Masters of the Book,

It feels like we just stepped into this year, yet here we are, already halfway through it!
Have you been enjoying the changes to the game so far? We hope you are!

This coming update, the mysterious Bianca, a brilliant mind capable of predicting everything, will make her grand entrance.

Coming with her is an update to Portrait of Thierry, alongside an attached mode to it called “Glorious Age”—offering fresh challenges and even greater rewards.

We’re also improving your gameplay experience by removing intrusive UI elements, enhancing the filter system for relics and accessories, and refining the gem crafting feature for greater convenience.

In addition, four of our Knights of Veda—including Xanthia and Ellen Farrell—are growing stronger with this update,
and a new Knight’s Robe for Anais will bring a cool breeze to your summer!

To help you enjoy the summer heat, there will be several seasonal events on the way where you can earn a wide variety of rewards—so we hope you’ll join in the fun!

Read below to find out more about what this update will bring to the game.

■ Knights of Veda
* The new 5★ Knight of Veda, Bianca, welcomes you to her dark world

“I'm so ready to get crazy, who wants to play with me?”
 
Her laughter invites despair. To her, hope is just a toy. To her, a boring world is akin to death. She only feels truly alive when in danger, chaos, and instability. Her genuine amusement begins when everything falls apart

- Bianca is a Dark-type Melee DPS who uses a Large Club. Each hit of her massive hammer applies “Dopamine Index” to herself, gaining increased ATK and ATK SPD. You might even trigger a special skill called “Hey you, come here!,” which deals additional AoE DMG. 
- Her Normal Skill, “I’ll be right there!” lets her swift charge towards enemies in front to strike them down while her Signature Skill, “I’m just being my normal self,” unleashes a shockwave that damages nearby enemies all the while giving her access to some powerful buffs that increase DMG, give her a boost to CRIT DMG and reduce DMG taken.

- “Bianca” alongside her Signature Weapon “Once Sacred” can be obtained via Call of the Stars. While her Signature Halo “Dark Natured Halo” and her Signature El Cid “El Cid of Game” can be obtained via “Mark of the Sworn Loyalty” and “Fragments of the Painting” respectively, which can be found on the “Guidance of the Goddess” menu.
- Check out Bianca and her abilities all the while earning rewards in the “Journey in Memory” event.
- An enhanced Step Up Pack will also be available for Bianca, which contains a generous amount of Crystals of Destiny and a Bond of Sanctuary, allowing you to select a Legendary Weapon of Genesis of your choice.

* Another new beginning arrives for the 5★ Knight of Veda, White Hell.

- “White Hell” is a Dual Attribute Electric and Light-type Ranged DPS wielding a Staff, she uses the power of “Dynamic Punishment” to periodically cause lightning to strike down around her. These lightning bolts become holy torrents, neutralizing some of the target's Electric and Light RES and delivering judgment.
- White Hell alongside her Signature Weapon “World Tree Broom” can be obtained via Call of the Stars. While her Signature Halo “Advancing Halo” and her Signature El Cid “Awakened Angel” can be obtained via “Mark of the Sworn Loyalty” and “Fragments of the Painting” respectively, which can be found on the “Guidance of the Goddess” menu.

* 5★ Knight of Veda Lady Anais Liongray, companion of the eternal flame bird, once again answers the Call of the Stars

- “Anais” is a Fire-type Ranged Healer wielding a Wand & Orb, she is a healer who sacrifices a portion of her HP to boost ATK while simultaneously reviving vulnerable allies during her attacks.
- Anais alongside her Signature Weapon “Special Relationship” can be obtained via Call of the Stars. While her Signature Halo “Hopeful Halo” and her Signature El Cid “El Cid of Feather of Salvation” can be obtained via “Mark of the Sworn Loyalty” and “Fragments of the Painting” respectively, which can be found on the “Guidance of the Goddess” menu.

* Anais dresses up for the upcoming summer with a new “Knight’s Robe!”

- A new refreshing Knight’s Robe, “Flowers on the Waves” for Anais will now be available.
- As with the previous Knight’s Robe, while “Flowers on the Waves” is equipped, Anais’ appearance will change, and her skill effects will be too to match the new look.
- A Name Card and Profile Icon will come with your purchase of the Knights Robe.

■ A new “Glorious Age” dawns on Portrait of Thierry!
* “Glorious Age” will be added to "Portrait of Thierry” alongside other adjustments to the content.

- A new “Glorious Age” button will be added to the main Portrait of Thierry menu.



- There’s three (3) difficulty levels you can choose before challenging Glorious Age. Select your preferred difficulty based on your party’s strength and take on the Glorious Age to gather progress points and earn plentiful rewards!
- Higher difficulty levels will enhance enemy abilities and increase the number of floors available to challenge. In return, you will earn more progress points upon clearing.
- If you’re encountering trouble with the difficulty level you chose, don’t worry! You can always change to a different one. (Updated on 06/20 05:09 AM UTC / 06/19 10:09 PM PDT)
- These progress points can then be used to claim rewards which will reset every Thursday. Rewards include Gold and Mythic Relic crafting materials.



- Thierry’s Pass will be available starting 07/01 and will reset every first day of the month.
- Additional rewards such as “Mystical Chromatics” can also be earned by going to the Thierry’s Pass menu. If you purchase the accompanying Goddess’s Reward Decree for Thierry’s Pass, you will be able to receive more rewards, including a Legendary El Cid Selector Ticket for the Pickup Knights of Veda (Rhynara included)!

■ Nightmare of the Abyss rework? Nightmare of the Abyss rework!
* Adjustments to the Nightmare of theAbyss Levels will be made, reducing them from 25 to 10


- To make the content more fun to do and allow our Masters of the Book to farm higher-level rewards, we’ve made the decision to reduce the number of Abyssal Levels from 25 to 10. Take note that we didn’t just reduce the number of levels, we’ve also made various balance adjustments to each to make sure that it’ll still be a challenge in line with its status as end-game content.
- Your current progress will be converted to the new system when the rework is live. We’ve also adjusted the penalties for failing a dungeon, such as that it will only be reduced one (1) level at a time.
- For more details on how the conversion works, please check the table below:

* From the new Abyssal Level 8 onwards, you will now be able to obtain up to two (2) Mythic Relics.

■ Balance
* Another set of four (4) Knights of Veda will be up for adjustments.


- In this update, the Knights of Veda Xanthia, Ellen Farrell, Nec, and Violet will be adjusted.
- Going forward, we plan to make these Knight of Veda adjustments more regularly through our monthly updates.
 

* Adjustments to PvP stat modifiers will be made.


- As part of our quest to make the game’s balancing as it can be, we’re making adjustments to PVP stat modifiers. 
- To start, we’ll be making adjustments to the defensive capabilities of the Knights in PVP content.
- In Battlefield of the War Gods, Strong ATKs will no longer be used in order to make combat smoother and prevent DPS loss.
- Like we said in the beginning, this is only the beginning. Rest assured that we’ll continue to monitor the situation (and your feedback!) to make the necessary adjustments.

■ Improvements
* A mythic change will now allow you to Mythic Accessories!


- You will now be able to craft accessories when you go to Gundir. It will also be accessible under the Craft & Shop menu on the Adventure Guide.
- You will need to have the specific Mythic Accessory Crafting Materials to proceed, with sub-stats being assigned randomly.
- Mythic Accessory Crafting Materials can be obtained as rewards on Portrait of Thierry: Glorious Age.

* No more waiting for your crafted stuff! Crafting will now be instant!
- As with the title, crafting will now be instant instead of taking a set amount of time. This will apply to all crafting features that previously had it.
- Items that were being crafted when the update is applied will be ended immediately and the crafted item delivered via in-game mail.

* Reach new levels of accessorizing! The maximum level for accessories will now be set to 100!


- When an accessory is upgraded to level 100, both its main and sub-stats will be strengthened.
- Ascending your Accessories from Level 90 to 100 will need you to have an item called “Accessory Frame of Intricacy,” which you can obtain from the Portrait of Thierry shop.

* Speaking of shops…. We’ll be increasing the amount of Ascension Materials you can purchase from content shops!
- You will now be able to purchase as many of the Accessory Ascension Materials as you can afford from the Portrait of Thierry Shop.
- We’ve also lowered the prices of Accessory Ascension Materials on all other Shops, alongside increasing their purchase limits.
- Accessory’s Oblivion, purchasable in the Support Store, can now be purchased with Gold.

* Relics and Accessory Inventory Filters will be improved!


- The filter system will be improved to allow more versatile filtering by letting you choose whether the selected options must [All Match] or [Exclude Selected].

* Not just the filters! We’re also improving the Gem Crafting experience! 


- An option to Batch Register will be added to the Gem Crafting menu to streamline the process.

* Adjustments to the Game UX to make the experience smoother will be made!


- Pop-ups that disrupted gameplay will be removed, with the menus that you used to encounter before entering content simplified to get you into the action as smoothly as possible.
  - Pressing the “Exit”/”X” button while on Celestial Trials will now return you directly to Todburg.
  - The “Knight’s Missions” icon will now remain visible at all times, and unnecessary pop-up windows when conducting Sweeps will be removed.
  - The Main Achievement screen will be removed, allowing you to better access and select the Achievement menu you wish to interact with.
- Unnecessary pop-ups will also be removed from some content entry and result screens, such as those on Apparition’s Rush.

■ Events & Seasonal Content
* “Our Great Summer Adventures Together” event celebrates our second Summer on this great adventure!


- To prepare for the blazing summer, the “Our Great Summer Adventures Together” event will be held where you can earn rewards such as “Crystal of Fate,” “Crystal of Destiny,” and Starstones just by logging in.
- This event will run from after the maintenance on 06/26 and will end before the regular maintenance on 07/31.

* Before Summer arrives, greet it warmly with the “Say Hello to Summer!” event!


- Welcome the coming of summer with adventuring! Explore Adventure Zones and earn “Ice Pop,” a summer-themed food item that can be used in battle and also provides rewards based on how many you collect.
- This event will run from after the maintenance on 06/26 and will end before the regular maintenance on 07/31.

* Conduct various challenges even in this summer heat and earn rewards in the “Cool Summer, Hot Adventure!” Event!


- A summer-themed mission event where you can complete missions to earn various rewards.
- This event will run from after the maintenance on 06/26 and will end before the regular maintenance on 07/31.

* Why have just one Rift when you can have two? Both Rift events will be active this update cycle!


- Battle various bosses entering this world through the various rifts in the “Distorted Rift” and “Shattered Dimensional Rift” events!
- Distorted Rift will run from after the 06/26 Maintenance until 07/17 03:00 AM UTC / 07/16 08:00 PM PDT
- Meanwhile, the Shattered Dimensional Rift will run from 07/17 06:00 AM UTC / 07/16 11:00 PM PDT until before the 07/31 Maintenance.
- During their respective event periods, complete missions and earn rich rewards from the “Rift Pass” and “Dimensional Pass” which can be accessed via the buttons located at the bottom of the main event screen or through the Guidance of the Goddess screen. Purchase the Goddess’s Reward Decree and earn the “Unsullied Remnants of Accessories”, allowing you to select a Mythic Accessory with the highest possible stat for your desired Main stat.



* The "Harold's Lost Knowledge" event will reward you for helping Harold with research materials.
- Collect the materials Harold requires to write his research log from the Adventure Zone stages and submit them to him in Todburg to receive rewards.
- The "Harold's Lost Knowledge" event will be unlocked progressively, with one log entry opening each day, and you can check your progress in the Research Log.
- The "Harold's Lost Knowledge" event will run from 07/17 06:00 AM UTC / 07/16 11:00 PM PDT until before the 07/31 Maintenance.

* A new “The Fruits of Adventure” Daily Attendance event is upon us!
- Receive various rewards depending on the number of days you logged in.
- “The Fruits of Adventure” event will run from 07/01 06:00 AM UTC / 06/30 11:00 PM PDT to 08/01 06:00 AM UTC / 07/31 11:00 PM PDT.

* The "Blessing in Adventure" event is back to shower everyone with more rewards!
- During the event period, you can earn double the rewards from Adventure Dungeons up to the daily limit.
- The double rewards event for Adventure Dungeons will run from after the 06/26 maintenance until 07/17 03:00 AM UTC /  07/16 08:00 PM PDT.

* The Calydon’s Blessing event will be there to sate your hunger for Gold!
- During the event period, your Calydon’s Hideout rewards will be doubled!
- The Calydon Blessing event will be held from after the maintenance on 06/26 until 07/17 03:00 AM UTC / 07/16 08:00 PM PDT.

* Veda’s Nightmare deepens as the rewards for braving its halls increase, the “Blessing in Nightmare” event returns!
- During the "Blessing in the Nightmare" event, you can earn double rewards from “Veda's Nightmare” and on “Nightmare of the Abyss” up to the daily limit. 
- The "Blessing in the Nightmare" event starts on 07/17 06:00 AM UTC / 07/16 11:00 PM PDT and will end before the regular maintenance on 07/31.

* A new Reward Decree season will start.
- The new Reward Decree season will begin on 07/01 06:00 AM UTC / 06/30 11:00 PM PDT, and will run until 08/01 06:00 AM UTC / 07/31 11:00 PM PDT
- Changes to the rewards you get from purchasing Neejarem’s Reward Decree:
  - The Steps of the Journey x20 given after the initial purchase will be changed to Crystals of Destiny x30.
  - The Level 50 Reward will be changed to “Weapon's Praise,” a Weapon Selector which includes the Exclusive Weapons of Knights such as Rhynara.

* A new season of Arena will begin.
- During this Arena Season, you can earn rewards such as Emotes and Insignia based on your progress.
- This Arena Season will end before the regular maintenance on 07/31.

* A new season of Portrait of Thierry will be starting.
- After the maintenance, the attributes of the monsters on each floor of Portrait of Thierry will be changed.
- The new Portrait of Thierry season will end before the regular maintenance on 07/31.

* A new season of Nightmare of the Abyss will be starting.
- With the new season, a new set of Abyss Trials will be applied to each stage.
 - The new Nightmare of the Abyss season will end before the regular maintenance on 07/31.

* A new season of “Beast Battlefront” arrives.
- It has been answered! The “Desperate Prayer to the Goddess“ will be this season’s featured boss!
- "Beast Battlefront" content will be held twice during the season. The schedule is as follows:
  - 1st Round: 06/26 to 07/08 / Settlement until 07/10 06:00 AM UTC / 07/09 11:00 PM PDT
  - 2nd Round: 07/17 to 07/29 / Settlement until 07/31 06:00 AM UTC / 07/30 11:00 PM PDT

* The Celestial Trials get new floors!
- Thought we forgot about it did we? We didn’t and we’re glad to let our Masters of the Book know that Celestial Trials will be expanded to up to Floor 65. Enjoy the climb everyone!

■ Store
* Some Reset Items can now be purchased with Gold on the Support Store.


- Knight’s Oblivion, Tunic’s Oblivion, Weapon’s Oblivion, and Accessory’s Oblivion can now be purchased on the Support Store with Gold.
- Accordingly, they will now be unavailable for exchange on the Exchange Abyss of the Stars.

* Various Special Packages will be available starting this update!
- To help you enjoy the early summer and the coming heat, special item bundles will be on sale:
  - Mythic Pack will assist you with the Mythic Promotion process for either your Knights of Veda or their Weapons.
  - Destiny Pack will offer Crystal of Destiny at a reasonable price.
  - The Halo Pack and El Cid Pack, contains items to obtain and upgrade your Halo and El Cid respectively.
  - The Starlit Destiny Pack then comes with a large amount of Crystal of Fate and Galactic Bliss.

■ Bug Fixes
- An issue where the Sealed Prison results from previous runs are being displayed when doing a Sweep will be fixed.
- An issue where the score displayed after a Survival Arena match is sometimes incorrect when a Double Rewards event is active will be fixed.
- An issue where an error message would appear when entering Portrait of Thierry through the Belle Menu then exiting it via the content links from item descriptions will be fixed.
- An issue where you could only purchase additional Sailing Wheels for Shadow Waters one at a time instead of in bulk will be fixed.
- An issue where you are unable to access Nightmare of the Abyss via the content links on item descriptions will be fixed.

We will continue to listen to your feedback to ensure an even more enjoyable adventure in ASTRA: Knights of Veda.

Thank you.