Nine Chronicles ships v200500 for sixth anniversary, opens Alfheim Hard and Grade 9 crafting

In Brief:

• Nine Chronicles (official site) released version v200500 on Oct. 20, its sixth anniversary update, adding Alfheim – Hard stages 501 through 520 and the first craftable Ultimate (Grade 9) equipment.
• A 20-stage 6th Anniversary Festival Dungeon, new collections and a title run alongside higher summon guarantees until Nov. 30.
• The Grade 9 gear requires level 501. More Hard World stages and more Ultimate items are planned for December.

Nine Chronicles pushed version v200500 live on Oct. 20, opening a second hard-mode world and the first craftable Ultimate (Grade 9) equipment as part of its sixth anniversary update.

“v200500 IS HERE! The 6th Anniversary Update has arrived!” the game’s official account posted on X.

Alfheim – Hard

The new world, Alfheim – Hard, covers stages 501 through 520 and unlocks after a player clears Stage 500. Each run costs 30 AP and 10 Catalyst Potions.

First clears pay out 1,000 Catalyst Potions per stage. According to the release notes, drops are three times those of Hard World 1, which keeps the reward rate roughly in line with the higher AP cost.

The team didn’t stop at 520. Stages 521 through 550 are slated for December, according to the release notes.

Ultimate equipment arrives

Version v200500 adds 10 craftable Ultimate (Grade 9) items, split between Fire and Water elements. Both sets require character level 501.

Recipes unlock every two stages inside Alfheim – Hard. The Fire set opens on stages 501, 503, 505, 507 and 509, in the order weapon, ring, belt, armor and necklace. The Water set runs in reverse across stages 511, 513, 515, 517 and 519, starting with the necklace and ending with the weapon.

Five new crafting materials drop from specific stages. Another 15 Ultimate items for the Land, Wind and Normal elements are scheduled for December.

Grade 9 first appeared in the previous patch, v200490. That build added four Ultimate Runes (two Skill Runes and two Stat Runes), four Ultimate Auras, nine Ultimate Grimoires and two Ultimate costumes in the summon pool, plus 20 new collections tied to those items.

Festival dungeon and collections

The 6th Anniversary Festival Dungeon runs from Oct. 20 to Nov. 30. It has 20 stages with cumulative rewards.

A new material, Festival Ember, drops from Stage 4 onward. Existing Bifrost materials also drop, along with Dust in amounts that scale with difficulty. Stage 20 is focused on Ruby Dust and Emerald Dust, with about 4,000 Ruby Dust on offer, the release notes said.

Fifteen event-material collections give temporary stat bonuses that cap at “ATK +44% · SPD +32% · HP +28% · DEF +28% · HIT +24%” through Nov. 30. After that, the bonuses drop to one-quarter strength and stay permanently. A new anniversary title is also part of the update.

Summon guarantees are higher across equipment, rune and costume summons for the same window. They return to their original amounts on Dec. 1.

Anniversary rewards

The update is the second phase of the sixth anniversary event. The first phase, already live, includes a 2x boost, a Stage 500 mission, Monthly Spend Missions open until Nov. 30, Growth Boosts for new and returning players and an Adventurer’s Rune for every player.

The anniversary program puts more than 4 million NCG up for grabs over two months. Arena takes the largest share at 3.2 million NCG.

Background

Planetarium Labs publishes Nine Chronicles, which Nine Corporation develops, according to the game’s documentation. The game launched in 2020.

Two earlier patches this year set up the endgame push. Version v200450 on June 25 added 30 stages and Grade 8 Transcendence equipment. Version v200470 on Aug. 25 reworked the Adventure Boss and cut monster difficulty across the game by 20%.

Players hitting the Fire weapon recipe on Stage 501 will need 10 Catalyst Potions for each attempt.