Oh huh, it seems like the elemental checks were one of the choke points, because the speedup's working a good bit faster now for me.
Since I am cleaning up the bestiary, I just realized there's a confusing line when you go to Outer Dual wilderness from the main screen.
"A known dual pressure does not resolve into a substitute element. The search either reaches that paired wilderness or ends with the life."
I don't remember ever having anything but success on the dual wilderness search, so idk what the "ends with the life" part is supposed mean. Might have forgotten something from earlier parts of the game, though, so take this with a pinch of salt.