The Vault of Thriving is the third Vault the Apprentice enters in search of lost fragments of the Song of Myora. Located to the west of the town of Forest Region, the Vault entrance is actually impassable, blocked by a rockslide. The Apprentice must locate the nearby Cave of Thriving and enter (and exit) the Vault through there. After passing through a partially submerged tunnel in the Cave, the Apprentice comes out in the Vault of Thriving, near the interior side of the collapsed entrance to the Vault.
Interior of the Vault of Thriving
The Vault itself is composed of a single large, flooded chamber with numerous floating wooden platforms leading between partially submerged stone towers and platforms. In order to proceed through the chamber, the Apprentice must locate small coloured keystones and place them on the correct matching pedestal. Collecting these objects, however, is quite challenging due to the platforming skills needed, and there are no hint cutscenes to lead the Apprentice to the majority of keystones and pedestals.
While the wooden platforms do not sink, it can still be challenging to make the jump from platform to platform, as well as navigating the confusing and changing layouts of the level to get to each keystone and then find the way to the pedestal. It is important to remember that, like all Vaults, time does not pass while inside the Vault, so the Apprentice can take their time with careful jumps on each platform to collect the keystones and return the Song Fragment. Placing the keystone on the correct pedestal will lower a nearby door revealing a button that will lower the water level further, changing the layout of the chamber as well as revealing another keystone and pedestal, until (when the final pair of pedestals is complete) the entrance to the chamber with the Song Fragment of Thriving is revealed. The path to exit the Vault afterwards is somewhat tricky as well, as there are numerous ramps to navigate, but no further platform jumping is required to exit the Vault.
There are at least two chests in the vault hidden behind some rock and rubble. There is, however, an Everkid hiding near the collapsed entrance to the Vault.
Walkthrough
"Kazumi! Not on the-- Awww, you're gonna break it again..."
This article is full of spoilers. We cannot guarantee all spoilers are hidden, so proceed with caution!
Walkthrough for the Vault of Thriving
The Vault of Thriving is extremely confusing, and very challenging with the platform jumping across the water. The most important thing to remember is to TAKE YOUR TIME. The wooden platforms act like they're going to sink, but they are safe to stand on as long as needed.
The first section starts with a brief cutscene flythrough showing the location of the first keystone and pedestal. After that, the Apprentice is on their own. To get to the first keystone from the entrance, head forward to the end of the stone walkway, then jump across the wooden platforms to the left until reaching the next stone walkway. Head down that lane to get the keystone.
With the keystone in hand, reverse course back to the end of the current stone walkway, turn right and jump across more wooden platforms to another stone walkway. Run to the end of this one, hop across three more wooden platforms and jump onto the stone platform with the pedestal. Place the keystone and the door behind the pedestal will lower, revealing a button. Once the button is pushed, the water level will lower, revealing the next keystone.
With the water level lowered, the wooden platforms are now below the Apprentice, but never fear, the fabulous bumbershoot will slow the fall! Just jump down to the wooden platforms, then across the newly revealed stone walkway to grab the purple keystone. After grabbing the purple keystone, run to the end of the stone walkway, then jump around all the wooden platforms to another stone walkway, this time going under the arch to another set of wooden platforms, jumping past the waterfalls, until getting to the ramp. Jump on the ramp and the pedestal is directly ahead. Once again, placing the keystone opens the door to the button that lowers the water even further.
The drawn path is purple after grabbing the keystone.
Don't forget to go under the arch to get to the final set of platforms!
Now it gets tricky. With the water level lowered, the green keystone is revealed, so jump across the wooden platforms to the small stone platform the keystone is sitting on, grab it and reverse course, all the way back to the purple pedestal, and past it down the ramp, all the way to the corner marked with a green exclamation point in this screenshot (the exclamation point is not in-game, just in the screenshot).
From here, it's a straight shot down the stone walkways and wooden platforms to the yellow exclamation point. Turn left, following the stone walkway (do not go up or down any ramps), until the archway. Duck under, and start hopping the wooden platforms in a short semi-circle to another stone platform with a ramp leading up to the green pedestal. Place the keystone, hop through the open door and bounce on the button to lower the water one last time.
The exclamation point doesn't appear in the game.
Just follow those platforms around to the ramp!
As is to be expected, the final stage is twice as hard - because now the Apprentice must find two keystones. The first is actually fairly easy, just down the ramp and across the wooden platforms to grab the keystone, then reverse course back to the ramp on the other side of the water that leads up to the two pedestals.
The next two shots show the path to take to the second keystone from the two pedestals. Go down the wide walkway, bear right and climb the ramp. Jump from the top of the ramp to the small stone platform below, then hop across the wooden platforms to the archway hiding the keystone.
From the keystone, go to the end of the stone tunnel, turn left and start following the outer walkways, using wooden platforms as needed. The Apprentice will have to entirely circumnavigate the chamber like this, until returning to the wooden platforms used earlier to retrieve the first of these two keystones. Once again, climb up the ramp, place the keystone and the entrance to the Song Fragment chamber will lower.
Exiting from the Vault seems complicated, but it's really quite easy. Just go forward from the entrance to the Song Fragment chamber (between the two yellow pedestals), and go to the ramp to the right. Climb that ramp, then the next one, then cross over to the broken stone, jump up on it, and turn left to go to the entrance to the Vault chamber. Remember that the actual Vault entrance ahead is collapsed, so turn right at the four-way intersection to go back out the Cave of Thriving.
