Grand Athenaeum
 Grand Athenaeum | |
|---|---|
| Dimension | Maple World |
| Mob Level Range | 100 - 300 |
| Quest Level Requirement | 100+ |
| Name (Other Servers) | |
| KoreaMS | 차원의 도서관 (Dimensional Library; Chawon-ui doseogwan) |
| JapanMS | 次元の図書館 (Jigen no toshokan) |
| ChinaMS | 次元图书馆 (Cìyuán túshū guǎn) |
| TaiwanMS | 次元圖書館 (Cìyuán túshū guǎn) |
| MapleSEA | Dimension Library |
Grand Athenaeum, also known as Dimensional Library, is a theme dungeon for Level 100+ players. It is a massive library consisting of records of history, where events are automatically written down into books without the need of a writer.
This region can be accessed via the Dimensional Mirror in most towns. There are two sections of the library for players to experience: Maple Chronicle and Maple Behind. Maple Chronicle allows players to re-experience their past adventures in the form of replaying stories, namely their beginnings, Arcane River, and Grandis. Maple Behind allows players to immerse themselves into stories of forgotten history as they occurred (without changing history). There are currently 7 Chapters of stories that can be read, as follows:
- The White Mage: Relive the experience as a nameless mercenary who searches for and meets the White Mage, and eventually witnesses his transformation into the Black Mage. Completing this will reward the Medal
White Mage Minion. - Empress in Training: Relive the experience as a warrior who helps Neinheart prepare Cygnus for her duties as Empress of Ereve. Completing this will reward the Medal
Empress Maker. - The Black Witch: Relive the experience as a Cygnus Knight who rescues Dunamis from Edelstein, while saving Ereve from the clutches of the Black Witch. Completing this will reward the Medal
Bookworm. - Winter Bard: Relive the experience as Ryude, a mercenary from El Nath who befriends Alicia, the Transcendent of Life of Maple World, as he faces off against Von Leon in order to warn the world about the Black Mage's plans of conquest, with the only remnants of his heroics being an old harp and sheet music for a song he wrote. Completing this will reward the Medal
Winter Bard. - Shadow Alchemist: Relive the experience as Fang, a Shadow Knight medic who befriended Alpha back when he was known as Eight, as he finds out the truth about the Shadow Knights' mission. Completing this will reward the Medal
Shadow Alchemist and the Chair 
Handful of Moonlight Chair. - Sharenian Knights: Relive the experience as Kellad, a knight of the ancient civilization Sharenian, whose eternal pledge to his kingdom is put to the test when he and his team are forced to relive the same day repeatedly. Completing this will reward the Medal
Sharenian Knight and the Chair 
A Fateful Pledge. - Sefirot's Gardener: Relive the experience as Asha, a gardener of Sefirot, the sanctum of Grandis's Transcendent of Life, as she helps Aaron and the Knights of the Einherjar summon the missing Transcendent. Completing this will reward the Medal
One Chosen by God, the Android 
Asharoid, and a permanent 
Lidium Heart.
Completing each of the above stories will also reward 300 
Spell Traces, and completing any three will reward up to 6,000,000 Mesos.
Story
The White Mage
For information on the full story, visit this page.
Centuries ago, powerful creatures of darkness called Omens began appearing and attacking the people of Maple World. A wandering mercenary was hired in order to find the White Mage and convince him to destroy the Omens, though the mercenary took the job because they were curious to meet such an enigmatic, idealistic figure and why he had abandoned the world to darkness. In Ellin Forest, they met with Ephenia the Fairy Queen, who - despite her hatred of humans and their endless greed - was enamored by the White Mage and his promise to make the world a better place. She directed the mercenary to the Forest of Peace, where the White Mage was conducting research on light magic. Along the way, the mercenary met a girl named Arin, who was avenging the deaths of her family to the Omens. Eventually, the pair found the White Mage and were brought to the Aurora Great Temple. The mercenary learned that the White Mage had founded Aurora, which researched and protected the light, and that the White Mage sought after the ultimate light - infinite knowledge that could complete and evolve humanity into perfect beings, replicating the Divine City of the gods - a utopia in which greed and selfishness were eradicated. Intrigued by the White Mage's ideals, the mercenary decided to stay and help him with his research.
Over the months, however, the mercenary and Arin came to realize that the Omens were a by-product of the White Mage's research, and that he had deliberately chosen to do nothing about them, even while knowing that they were harming people. As the mercenary and the mages of Aurora attempted to enter the White Mage's room, they began hearing his warped voice. Having completed his research, the White Mage declared that he had journeyed into the forbidden and seen that there was no ultimate light in the end - not because he had failed to reach it, but because it did not exist. However, he declared that an ultimate darkness existed, and that it was the sole conclusion of his research. The White Mage then awakened as the dark Transcendent of Light, destroying the temple and killing many of the researchers of Aurora. The injured mercenary, shocked at what the White Mage had done, chased after him and passed by a pure crystal of light, which had been expelled by the White Mage after he had given up his humanity. Declaring him to be a monster, the mercenary rechristened him as the Black Mage and vowed to leave his mark upon him, though the Black Mage easily killed the mercenary before disappearing, leaving Arin to cry over the mercenary in their final moments.
Empress in Training
For information on the full story, visit this page.
After the formation of the Black Wings, a scholar from the Rien Clan named Neinheart gradually lost faith in the Heroes' return. Seeking to take matters into his own hands, Neinheart decided to instead search for the lost descendent of Empress Aria, rather than wait for a hero to come save them. However, he and his sister, Lilin, got into an argument over his decision, and when Lilin refused to abandon Rien and her faith in the Heroes' return, Neinheart left her behind. After a long and difficult search, Neinheart succeeded in finding the descendent of Aria's niece, a young girl named Cygnus. He brought the girl before the Senate of Ereve, hoping that they would recognize her as the heir to Ereve. The Senate gave Cygnus a year to train and prepare herself to be judged before them.
In order to train Cygnus, Neinheart called a wandering warrior who owed him a debt. Over the course of the year, Cygnus was trained in matters of leadership, elegance, and wisdom. Towards the end of the year, however, Cygnus fell ill and required medicine from Mu Lung. After learning from her spies that Ereve had sought out children's medicine, Orchid realized that the Empress' descendant had been found. The Black Wings were then sent to attack Ereve, which had no protective barrier without an Empress to wield Shinsoo's power. While Cygnus was being judged by the Senate, the Black Wings sieged the island. In the crisis, Cygnus accepted the heavy burden of leadership and claimed the power of Shinsoo, restoring the protective barrier. The forces of Ereve drove the Black Wings out with the help of the wandering warrior. Following the battle, Cygnus was crowned the next Empress of Maple World.
The Black Witch
For information on the full story, visit this page.
After growing in numbers, the Resistance reached out to the Cygnus Knights in order to launch a joint operation to drive out the Black Wings. During this time, Eleanor the Black Witch - a powerful officer of the Black Wings - tricked a Cygnus Knight named Dunamis into bringing a cursed scale back to Ereve, as a limitation of Shinsoo's protective barrier was that it could not prevent residents of Ereve from bringing in dark magic. Because of her curse, all of Ereve was turned into stone. Though Eleanor was defeated by another Cygnus Knight who had been away from Ereve at the time, her plan successfully prevented the Cygnus Knights from reinforcing the Resistance. As a result, the Resistance went into battle expecting reinforcements that never arrived. The failed attack resulted in heavy casualties, and the Resistance was forced underground once again. Believing that the Cygnus Knights had betrayed them by going back on their word, the Resistance vowed that they would take back their city alone, with this event sparking heavy animosity between the two.
Winter Bard
For information on the full story, visit this page.
Years ago, a mercenary named Ryude chose to leave his old life behind after growing tired of killing and violence, instead becoming a traveling bard with several of his men. One day, he encountered a girl being attacked by a wild animal and rescued her, though the girl admonished him for interrupting her from capturing it. She explained that she was collecting animals for her Ark in preparation for the end of the world that the Black Mage would bring about. Soon after, Ryude found that the Lion King's Castle was in flames. Inside, he found soldiers being transformed into monsters and Hilla speaking with Von Leon, who had taken his revenge on the Anti-Black Mage Alliance for killing his wife. Von Leon noticed Ryude and began attacking him, though Ryude was saved by the girl, whom Hilla recognized as Alicia, the Transcendent of Life. Though Hilla was surprised, as the Transcendents of Maple World typically stayed out of mortal affairs, Alicia claimed that he owed her a favor for letting the monster that she was capturing get away.
Upon realizing that the Black Mage and his Commanders really were about to end the world, Ryude decided that he needed to warn the people. He and his men decided to light the Dragon Master's Tower, a beacon created by the Dragon Master, Freud, in order to signal the end of the world. On their way there, Ryude helped Alicia capture the remaining animals, causing her to note that some humans seemed capable of keeping their promises. Ryude learned that despite being the mother of all life, Alicia refused to help humans, as they only caused destruction and harm to others. However, Ryude suggested to her that perhaps humans were just children in need of a mother to guide them. Over the next few days, Ryude and his men gathered the survivors of Von Leon's attack on El Nath. The surviving soldiers joined Ryude at the tower and faced off against Von Leon's army while they attempted to light the beacon.
Moved by Ryude's bravery, Alicia changed her stance on humans and shared a portion of her remaining power after creating the Ark, giving Ryude's sole mage, Hazelle, enough power to light the beacon, which had been created to require five mages in order to activate. Ryude, Hazelle, and all his men gave their lives to light the beacon, which shone brightly and attracted many people to the tower who realized that the Black Mage was a grave threat to their world. As a result, six brave heroes banded together against the Black Mage, becoming known as the Heroes of Maple. Meanwhile, Alicia completed her Ark and brought the animals that she had captured to the Tower of Oz. After the Heroes successfully sealed the Black Mage away, Alicia came to visit Ryude's frozen body at the tower and revealed that his brave sacrifice had led to peace returning to Maple World. After saying farewell, Alicia brought Ryude's sword to the Tower of Oz in his memory.
Shadow Alchemist
For information on the full story, visit this page.
After being given control over Mirror World, Will - unable to handle the full power of Rhinne's successor - split the child into a boy and a girl. The girl was imprisoned with the Child of the Goddess' own temple, while the boy was brainwashed into following Will and his Shadow Knights. Eventually, however, the boy discovered his counterpart within the temple, for which Will erased his memories. This repeated seven times in total, with the boy being given a new name each cycle until he became known as Eight. With Eight being brainwashed into an obedient knight, he and the other Shadow Knights worked to defeat the Darklings outside town, supported by Fang the alchemist, who was responsible for creating a Shade Neutralizer potion that prevented the knights from being transformed into Darklings. From a distance, Fang idolized Eight and his combat skills, wishing that he could have a glamorous role like Eight, despite the fact that he and the other Shadow Knights knew that Eight was the “Impure One”, according to Will. Fang also grew curious about their lives outside of Mirror World, as he wondered who he used to be in Maple World.
While gathering ingredients, Fang discovered a primrose plant and ate one of its golden seeds against their orders not to touch any of the wildlife or vegetation. Worried that he would transform into a Darkling, he began researching primrose and read a story about how a fairy had transformed a girl who loved the moon into a primrose, thereby allowing the moon's beauty to be reflected in every primrose blossom. Soon after, Will called Fang to his office and showed him a mirror that he had been creating, which could show them their true self outside of Mirror World. He explained that it was a reward for Fang's hard work, though it was conditional on Fang not making any mistakes. Because of this, Fang decided to keep the truth about the primrose secret from Will. Eight soon discovered Fang researching primroses, and though Fang was afraid that Eight would tell Will, Eight instead told Fang that he was the only one who could be trusted, as both of them had their own secrets. Eight enlisted Fang's help in creating a Potion of Truth, which required a special ingredient: “a handful of moonlight”. Eight pointed out the Fang that there were many occurrences of the Shadow Knights speaking in reference to things happening ‘again' or ‘each time', even though they had no recollection of such events ever happening before, which made him suspicious that there was something that Will and the others were hiding.
While brewing the Potion of Truth, Fang accidentally pricked his finger against a primrose thorn, which began corrupting him into a Darkling. Terrified, Fang refused to help Eight any further, and so Eight decided that he would investigate the temple on his own later that night. Back in town, however, Fang thought back to his friendship with Eight and decided to go to the temple. Inside, he encountered Will, who showed Fang the mirror that could reveal one's true self outside Mirror World. Upon looking into it, Fang was shocked to find that he was actually a Darkling. Just then, Eight arrived and confronted Will, who manipulated Fang into helping him brainwash Eight. As Eight trusted Fang, he readily drank the brainwashing potion, resetting his memories. Will gave him the new name of Nine, who returned back to being an obedient knight. He then revealed to Fang that it was because of him that Nine had been brainwashed every cycle. Back in the library, a Fang discovered a primrose flower that Eight had given to him, along with several other dried primroses that he had given in previous cycles. Guilt-ridden by his choice to betray his friend each cycle, Fang decided to make things right and began to complete the Potion of Truth. However, Will caught Fang and attempted to stop him by destroying the potion. To his surprise, however, Fang drank the last of the potion off the ground, transforming him into his true Darkling form completely. With the last of his strength, Fang met with Nine and told him to go to the temple before vanishing. Shaken by the fact that he hadn't been transformed into a Darkling after coming into contact with one, Nine began growing suspicious about the Shade Neutralizer and decided to investigate the truth.
Sharenian Knights
For information on the full story, visit this page.
In the kingdom of Sharenian, King Sharen III - afflicted with madness and paranoia - grew obsessed with the Rubian, a gem capable of healing any ailment and reviving the dead. In order to find it, he summoned a devil named Ergoth Dunamis and made a deal with him. Hoping to stop him, his son - Prince Sharen IV - decided to lead a coup against his father. King Sharen called Ergoth to protect him, but Ergoth betrayed him in order to seize the power of the Rubian for himself, bringing an army of devils to conquer the kingdom. Guard Captain Kellad, who had once been Prince Sharen's mentor, attempted to rescue the prince alongside his squad of knights. However, they found that they were too late to save him. Kellad and his knights then fell into a time-loop created by Ergoth, forcing them to relive the fall of Sharenian over and over again for centuries, with Kellad leading them to save Prince Sharen and honor his oath to protect the kingdom. Eventually, Kellad's knights - driven mad after hundreds of years - destroyed each other, leaving Kellad as the last member of his squad.
In the throne room, the dead Prince Sharen IV suddenly arose and revealed to Kellad that Ergoth's power wasn't to create a time-loop, but to imprison them in a mirror of the real Sharenian, which had weakened as the subjects of Sharenian died. Sharen then reminded Kellad that he was sworn to protect Sharenian so long as even a single citizen still lived. With Sharen being the last survivor, Kellad pledged himself to serve him eternally. Sharen then revealed himself as the Black Mage - who had presented himself in his human form as the White Mage. Taking advantage of Kellad's weakened metal state, the Black Mage gave Kellad the Rubian that King Sharen III had sought. Though the Rubian was ultimately just a normal gem, the Black Mage infused it with his Transcendent powers, allowing Kellad to revive his fallen squad by fusing their souls with the bodies several Explorers in the ruins of the real-world Sharenian. Fusing himself with the body of the fallen Ergoth Dunamis, Kellad was reborn as Guard Captain Darknell, while his squad became the Elite Bosses, sworn to obey the Black Mage with unimpeachable loyalty. Soon after, Will was given control over Rhinne and her child by the Black Mage. Inspired by Ergoth's ability to create a mirror dimension of Sharenian, Will remade the prison dimension which Rhinne's child had been kept in, transforming it into an imperfect replica of Maple World, which he called Mirror World.
Sefirot's Gardener
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After the schism between the High Flora and Verdant Flora, the God-King - who had inexplicably grown into a tyrant - planned to incite a war of genocide against the other races of Grandis. His ambitions created dissent within the ranks of his royal guard, the Knights of the Einherjar. When the God-King's most loyal knight, Adelaide, refused to follow him into battle, many in the Knights began rallying around Adelaide in resistance to the God-King. For this reason, the God-King imprisoned Adelaide in order to stop the rebellion from growing around her, though this delayed his war from happening. Soon enough, the God-King's illness began physically warping him into a grotesque monster that grew even more powerful and belligerent as he absorbed magic. Hoping to cure his illness, two Knights named Edvar and Yuel, along with Prince Gerand Darmoor - disguised as a scholar named Aaron - traveled to Sefirot, the sanctum of Grandis' Transcendent of Life, which remained empty after the Transcendent had mysteriously disappeared.
In Sefirot, Darmoor met a gardener named Asha, who tended to the garden with all her heart, as it was believed that the Transcendent of Life would return to the garden if it remained beautiful. During this time, Darmoor learned that Asha had similar beliefs as him regarding life, as Asha claimed that she needed to prune away the worthless parts of the garden before they dragged down the rest. He also revealed to Asha that he believed that only a rare few people were capable of truly and selflessly sacrificing themselves for others. In order to test his ideals, Darmoor secretly conducted an experiment and anonymously arranged for several Verdant Flora who resented their exile to come to Sefirot. During this time, the Knights who had come with Darmoor to Sefirot discovered a tablet claiming that only the sacrifice of a "noble life" would catch the Transcendent's eye. Darmoor tricked the Knights into believing that a Flora - as the superior race - constituted as a noble life. However, the two Knights - each valuing their own lives in order to provide for their families - chose to save themselves and instead sacrificed the Verdant Flora who were lured to Sefirot.
During this time, Darmoor secretly unleashed the restrained God-King, who began growing wild as he absorbed the magic of the garden and the Flora. Darmoor then observed that both Knights, rather than sacrificing themselves for their king, chose to save themselves, though they were ultimately killed in the process, confirming Darmoor's suspicions that none of them were noble in the end. In the struggle, the garden was set aflame and began burning down. Asha, who had given her life to the garden, was fatally wounded in the fire. As the last survivor, Edvar, attempted to flee the scene, Darmoor revealed that he had been the Transcendent of Life all along, and that he had incited the God-King's madness to break the balance of life on Grandis, allowing him to become the Transcendent of Life. Darmoor explained that he had hoped to see something different through the eyes of a god, though even after becoming a Transcendent, he remained convinced that the High Flora were arrogant and selfish, and the Verdant Flora - despite claiming to be different - were the same. As Darmoor killed Edvar, Asha - gravely wounded from the fire - recalled the words on the tablet about how the sacrifice of a noble life would bring back the Transcendent. With the last of her strength, Asha prayed to the Transcendent that though her life was insignificant, she wished that the sacrifice of her life would save the garden. After Asha passed away, Darmoor appeared before her and used his powers to bring her back to life. When Asha asked Darmoor why he had saved her, he replied that it was because hers was the only life that had value amidst everyone else who had come to Sefirot, after which he asked her to come with him.
Availability
| Availability of Grand Athenaeum | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Korea | Japan | China | Global | SEA | Taiwan |
| Available | Available | Available | Available | Available | Available |