Complete Walkthrough: Levels 1-20

1. Needed Items

Below is a list of items you will need during your quest at levels 1-20. These items will be needed either directly to complete a quest, or to craft an item required to complete a quest.
The indicated price is the Fixed Price on the market. By playing with your server's rates and prices, you may be able to cut the total gold needed by as much as 50%, so dont be afraid - this is the maximum you will have to pay in the worst case.

Clay x3 300 Gold
Dogwood Fruit x5 500 Gold
Ginseng x21 2,100 Gold
Gold: 21,000
Iron Sand x1 150 Gold
Pork x5 500 Gold
Rice x51 5.100 Gold
Rough Leather x40 4,000 Gold
Wheat x6 600 Gold

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TOTAL 34250 Gold

2. Across Dream

So, you have created your character and are launched into the magical world of Atlantica. You start in your first "dungeon", Across Dream, where will take place several initiation and tutorial quests. They don't need any particular explanation, so let's move on to...

3. Forest of Spirits

3.1. The Awakening

Your first real trial is the Forest of Spirits. At the end of Across Dream, you will have the choice of your destination among 4 possible ones.
/!\I personnally have chosen to start in Sapporo, and thus I know nothing about the other Forests' quests. They should be identical, however keep in mind that quest objectives and items needed may vary slightly depending on your Forest. This guide is exact for Sapporo.

You wake up near a cute young woman whose name is Amane, a shaman whose task is to guard the Forest of Spirits. She tells you of her concerns about the creatures in the Forest becoming violent. Your first task is to learn how to use the Quest Log, and then she asks you to collect 10 portions of Spirit Powder from the Sky Spirit and Evil Sky Spirit monsters.

When you return to her, Amane will ask for 3 portions of Clay. You should have obtained more than enough while in Across Dream and by hunting the Fairies, but if you don't, you can buy them in Sapporo or return slaughter more Fairies *cackles*.

Now, Amane gives you an item that will make your character able to sit. Use it and watch your characters regain their strength while completing this quest's easy requirement ^_^

Now that she has confidence in your abilities, she asks you to go and speak with her uncle, Asada. Asada will send you to hunt Hell Soldiers and Hell Warriors to collect 10 Polluted Armors.

When you return, he will teach you the basics of (unfair) trade. Go down the road and meet Mitsui who will buy *any* of your items for only 10 gold. Don't sell him your unneeded gear or materials, but sell him your Clay if you have some left, you won't need it anymore. Now, return to Asada and he will ask you a question. The answer is "Life Potion". He then gives you a cure for the Forest and tells you to return to Amane.

Amane is awaiting your return with a present: 5 Growth Vial [Low]. Although the quest asks you to use just one, you can use all of them before speaking with her again.

She has one more present for you, some Scroll of Vortex [Beg]. Your next mission is to use 5 of these in battle. Don't forget to assign them to a quick slot before. The nice thing about the scrolls is that the don't consume your turn: you can use them and then act again with the same character. Use 5 of these scrolls, but don't waste any more, they will be useful later.

Now Amane entasks you with getting 15 Black Horn Pieces from the Polluted Unicorns and Tainted Unicorns. Be sure to kill the Polluted first as they have a powerful magic spell. The next quest is to uproot 10 Devil Trees. Finally, when yo return to her, Amane appears bleeding and asks you for some medecine.

This is your first visit to a town. You have to bring back 1 Ginseng that you can buy by clicking on the Town (building) icon on the right of the screen when you enter Sapporo.
Don't mistake the Go to Rome icon for Town! It can be easy and the consequences dire if you don't have enough money to teleport back.
You must buy the Ginseng from the Hospital, since the quest states it specifically. Buying from the Market won't work, and it's why you can't have a Ginseng prepared in advance, what the quest asks for is the action, not the item.

When you return to Amane with the medecine, she tells you that her uncle has discovered a leader among the monsters, and asks you to kill him. It is the Hell Scout. He is considered as a boss by the game, but isn't really strong. What you should know is that if a boss dies, the rest of his party runs away, so one of the best strategies is to focus your attacks on him as much as possible. He will of course try to shield himself with his minions. Your ranged mercenaries are an asset. You can also party with other players to defeat him. Be sure to use your Scroll of Vortex [Beg], it will help to wipe out his minions.

Victorious, you return to Amane, only to find out that a bigger and badder boss is going wild somewhere. This time, she asks you to defeat the Mutated Tree. The strategy doesn't change much, except that it's a caster and you should silence him whenever you can. You can also party for this boss.

3.2. The Root of the Problem

Before you start this section, you might find it useful going to Sapporo and buying Rough Leather x10 off the market.
Amane decides to seek the knowledge of her master, the shaman Komachi, and sends you speaking with her.
Komachi will refuse to tell you more before you are level 10. By this time, you should be even higher, but if it's not the case, return hunting trees in the Forest.
Now that you are sronger, she teaches you that you can extend your leadership to one more mercenary. Go to the NPC Shuichi and be sure to grab your new healer: a Shaman! Of course, if your main is a Staff, it's not such a big event, and you should consider taking another mercenary, but if you are a class that can't heal, enlist the Shaman since she will be so useful.

Once your party is comprised of 5 people, return to Komachi and she will send you to Naonari. He's a nice guy (I personally like his model) and will send you on some nice and thrilling quests like getting 10 pieces of Fresh Meat from the Red Deer and then 10 pieces of Rough Leather from the same monster. Rough Leather is not a quest item and you can buy it in advance off the market in Sapporo.

Since he notices the pain that it is having to pick the loot up one by one, the nice guy Naonari gives you your second Expression: Search All! You have to try it in a battle, so don't forget to learn it before.

Naonari tells you a story about some strange adventurers and sends you back to Komachi with a piece of useful information: "Hellish Fairy". This will help you finding the answer to Komachi's question. Since she asks for just one word *frowns on all those in-a-hurry people who can't read properly*, the answer is "Fairy".

Now that the real danger that threatens the Forest is unveiled, Komachi asks you for a last favor: going to the Forest of Spirit Depths and putting an end to the Hellish Fairy's suffering.

That is your first real challenge. Hellish Fairy is a powerful being, surrounded by some of the most powerful forest monsters, and to make it worse you have to fight her alone. She is in an instance where only you can enter, so don't expect any help from your party.
The Fairy is a caster who has an all-targets AoE spell that hurts. You really must stun/silence her at all costs. From here on, you have 2 possible strategies: either you are heavy on ranged mercenaries and you can just focus on her while your melees defend, or you can take down her minions first. And of course, spam your Scrolls!
Just defeating her isn't enough as you must loot her Wing. For this reason, don't engage her if you have zero Stamina, or you might find nothing while looting her - and have to start over again.

Return with the Wing to Komachi and she will reward you with a Viking Summon Marble. You must be level 20 in order to use this, so you can leave it in the warehouse for the moment.

3.3. Farewell, Forest of Spirits!

Komachi tells you about stange events in Beijing and sends you speaking one last time with her apprentice Amane. As a farewell gift, she teaches you how to use the World Map and asks you to say hello to the nice guy Naonari on your way.

Naonari will introduce you to basic tactics in combat and formation. Just follow his course and he will entrust you with a Letter of Regards that you must deliver to Sima Qian near Beijing. You can use the auto-walk to reach him while admiring the landscape.

Sima Qian is a bit nervous a guy who teaches you how to look the Field Info, and then sends you to buy some Rice at the Beijing market. Just as for the Ginseng, you must actually buy it to complete the quest. While you're at it, grab also 20 Ginsengs and 5 Dogwood Fruits, it will be useful later.
When you return to Sima with your Rice, he asks you a question. The answer is "Town Info".

Now, he turns his attention to your welfare. The next quest is a bit ridiculous since it requires 5 of your characters having weapons equipped. I don't know if you can even beat the Fairy without that, so. Let's move on. Now he teaches you something nice: Enchanting. As a present, he gives you 5 Weapon Enchant Stone [Beg].

4. A Mysterious Disease

4.1. Secrets of the Yosun Temple

Now that you have enchanted your gear, Sima Qian sends you speaking with his neighbour, Doctor Pien Chueh. The good doctor tells you more about a mysterious disease that is ravaging lives near the Ruins of the Yellow River, and asks you to go to Yosun Temple get 20 Carapace Shards off the Headless Warriors, Headless Soldiers and Headless Punishers that haunt the place. These monsters have a nasty habit of auto-resurrecting (or getting resurrected by others) so you should loot them as soon as they fall.

Upon your return, Pien Chueh asks for 10 Ginsengs to make some medicine. You can buy them in Beijing, and they also drop with a nice rate off of the Headless monsters.

Now the doctor teaches you the basics of Medicine crafting skill. Your next task is to craft 10 Healing Potion [Low]. You must craft them, so the following mats will be needed: Ginseng x10 and Dogwood Fruit x5 that you should have bought previously. The only thing left is Workload so go and melt some monsters' faces!

While you were failing at crafting as every novice should ;) the good doctor has finished his cure and asks you to deliver it to Lady Sul Hyang. She is near the entrance to Ruins of the Yellow River.

Sul teaches you how to look up information on mercenaries, and then asks you a question. The answer, less obvious than the previous ones, is "Ashen Crystal". She rewards you with 3 Scroll of Bewitching [Beg] which are precious and you shouldn't waste them now, even though they usually are sold for a low price at the market.

Now Sul sends you to hunt 12 Crazy Foxes. Return to her, and she will give you a Patrol License [Beg] which is the objective of your next quest. Just use it, then right-click on a monster party and click on "Details". You don't need to engage them.

4.2. The Revelation

She sends you back to Pien Chueh, mentioning that Sima Qian isn't exactly a model of honesty. Pien Chueh sends you seeking an explanation to Sima, who becomes even more confused than before, and asks yo to kill Margo's Archers, Margo's Bowmen and Margo's Ace Archers to get 20 of their Bamboo Divining Poles. Return to him with the poles and he will teach you how to secretly speak (whisper) to a person.

Now he sends you back to Yosun Temple with the task of killing Margo's Evil Archer. She is a boss. While you can group with other people to kill her, beware that she is a ranged mob who uses a deadly shot, and can kill a caster or ranged Main pretty easily.

You won't find any clue on her and return to Sima Qian who is about to finish decoding the divining poles. He finds out more about the strange disease and sends you speak to Pien Chueh and Sul Hyang. This time, the doctor wants you to kill 15 Boars. They're weak, but can appear in formations of 2 or 3 groups at once, and cast Brutal Will, so you can get overwhelmed. The witch will want you to go one last time in the Yosun Temple and kill its last boss, her former long-time friend, Xiyu Shaman.

This is your second solo boss. No need to panic, she's actually easy, and by this time some of your characters may be at level 20, so you can ugrade them using Ashen Crystals.
As for the Fairy, you will need to loot Xiyu Shaman, so don't come without at least 1 Stamina.

Your bringing Xiyu Shaman's staff to Sul Hyang concludes your adventures in this dungeon. Sul tells you about one of her friends, Hu Xue-yan, and sends you speaking with him, near Shanghai.

You can now pause the main quest for a moment and do the Monk sub-quest. It has no real influence on the main storyline, but will grant you one very useful mercenary that you cannot recruit by a mercenary seller. Please refer to the section 6: Sub-quests of this walkthrough if you want to learn more about it.

5. If You Want to Know More...

5.1. A New Trade Route

Hu Xue-yan is near the entrance of Shanghai, and appears to be a successful merchant. His first task for you is to take care of 15 Female Otters near the city. When you return, he will teach yo how to open a bank account, and your task will be to deposit at least 2000 gold in. You can do it in Shanghai. After you have done it, he will assign you to helping master Zang Heng. Zang Heng's first demand will be for you to buy 1 load of Iron Sand. You must buy it from the market. But since the sand you've just bought is of poor quality, he will ask you to resell it. It doesn't matter if someone actually buys the sand, all that you have to do is to put it on the market.

Next, Zang Heng will ask you to go to the Sea Palace and hunt 15 Small Water Dragons while he is thinking. He will then ask for one Strange Scale that also drops from monsters inside Sea Palace.

Since you can't do anything else for him, Zang Heng sends you back to Hu Xue-yan who teaches you how to use the Travel Agency and asks you to speak with your old friend doctor Pien Chueh.

Pien Chueh asks for 20 Polluted Armor Shards which drop off Gate Keepers and Royal Guards in the Sea Palace. This is where the Travel Agency comes in really handy. Once you have the shards, much to your dismay, the doctor sends you to Shanghai again.

Hu Xue-yan is awaiting you with a question ready. The answer is "Will" and then the teaching continues. This time, he wants you to bring back basic info on Crab Warriors. You can get the info simply by beating on the monster, but it's so random it can be frustrating, so a better idea would be to ask in peers chat or a high-level friend if they could share the info. When you have it, return to Hu and he will send you to kill a Sea Palace General who is a rather easy melee boss, and you can of course group with other players to defeat him.
*Note: I don't clearly remember this part of the chain, any help would be greatly appreciated.

5.2. Assault on the Sea Palace

Before you do this part, buy Pork x5 and Wheat x6 on the market. Additionally, you might want to purchase 30 pieces of Rough Leather.
Hu Xue-yan tells you about Zhao Gao, an eunuch who managed to escape from the Sea Palace, and sends you to speak with him and possibly discover any clue. You can tell by seeing him that Zhao Gao adores following fitness regimes ^_^ He will ask you for 5 Dumplings. You should have some left from Forest of Spirits, otherwise just buy them off the market.

Now Zhao Gao teaches you the basics of Food crafting skill and asks for... more dumplings! You will have to cook them, and for this you'll need 5 pieces of Pork and 6 portions of Wheat. Don't forget that you must fight to increase the Workload. Once you have crafted the Dumplings, Zhao Gao will send you to Cai Lun to increase your Food skill level. Beware that it will cost 11.000 Gold to pay Cai Lun so that he teaches you Food [2]. Once it's done, return to Zhao Gao.

Now Zhao Gao wants to replace his worn-out clothes and asks for a whopping total of 30 Rough Leathers. You can buy them or loot them on the otters nearby.

These new clothes remind the poor guy of the beautiful dancers he had seen in the Palace, and he therefore asks you to go and slaugher some in order to get the Basic info on Sword Dancers. As with the Crab Warriors, the fastest way to get it is to have a friend share it with you. With this info, Zhao Gao sends you back to Hu Xue-yan, which concludes the level 1 to 20 adventure - and thus this first part of the walkthrough.

6. Sub-quests

6.1. Monk quest

This is a quick but not really easy quest chain that will reward you with a Monk mercenary. This mercenary cannot be recruited by a mercenary seller and wandering monks are not easy to win over.
Before you do this quest, buy 50 Rice in Beijing.

You can start this chain when you are level 18 by speaking with Huike near the Ruins of the Yellow River.

Huike asks for an offering, which happens to be 50 Rice. When you offer him the rice, he will ask you to look for his pupil, Huilin.

Huilin is near the entrance of the ruins and won't speak with you unless you are level 19. He will entask you with the retrieval of 30 Piece of Broken Bead dropping off the foxes nearby. When you have collected all the beads, Huilin asks you to speak with his uncle Yuan Hao.

Yuan Hao is sure Huilin's dad is dead and entasks you with collecting his Torn Diary. The pages drop off the monsters in the Shadow of the Eight Trigrams, a level 20 dungeon whose entrance is in the Room of the Eight Trigrams in Ruins of the Yellow River. The mobs, in addition to being level 20 and higher, almost always come in groups of 2 or 3. Your choice is then either to find someone or help you or to use one of the precious Scroll of Bewitching [Beg] that Sul Hyang gave to you. These should also be sold for a relatively low price at the market.

Once you have all the 20 pages, return to Yuan Hao, who finds out from the diary that Huilin's dad was killed by the Shadow Witch that dwells in the Shadow Dungeon. He sends you back to Huike who asks you to put Yuan Mu's soul to rest by defeating the Shadow Witch.

She is a boss (can be fought in party), and is an exact copy of Xiyu Shaman, albeit stronger. Still, she shouldn't be a problem, and you return with the news of your victory to Huike. He sends you to Yuan Hao, and he discovers with horror that the boy Huilin is in fact only his ghost, his body eaten by those same foxes you collected the beads from. He cames up with a plan and sends you to the ghost with a letter written in his father's handwriting. The ghost is then free to leave the mortal world, and you can return to Huike, who will reward you with Huike's Letter that will let you summon your Monk!

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To be continued