Hello.

This time, the keyword is Black Day, so I will be looking at content you can enjoy on your own in the game.

MapleStory has a story-focused solo activity called the Grand Athenaeum. Players who particularly enjoy the story will likely be familiar with it, but those with only a passing interest, like me, who seek out just the stories they like, or those with little interest in the story often never visit at all.

As a result, many players are unaware of the rewards available here. Even beyond the rewards, though, it is a place worth visiting at least once, so I have put together an overview of what it offers.

What Is the Grand Athenaeum?

The Grand Athenaeum is an area you can currently access through the Dimensional Mirror or the Special Content tab in the Maple Guide, serving as a central collection of material related to MapleStory's story.

First introduced in 2013, the Grand Athenaeum has quite a long history. At launch, it only let players experience the untold stories behind existing storylines, which remains its main feature today, but subsequent expansions added various features, and it continues to receive changes with each update.

Compared with the single-story layout shown above, the location has grown considerably, and its various NPCs now let you browse a wide range of story-related records.

Archives

The Archives, on the right side of the map's second floor, lets you view book-related items from MapleStory.

Here, you can browse all the books that appear in various quests, including some you may not even know exist, since completing every quest yourself is no easy task.

The collection includes Lakelis's Incident Notebook, which is related to the Kerning City Party Quest,

along with books of recipes from the towns of Maple World and books on a variety of other subjects. Some of the titles are listed below.

• Aria's Diary

• Mesoranger Recruitment Guide

• A Holiday in Kritias: A Tourist's Guide to Kritias

• 알레리아's Journal

• Ephenia's Letter

• Book of Frozen Ice

• The Legend of Sayram

• Victoria Island Fairy Tales

• The Legend of the Snail

Dimensional Music Box

You can change the background music by clicking the Dimensional Music Box, located on the right side of the Grand Athenaeum's first floor.

The available tracks are listed below.

Maple Chronicle: Book of the Beginning / Book of Arcane River / Book of Grandis

Maple Chronicle, located in the center of the Grand Athenaeum's first floor, lets you revisit regional and class story quests for which you have a completion record.

Clicking a book opens the interface shown above, where you can choose to view either the full story or a summary.

For class stories, you must have a completion record, and if a story you have finished is not showing as complete, you will need to refresh your achievements. More stories are added with each update, so characters whose stories are not currently available may be included in a later update.

The Book of Commanders on the far left covers the pasts of the Black Mage's commanders—Von Leon, Hilla, Will, Arkarium, Orchid, and Lotus—and can be viewed without any special prerequisites.

Maple Behind: Book of Forgotten History

The Book of Forgotten History, located at the very center of the Grand Athenaeum, has been available since the Grand Athenaeum first launched and lets you experience each story as its protagonist. There are currently 7 episodes in total.

The episodes that tend to receive the most praise from players are Episode 1, featuring the White Mage, Episode 4, featuring Ryude and Alicia, and Episode 6, featuring Darknell and his subordinates. Their stories and presentation are memorable in several ways, so if you would rather not play through them yourself, it is worth looking up related articles or videos. Personally, I also enjoyed Episode 7, which features Gerand Darmoor.

Completing each episode grants cosmetic rewards such as medals and chairs. The official descriptions and completion rewards for each episode are listed below.

• This episode was later adapted into a serialized webtoon titled 검은 마법사 Origin.

This episode's background music is also popular.

You also receive a Lithium Heart along with 아샤로이드. Recent events appear to have shifted toward offering an event android and a Lithium Heart early on, but if you need them later, you can obtain them here.

Thank you for reading.