2007-2010 (Early Game-Big Bang)

July 2009: Aran

On Rien, the lost hero Aran awoke from the ice and found a girl named Lilin waiting for her. Lilin recognized Aran as one of the legendary Heroes who had sealed away the Black Mage, and though Aran discovered that she had no memories, Lilin explained that it was the result of the Black Mage’s curse. Lilin told Aran that the curse had also caused the island of Rien to become permanently frozen, even though it hardly ever snowed naturally.

(A/N: At the time of her release, Aran was given both male and female illustrations, although most storylines referred to Aran with male pronouns. As more of the Heroes began getting released, Aran was slowly retconned to be female, likely because Mercedes would’ve otherwise been the only female member of the Heroes. Since she’s canonically female in the present day, I’ll be using female pronouns to refer to her.

The explanation about the Heroes having lost their memories became a dropped plot point with the release of Mercedes, leaving us with no in-universe explanation about why Aran is the only one of the Heroes to have lost her memories. The other explanation about Rien having been frozen because of the curse was retconned in the Silent Crusade storyline, which revealed that Rien was naturally frozen.)

Lilin took Aran into town, where the penguins who lived there were amazed at the prophesized return of the hero. Lilin explained that her clan possessed a Book of Prophecy that foretold the Heroes’ return, and that she was the last member of her clan still living on Rien. As Aran had lost her abilities from the curse, Lilin decided to help train Aran and return her to full strength, as the Black Mage was fated to return as well. After some basic training, Lilin showed Aran the giant polearm that they had excavated. Upon touching the polearm, some of Aran’s old strength flowed into her.

As she had grown stronger than the monsters of Rien, Aran was advised by Lilin to go train in Victoria Island. She told Aran that an information broker named Mr. Truth, better known as Tru, could help her get stronger. Aran arrived at Lith Harbor and went to Tru’s shop. After reading a letter of introduction from Lilin, Tru was amazed by Aran’s return and explained that he was also part of the Rien Clan, although he had left long ago after losing faith in the Heroes’ return. In order to validate Lilin’s faith, he promised to help Aran in any way that he could.

To help her get stronger, Tru suggested that she work as an informant for him, as it would help her get stronger and learn more about Maple World. He sent Aran on a test mission to get the latest news from the crewmen who worked in Lith Harbor. Aran questioned Teo, who offered to exchange the information for Snail Shells, which he believed could help ease his arthritis. After bringing him the shells, Teo told her that the crewmen were mainly talking about the formation of the Cygnus Knights, as well as some concerns that the Black Mage may soon be coming back. 

Tru then sent Aran on her first real mission, which was to investigate the recent behavior of Orange Mushrooms in Henesys. There, Aran spoke to a mushroom researcher named Scarrs, who asked her to defeat Cynical Orange Mushrooms for him. After defeating them, Aran returned and brought him an Orange Mushroom puppet, which she had found inside one of the monsters.

Scarrs then asked her to defeat Berserk Horny Mushrooms in order to check if they had puppets inside them as well. Aran confirmed this by bringing him back a puppet from inside the monsters. Scarrs hypothesized that the puppets were responsible for the strange behavior of the monsters. To confirm his theory, he asked Aran to investigate Crying Blue Mushrooms, where Aran found yet another puppet. Scarrs told her that the puppets produced a noise on a frequency that only monsters could hear, and promised that he would research more on the nature of the puppets.

Soon after, Tru asked Aran to visit him at his store, where he told her that there had recently been a kidnapping in Henesys and asked her to learn more from Chief Stan. Stan told her about how an Enraged Golem had kidnapped a girl named Camila several days ago, and that it was likely due to a puppet. Aran went to the Golem Temple and found a Golem puppet in the monsters. Stan then asked her to question Camila about what she had seen.

When Aran asked Camila if she had seen anyone suspicious near the Golem Temple, Camila replied that there were always Explorers around the temple, though there hadn’t been anyone suspicious at the time. Aran then asked if she had seen anyone who could have been putting the puppets inside the monsters around town. Camila suddenly remembered that a strange boy had arrived holding a puppet a few days ago, which had also been around the time that strange activities had begun occurring in Henesys.

Realizing that this boy was the cause of the puppet activity, Aran warned Chief Stan about him before returning to Tru. Tru thanked Aran for the information, but added that he was worried for the people of Henesys. He suggested that she return to help the townspeople in the meantime. Upon arriving, Chief Stan informed her that the strange boy had been sighted near the Golem Temple and asked her to check if the Golems had any strange puppets inside them. Aran investigated the temple and told Stan that she hadn’t seen anything suspicious. Stan told her to stay on standby, and that he would contact her again if anything suspicious came up. 

Soon after, Chief Stan called Aran and told her that the strange boy had once again been sighted near the Golem Temple. Though Aran took down many more Golems, she was unable to find any traces of the strange boy. After reporting back to Stan, Aran heard a mysterious voice inviting her to his cave. Aran was teleported to the cave, where the strange boy introduced himself as Francis the Puppeteer from the Black Wings. He told Aran that she had annoyed him by getting rid of his puppets and threatened her with the wrath of the Black Mage if she didn’t stay out of his way.

Aran returned to Tru’s shop and explained what had happened. Tru explained that he had heard of the Black Wings and told her that he had thought that they were merely a hoax. He began to grow concerned that the old prophecies were coming true, which would mean that the Black Mage was fated to return soon. He resolved to look into the Black Wings and told Aran to inform Lilin about this latest development, adding that the return of the Heroes, the followers of the Black Mage, and the prophecy were all connected. Given how much Lilin had researched and believed in the Heroes, Tru told Aran that Lilin had a right to know as much as anyone.

Aran returned to Rien and explained the situation to Lilin. She replied that the Book of Prophecy stated that the Heroes would return and destroy the Black Mage for good, and that the rise of the Black Wings seemed to confirm that the Black Mage was still alive. When Aran asked if Lilin was afraid, she responded that she had no fears, as she was certain that Aran would defeat the Black Mage. She reassured Aran that it was clear that her strength was returning since coming out of the ice, and that there was no way that Aran had endured so much suffering only to lose to the Black Mage. 

Just then, Tru got back to Aran and asked her to investigate the Smirking Ghost Stumps in Perion, citing the similarities between their appearance and the events in Henesys, and suggested finding 10 Boogies for more details. Upon arriving, 10 Boogies told Aran that a puppet was the likely cause for the strange behavior, but after defeating the Smirking Ghost Stumps, Aran was unable to find any puppets inside them.

10 Boogies then showed her a monitor that could detect puppet activity, which confirmed that there was a puppet in the area. She explained that if a puppet were inside a monster, the puppet energy on the monitor would have been moving, but the monitor indicated that the puppet energy was still. 10 Boogies suspected that the puppet was hidden in the area and asked Aran to investigate. Aran then discovered several puppets hidden beneath piles of old relics.

With this information, 10 Boogies concluded that firstly, aberrant monster behavior always stemmed from a puppet; secondly, the puppets didn’t have to be inside the monsters, merely in the area; finally, the Puppeteer had the power to control all of Victoria Island, not just a specific town. With her investigation complete, Aran reported back to Tru, who told her that he would look into the Puppeteer’s activity in order to pinpoint his location.

He also warned Aran that since she had disrupted the Puppeteer’s plans several times, he might try to get revenge. 10 Boogies then contacted Aran and asked her to deliver her research report to Neinheart, as she was unable to leave her post. In Ereve, Neinheart thanked Aran for delivering the report, but curtly asked her to leave as soon as possible, as Ereve was closed to strangers.

Some time later, Tru told Aran that Francis had been sighted in Ellinia and asked her to speak with Rowen the Fairy, who was the one who had seen him. Rowen told Aran that she had seen a robed boy earlier, and that she believed him to be the Puppeteer because the Evil Eyes had become much more violent shortly after his appearance. She asked Aran to defeat Evil Eyes to stop their noise pollution of the forest, after which she told Aran to go to the northern forests, where she would find a cave decorated with puppets.

Aran went to the cave and heard a voice that demanded a password to enter. She returned to Rowan, who suggested that Fanzy, a magical cat who lived near the Great Tree, might have overheard the password. Fanzy offered to give Aran the password in exchange for Evil Eye tails. He then told her that the password was “******* is a genius Puppeteer!”, explaining that he hadn’t caught the first word, though he added that it sounded like a name. Aran returned to see Tru, where they deduced that the missing word was ‘Francis’.

With the password, Aran entered the cave and confronted Francis, who was shocked that Aran had managed to infiltrate his cave. Aran then proceeded to soundly defeat Francis, although he managed to escape. Aran then took a document from his cave and brought it to Tru. He realized that the document was written in code and told Aran to bring it to Lilin, who was a master codebreaker.

Lilin solved the code and learned that Francis’ mission was to recover the Seal Stone of Victoria Island, and that he had been using his puppets to control the monsters of Victoria Island in order to find it. The report also showed that due to unforeseen complications from external forces, the mission had been delayed and Francis had requested reinforcements.

Lilin was unsure what the Seal Stone was, but as it seemed to be something that the Black Wings were searching desperately for, she believed that it had to be closely related to the Black Mage. Knowing that Aran was likely the external complication that Francis was referring to, Lilin advised Aran to exercise caution and to continue training.

(A/N: This next part is Aran’s 2nd job advancement.)

Soon after, Lilin called Aran back to Rien because of the strange behavior of her polearm. Aran returned to Rien and found the polearm vibrating, as well as a spirit floating next to it. The spirit told Aran that he had been trying to call her for some time and introduced himself as Maha, the spirit of her polearm. Having lost her memories, Aran was unable to recognize him and instead asked Lilin, who told her that the Heroes’ weapons were said to have personalities of their own.

(A/N: Just like with the Heroes losing their memories, them having spirits in their weapons was also a dropped plot point.)

In order to help Aran remember Maha, Lilin told her to visit the Mirror Cave and look into the Mirror of Desire, which had the power to show whatever the user desired. Through the mirror, Aran witnessed her past self going to Mu Lung in order to obtain the greatest weapon ever made by the Master Blacksmith. After completing a trial to prove her strength, the Blacksmith had presented her with his finest creation, Maha. Aran then returned to Maha and told him that she remembered him. Maha was overjoyed and explained that since her body had gone through intense training in the past, her powers could be jogged through muscle memory. He then used his powers to restore part of Aran’s old strength.

Soon after, Aran was contacted by Tru, who asked her to come see him at his shop, though Aran noted that Tru’s mannerisms were uncharacteristic of him. She arrived at his shop and found him tied unconscious to a chair, with Francis and a second Tru awaiting her. Francis thanked the second Tru, who revealed himself to be a shapeshifted Baroq. After Baroq left, Francis told Aran that the reason she had beaten him last time was because he had just come back from a battle with the Cygnus Knights, promising that he would be a much stronger foe this time around.

(A/N: This is a reference to one of the quests from the Cygnus Knights storyline, although like I mentioned in the last section, I’m not sure about any of the details regarding it.)

Despite his boasting, Aran was once again able to defeat him with ease, forcing Francis to retreat. She then freed Tru, who thanked her for saving him. He was surprised that Francis would have gone so far, but he was content with having learned the Puppetmaster’s weaknesses. Aran was confused by what he meant, and so Tru explained that Francis’ drastic measures meant that the document which she had obtained from his cave was real, which confirmed that the Black Wings’ goal was to recover the Seal Stone of Victoria Island. He then urged Aran to keep training while he investigated further.

Soon after, Tru learned that the cave in Ellinia was empty, meaning that Francis had changed his headquarters. After investigating, he found that Francis was hiding in the Golem Temple and sent Aran to deal with him. After defeating Francis, Aran returned to Tru, who asked her why she seemed downcast. Aran told him that her mission had been a failure, as she had failed to learn anything about the Seal Stone of Victoria Island in Francis’ hideout. To her surprise, Tru revealed that he had already found it.

(A/N: In Phantom’s storyline, it gets revealed that Tru and Phantom worked together to find the Seal Stone of Victoria Island.)

As the Black Wings knew where his shop was, Tru felt that it would be unwise to keep the Seal Stone, and so he asked Aran to give it to Lilin for safekeeping, explaining that Rien was normally only populated by the native races of the island, and so many spells had been placed on it to keep it inaccessible to foreigners. He then told Aran that he would no longer assign her missions, as she had gained enough experience about Maple World to gather information for herself. He told her to keep investigating the Black Wings and asked her to let him know immediately if she learned more about the Seal Stone. 

Soon after, Tru contacted Aran and told her that he had expanded his intelligence network outside Victoria Island, allowing him to learn that something had happened in Orbis, which possibly involved the Black Wings. In Orbis, Aran spoke with a half-Nymph named Lisa, who told her that she had been unable to sleep last night because of a thumping noise that kept all the fairies in Orbis awake. After investigating the source, Lisa had learned that there were Giant Nependeaths growing in the Neglected Strolling Path. As Nependeaths didn’t grow so abnormally large, she asked Aran to investigate the source of what was causing such a drastic growth.

After defeating the Giant Nependeaths, Aran found bottles of Rapid Growth Accelerants. She brought them to Lisa, who told her that Orbis had been slowly sinking from the sky year by year, explaining that the heavier the mass on Orbis, the faster they would sink. She asked Aran to consult with a seer named Spiruna about whether Orbis was going to sink because of the Giant Nependeaths. Though she normally hated strangers, Spiruna sensed that Aran had a strange aura and allowed her to speak. Aran explained the situation with the Giant Nependeaths and asked whether they would cause Orbis to sink.

Peering into the future, Spiruna foresaw that Orbis would be safe, though she asked Aran where the Giant Nependeaths had been growing. After learning that they had been growing in the Neglected Strolling Path, Spiruna wondered whether someone had been trying to get into the Sealed Garden. Aran began asking what the Sealed Garden was, but Spiruna snapped at her and asked who she was and why she was asking such questions.

Before Aran could respond, Spiruna looked into her crystal ball and was shocked by what she saw. She told Aran that a great fate hung over her, which was to overcome a terrible curse that had persisted for countless centuries. Though she didn’t know much about the Sealed Garden, Spiruna told Aran that the Empress had ordered it off-limits, as it was where the Seal Stone of Orbis was hidden.

(A/N: At the time that this quest was released, Spiruna had actually told Aran that the Goddess had ordered it off-limits. Likely due to the fact that the importance of the Goddess Minerva in the lore was reduced, as well as the ambiguity in regard to the word ‘Goddess’ that arose from so many different types of gods/goddesses in the game, they changed it to say ‘Empress’ instead.)

Spiruna explained that the only way to get to the Sealed Garden was to make the Nependeaths in the Neglected Strolling Path grow large enough to reach the vines growing down from the Sealed Garden and asked Aran to stop the people trying to steal the Seal Stone. In the Sealed Garden, Aran encountered Dargoth the Giant of the Black Wings. Dargoth realized that Aran was the one who had defeated Francis and laughed that he would take the Seal Stone and defeat Aran all at once.

Aran was able to defeat Dargoth, but a Gentleman took the Seal Stone and disappeared before Aran could stop him. Frustrated, Aran returned to Tru and told him what had happened in Orbis. Though Tru was disappointed that the Black Wings had stolen the Seal Stone of Orbis, he was intrigued to know that there were multiple Seal Stones.

He told Aran to cheer up and let Lilin know about what had happened, reminding her about the importance of keeping Lilin in the loop. Lilin agreed with Tru that the confirmation of the existence of multiple Seal Stones was a major discovery and reminded Aran that their acquisition of the Seal Stone of Victoria Island was an even bigger success. She told Aran to keep focusing on her training while she and Tru kept looking into the locations of the Seal Stones.

(A/N: This next part is the first portion of Aran’s mount quest, which takes place at level 50.)

Some time later, Aran was summoned to Rien by a penguin named Pucci, who explained that while taking care of his huskies, he had realized that one of them was actually a wolf. As wolves weren’t native to Rien, he wondered where it might have come from. Though he didn’t know much about wolves, he felt that it would be cruel to abandon it, and so he had resolved to raise the wolf until it could take care of itself. In order to find out more about raising wolves, he asked Aran to go to Snowy Whale Island in Aqua Road in order to visit Nanuke, who was experienced in raising wolves.

Nanuke told Aran that she had raised wolves before and offered to make a Wolf Pup Formula in order to help it grow stronger. For the formula, she asked Aran to bring Seahorse Tails and Wolf Cub Vitamins from Kenta in the Aquarium. Aran brought the ingredients to Nanuke, who made the formula for her. She took it to Rien and fed the wolf, who instantly grew attached to her. Pucci told her that he had named the wolf Werewolf, and that Aran would soon be able to ride it. 

Some time later, Aran encountered Scadur in El Nath, who was impressed to see Werewolf, as he hadn’t seen anyone with a wolf in ages. He told her that he could teach her to ride the wolf and explained that she would need a Wolf Saddle. He offered to make her one in exchange for bringing Jr. Yeti Skins for the raw materials. With the skins, Scadur made her the saddle and taught her how to ride Werewolf.

Back in Lith Harbor, Tru reached out to Aran and told her that he had learned of Black Wings activity in Mu Lung. He told her to investigate Mr. Do, who had been in contact with one of the Black Wings. Mr. Do told Aran that the Black Wings member was known as the Shadow Knight, and that the Shadow Knight had given him a Hanging Scroll to pass on to Mu Gong, the master of Mu Lung Dojo. However, Mr. Do had accidentally boiled the scroll while making medicine and the contents of the scroll had been lost. He asked Aran to visit Jin Jin, the best painter in Mu Lung, in order to see if he could restore it. Jin Jin had Aran gather ingredients to create a Special Ink, which he then used to restore the Hanging Scroll.

Aran read the scroll and found out that it was a warning from the Shadow Knight that he was going to steal the Seal Stone of Mu Lung. She showed the scroll to Mr. Do, who realized that the Shadow Knight had written it as a challenge to Mu Gong and asked Aran to warn him. Though one would have to normally fight to the top floor of the dojo in order to reach Mu Gong, Mr. Do told her that Mu Gong’s apprentice, So Gong, could be bribed into showing her the back route to Mu Gong. As So Gong was obsessed with becoming the strongest warrior, Mr. Do told Aran that if she brought him Bellflowers, which were said to be good for one’s health, he might let her pass. Sure enough, when Aran brought the Bellflowers, So Gong showed her the secret path to reach his master.

At the top of the dojo, Aran gave the Hanging Scroll to Mu Gong, who grew worried that the Shadow Knight would steal the Seal Stone. He told Aran that the Seal Stone was a valuable item guarded by the warriors of Mu Lung for centuries. When Aran asked for more details on the Seal Stone, Mu Gong tested her to see if she was worthy of receiving the knowledge. Aran successfully fought Mu Gong’s shadow and Mu Gong immediately recognized her fighting style, which he said had been used centuries ago and was rumored to have even been used by one of the Heroes. Because of this, he mistook Aran to be a disciple of the Heroes, but nevertheless told her the location of the Seal Stone, as well as the password to enter.

Though he knew that the Shadow Knight’s challenge had been meant for him, he felt that it would be better for the hero’s successor to face him. Aran then entered the Sealed Temple, where the Shadow Knight was waiting. Just like Mu Gong, he mistook her for the hero’s successor rather than one of the Heroes herself. Aran was able to defeat the Shadow Knight, but just like in Orbis, the Gentleman appeared from the shadows and took the Seal Stone of Mu Lung.

Frustrated, Aran returned to Mu Gong to report her failure. To Aran’s surprise, Mu Gong revealed that the Heroes had entrusted the Seal Stone with the chief of Mu Lung, who had constructed the Sealed Temple in order to safeguard it. He then told Aran that the loss of the Seal Stone may not have been significant, as he had believed that the reason the Sealed Temple was so heavily protected was because it was the legacy of the Heroes, adding that he didn’t know the purpose of the Seal Stone.

Dejected, Aran returned to Tru and told him about the events in Mu Lung. Tru reassured Aran that she was growing stronger, and that she would stop the Black Wings next time. He told her to speak with Lilin about what she had learned in Mu Lung. Lilin was excited to learn that the Heroes had left behind the Seal Stones and said that the information made up for losing the Seal Stone. Aran was confused by how she had reached that conclusion, to which Lilin explained that by piecing together information on the Heroes, she could predict which places were likely to have the Seal Stones before the Black Wings found out. As always, she told Aran to focus on training while she researched the Heroes and Tru looked into the Black Wings. 

(A/N: This next part is Aran’s 3rd job advancement.)

Some time later, Lilin called Aran to Rien once again. She explained that Maha had been acting strangely and suspected that he wanted to speak with her. In Rien, Maha told Aran that a thief had stolen a Red Jade that decorated the polearm. He believed that the thief had disguised themselves as a penguin in order to avoid detection, and that they were likely fleeing Rien as he spoke. Aran chased after the thief, which she discovered was a Thief Crow, and managed to defeat it. However, she forgot to recover the Red Jade and returned back to town empty-handed.

(A/N: Freud and Afrien left behind only two brain cells and they exist on a rotating basis between Luminous, Mercedes, and Shade. Phantom, Aran, Evan, and Mir proudly remain the token bimbos and himbos of their group.)

As Maha succumbed to hysterics, Aran asked Lilin what to do, as the Thief Crow had likely recovered from the battle and escaped with the jewel. Lilin believed that the Red Jade likely amplified Maha’s powers, and so they needed to quickly make a replacement. She suggested that Aran visit the Mirror of Desire once again in order to find out how to craft the jewel.

Through the mirror, Aran saw one of her memories, in which she encountered a Yeti named Tititi in El Nath. Tititi was crying, as a Thief Crow had stolen his Red Jade. After Aran recovered the jewel, Tititi gave it to her as a reward. Through the mirror, the present-day Aran was able to extract the Red Jade from her memories and affixed it back on the polearm. Maha was overjoyed by the return of his jewel and, with his powers amplified once again, he was able to bestow more of Aran’s old power upon her.

(A/N: The Mirror of Desire is so broken if it lets you get real life replicas of objects from your memories. Her taking the Red Jade by looking in the mirror is just like how Harry got the Philosopher’s Stone from the Mirror of Erised, which is probably where the Mirror of Desire gets its inspiration from, given that Desire is just Erised spelled backwards.)

Meanwhile, Tru contacted Aran and told her that a crack in time had appeared in the Time Control Room of Ludibrium, which was rumored to lead centuries into the past when the Heroes were still active. Aran entered through the crack in time and arrived in Ellin Forest. Proceeding deeper into the forest, she arrived at Altaire Camp and met Yuris, who was amazed that Aran had managed to return from her fight with the Black Mage. She explained that Athena Pierce would love to see Aran again, as she deeply regretted that she couldn’t convince Aran to escape with them.

Sure enough, Athena was overjoyed to see Aran, but was shocked when Aran told her that she had no idea who Athena was. After learning that Aran had come from the future, and that she had lost her memories, Athena reintroduced herself and explained the events that had led to the formation of Altaire Camp. When Aran asked about the Seal Stones, Athena told her that she had been given a Seal Stone by the Heroes, which she kept locked in the library. After obtaining the storage key from Loha, Aran entered the library and encountered the Gentleman, who had also entered the crack of time. Before she could stop him, the Gentleman disappeared with the Seal Stone of Ellin Forest.

(A/N: It’s unknown why there was a separate Seal Stone made for Ellin Forest when it’s a subset of Victoria Island. This questline was slightly modified in the Ellin Forest revamp that came out in 2022 in order to account for several changes that were made regarding the game’s time-travel mechanics.)

Athena apologized to Aran for not having better secured the Seal Stone, but Aran reassured her that it wasn’t her fault. Athena then told her that she had also been given a letter by Aran of the past, which she recalled had mentioned something about the Seal Stones. However, when Aran tried to take the letter, it merely fell through her hands. Athena believed that it was because Aran was from a different time period.

Since she was an elf, and thus had a long lifespan, Athena suggested that she could keep the letter and instructed Aran to find her in the present day. After returning to her own time, Aran told Tru what had happened in Ellin Forest and asked him who Athena Pierce was. She was surprised to learn that Athena was one of the most famous people in Maple World, both as the instructor for bowmen and as an influential leader of Victoria Island. Aran went to the Bowman Instructional School, where she found that Baroq the Master of Disguise had knocked out Athena and was reading the letter.

After Aran defeated him and saved Athena, she took the letter to Tru, who found that it was completely unreadable. They realized that it was written in code, and that since Baroq had already read it, the Black Wings likely already knew the contents of the letter. Tru told Aran that Lilin would be able to decipher it, and so Aran went to Rien and showed the letter to her. Lilin realized that the code was extremely complicated, with several layers of encryption. She asked Aran for some time to decipher it and told her to focus on training in the meantime.

Soon after, Lilin told Aran that she had successfully deciphered the letter, which she learned had been written by the Heroes and given to Athena Pierce in order to pass on to the new Empress of Maple World.

(A/N: This quest originally referred to the Empress as the Queen, which actually makes more sense, as Queens rule kingdoms while an Empress rules an empire. It does raise the question of why Athena Pierce didn’t tell Aran that the letter was for the Empress in the first place. Since Athena mentions that Aran of the past was the one who had given her the letter, Athena must’ve known who to pass it on to.)

She told Aran that the letter simply said to take care of the Seal Stone of Ereve. As the Black Wings had read the letter, they likely knew of the Seal Stone’s existence, and so Lilin asked Aran to warn the people of Ereve and told her to bring the letter as proof. Aran went to Ereve and met with Neinheart, who was surprised that Aran knew about the Seal Stone of Ereve, also known as Shinsoo’s Teardrop. Nevertheless, he told Aran to leave, as not only was Ereve closed to foreigners, but he also didn’t trust that Aran wasn’t one of the Black Wings herself.

Meanwhile, the Black Wings conducted an operation to try to steal the Seal Stone of Ereve. Baroq used his powers to disguise himself and infiltrate the island, but thanks to Aran’s timely warning, Neinheart was prepared and mobilized the Cygnus Knights, who forced Baroq to retreat. Soon after, Neinheart asked Aran to come to Ereve. There, he personally thanked her for her actions and explained that he had initially mistrusted Aran because of her strange aura, but after thoroughly investigating her, he now understood her dynamic past.

(A/N: Baroq’s attempt to steal the Seal Stone was part of the original Cygnus Knight questline, in which he was stopped by the Cygnus Knight protagonist. This next part is Aran’s 4th job advancement.)

As Aran continued her training, Lilin reached out and asked her to return to Rien, as Maha was behaving strangely. Aran rushed back to Rien and found that Maha was emanating dark energy. He explained that he had been frozen over the centuries, just as she had been, and that that the absence from his master had been too much for him, which had caused seeds of darkness to be planted in his heart. Though he had initially believed that the darkness would have gone away after Aran returned, Maha realized that its hold was too strong on him.

He begged Aran to defeat him and return him back to normal before he went berserk. Aran then fought Maha and managed to subdue him. Maha thanked her for her help and explained that since she had proven herself to be strong enough to contain him, it was an indication that he could safely restore her full power. He then bestowed all her old skills and explained that she would return to full power once she fully mastered them.

(A/N: This upcoming quest is the next part of Aran’s mount quest, which takes place at level 100.)

Soon after, Pucci reached out to her and asked if her wolf, Werewolf, which Aran had renamed Ryko, had been acting rebellious lately. He explained that wolves went through a type of puberty during their adolescent years, and that the ones who didn’t go through puberty failed to grow properly. In order to get advice about how to help Ryko through his adolescence,

Aran first visited Nanuke at Snowy Whale’s Island, who offered to make a special formula for adolescent wolves. After bringing her Lime Powder Bottles, Ink Bottles, Butter-Toasted Squids, and special Puberty Wolf Vitamins from Kenta, Nanuke prepared the formula for Aran, which she then fed to Ryko. Aran then went to see Scadur, who told her that she needed to let Ryko run wild in order to get the rebellion out of his system. After bonding with Ryko by riding with him through the cold fields of El Nath, Ryko soon grew to become an adolescent wolf.

(A/N: At level 140, Aran can complete the Pink Bean prequests, during which she’ll need to return to the beginning of her adventures in order to recover her memories that Dodo ate. Aran will need to seek out Lilin in Rien, where Lilin will explain that the whole process of seeing Aran having lost her memories but still keeping her spirit as a hero, as well as her gradually regaining her abilities, is a memory for her. Following this, there’s another mount quest at level 150.)

After a long time, Pucci told Aran that a pack of wolves had shown up in Rien, having followed the rumors that she had picked up a lost wolf pup. Aran went to see the Head Wolf, who thanked her for taking care of Ryko, but asked that she return him back. Aran told him that Ryko was her friend, and so she couldn’t give him up. In order to determine whether Aran was worthy of keeping Ryko, the Head Wolf administered a test to have Aran fight his Wolf Underlings.

After she defeated them all, the Head Wolf was impressed by her power and allowed her to keep Ryko. However, he told her that they were Silver Wolves, who possessed Silver Blood. He explained that before becoming adults, Silver Wolves strengthened their hearts by drinking Life Water for Wolves, which was only found in their homeland. He warned that forgoing the ritual would result in serious consequences, and so Aran traveled to Leafre, the homeland of the Silver Wolves, and collected the Life Water for Wolves from the Skelegons, which Ryko then drank in order to evolve into an adult.

(A/N: These are the last quests in Aran’s storyline - her level 200 quest and the final mount quest.)

Maha reached out to Aran through their mental link and asked her to return to Rien. There, he told her that though she still didn’t have all her memories, she was worthy of receiving his blessing, which signified the full return of her powers.

Soon after, Maha told her that he could sense an incredible force trailing her and asked if there was someone extremely powerful with her. Aran returned to Rien and Maha immediately recognized that the energy was coming from Ryko, who had grown strong as a Silver Wolf alongside its master. He told her that the wolf was ready for its awakening, but when Aran told him that she didn’t remember how to do it, Maha used his powers to awaken the wolf for her. He then told her that Ryko was the strongest wolf in history, even stronger than the one she had ridden centuries ago. He explained that the wolf she had ridden in the past was also called Ryko, and that he had thought that she had given him the same name deliberately.