Lamakan Desert

The Lamakan Desert is a desert in eastern Angara that Isaac's party travels through on their way from Lama Temple and Altin, en route to Kalay. The Lamakan Desert is renowned for being extremely hot and dry, despite being in the midst of a mostly temperate climate. Geographically, it resides in the eastern section of Angara, which is modelled off real-world east-Asian countries (such as China). As a part of Silk Road passes through this desert, it is one of the main geographic features of this region. The desert connects east Angara to west Angara via a small tunnel located at the western side of the desert. If the player, through the use of a hacking device, tries to enter Lamakan Desert in Golden Sun: The Lost Age, they will instead be transported to the entrance to Yampi Desert near Alhafra.

In Golden Sun, the desert has been overtaken by an evil presence which has caused the desert to be overwhelmed by an extreme heat, which poses a danger to Isaac's party. In-game this is represented by a temperature bar on the right hand side of the screen that slowly fills up as the player walks on the sand areas of the desert (this includes the sand waterfalls in the puzzles), which, if filled, will inflict all the characters in the players' party with a significant amount of damage. Furthermore, the desert's heat creates mirages, which conceal oases that could normally be found throughout the desert. These pools of water are vital to exploration, as entering them will reduce the thermometer back to zero, thus preventing the party from building up damage. In order to locate these springs, the player must use the Psynergy Reveal to reveal in circles of stones which can be found within the desert. Some care must be taken however, as on occasion, the circles of stones will not contain an oasis, but a difficult monster which will force the player to battle it if they were standing within the stone circle prior to casting Reveal (it is thus recommended to stand outside the circles before casing reveal, so as to avoid accidentally being attacked by these monsters).

Walkthrough
When you enter the desert, you see something to the left of your screen that is seen nowhere else in the series: A meter that measures how much heat you've accumulated. This meter fills up from top to bottom as you walk along any sandy surface in this dungeon-area, and when it reaches the top, a large chunk of each Adept's HP meter is deducted and the meter goes back down to zero. To avoid taking this damage, when walking through the sandy areas, cast the Reveal Psynergy acquired at Lama Temple around any ring of stones, and there will likely be a hidden, circular pool of water in there for you to jump into and reduce the meter down to zero. The meter will also stay at its current value whenever you walk on a rocky surface as opposed to a sandy one. Unavoidably, however, is that each time the meter rises up to one of the three quarter marks, one of Isaac's party members chosen at random will complain about the heat.

From the starting area, go up along the rocky surface until you have to step into the sandy portion to continue up, left, and down. Cast Reveal on the first circle of stones you see and make use of the hidden oasis there, and continue down and along the left. Another ring of stones hides a Psynergy Stone, and both paths north at either side of this ring lead to the same ring of stones that contain an oasis of its own. From there, go up, and when you get to a fork leading left and up, go up first to get to a dead-end with a ring of stones. These hide a chest containing the Vulcan Axe, an artifact weapon stronger than any weapon you can be holding currently and always deals Mars-based damage.

Go back down and take the right fork, but be wary of the next ring of stones you come across, for they contain a hidden pit with a monster in it called an Ant Lion, a strong and durable enemy with 400 HP that automatically attacks if you're close enough while still in "Reveal mode". Even if you defeat it in battle, the next time you cast Reveal another Ant Lion will take its place, ready to do battle. Since you can do this unlimited times, you might decide this, or other Ant Lion pits in Lamakan Desert, is a good spot for level-grinding, because it awards over 200 EXP and 400 gold whenever you land as your killing blow the offensive effect of the Mercury Djinn Sleet or Mist, and doing so also gives you a 50% chance to earn a powerful Vial each time. Funnily enough, rings containing Ant Lion pits can be crossed over entirely safely as long as you don't use Reveal around them. Proceed north to one more ring of stones that contain an oasis, then exit off the north end of the area.

The next screen is a massive desert area with lots of different circles of stones. Go immediately left to get to a circle of stones that hide a chest containing a Potion, then go west beyond that to get to a ring hiding an oasis. Northeast of that is a ring with an Ant Lion pit, then northeast of that is a ring with an oasis. Northwest of that are two conjoined rings of stones, and while the right ring hides an Ant Lion pit, the left ring hides a Jupiter Djinni, which you don't even have to battle; you will gain Smog right away. Southwest of that is a ring with an oasis, then southwest of that is a ring with a chest containing 777 Coins, and southwest of that is another ring with an oasis. Go up along the rocky surface to the left (this area has an exit off to the left), and go up beyond to get to another ring containing an Ant Lion pit, then go north beyond that to find a pair of conjoined rings, within the left of which is hidden a chest containing a Lucky Pepper. Go back down to the rocky surface to the left, go back down and soak in the oasis below that, come back up, and enter the next screen to the left.

The next screen features sandfalls and sand rivers, so run across both sand rivers you find, and go left and down. You are lead along a twisting, linear path that eventually seems to lead to a dead-end with a sandfall, but cast Reveal here to see a door behind the sandfall, and enter it. You are led through a short cave path back outside, and now go left to find another pair of sand rivers. Run across the first river, but let the second river carry you down to the lower ground, and to your immediate left is a ring of stones hiding an oasis. Bordering that to the upper left is a ring hiding an Ant Lion Pit, but bordering that to the upper right is a ring hiding a chest containing a Mint. Go right and climb back up to the elevated, rocky ground, and run across the two sand rivers again and go northwest to find another apparent dead-end with a sandfall.

Cast Reveal while standing up against the sandfall and you'll see a large monster blocking a large cave entrance, which causes Isaac to jump back a bit. While the Reveal field is still up, interact with the monster to begin the boss fight with the Manticore; the main thing of note with this boss is that this is the first boss you fight that acts multiple times each turn. After defeating the boss and getting a Psy Crystal, cast Reveal again and enter the large cave entrance, and the short cave path leads you back out into the overworld in the lower left region of Angara.

Enemies
Unlike most enemies, Ant Lions aren't fought in random encounters. Instead they hide in stone circles identical to the ones containing oases. The good news is, like the oases, they cannot be seen (or battled) unless the Reveal Psynergy is used. The bad news is that the Ant Lions have a pitfall trap similar to real life antlions, though obviously on a much larger scale; if a player strays too close (with Reveal active) they will be caught in the pitfall and be forced into battle. It is recommended that players who do not wish to battle Ant Lions remain outside of the stone circles (and therefore outside of the Ant Lion's trap) when casting Reveal.

Collectibles
Smog - Invisible, in a circle of stones beside an Ant Lion in the second, large screen of the desert. It is not fought.

777 Coins - In a hidden chest in a circle of stones in the large second screen. Lucky Pepper - In a hidden chest left of a visible Psynergy Stone. Mint: In a hidden chest in a circle of stones near the fight with Manticore. Potion - In an invisible chest on the bottom area of the large second screen. Vulcan Axe - In a chest at one end of a split path early on, hidden in a circle of stones and must be made visible with Reveal.