Realm of the Dragon King

How to unlock
To unlock the Realm of the Dragon King, you must have finished the entire season 1 story, which ends after Wandering Lands. This is an optional region, and is not required to continue on to the season 2 story.

Go to Downtown Zoldaad, in the Zoldaad Empire, and keep heading north until you meet Evan. Talk to him and you will unlock Realm of the Dragon King in the world map.

How it works
You will start by going to the Edge of the Realm to unlock the first exploration. There are 8 explorations total, interconnected to each other in a circular manner.

The first exploration, Peaceful Stream, is located at the top, while Eternal Summit, where Bahamut resides, is located at the bottom. You can reach Eternal Summit by going west or east.

To unlock other explorations, go to that map and clear the stage by using a Tent in a predetermined campsite location. By clearing in this manner, you will clear the mission objective on the stage you ENTER, and you will unlock the stage you EXIT from. Once a campsite is set up, it remains there permanently. However, since Peaceful Stream lacks its own campsite, refrain from using the Tent before finding a campsite location.

Since the map is interconnected, unlocking a stage will provide you with a shortcut, but is not required to reach any part of the map. It's possible to reach Bahamut starting all the way from the first exploration.

Exploration maps in the Realm of the Dragon King are highly difficult. The encounter rate is much more frequent than regular exploration maps, and the enemies themselves are much stronger. You may also encounter enemies with a preemptive strike.

How to fight Bahamut

 * Bahamut stats and strategy: Eternal Summit

There are Shadow Bahamuts scattered across the exploration maps, and they will occasionally drop a Rat Tail. This item is required to fight Bahamut, one item required for one battle. The Rat Tail have to be set in your inventory. Each exploration spawns one Shadow Bahamut, but there are several spots in each map where it can spawn.

Bahamut resides in the Eternal Summit, simply walk to the summit and he will ask you for a Rat Tail. If you don't have one, or don't want to fight Bahamut, there is an option to clear the stage without fighting.

Once you have leveled Bahamut to the maximum level (30), an additional dungeon in Realm of the Dragon King, Trial of the Dragon King, will appear (Rat Tails are not required). Defeat his immensely powerful version and Bahamut will be upgraded to 2★.

Once you have leveled him to Level 40, New Trial of the Dragon King will appear with an even more powerful version of Bahamut. Defeat him and Bahamut will be upgraded to.

Quests

 * Edge of the Realm
 * Peaceful Stream
 * Bright Forest

Stats

 * Lapis:
 * Energy (Exploration): 200

Exploration Guide
While exploration provides a very large amount of EXP, several differences from previous exploration need to be considered before attempting to conquer the area:
 * Each of the 8 exploration areas harbor different monsters, but individually, each area will NOT be divided into encounter zones.
 * There are no necessary bosses. Exploration can be cleared by using a Tent at a campsite, or using the Eternal Summit exit.
 * Encounter rates are significantly higher and more numerous, and monsters are greatly stronger. Some will also have preemptive attacks. It's possible to be defeated on the first turn.
 * Compilation map.

Recommendations and strategies:
 * Bring multiple sources of Reduce Encounter and/or Spy. Encounter rates are VERY high.
 * Stay close to a chosen exit, in case all resources are exhausted, and you need to clear the dungeon immediately.
 * If you are leveling characters, do NOT to bring small unprepared teams for maximum EXP benefits.
 * Bring a reliable MP healer.
 * Bring a healer who can revive allies.
 * Most opponents can be easily defeated with Status Ailments (preferably AoE).
 * A tank with Draw Attacks can lower the risk of losing a preemptive attack.
 * It is not recommended to clear ALL or several maps in one attempt, due to extremely prolonged exploration, as well as risk of losing all progress.

Material Guide
There are two materials unique to this region, and. They are required to craft these items:

Both materials are dropped by rare enemies throughout the region. Three exploration maps to the west have unique enemies that will drop Hard Pebble while three exploration maps to the east drop Pure Stone.