New and unfunded on Scania, some questions.

Lodesamonie

So I'm trying to participate in Monster Collection as I play, attempting to register each monster I grind on before moving on to the next monster. By my count I've killed over 300 Spores and 50 Mano's on Maple Island (started as an Explorer, going for a Bishop as my first character), and have yet to get either of them registered. Is it a fixed number you have to kill? Is it random? What is the exact rate/percentage?

Also, a rather simple question, but what are the optimal spots to grind/farm for money as I slowly work my way through the levels. I'd like to have some decent starting funds by the time I reach 70 and hit Priest. I haven't played in a long time, but back then I would do King Slime PQ from 20-30 (hoping for shoes), Carnival PQ from 30-50 (saving up for a necklace), and Ludibrium Maze from 50-70. And I didn't get much from that.

What enemies have drops that can auction or vendor for decent Mesos at the low levels? When is the earliest I can start doing dailies and selling the rewards?

AKradian

Regarding Monster Collection: It's not a fixed number of kills. The exact rate of collection is not known, but lower level monsters are much easier to collect than high level ones.
The Spores of Maple Island aren't in the Monster Collection. Only the Shrooms of Victoria Island are. They look the same but they don't have the same name, so they can't register for the Monster Collection.
As for the Mano on the boat, I am not sure why it's not registering, but Mano does spawn on Victoria Island, so you'll be able to collect it there.

I recommend forgetting everything you think you know about the game, as it's likely wrong now. For example, you become a Priest at level 60, not 70. Also, you don't need to put any AP into LUK. Just use Auto-Assign to put it all into INT.

The game pretty much starts at level 200 now. You should focus more on leveling up and learning the various tutorials as they are presented to you, than trying to make money at low levels. There's nothing you can farm at low levels that people would pay for, except maybe harvesting plants - which you can do after you've leveled up, too.

Lodesamonie

Aww, I was hoping there was at least a small market on the AH for Spell Traces, as I see that I can get them from Crusader Coins.

Speaking of the coins, I did find Mano on Victoria Island, so I'm trying to get his data now. I did get the Shroom data, so I just need his to complete the row. The fact that he drops Crusader Coins makes this farm a bit more bearable since I can use them to buy some accessories later, and if there's any sort of player demand for them, Spell Traces as well.

happycows

You can absolutely sell spell traces on the auction house for somewhat decent mesos. However, you probably will want to hold on to them for yourself, as you'll need to use them if you want to train at star force maps, or at the very least when you get your pensalir equipment set [lvl 140 set] you'll want to boost the power up on those which would take a few thousand spell traces. but they sell on the auction house. [ps: you can get a ton of spell traces by doing the frito and polo missions / inferno den portals] i often get 500 spell traces as the reward

like AKradian says, harvesting plants is also an option. Look into Ardentmill and learning skills that you can use to harvest juniper berry seeds / oils from the random plants you see on maps sometimes. those are easy money - though i think prices have been trending down for a while now.

also with regards to monster collection, that stuff can become infuriating [i've spent 10,000 mob kills to get some and some get recorded after like 2 minutes, total RNG]

you can also claim a free pet [for 3 days only] that scoops up mesos and items which you could utilize to rack up a few mil if you grind alot - its one of the quests on the side of your screen i think its called "do you know about pets" or something

also look into grinding up to lvl 105 i think it is to do maple tour which is also easy money [don't worry getting to lvl 100 these days is really not very difficult]

last thing FWIW, i found red whips not too long ago while hunting wraiths in kerning subway - they sold for like 6m if i recall and there seems to be a market for them, could be worth farming perhaps

Edit: forgot to mention a few thing: kill all the elite monsters that show up on ur maps - like the big versions of the mob ur hunting. they can drop flames - there are 4 varieties, and at least in bera, the chaos cubic blades go for 10m easy. though those ones are a bit more rare. when i create new characters for legion, i usually fund them up to 200 solely by selling flames, familiars, well flamed drops, and junipers. the familiars are those cards that drop from monsters. you can save some for yourself since they are useful but can also sell them on the AH for decent gains. the "rare" ones [with the blue border sell for more] and sometimes i can get an easy 5m off of one - i'm not too familiar [pun not intended] with the familiar market, but i sell some every single day just throwing them up in AH