Neon White is coming at you with a third mission. This one introduces the SMG. And with it comes a new discard ability which allows you to slam down onto the ground below. Suddenly, we are doing Jumping Flash-esque platforming. This is to say that this mission is absolutely glorious. And with it comes a number of fun new ways to clear stages quickly.
As you work your way through these stages you are going to be bomb jumping, slamming down, and dashing all over the place. Those Ace medals don't come easily, but with a little direction from this guide, you will be able to claim them all without too much trouble.
Guardian
Proceed through the stage as you typically would. Once you reach the section with the demon locked in a cage, look to the left. You can use your pistol's discard ability to hop up and reach the top of the platform.
From here, use the discard ability of the assault rifle to take out the statue-esque demon in the center of the caged room. This will reveal a rather convenient trap door. Jump down here, and you will be able to continue the stage as normal.
Another sneaky little shortcut is found in the room with the demon in front of a set of stairs and a red door on the right wall. Instead of shooting the demon from a distance, run up to them and do a bomb jump by using your assault rifle's discard ability. This will launch you over the ledge and avoid having to slowly climb the stairs. This is an easy way to shave off a second and feel cool doing so.
Stomp
These shortcuts are easy to wrangle as soon as you realize that every cluster of enemies is out in the open and ready to be stomped on, and you don't suffer fall damage in Neon White. The first shortcut in this stage will be encountered once you slam down on the first group of enemies that are on the stone platform.
From here, use the machine gun discard ability to stomp down on the next group of enemies (skip the ledge that has an SMG card on it). Then, hop over the rail and stomp down on the next set of enemies below. These two skips will save you a considerable amount of time. You will effortlessly claim the Ace medal for this stage.
Jumper
Start the stage as you typically would. After you have stomped through the red trapdoor, and taken out the demon that is a giant head, you will encounter a green demon in a courtyard. Take them out and then discard your pistol to double jump over the wall. Now slam down on the enemies below you; then finish the stage normally. This is a sizable skip and will make the Ace medal easy to obtain.
Dash Tower
Continue through the stage as you typically would until you hit the second red door. Don't burst through this door. Instead, you are going to want to use the double jump to hop above it. Take a right and head straight down this path to complete the stage. You will absolutely clear the stage with time to spare.
You can shave off a little extra time by using the sniper rifle's discard ability to take out the demons in front of the red door without bursting through the door, but the spacing is extremely specific. So, you are probably better off just shooting them.
Descent
This shortcut is near the end of the stage. When you get to the last section of the stage, where there is a green demon guarding a bridge, you don't actually need to cross the bridge. Instead, you can just cross the gap using your stockpiled sniper rifle discard abilities.
That being said, it is actually worth it to grab the SMG the green demon drops, in order to have the slam ability to hit the exit quicker (as you will be quite a bit above said exit).
Driller
Continue the stage as you normally would. Eventually, you will drop down into a room that has a giant gap in the center (this is the room with the gift in it). There is a green demon across the room. Shoot the green demon and drop down into the gap.
As you are falling, use your sniper rifle's discard ability to dash into the nearby balloon demon. Bounce off of the demon and then slam down on the nearby group. This is a pretty sizable time skip and you should be able to grab that Ace medal pretty easily.
Canals
In the courtyard area, there is a demon on your right, and a demon on your left, which both have a red barrel next to them. You will have a handgun at this point. Shoot the barrel on your right, then run up to the demon on the left and shoot the barrel up close to it in order to get a bomb jump. Hop over the wall by discarding the handgun to get the necessary height to hop over. Now, continue the stage as you typically would.
At the end of the stage, when there is a run of enemies standing on archways beside red barrels, the exit will be to your right. The run ends with an enemy beside some other red barrels. You can fire on these demons from a distance and just hop across to the exit by discarding your assault rifle to bomb jump over. These two skips will buy you more than enough time to get that delicious Ace medal.
Sprint
Once you hit the section where you boost into the red barrels, launching you up to the red door, don't burst through those red doors. Instead, you are going to want to perch yourself up here and shoot the yellow demon's glass platform, then jump over toward the blue demon.
Boost through all the demons once you are aligned with their height. Now complete the stage as you normally would, and you will likely shed about five seconds from your complete time.
Mountain
The shortcut on this level is essentially just efficiency. Press the discard button the instant you have lined up the enemy below you. Nearly every enemy will be taken out with the slam discard ability here (though you will take out a few of those gigantic demonic heads with assault rifle bombs). The "hint" you unlock, is to just slam down on the final red trap door. Just make sure you take out the enemies on your left with the assault rifle discard bombs.
If you want to shave off an additional second or two, you will want to be able to do a slam higher up in the second last falling section (the one with the demon heads on your left) instead of grabbing the SMG card that is half-way down. This means you will need to save one SMG card. The best place to do this is after the second red door. There is a green demon close to the one you slam down on. Instead of slamming down on this enemy as well, shoot them and grab their SMG. Now you will have that precious extra SMG!
Superkinetic
Continue the stage as you typically would. You will eventually move through a stretch of blue demons. After this run of blue demons, you will see a green demon. Don't burst through it! Instead, you are going to want to save your sniper rifle. Now, shoot the red barrel that is beside the blue demon below you, and then shoot the green demon across the way.
After you take out both of those demons, jump to your left, over the banister, and slam down on the blue demon below. Now dash your way to the end of the stage and, if you have done everything correctly, you will have probably shaved upward to five seconds off your clear time. Congratulations, you should now have a set of ten medals from the Only Shallow group of stages. Well done!