Volcano Warden

A merge game you can use to gain natural lights. The Warden Portal was introduced to the game in September 2022.

## Tutorial

To play this game, just click and drag items to combine them with others that are the same. During the first level of the game, you can merge items to create sources, including trees, rocks, wells, and planters. After that, you'll have to receive sources by completing quests. Usually a quest that asks for a source will give you one in return. The exception is the crown line of sources, which you can make with gold at any time. You cannot trash sources except for sources in the gold line.

You can open the tutorial at any time by clicking the question mark  in the top right of the volcano warden game window.

You start with three quests, but after you've completed the tutorial, you'll have the option to unlock a fourth quest box. It will cost 40 natural lights to unlock this quest tab. Once it's unlocked, it works exactly as all the others.

Note that every time you level up the volcano warden, she will need to rest for 48 hours. You can lessen this time by giving her 5 fruits. She always wants moon apples and will rest for two hours when you give her these, but she picks new favorite fruits every 4 hours; when you give her a fruit that is not moon apples, it rests her one hour.

Your warden portal will start partially covered with volcanic rocks and weeds. These can be removed with natural lights. Clearing the entire game field will cost several thousand natural lights, but you'll also need NL to clear your volcano garden once you've unlocked it, so it's wise to save up your NL and decide what to do with it once you know how much clearing the garden will cost.

There should only ever be one quest that requires a level 7 merge item; all others should be much easier to complete.

The warden will occasionally ask for you to turn in sources to complete a quest. Rarely, you'll still need that source in order to complete a different quest (perhaps you need a stick, but the warden is asking for your apple tree). In this case, you will not be allowed to exchange the source until the dependent items have been turned in.

## Rewards

Each time you complete a quest for the volcano warden, you'll receive natural lights and volcano warden points. Depending on the difficulty of the quest, you may earn 1 to 4 natural lights and up to 10 warden points.

You can sometimes win bonus prizes from completing the warden's tasks. These come in boxes.

Some boxes come with free merge items, some of which you could currently produce, and some of which you may not have the source for. These items are both a blessing and a curse, as sometimes they clutter up the space, and sometimes they're free quests you can turn in almost immediately.

Chests can also contain moon mice, energy, moon dust, and natural lights.

If you do receive a box of special prizes, you may have to merge them to get the best prize earnings, and sometimes there will be leftovers. You usually have to merge these items four times. A green check will appear when they cannot be merged anymore. At this point, double click on the item to have the reward added to your next quest.

You can double-click the special prizes at any point once they have been removed from the box, but the potential gain goes up exponentially each time you merge them. For this reason, you might consider storing the extra special prizes in your storage chest until the next prize box.

moon mice from a boxtrade one merge mouse for 5 moon mice; two merge mice for 15 moon mice; three merge mice for 40 moon miceThese mice cannot be merged anymore. Trade them for 100 moon miceOne sun yields 1 natural light; 2 yields 3 natural lights; 4 yields 8, and harvesting fully merged natural lights gives you 20Fully merged lightning bolts give you 20 energyFully merged moon dust is worth 700 moon dust; 3x merge is worth 300; 2x merge is worth 130You get 5 inventory spaces for free. Additional spaces in your storage chest will cost several water lilies (the cost increasing with each purchase)

Put unneded items in your storage chest for a whileClick on an item in the inventory to return it to your fieldMore inventory spaces cost 20 lilies at first, but the cost per spot increases exponentially
## Natural Lights

Each time you complete a quest for the Warden, you'll receive 2 or 3 natural lights, depending on the difficulty of the quest. These will be added to your natural lights inventory. You can use natural lights to clear away obstacles from your warden portal or from your volcano garden. Since this is the only way to clear these obstacles, we recommend using your natural lights for this before trying anything else with them.

Tip: You will not be able to earn enough natural lights to clear both the volcano garden and the entire warden portal until you've leveled up the volcano warden after the reset at level 20 (see Leveling Up below). We recommend using your NL to clear the garden before you clear the warden portal, although if you are frustrated at constantly running out of room, certainly clear a few spaces in the warden portal.

Recent updates have also made it possible to use natural lights to clear obstacles from the tree garden, honey garden and root garden.

You can see how many natural lights you've accumulated at the top of your game window when you're visiting the volcano warden or the volcano garden.

You can also win natural lights from the wheel of fortune and some seasonal prizes. Use this resource to clear volcanic rock from your warden portal and your volcano garden. Later in the game, you may have a surplus of natural lights, but you can sometimes use these to clear obstacles from your honey garden or rock garden, so they're still useful.

## Leveling Up

As you complete quests, you slowly level up the volcano warden. Most of the time, the only thing that marks a level up is a transition period in which the volcano warden must rest and you cannot play the merge game. However, there are secretly several key differences. Every time you level up, quests are worth more. This isn't a noticeable difference until you reach level 20, at which time the lowest amount you can earn is doubled to 4 or 6 per quest.

Level 20 also marks a refresh of the game.

Every 20 levels, the volcano warden will reset the volcano portal, increasing the rewards, but removing all items from the game surface and your inventory. If you've been saving any bonus items (moon mice, energy, moon dust, or natural lights), it is recommended you double click to cash them in before this reset. You will still keep any natural lights you've earned, and you will also keep any inventory spaces you've unlocked with water lilies.

All the volcanic rock and weeds will return to the field as well, but the cost to remove them will be the same as the first time (you'll be earning more NL, so you should be able to clear the portal much faster than at level 1).

This player was able to complete two quests immediately to earn natural lights.

When the volcano warden reaches level 20, you'll also be eligible for an upgrade to your volcano garden. Check to see the requirements for this on the tab in your garden. For the first few levels of the volcano warden, you won't notice any change in your volcano garden except there will be a very enthusiastic pink arrow on the top right of your screen.

## Sources & Merge Items

Each source has several levels. Merge items are distributed randomly out of the possible options from each source. Sources can offer items as quickly as every 3 seconds or as long as only once every hour. If you leave them alone, they'll completely refill.

(I've indicated which series I know I have all the pictures for with the word "complete." This is still a work in progress ;)

##### Apple Trees

3 secondssticks and applessticks, logs, log pile, apple, peeled apples6 secondsstick, log, log pile, boards, apple, peeled apples, sliced apples**Wood series (complete)**

1234567891011

Many pies were sacrificed in the making of this wardrobe

**Apple series (complete)**

1234567
##### Wells

1:35 minutescup, blue vase, clay plate, blue plate9 minutesclay vase, blue vase, pink vase, clay plate, blue plate, fine plate5 minutes**Vase series (complete)**

1234567**Plate series (complete)**

1234567
##### Planters

35 secondsleaf, leaves, caterpilar leaf, buds, tulip, twin tulipleaf3 minutesleaf, leaves, buds, tulip**Butterfly series (complete)**

1234567**Floral arrangement series (complete)**

1234567
##### Crates

paper, papers, small book, rope, basket base, basket middle18 minutesparchment, paper, papers, straw, basket base14 minutes**Bookshelf series (complete)**

123456789**Basket series (complete)**

1234567
##### Statues

small urn, large urn, crumbly well, obnoxiously wide well35 minutes**Fountain series**

123456789**Urn series**

12345
##### Flower Bushes

6 minutesred flower, purple flower, pink flower, fern, weed, small bush**Flower series (complete)**

12345678910**Bush series (complete)**

123456789
##### Tool Chests

24 minutestwo knobs, drawer, two drawers, wrench, screwdriver, small pliers**Buffet series**

23456789**Tool series (complete)**

1234567
##### Benches

26 minutesthread, yarn, fabric, nut, screw, nuts and boltsthread, fabric, 2 fabric, bolt, nuts and bolts, small fastener tray30 minutes**Bolts series (compete)**

1234567**Rug series (complete)**

12345678
##### Rocks

3 minutesgold ore, gold bar, gold bar stack, ruby ore, small ruby12 minutesgold, gold bars, watch, ruby ore, small ruby, medium ruby**Ruby series (complete)**

1234567**Gold series (complete)**

12345 (Items in the gold line turn into gold sources after this)
##### Gold Merge Sources

(complete) Note that you'll rarely get quests for candles or carriages unless you have a gold/ruby source also on the field. The warden will never ask for a chest, scepter, or crown to fulfill a quest.

1 hourwax candle45 minuteswax candle30 minuteswax candle, small candle, wheel, two wheels**Candle series (complete)**

1234567**Carriage series (complete)**

1234567
##### Tables

water splash, water dish, fork, fork and knife4 minutes2 minutesdroplet, water splash, tiny fork, fork**Fish tank series (complete)**

12345678**Cutlery series (complete)**

1234567
##### Instruments

60 minutesstool, chair, easy chair, dining chairBed series

123456789
## Tips/Q&A

Q. What happens if a quest asks for a source, but I still have merge items from that source? Should I trash the merge items?

A. The game may, in fact, ask for items that are in your inventory or on your field even if you no longer have the source for them. Generally, you can trash items if the sources are no longer on your field. The game will not ask for an item you do not have or cannot produce, but check to see if you need the item for a current quest before trashing it, and if a timer runs out just as you are trashing an item, you may find you've accidentally thrown away an item you could have turned in instead.

Q. What if the game asks for an item I cannot produce?

A. Under normal circumstances, it should be impossible for the game to ask for an item you cannot produce. The game prevents you from removing sources which are necessary for an active quest, and the game will only ask for merge items that you can make with the sources you have on the field. If you receive a quest for something you cannot create by merging, check your inventory to see if you have one stored away. If you do not have the item in your inventory, you may be experiencing a bug.

Q. Why won't the game accept my merge items?

A. Sometimes the differences between merge items are subtle. For example, the silverware has two versions which only have one difference: one of which has a sparkle. If the game is not accepting your merge items, it's possible you have a similar but not identical version, and you may need to unmerge the item or merge it again.

Q. How can I get rid of sources I don't want?

A. You cannot trash sources (except items in the crown line), so if you don't like a source, you can't do much about it. Hopefully the game will ask for that source soon, at which time you can exchange it for natural lights.

Q. How do I know which items to merge to get a quest item?

A. The game is supposed to show you how to get the items when you click on the quest icon. (as of March 2023, it is not doing this. Hopefully it's a temporary glitch)

Q. The warden is asking for a carriage/candle, but none of my sources produce anything like that.

A. Carriages (and wheels) and candles are produced from the crown line of sources, which includes the jewelry box, the scepter, and the crown. This line can be constructed with gold bars > watches > glittering watches, which are produced from the rock or statue. In my experience, the warden has never asked crown line sources, but as long as I have a source in the rock line, it may ask for a carriage or candle. You can make as many crowns as you'd like, but you likely won't need more than one or two. These are the only sources you can trash, but you still can't store them in your inventory (you cannot store any sources in your inventory, and you cannot trash regular sources).