The Sages of Fire and Earth
Isaac has got the hang of the Duo Rune. The Master of the Curtain Mist tells him it will greatly increase the magic he can use, and that many Runes are hidden around the world, waiting to be found and combined.
The Master must stay to repair the shattered Water Seal. He tells them where the next Sages live: the keeper of the Wand of Fire at Blaze Lake, and the keeper of the Wand of Earth far to the west, in the Goldsand Dunes. They are probably being controlled too. Before Isaac leaves, the Master teaches him a special Water Rune, useful against Fire.
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What Leonard knows
During a battle Leonard appears again, and Trista worries about her hair. He tells Isaac that the Duo Rune does more than strengthen his magic: combining spells also makes difficult monsters easier to catch. After the battle he teaches him one of his favorite Runes, the Dark Rune, which weakens an enemy.
Isaac asks why Leonard helps him, and whether he knows some secret about the world, since he once said that monsters are created by humans. Leonard answers that he only wants to draw out Isaac's potential, and that he has studied monsters more than any other Mage. When Isaac admits he hoped Leonard knew something about his father, Leonard tells him his father is alive and waiting for him to grow strong. Isaac is now sure that Leonard knows him.
The road is finished
After another battle, Isaac finds the village quiet. Natsu has been waiting for him: the road is finally finished, everyone celebrated the night before and they are all still asleep. Now people can travel to other villages again.
Natsu wants to become a Mage like Isaac and travel the world. Isaac tells her that if she holds on to hope no matter what, one day she will make that journey, and asks her to thank her father for him.
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The gates of Runedolf
There are many monsters on the road: even with the road repaired, those who cannot use magic still cannot travel safely, and the Mana of the grasslands is drying up. Purifying is not enough; they must cut the problem off at its source. Trista has heard that many survivors are hiding in Runedolf, a well-protected town to the north, and they go there for information.
At the gates of the fortified city they meet Leonard. Beyond the town lies the Balance Temple, where the Bishop of the White Night protects the Seal. The gates are sealed against the monsters, and only someone recognized as a Sage by the Sages of the four base elements, Earth, Water, Fire and Wind, can pass. Isaac does not lose heart: his father has not given up and entrusted him with his Wand. Leonard calls him keeper of the Light and says he believes Isaac will bring light back to the world.
The battle on the road has two alternative versions; both lead to the same conversation.
Blaze Lake
A mage who calls himself the mighty Brigand Wizard blocks the way: he is the brother of the bandit Isaac beat, and wants revenge. Isaac defeats him too, but while he is busy fighting, the Lord of the Summer Haze takes Trista and challenges Isaac to come and get her at Blaze Lake.
After more battles Isaac reaches the lake. The Lord of the Summer Haze admits that Trista means nothing: taking her was only a way to lure Isaac and make the fight more exciting. Isaac wins and Trista is safe.
Free of the Diva's control, the Sage of Fire, whose magic is the most offensive of all, admits having relied too much on power. The Sage gives Isaac a Fire Rune and advises him to use every Rune, not only the ones he is good at, then stays to repair the damaged Fire Seal and sends Isaac west, to the Goldsand Dunes.
If Isaac went to the Goldsand Dunes first, some lines change. If he went while Trista was captive, she scolds him for taking so long; if he went before she was taken, the Sage of Fire mentions the Sages of Water and Earth he has already beaten. In both cases Isaac is not sent to the Dunes. Localization note: the English text calls this Sage Lord; the Spanish text treats the character as a woman. This reading does not mark it.
Seele, the Prophet of Sands
On the way into the Goldsand Dunes, Isaac meets Seele, the Prophet of Sands, pupil of the General of the Gravel Stone, keeper of the Wand of Earth. The Diva defeated the General and controls him; with his last strength he enclosed himself in a sandstorm and entrusted its seal to Seele. She sees the end of human rule and the birth of a world of monsters, fated by the Creator, and will not let Isaac pass.
Trista is unsettled by her look of someone who sees everything. Isaac thinks she also looks sad, and wants to know why she has closed her heart.
Isaac visits her again. Only one line of answers convinces Seele: Isaac rejects that they must live bound by the Creator's word, and then admits that he can do nothing alone and needs everyone's help, although he can still bring people a little hope. Then Seele weakens the barrier of the storm and lets him into the Dunes. With other answers she refuses, and tells him, for example, that wanting power or revenge goes against what his Master taught him.
The first visit depends on the order. Before Trista is taken, Seele explains all this herself. Once Trista has been taken, Seele only says Isaac has more pressing matters and should come back later; the General's story then comes out in later conversations. Whether Isaac can try again after a refusal is not confirmed by the sources.
The General of the Gravel Stone
In the Dunes Isaac discovers that the desert is beach sand, and wonders whether it was all under water once. While they search for the General, Isaac asks Trista how she knows so much about the Sages; before she can answer, the ground shakes. The General appears, still controlled, and accuses them of killing his pupil Seele.
Isaac defeats him. Unlike the others, the General kept his awareness while controlled. Isaac asks whether Seele is right and the world is fated to be destroyed. The General answers that Isaac has just changed his fate: the future is not fixed, and Seele only sees what is most likely to happen. He teaches Isaac his Earth Rune as proof of his victory.
If Isaac reaches the Dunes before Blaze Lake, Trista explains that the Creator raised the continent from the sea, and at the end the General warns that the Lord of the Summer Haze has the most powerful attack magic. If he goes while Trista is captive, he faces the General alone, and the General reminds him that someone is waiting for him.
The keeper of the Wand of Wind
With Water, Fire and Earth behind him, Isaac says they only need to find the Sage of the Wand of Wind. Trista cannot believe it: she is the Wind Caller Priestess, the keeper of the Wand of Wind. Didn't she tell him?
Isaac protests that she doesn't look anything like a Sage, and Trista threatens not to teach him any Wind Runes. After an apology that does not quite convince her, she grants him the power of Wind: a Rune of slicing blades of wind.
This conversation closes whichever of the two quests Isaac finishes last.