Hello, everyone.

Lately, “romance” has increasingly been used to mean something close to the opposite of efficiency, and “Going Out of Your Way Day,” the keyword for this post, apparently comes from that same way of thinking. You sometimes see the word used this way in MapleStory, too, though neither approach is inherently better or worse—especially in a game, where it is more a question of how you prefer to play.

A recent example in MapleStory is the new story content, <World Archive>. Far more players either take no interest in the story or look up only the parts that catch their attention than immerse themselves fully in it, and I fall into that second group myself.

Still, the recently added <World Archive> seemed worth trying: it covers the familiar setting of Victoria Island, collecting entries is straightforward, the rewards are of decent quality, and its stories extend beyond supporting characters to even the most minor extras. With all of that in mind, I started filling it out on the test server.

Since the rewards are entirely cosmetic, it would be easy to see this as an inefficient use of time, but I think the content is good enough to be worth trying simply for the enjoyment of it.

Of course, completing the entire collection calls for an extraordinary commitment to that romantic approach—more than I can manage—so I set my sights on 1250 entries, the threshold for the final reward that most players will be interested in. I have also put together some notes worth reading before you start registering entries.

Content for the Romantic: <World Archive>

<World Archive> is story content presented as an encyclopedia, with no connection whatsoever to improving your combat power. It resembles the old Monster Book, but takes the idea much further, with 1399 entries covering NPCs and monsters, all written as field reports by researchers who have traveled the world to conduct their own interviews and investigations.

Even NPCs with no direct role in the story, such as potion merchants, have their own entries, and I was impressed by how the research records draw on their speech-bubble dialogue, established lore, and memes. The entry for 존 재감 shown above, for instance, reflects the setting of Mushroom Castle, a theme dungeon from quite some time ago.

Arcane River and Grandis are scheduled to be added later, but with so much material accumulated over the years, I suspect Maple World will feel the most immediately familiar to players.

Collection Rewards

The collection rewards for <World Archive> are listed below. You can claim a reward every 250 entries, up to 1250, but everything is cosmetic, so if you are only looking for stat improvements, you can skip this content entirely.

• [250 entries] Discerner of Knowledge Chair

• [500 entries] Maple World Map - Maple Home Furniture

• [750 entries] Pioneer of Knowledge Chair

• [1000 entries] Maple World Map Custom Background

• [1250 entries] Character Selection Screen Theme

The character selection screen theme is likely to be the main attraction for most players, which means working toward the full 1250 entries.

Finding Romance Efficiently: Tips for Reaching 1250 Entries

• Accept the quest at level 100 to unlock the content, then register each monster by defeating it once and each NPC by speaking to them once.

• 1399 (maximum entries) - 1250 (entries required for the final reward) - 67 (maximum entries from The Seed) = 82 (additional entries you can skip)

The reassuring thing is that collecting entries is straightforward, and the reward requirements leave plenty of room to work with. Subtract the 1250 entries needed for the final reward from the maximum of 1399 and you have 147 to spare; even if you exclude all 67 entries from The Seed (whose name alone can be daunting to anyone who has not done it), you still have a margin of 82, meaning you can skip another 82 entries and claim the final reward.

• Easy or difficult to register, every entry still counts as 1.

Some NPCs and monsters can only be registered after you complete part or all of an area's questline, but that extra time does not earn you extra points, so feel free to skip the more time-consuming entries.

• A Hyper Teleport Rock is essential.

Expect to spend around 4~5 hours with one, and considerably longer without it. There are several ways to obtain one, so make sure you have one before you begin.

• It helps to remember which characters have completed access quests, theme dungeons, and area quests.

This applies to Lion King's Castle/Rock Colossus/Riena Strait/Elodin/Fantasy Theme World/Ellin Forest/Omega Sector/Colossus/Golden Temple/Ariant/Gate to the Future.

With that in mind, let's go through the individual areas. Following their order in the encyclopedia should make for a convenient route. In any area not mentioned below, you can register everything without meeting any special requirements.

• Maple Island: Accessible using an Explorer character's Beginner skill.

• Kerning Tower: Takes around 10 minutes and offers plenty of entries, making it worth doing.

• Ellinia: Accept the quest from Hersha, then enter the Forest of Endurance through Shane / 루이스 is inside.

• Ellinel: Takes around 10 minutes and offers plenty of entries, making it worth doing—head right for the 2nd-floor dormitory and left for the 3rd-floor dormitory / In Ellinia, speak to Arwen - Rowen - Betty in that order.

• Gold Beach: You can register up to 15 entries without completing the quests.

• Ramuramu: You will likely have completed the Guardian Angel Slime prequests already, so there are effectively no additional requirements.

• Mushroom Castle: The many story sequences bring this to around 20 minutes, so leave it for later and consider it if you are short on entries.

• Root Abyss: Enter the Abandoned Garden to register the imps.

• Cursed Temple: You must wait 3 minutes after entering before you can damage Balrog / Snack Bar's location.

• Riena Strait: You can register up to 5 entries without completing the quests.

• Lion King's Castle: You can register up to 8 entries without completing the quests.

• Dead Mine: Head into the lava at the far left of Cave of Trials 2 to defeat Firebombs / Click Adobis to enter the mine investigation map and register Aura, then leave the party to register Ali on the exit map / Lira is at the end of the Zakum dungeon exploration (jump quest), but it is difficult enough to leave for later.

• Aquarium: Carta's location.

• Fantasy Theme World: You can register up to 13 entries without completing the quests.

• Korean Folk Town: You can register up to 26 entries without completing the quests.

• Ellin Forest: You can register up to 16 entries without completing the quests.

• Omega Sector: You can register up to 15 entries without completing the quests.

• Leafre: Enter through the bushes in Wyvern Canyon to find and defeat Leviathan.

• Colossus: You can register up to 8 entries without completing the quests.

• Kritias: Even without completing the quests, you can use a Teleport Rock to enter the town and register everything.

• Mu Lung: You can register Mu Gong during Ren's 4th job advancement or Aran's story quests, but leave this for later if it seems too time-consuming.

• Herb Town: Giant Bellflower/King Centipede/Bamboo Warrior are all on separate maps, so be sure to defeat each of them.

• Golden Temple: You can register up to 11 entries without completing the quests.

• Ariant: Complete around 2 of Byron's quests to gain immediate access to the inner palace / Meeting the Sand Bandits' leader requires quest completion, so skip that for now.

• Temple of Time: If you have not completed the quests, use a Teleport Rock to reach the end of the Road to Oblivion, then work backward to avoid being sent back to the lobby / The Forgotten Temple Keeper is on a map that requires quest completion to access, so skip that for now.

• Gate to the Future: You can register up to 59 entries without completing the quests / Neinheart, The Rememberer, and Lightning require quest progress, so skip them for now.

• Edelstein: Lion Head's location—you can also teleport there.

• Verne Mine: Use a normal attack on the security device on the map shown below to reach the map where you can defeat 비상용 경비로봇L.

• Scrapyard: The flying monsters apparently appear in a set color order, so defeat the first one and skip the rest for now / Be sure to register the robots in town with no displayed names, too.

• Undersea Tower: Recommended if you still remember your way around The Seed, since it offers as many as 65 entries even without floors 49 and 50. You can also register entries on maps accessed with practice tickets.

I could no longer get past floor 48, which left me with 65 entries in the Undersea Tower. Excluding those (1319-65), I currently have 1254 entries; my progress in the areas I have not completed is shown below.

For theme dungeons and areas with access quests, you need a character that has completed the relevant questline, but I could not find mine, so I did as much as possible on a new character that had not completed any quests. If you remember which characters you used, you can simply cover Omega Sector/Colossus/Golden Temple/Ariant and the other areas as available, which should make things easier than they were for me.

If some entries still cannot be registered on a character that has already cleared the content, they need to be collected as you play through the quests from the beginning. Those can naturally go further down your priority list.

If you are in the same position as me, you will need to clear a few theme dungeons. As mentioned, Ellinel and Kerning Tower are good choices because they are quick to finish and offer plenty of entries, and I also cleared Mushroom Castle—though theme dungeons and access questlines generally take around 15~20 minutes at most, so you can choose whichever appeals to you.

Key Points to Remember When Aiming for 1250

• A Hyper Teleport Rock is essential.

• Some locations normally locked behind quests, such as Gate to the Future (the Cygnus Knights area) / Temple of Time / downtown Kritias, can be reached by teleporting even without completing those quests.

• Follow the area order in the encyclopedia (or another order, if you prefer), registering everything in areas with no special requirements first.

• If you cannot locate a missing entry, try the world map's search function. For entries that require access to a particular hidden map, refer to the notes above.

• For areas with prerequisite quests, use a character that has already completed them if you remember which one it was.

• If an entry still cannot be registered after revisiting the area on a character that has completed the quests, you will need to start those quests again from the beginning to collect it, so skip it for now.

• Kerning Tower/Ellinel are quick to finish and offer plenty of entries, so they are worth doing even from scratch.

• You can assign World Archive to a hotkey or the Quick Menu, which is worth setting up before a dedicated collection session.

• If you can manage The Seed, its many entries make reaching the goal a little easier, though I would not recommend taking it on solely for this.

• Registering entries is straightforward, but the sheer number of them means you should allow around 4~5 hours.

I hope these notes help you find what you need and make the collection process a little easier. Thank you for reading.