I was curious if it would be possible to get through the game without using weapons. And then I tried it and was disappointed that it was actually rather trivial thanks to the shop that sells mana vials for cheap.

So, I started again but with more harsh restrictions:

• No weapons unless that's the only way to progress (I needed to wield a weapon twice: once at the very beginning when you must break some planks to proceed and you start with no spells; and another time in the endgame when you're locked into using a weapon),
• No buying from shops; mages don't really have an incentive to buy anything but mana vials since no spells are sold at shops,
• No leveling anything but Intelligence and Speed; I could've banned the latter too but it would end up being a slog.

I also played through the entire endgame at the full moon meaning that the game was harder with additional enemies and fast-gained lunacy.

What's with the name and the slime

If you're wondering why "Librareater" and what's the deal with the slime avatar... I saw the avatar and made up a silly background that this character is a slime who ate a witch and thus learned their magic. And they liked the tastes of arcane mysteries so much that they went out hunting for more magic! That's it lol.

My experience with the challenge

So, early on the mana was quite a problem, there was actually a need to conserve mana using Flame Flare on tougher enemies. Flame Flare is a spell that conjures a floating flame that deals damage to enemies that stand within it. It can deal quite a lot of damage and is absolutely devastating against the crawling demons. And it only costs 15 mana per cast - extremely generous offer!

Flame Spear was also really helpful against some foes. Slimes are weak to ice damage and it took 3 casts of Ice Spear to kill one. Flame Spear only required one, even though it and the Ice version have the same damage. The reason is burning effect. Very efficient!!

I assumed that I would rely on Blood Strike more than I actually did. The thing is, it costs health instead of mana - but the lost health is gradually restored. The problem is, my strength and defense are extremely low. I'm fragile and Blood Strike won't prevent me from killing myself with it. It ended up being my alchemist tool as breaking shrooms with it is pretty safe.

There's one common thing between Lightning (the spell) and Slime Orb. Loud, obnoxious, absolutely annoying sound each time you cast one of these spells. And the spells are good! Lightning has the best element and Slime Orb has a good damage-to-mana ratio. But the sounds..... argh

Earth Strike is so funny to me. A mage in Lunacid has so many cool projectiles to shoot: a javelin of fire, lightning bolt, a blade made of wind, a funny purple skull... but you go around throwing boulders at your foes. Because past the undead-infested midgame physical damage becomes pretty consistent and Earth Strike is more mana-efficient than Lightning (it's also quieter duh). Earth magic rules!

With 5 dexterity, Barrier is absolutely annoying to use. Trying to set it up in a way that our measly slime could jump on it (climbing isn't an option ofc) often takes more time than stacking coffins even with the slime's lacking health reserve! I rushed Rock Bridge after beating Crilall. Rock Bridge is so much better.

Summons may seem like they should be fairly mana-efficient. Nah. Their damage doesn't scale with stats so... my 80 intelligence goes to waste when each cast takes away 120 mana. Summons are better on warriors honestly.

AoE spells. Pick any game and they will always be awesome. In Lunacid, these spells aren't truly AoE. They can't damage more than one target per tick. I don't know why. BUT! They are still awesome because they have huge damage and they deal it a few times for its duration. Flame Flare is the earliest one found but it's far from the best. Here's the list, starting from the worst:

• Fire Worm and Poison Mist. Garbage. Fire Worm creates a line a flame but it rarely can hit more than one enemy and the damage-to-mana ratio is actually worse than Flame Spear. Poison Mist meanwhile is literally the worse Flame Flare. Double the mana cost, lower damage, worse damage type. Why?..
• Blue Flame Arc. In theory it's "create a fiery barrier around yourself preventing incoming attacks while dealing a good damage". In practice it's "surround yourself with damaging fire while enemies have just enough reach to hit you through it". Disappointing.
• Tornado - extremely unique but also really hard to use. Tornado pulls everyone in - including you! It doesn't damage you at least but it will pull towards your enemies which is not ideal. Also it's an extremely late-game spell.
• Lava Chasm. This one's really weird. It creates a pool of lava and deals fire damage - that's understandable. What's weird about it is that it blocks enemy's pathfinding for some reason. Enemies just treat the center of it as a wall. It's also another extremely late-game spell in the list.
• Ice Tear. The most OP thing in the entire game. If I was less interested in challenge, I would just use it for the entire second half of the game (yes, you can pick it up midway through the game!). I didn't but it did help through a few tough moments. Particularly, Sanguis Umbra... (see the next spell)
• Moon Beam. It might not be as OP as Ice Tear but I absolutely love this spell. It's just so cool. But getting it is... oof. Killing Sanguis Umbra for the third book is such a pain. This boss is the worst designed enemy in the whole game. It will disappear for half a minute and then suddenly reappear behind you and one-shot you. I checked, even very tanky characters die from this attack in a bit more than a second. I cheesed this boss with Ice Tear. I'm not ashamed. Fuck this bullshit.

The final boss was surprisingly hard. I consumed every earth elixir in the game and yet he could kill me in two swings. My solution is Quick Stride + Moon Beam. Quick Stride improves my move speed - by a lot! I was just running around the arena, absolutely unharmed, while beams of holy lunar light kept burning his flesh. His health was melting extremely fast. He stood no chance.

Conclusion

While this playthrough had its hard moments it ended up proving to me that a mage in Lunacid is insanely strong. You can put even more restrictions on it like no leveling speed or no healing - as long as you can boost your intelligence and use your mana you are gonna be incredibly powerful.