At level 45, the Abyss and Ascension Trial require 1,000 item level

What people say

Korean forums warn that there’s a story gate that requires 1,000 power to get through. gamesfuze’s Ascension Trial guide gives 1,000 item level for its lowest difficulty, Easy, going up in steps of 500 to 4,000.

What happens

I reached 45 with 664 item level. The next day, at 726, the next story quest was to enter the Abyss, and the game locked it: it requires 1,000. Ascension Trial requires the same, 1,000, also from the first difficulty level.

In other words, the story stops at level 45 until you upgrade your gear, and with it one of your weekly sources of enhancement stones.

Normal, at 1,500

At 1,519 I got into Normal (the map is called Nightmare Altar). With no deaths, I had 11:52 left on the clock and completed all three bonus time objectives: first room in under 4 minutes, second in under 7:30 and third in under 10:30. Normal multiplies the score by 2: 1,100 base and 2,524 at the end.

What it gave: 1,500 enhancement stones, 9 Amplify Stone (Unique) fragments, 11 Growth Pet Chest and 7 Ascension Binding Chest, all bound. The attempt counter is out of 3.

On 14 October I went again, at 1,641. The map was different, Sanctum of Loathing, and the bonus objectives shorter: 2:00, 4:30 and 7:00. With no deaths and 11:36 left I scored 2,492. It gave the same with one fragment less: 1,500 enhancement stones, 8 fragments, 11 Growth Pet Chest and 7 Ascension Binding Chest. Each Ascension Binding Chest gives a Manastone or a Soulstone, with some chance of an Intermediate one.

What to do

What does open earlier is Draupnir and Krao Cave, at 700, including their Conquest versions (this entry). The road from 700 to 1,000 is in my note on getting from level 45 to 1,000.

As soon as you pass 1,500, do your attempts on Normal: I found it easy. But not for the enhancement stones: a Bio-Research run at 1,536 gave me 6,700, more than four times what you get here. What Ascension Trial is worth is the Amplify Stone fragments, which gold pieces need to go past +15 (the maths). Keep them.