PART II: AFTER THE SEALING OF THE BLACK MAGE

Chapter 26: Riena Strait

(A/N: Although any class can complete the Riena Strait theme dungeon, Illium’s Alliance quest has Neinheart reach out to him and explain that Lilin, his sister, had told him about how Illium had helped save Riena Strait. Additionally, the KMS Spring 2024 update created an Alliance quest for Zero, which also had Neinheart reach out to him after hearing from Lilin about how they helped her at Riena Strait.

The Milestone update created a sort of streamlining for the way that all classes have their storylines take place. The way that it assumes things is that every class does their 1-30 storyline, then does the 30-60 theme dungeons, then has their level 75 Alliance quest, and then proceeds with the 100+ theme dungeons in Nexon’s recommended order, which means that the assumption is that the protagonist will have done every major quest themselves, and that there’s no one set character who does anything. It’s something to bear in mind throughout the rest of the chronology, since there are times when the ordering won’t make sense, like Grandis classes joining the Alliance at level 75, when Grandis itself joins at level 100.)

A traveler was contacted by Lilin, who explained that the water levels of Rien were rising, and that all of Rien would soon be underwater. She told them that the Penguins, Malamutes, and Seals had all put aside their differences and had started working together to save Rien by studying the islands that were most affected. She added that they could use the traveler’s help and told them to ask Puro the penguin to ferry them to the Glacial Observatory. Upon arriving at the observatory, the leader of the investigation, Putan, was less than impressed to see the kind of help that Lilin had sent. Nevertheless, he apologized for being rude and believed that the traveler had to be a brave warrior for having crossed the glaciers in such terrible weather.

(A/N: Aran gets exclusive dialogue when she first meets Putan, in which Putan recognizes her and expresses his relief that such a reputable warrior has come to help them.)

He told the traveler that they would need a boat to navigate the waters and instructed them to ask Dachi for one. Dachi asked the traveler to bring back good lumber from the ocean in exchange for using his boat. With Helmsman Tanya manning the wheel, the traveler collected good lumber from the ocean and brought it back to Dachi. Having gained access to a boat, the traveler returned to Putan for their mission. Putan explained that Frostwitch Barbara was likely the culprit behind the melting glaciers, as she had been sighted at all the sites of glacier problems. He told the traveler to go to Ice Station 1 and see if there was anything that he could do to help.

After traveling there, the traveler met Pushki, who told him that he was researching ways to capture Frostwitch Barbara. He asked the traveler to help by eliminating the Ammonite Grumpils and Fish Grumpils. After defeating them, the traveler returned to Pushki, who heard a girl screaming nearby. The traveler and Tanya sailed west of the glacier, where they spotted a young woman surrounded by Grumpils.

After being rescued, the girl introduced herself as Nora the Explorer. (A/N: Meanwhile, Dora the Explorer was found dead in a ditch.) She explained that she had been studying the permafrost layer on the glaciers when the Grumpils had begun to attack. The traveler then told her about the situation with Frostwitch Barbara and the people of Riena Strait.

Nora explained that the permafrost showed definite signs of natural degradation, meaning that the melting glaciers had to be the result of rising temperatures. She added that the Grumpils were most likely thawing out, rather than being summoned with magic. She also wondered why a witch would want to raise the sea level around her own area and felt as though something wasn’t adding up. Because of this, she decided that she would help the traveler with their mission. They then returned to Pushki, who asked the traveler to bring his Wind Change Report to Putan.

Putan was pleased by the report and asked them to help Alviola next. Alviola asked the traveler to go to Ice Station 2 and speak with her brother, Alvesh, who told the traveler that the Malamutes had a keen sense of smell, and that monsters in the Ice Station were releasing a toxic stench that was interfering with his duties. The traveler defeated the Corruptor Barrels and Polluter Barrels, for which Alvesh thanked them and requested that they bring back his Tracking Report to Putan.

After receiving the report, Putan was able to pinpoint the location of Frostwitch Barbara and asked the traveler to defeat her. However, after sailing to Barbara’s house, the traveler was surprised to find her surrounded by baby animals and began to doubt that she was an evil witch. Nora asked Barbara if she was the one causing the rising sea levels, but Barbara explained that she couldn’t use that sort of magic. However, she added that she was the one saving all the baby animals around her from drowning as the water levels rose.

She then tasked the traveler with finding large fish to feed the babies, after which the traveler asked Barbara why she continued to help the animals when they hated her. Barbara explained that in the past, the Seals, Malamutes, and Penguins would fight all the time, but unexpectedly, they had united by turning on Barbara, even though she had only been saving their young. Though she had initially been upset, she had decided that having them united against her was a better sort of peace than having them fight each other.

The traveler then sailed back to the Observatory and told Putan that Barbara was actually good. Confused by what to believe, Putan concluded that the Seals must be the culprits, as he had gotten reports that Seals had attacked his Penguin warriors. He asked the traveler to investigate the Seals and discover the truth. The traveler spoke with Dachi, who explained that the Seals were innocent and asked them to investigate Ice Station 3.

There, the traveler met with Dabo, who explained that he had seen some of the Seals sneaking around the base and asked the traveler to defeat them. After defeating them, the traveler discovered that they were actually Black Wings henchmen disguised as Seals. Furious to know that the Black Wings were impersonating his comrades, Dabo asked the traveler to defeat the Walrus-disguised Black Wings inside the base and to find any evidence of their treachery. The traveler obtained Garbled Commands from the Black Wings, which Dabo told him to bring to Putan in order to prove that the Seals were innocent.

Back at the base, Putan was ashamed to have suspected Barbara and his allies and asked the traveler to find someone who could translate the Garbled Commands in order to solve the mystery. The traveler brought the data to Nora, who recognized that the code originated from Edelstein. She explained that the perpetrators were looking for a huge power source, and that they had destroyed the glaciers and spread discord amongst the natives of Riena Strait in order to do so.

(A/N: It’s later revealed that the Black Wings have been harvesting coolant for Black Heaven.)

With the coordinates from the report, they sailed towards the Glacier Cutter Base. There, the traveler defeated the Warmer Bots that were melting the glacier. After returning, Nora continued to decipher the Garbled Command and theorized that there were robots deeper inside the base that were hauling off chunks of ice. The traveler then went on to defeat the Shaver Bots and brought back their Glacier Core Fragments. Nora recognized the fragments as having the ability to freeze anything and realized that the culprits must have big plans to need so many.

Meanwhile, Black Wings henchmen reported that intruders had discovered their base. Their leader, Admiral Martini, decided to retreat, rather than give his enemies the satisfaction of capturing them, and ordered them to destroy all evidence on the base in ten minutes. The Black Wings then detonated the base and the explosion was felt by Nora and the traveler. The traveler rushed to the base center, where they encountered a Demolisher. (A/N: You later encounter thousands of Demolishers during the events of Black Heaven.)

The traveler managed to defeat it, but they soon realized that the rest of the evidence had been already destroyed. They returned to Nora, who was pleased that they had stopped the Black Wings from melting Riena Strait. They returned to the observatory and reported back to Putan, who thanked them for their help. For their last mission, all the animals went to Frostwitch Barbara’s house to apologize. Lilin then arrived at the observatory and thanked the traveler for his help. She told them that she had learned that even if people disagreed on things, working towards a common goal brought out the best in them, especially if it protected the ones they loved.

(A/N: Aran gets exclusive dialogue with Lilin in place of the regular dialogue. Lilin notes that she’s heard that Aran had done a great job with the mission, just as she’d believed. She then notes that the fact that the people behind the melting glaciers had been dangerous enough to cause the sea levels to rise means that they can't just ignore it. She decides that she'll write a letter to someone who can help investigate, even though she doesn't want to speak to him.

She then tells Aran that in order to help people come together and protect what they love, they need a hero like Aran. She explains that heroes are symbols of hope who have the power to bring people together, and that with Aran on their side, they all have that hope. Lilin then jokingly asks Aran if she's scared before laughing that there's no way that it could be true when she's Aran. Upon Aran pointing out that she had just smiled, Lilin asks in confusion why she's so surprised, noting that all humans laughed sometimes. She then asks Aran whether she's going to get back to training before adding that she won't disturb her as she gets to it.)