Eternal Engravings

**Eternal Engravings** is a feature available in the "Hero Details” interface of AFK Arena. It can be unlocked after completing **chapter 21** of the **Campaign**. Players can illuminate corresponding glyphs to increase specific heroes' attributes and strengthen their abilities.

Heroes of every faction who have reached Ascended 1 Star will have access to the Eternal Engravings system.

## Background

### Celestials

In Ancient times, Dura, god of life, couldn’t stand how helpless the first humans were, utterly defenseless in the face of natural disaster. She revealed to them the secrets of magic, and thus dawned an unparalleled civilization of magic.

Not content with their limited lifespan, avaricious men sought immortality through magic and alchemy. Their ingenuity astonished the gods, trying all manner of method. The closest man came to succeeding in his goal was the skill “Eternal Engravings”. Through a special alignment of the five runes, elemental energies are channeled into the body, breaking its mortal shackles and allowing heroes to transcend the limits of the self.

Soon afterwards, the Lightbearer Empire sunk into civil unrest. The glorious Kingdoms of Man were dust in the winds of history, vanished as though they’d never been. Those relics that carried the wisdom of man’s ingenuity were scattered across the continent, and the “Eternal Engravings” was lost.

As the Factions doggedly pursued the study of these ancient relics, new interpretations of totems and ancient texts were coming to light. Several stone tablets, each bearing the “Eternal Engravings”, have come to the fore.

Eager to recover this godliness, the gods themselves secretly acquired one of the tablets and had the godly craftsman himself, Ansiel, make an alteration to it. Now, the tablet would grant the gods a new power.

### Hypogeans

The blessing of magic unto mankind gave them the means to withstand nature's cruelty, but it also sent them spiraling into an ever greater arrogance. They had no fear of the gods, instead reveling in their own great power. By airship and all kind of spectacle, Man proclaimed sovereignty over the gods, amassing elite mages and artisans to uncover so much as a hint to the secrets of immortality, including the "Eternal Engravings".

Eventually, humanity pushed its luck, and the gods lost their patience. Led by the God of Death, Annih, a forbidden alchemy was given to Man, "Invigorating Essence." This forbidden art allowed the life-essence of living creatures to be merged with a human body. Annih claimed that provided the correct life-essence was fused, a human could transform into an immortal being.

Annih's lie drew humanity away from the stilted research into the "Eternal Engravings", and focused on experimenting with human alchemy. Driven by the desire for immortality, the frenzied mages undertook a flurry of experiments, leading to self-mutilation and ultimately culminating in the ruin of the human empire. Everything, had gone up in smoke.

What remained of humanity uncovered the truth of Annih's lies; Invigorating Essence was a deception. Rejected by the mortals of the world, Annih grew ever more resentful and bitter, until his divine powers spawned into being countless Hypogeans that would come to plague the continent.

Following many years of struggle, the Hypogean, now Esperia's common enemy, were desperately searching for a new power source. One Hypogean disguised as a human infiltrated the Empire, sifting through dusty tomes piecing together the hints and clues of the Eternal Engravings. Concealing his presence, he was able to seize the Eternal Engravings the instant they came to light.

Through the degenerative influence of they Hypogean forces, the monolith has been transformed. The time has come for the Hypogean to strike back.

### Dimensionals

Demons born from Annih's rage now rage across the continent, leaving chaos and destruction in their wake. Dura, the goddess of life, could not bear to see the destruction of the creatures in Esperia, thus sealed the demons within The Barred Gate with her divine powers.

However, the Barred Gare was not impermeable. After years of lying dormant, the evil that dwelled within the Barred Gate gradually broke free of their restraints, plunging the world of Esperia into an era of chaos once more.

The Wilder elders convened and formulated a plan to close the Barred Gate once and for all. They would use the powers of the elemental standing stones found within the Bastion of the Elements. They hoped unleashing the stones' pure elemental powers would overwhelm the evil emanating from the gate, annihilating it in the process.

Using ancient Wilder incantations, the elders began to activate the old stones. A giant bolt of light shot straight up into the sky. The energy seemed to move in the direction of the Barred Gate, situated many miles away from the Bastion. When the elemental stones' turbulent powers clashed with the Barred Gate's evil it triggered an unfathomable chain reaction. The power released from the collision was so immense that not even the fabric of time or reality could withstand it. A tear in time and space had occurred, something that had never been witnessed in all of Esperia's history.

A gateway to the multiverse had been established, although it only persisted for several seconds, what were seconds to the Esperians could have been days elsewhere. Nevertheless, it was enough time for the other-dimensional beings to traverse the gateway and enter Esperia. The unprepared Wilders had been caught totally off-guard and could only watch the whole event unfold before their own eyes.

Unaware of how they had arrived in this strange place, the rag-tag band of visitors gathered together for protection while they sought to find a way of returning to their own respective universes. The visitors were given the name "Dimensionals". Their fate here would be unknown.

It was on one day that the Royal family, hailing from the Lightbearer kingdom, dispatched an emissary to secretly convene with these dimensional travelers. Nobody knew what was said between the two parties, only that not longer after, the magic used by the Eternal Engravings was seen being used by these Dimensionals beings.

### Wilders

The ancestors of the Wilder were once Maulers who were exiled to the Scorched Expanse. They longed for a peaceful, tranquil life. Barely free of the hardships of their forced servitude, they found themselves embroiled in the ceaseless vengeance-fueled Mauler wars. Peace is like a desert mirage... Unattainable.

With the help of the goddess Dura, these peace-loving Maulers were relocated from the Scorched Expanse to the Dark Forest, beginning a secluded life of tranquility.

The rich natural resources and unique Elemental Crystals of the Dark Forest frequently attracted avaricious forces, but fortunately, the Wilder possess a secret weapong that deterred their hungry gaze - The Shrine of the Elements. Maintaining this delicate balance, the Wilder lived a contented life of relative peace in their tiny corner of the world.

However, nothing lasts forever, and with the deciphering of the ancient relics and emergence of Eternal Engravings, the Wilder once again drew the attention of the world's forces. In the ancient times, the power of Eternal Engraving originated from magic crystalline essence, manufacturing from Elemental Crystals.

The Lightbearer Empire sent scholars from the Astral Academy to contact Wilder mages. They agreed that in exchange for a portion of Elemental Crystals, they would collaborate on Eternal Engraving research. Ancient technologies had been a source of suffering for the Mauler people, but it was clear to the Wilder folk that it was desire-consumed humans who were to blame for that woe, not the technologies they used.

Nonetheless, thanks to the dedicated efforts of Wilder elementalists, a substitute for the Crystalline Essence was created. Elemental Crystal shards and cores replaced the Crystalline Essence, allowing Eternal Engravings to resurface, illuminating all.

The Wilder have no intention of committing acts of aggression against other factions, but having such power at their fingertips is the sole way to maintain peace and stability in this chaotic world.

### Lightbearers

The Order of the Sun is an association of mages operating under the Lightbearer Empire. Formed of the Empire's finest thaumaturgical minds, they are continuously trying to restore ancient magic arts from the fragments of history, reinstating the Era of Man-Gods. To bring ancient magic to the forefront and see it illuminate the modern era is their sole endeavor.

After years of intensive research, the scattered information they gathered was woven into a mesh, and ancient mystical techniques of antiquity long-passed were once again open to humanity. There was one such technique called "Eternal Engraving", capable of greatly strengthening the abilities of individual humans. Eternal Engraving is powered by crystalline essence. The five carried runes can be tailored to human qualities, and thus the body can be modified by magical energy. This was humanity's greatest foray into the realm of the gods!

However, humanity's ingenuity threatened the gods, so the hypocritical gods turned their backs on their devotees and deceived them with human alchemy, dividing humanity and sending it spiraling towards its eventual downfall. The Eternal Engravings were hidden in the ruins, lost under the rubble, waiting to be rediscovered by later generations.

The Order of the Sun searched for snippets within ancient books, peering into every corner of antiquity, they glimpsed in the crumbling walls, following every masonry fresco for traces of history. Finally, they located the position of the buried monument that bore Eternal Engravings.

And so, the Eternal Engravings once again saw the light of day. One tablet was snatched from the excavation site by a disguised Hypoean, and the remaining tablet became an important strategic asset for the Lightbearer Empire, used for research purposes and advantageous exchanges.

The illumination and rediscovery of the Eternal Engravings once again allows humanity to take a momentous step toward the nigh-unobtainable ancient era. In the words of The Order of the Sun, "We will awaken giants, stand upon their shoulders, and then become the giants ourselves."

### Maulers

Born from blood and fire, the Maulers will never forget what it means to struggle. Only by struggling, can one survive. The Maulers struggled fiercely with the harsh environment where they reside, they struggled against unknown enemies who covetously await the right moment to seize their scarce resources, but the ones they struggled against the most is none other than the Lightbearer Kingdom.

It was in ancient times when men began their human alchemy experiments, experiments which birthed a violent feud between Maulers and men. The atrocities caused by a few elite sorcerers were buried and obscured, leaving few traces of what started this fierce feud. Unscrupulous human alchemy experiments on unwitting civilians created a new type of being, they were mostly human, but took on many unhuman, beastly characteristics. Shunned for their beastly appearances, these "abominations" were expelled from the kingdom of man, and would later find refuge in a place known as the Scorched Expanse.

For the Maulers, immortality is a laughable delusion, and is the source of their suffering. At first, when the witch doctors and priests at the Temple of the Seers deciphered the humans' attempts at immortality, the Maulers paid no attention to their findings. It wasn't until they caught wind of a new strategic resource, an ancient technology give to the Quicksand Claw tribe by the Lightbearers, that had the ability to increase one's prowess in combat, that the Maulers started paying attention. By allowing the Quicksand Claws access to this ancient technology, the Lightbearer's goal had been successful. The in-fighting among the Mauler tribes only grew in intensity, with the tribes feuding over who should have access to this new power.

It was on one fateful day that a secret Lightbearer transport was caught off guard by a Centaur legion, that a mysterious stone monolith fell into Mauler hands. It was later confirmed by the witch doctors at the Temple of Seers as an "Eternal Engraving". Transformed by voodoo magic, the glow of the Eternal Engravings shines once again in the Scorched Expanse. Maulers do not believe in immortality, but they will never reject power.

### Graveborns

Is immortality a blessing, or a curse?

Perhaps there's no true answer to this question, but in the minds of ancient mages, immortality was a goal worth pursuing for their entire lives. Magic, alchemy... There were no limitations, everything was considered. Yet no matter how hard they toiled, their short mortal lives were still brought to a close. Dying and becoming a part of the world of the dead, they lamented their failures, sleeping eternally in a bed of regret.

When Annih, the god of death, fell from grace and left the world of the dead with no supervision, these slumbering souls began to stir. One such soul, was the mage Quaedam. This former elite mage, armed with a vast knowledge of the thaumaturgy and occult, began to comprehend the workings of this world, and gradually he took control of it. Ultimately, he shattered the cycle of life and death, erasing their boundaries, becoming Esperia's first ever Graveborn.

Regret, resentment, hatred, and avarice have been ever present in Esperia. Those on the brink of death often feel an unquenchable lust for the realm of men. Seized by their panic, these souls taking their finals breaths are unwilling to depart the mortal coil, and so they swear themselves into Quaedam's service, joining the ranks of the Graveborn. Concealed in the shadows, hordes of Graveborn, awakened from the long sleep of death, amassed and built up a force powerful enough to rival any foe.

With the Eternal Engravings resurfacing, Quaedam's own long-forgotten memories also resurfaced. Back in those days, he too, sought immortality. But now, immortality is his, there was no further need to search. At Quaedam's behest, The School of the Dead began undertaking research into the Eternal Engravings. With the combined efforts of the Spiritualists and the Metamorphs, the Eternal Engravings granted the Graveborn legions new battle power.

The living must beware! The Graveborn invasion is nigh!

## Guide

* Players can access the Eternal Engravings system by tapping on the “Engrave” tab on the “Hero Details” interface. Players can then illuminate the Glyphs in order to raise hero attributes and strengthen hero abilities.

* Once players have reached Chapter 22, the Eternal Engravings will become available to their heroes which are Ascended and possess 1 Star.
* Each hero has their own exclusive Eternal Engravings monolith. The Eternal Engravings are based on each hero’s class and faction, and will vary between heroes.
* Eternal Engraving monoliths are composed of 3 Major Glyphs and 5 Minor Glyphs. Players can consume Elemental Shards or Elemental Cores to raise the levels of Glyphs to strengthen their hero’s attributes and reveal more of the Eternal Engraving monolith.

* Glyphs on the Eternal Engraving Monolith must be activated in a specific order. Enhancing Glyphs that are already active will not be affected by this order.
* The Eternal Engraving level is the sum of all Glyphs combined. Raising the Eternal Engraving level allows for abilities to be unlocked and furthermore, raising a hero’s ascension tier allows for additional ability effects to be unlocked.
* After reaching an Eternal Engraving level of 80, heroes shall be able to acquire the special ability called "Endeavor" in the Arena of Heroes, Legends’ Challenger Tournament, Legends’ Championship etc. PVP modes.
* The fixed value of Health, Attack, and Defense attributes that are provided by The Elder Tree and Dura's Virtues are increased based on a hero's Eternal Engravings bonuses.

## Monoliths

### Tank

The monolith for Tank heroes features a shield shape. Its name varies per faction, as detailed below.
The Celestial Tank Monolith: Deity's Volition.The Hypogean Tank Monolith: Devil's Grievance.The Dimensional Tank Monolith: The Eternal Star.The Wilder Tank Monolith: Mountain's Force.The Lightbearer Tank Monolith: Defender's Fortitude.The Mauler Tank Monolith: Hardfist's Resilience.The Graveborn Tank Monolith: Corpsewalker's Curse.
### Warrior

The monolith for Warrior heroes features a hammer shape. Its name varies per faction, as detailed below.
The Celestial Warrior Monolith: Deity's Resolve.The Hypogean Warrior Monolith: Devil's Rage.The Dimensional Warrior Monolith: The Almighty Star.The Wilder Warrior Monolith: Prairie's Might.The Lightbearer Warrior Monolith: Light's Intrepidity.The Mauler Warrior Monolith: Clawfang's Brawn.The Graveborn Warrior Monolith: Ghoulish Resolve.
### Ranger

The monolith for Ranger heroes features a bow and arrow shape. Its name varies per faction, as detailed below.
The Celestial Ranger Monolith: Deity's Commandment.The Hypogean Ranger Monolith: Devil's Treachery.The Dimensional Ranger Monolith: The Fleeting Star.The Wilder Ranger Monolith: Forest's Whisper.The Lightbearer Ranger Monolith: Ranger's Insight.The Mauler Ranger Monolith: Arrowthorn's Jab.The Graveborn Ranger Monolith: Death's Alacrity.
### Mage

The monolith for Mage heroes features an enchantment circle shape. Its name varies per faction, as detailed below.
The Celestial Mage Monolith: Deity's Judgment.The Hypogean Mage Monolith: Devil's Thunder.The Dimensional Mage Monolith: The Arcane Star.The Wilder Mage Monolith: Element's Breath.The Lightbearer Mage Monolith: Conjurer's Gleam.The Mauler Mage Monolith: Mancer's Incantation.The Graveborn Mage Monolith: Undying Conjuration.
### Support

The monolith for Support heroes features a tree shape. Its name varies per faction, as detailed below.
The Celestial Support Monolith: Deity's Blessing.The Hypogean Support Monolith: Devil's Whisper.The Dimensional Support Monolith: The Kindred Star.The Wilder Support Monolith: Rain's Silence.The Lightbearer Support Monolith: Protector's Guidance.The Mauler Support Monolith: Ravager's Cry.The Graveborn Support Monolith: Death's Salubrity.
## Glyph Stats

*Main Article: Glyph Stats*
Filling in the glyphs on a hero's monolith grants them various unique attribute bonuses. This includes areas such as MP (Magic Pierce), PP (Physical Pierce), IS (Insight), ATK (Attack), DEF (Defense), CRIT (Crit Rating), CDA (Crit Damage Amplification), CDR (Crit Damage Resistance), HP (Health), CBR (Crit Block Rate), DODGE, TY (Tenacity), PR (Physical Resist), MR (Magic Resist), LL (Life Leech), HASTE, ACC (Accuracy), RH (Received Healing), HR (Health Regeneration), AS (Attack Speed), and RECOVERY.

Each monolith contains 3 major glyphs and 5 minor glyphs, each with their own specific attribute boosts. For information on what attribute boosts each hero receives from their monolith glyphs, see the Glyph Stats page.

## Enhancement Costs

### Elemental Shards

*Main Article: Elemental Shard*
Elemental Shards are used to enhance eternal level 1-5 Major Glyphs and 1-3 Minor Glyphs.

#### Major Glyphs

 2
 3
 4
 5

#### Minor Glyphs

 2
 3

### Elemental Cores

*Main Article: Elemental Core*
Elemental Cores are used to enhance level 6-20 Major Glyphs and 4-8 Minor Glyphs.

#### Eternal Engravings Levels

 60-80
 80-100

#### Minor Glyphs

 5
 6
 7
 8