with the addition of the SOFT Potion and HOUSE. You won't run into Stone for some time yet, but HOUSES are useful at any time. They are the only way to restore spell slots outside of town, but they come at the very high price of 3,000 G. Due to a bug in the game, when you use a HOUSE the game saves before your MP are restored, so make sure to always follow up a HOUSE with a TENT or CABIN.

You will find various important hints in ElfLand throughout the game, but for now you will only hear about the Castle to the northwest.

New Equipment

There is a ton of very nice, but very expensive, gear for sale in ElfLand. There are a number of weapon upgrades you'll want to take advantage of. Your Bl.BELT will benefit from the Iron Nunchuck until at least level 7, and perhaps for another level or two before fighting Unarmed becomes strictly superior. The Large Dagger is an upgrade for your Bl.MAGE, but you'll find one in the Marsh Cave so you may want to skip it for now. THIEVES will want a Sabre, though they are expensive at 450 G.

There is a weapon upgrade for FIGHTERS and RedMAGES here, but it will cost you: the Silver Sword costs a whopping 4,000 G, but it is worth every penny. It's up to you to decide whether it's worth spending the time to save up the money, but even if you do want this incredible sword (which I recommend against; see the sidebar), it's probably not worth going out of your way for just yet.

There is a lot of new armor in ElfLand. The Iron Shield and Wooden Helmet are solid (and relatively cheap) upgrades for your FIGHTER, and the Iron Armor from Pravoka is available here as well. However, the most interesting upgrades are intended for your lightly-armored warriors.

Caps are cheap, and you should give them to anyone who doesn't have one, similar to Gloves. The Copper Bracelet is another story. Bracelets are typically weak and expensive, but they have low Evade penalties and are usable by every class. You'll find a Copper Bracelet for free in the Marsh Cave, but if you have multiple lightly armored mages, you'll want at least Copper Bracelets for all of them in the long run. They don't come cheap at 1,000 G though. You can also replace any Wooden Armor to gain 7% to Evade, but this probably isn't worth the cost until you're quite a bit richer.

Spell Selection

Filling every available spell slot in ElfLand will cost a whopping 16,500 G per mage, so you'll have to ration your spell selections. The good (bad?) news is that there are a lot of very useful spells for sale here. Wh.MAGES and Bl.MAGES gain access to their first level 3 MP at level 5, with RedMAGES following a level later. Level 4 spells don't become available to Wh.MAGES and Bl.MAGES until level 8, and RedMAGES at level 10.

Level 3 Spells

FIR2 and LIT2 are both available at this level, and both are valuable spells. LIT2 is useful while sailing on the SHIP, while FIR2 is better against the Undead you'll be encountering in the Marsh Cave. LOK2 is bugged and doesn't work, but HOLD is a decent spell to fill out the level.

Wh.MAGES have a much tougher time deciding on spells. HRM2 is of immediate use, and should not be missed. CUR2 and HEAL fill similar roles, and which you take is mostly a matter of preference. Keep in mind that HEAL can potentially heal a lot more HP than CUR2, but only if the whole party has been hurt. AFIR is an important spell, especially later when tracking down the Fiend of Fire., so make sure to pick that up as well.

RedMAGES are hard-pressed to decide on level 3 spells. If you don't have a Bl.MAGE, both FIR2 and LIT2 are important. RedMAGES can't learn HRM2 or HEAL, which makes your choices a bit easier, but you'll still have to forego at least one useful spell.

Level 4 Spells

Level 4 spells are mostly quite uninspiring, with the exception of FAST. FAST is the best use of 4,000 G you can find at this point (including the Silver Sword), as it will be a staple spell in boss fights for the entire game. ICE2 isn't bad either, but you don't need it urgently. CONF is rarely worth a spell slot (but is fun to cast for free with the Wizard Staff late in the game), and SLP2 is very limited since monsters always wake up on their very next turn.

Level 4 white magic is even worse. AICE is very useful in the Ice Cave, but none of the other spells are very good. AMUT cures Silence, but that presupposes that a.) the party was hit with MUTE, b.) a mage was affected by Silence, and c.) the mage with AMUT was not affected. That's pretty unlikely. PURE is useful enough, but you can (and probably should) buy 53 PURE Potions for the price of learning it. FEAR is fun, and a key spell to certain low-experience challenges, but since monsters that run yield no experience or G, it isn't a spell you ever want to rely on.

The good news for RedMAGES is that their choices are easy for once. Learn FAST and ICE2, then whichever other spell seems most useful (perhaps AICE?).