The Heights

**The Heights** is an island east of the Undeveloped Island and west of Sunset Haven, on the planet Unoiks 428c

The water between The Heights and Sunset Haven contains numerous pieces of Titanium. A Kraken can also be found here.

The Science Path quests to find Hi-Tech Parts, build a com station, and repair the escort ship require that you come here to first gather materials and then build the station and the ship. There are plenty of berries and wood on the peak and in the lowlands to build a Storehouse and enable storing of materials to repair the Fighter Escort, as well as drop off items from the submarine.

Note: While there are no quests on the Magic path to go to the Heights, the large numbers of aquatic enemies in the maze and on either side can provide huge amounts of magical ingredients, which you can sell to the Fish Merchant or use for crafting. The water maze below the island hosts the largest population of Snaptopus in the Aground universe, making it the best place to gather Ink (which Snaptopus drop) for spellbooks, or even capturing them alive. Coming from the Undeveloped Island to the west (such as by using the Wyrm Tunnels and then flying or sailing east), you can mine your way down from the western shore to where there is a sandy cave and access to the water maze. For players coming from Sunset Haven in the submarine, this cave functions as an air pocket and the far end of the water maze.

The music for the island is a remixed version of "The Passage Between", an Aground OST track available on Youtube or other websites. Most obvious in the original version by Chase Belthea is the similarity in melody between "The Passage Between" and "Technically", which is the theme music of the Fighter Escort when the player boards it. As this island is where a Fighter Escort is first encountered in the game, broken into pieces until repaired by The Mirrows, the music foreshadows the presence of this spaceship and the advanced Exotic Matter technology of the Science Path. The Heights also happens to fit the Trader's statement *"I've even heard rumors of an island with a nearly intact ship"* when you have your first conversation with her once you accept the "Build Market" quest. The music builds on this and the eventual payoff of a Science Path spaceship, once the Fighter Escort is resurrected for the first time since humans crash-landed on the planet. Identical music plays while the player is on Divider Island, the island which hosts an existing Advanced Lab where weapons for the Fighter escort can be crafted.

The Heights and Divider Island are also similar in being a place where advanced Science (the Fighter Escort, the Comm Station, the Advanced Lab, and on the hybrid path a Bombardment Shield) exists alongside a special type of Magic. The peak of The Heights hosts not only a Yeti, but three non-respawning Icers as well as chests with Ice Arrows, an Ice Sword, and a Hut Blueprint like the Ice Island. In the water maze below, conditions are perfect for large populations of Snaptopus and Clams (Skyfish could be found here in early access, as seen in Youtube videos from that time, but currently they inhabit the sky east of The Heights). The maze itself is made of purple bedrock, which shares an extreme similarity with the Old One's artificially constructed chamber as well as the Minotaur Maze. The wall traps, which shoot green projectiles like the Mecha Wyrm, Stinger, and Magic Wand, could also have been built by the old ones who evolved on this planet. The presence of obsidian rock and the tunnel leading through the center of the peak could be evidence that The Heights is an enormous extinct volcano, and the cooled interior later let in seawater to become the current Water Maze. In many ways, this island stands out from the rest.

## Lowlands

The main part of the island consists of hard stone (mine hardness 5) containing diamond and quartz, with a sandy section through the middle connecting the icy summit and the underwater maze below. On top of this part and to the right (the large obsidian plateau east of the peak) is the wreckage of a fighter escort; the Mirrows will give you a quest to get parts so they can repair it. Between the larger pieces of wreckage are collectable Hi-Tech parts. The Summit is left of center, as the volcanic rock layer extends into a large flat plateau with an altitude of about 18 tiles. West of the mountain, there is no plateau and the obsidian layer slopes down to the coastal plain.

On either shore is a small area of fertile dirt, with a single Conifer, a Red Bush, and 1-2 berry Bushes. A Hut and a Storehouse, once you have built them, may not both fit on one side of the island without displacing the existing vegetation and leaving fewer resources to harvest.

A permanent cap of lenticular clouds, formed by the mountain, shadows the lowlands on either side and becomes visible when approaching the coast as you travel to the island. This ring of clouds moves up and down over the course of each day.

In the sky off the eastern shore, sometimes spawning very close to the beach, is a large flock of Skyfish. As well as being more numerous than the Eastern Island population, this group may appear above 10 height. A Jet can attack them for Helium Sacs without needing the Upgraded Engine; Ice Bullets work better than regular bullets when shooting these floating enemies, and a rapid fire rate will prevent the Skyfish from being able to spit their ranged attacks at you.

### Mining

The basalt from the mountain extends underground to either side of the maze. There is no lava underground on this island.

## Mountain

The summit of the island is where the Mechanic wants to build a Com Station. The Com Station will be small when you build it (2 tiles wide), allowing you to place it without displacing any vegetation. Four snowy conifers form a forest here, similar to the starting island mountain or the Ice Island. Pieces of the Fighter Escort are scattered among the trees, along with other Hi-Tech parts. Once you rebuild the Escort, all of the wreckage will disappear along with any Hi-Tech parts you had not collected.

A sand-lined vertical tunnel (like the throat of a volcano) leads from the middle of the summit through the obsidian layer to the water maze below. Before a tool with a mine stat of 5 is crafted, this is the easiest way to climb to the top. The mountain is 32 tiles tall, the same altitude as Dragon Factory Island which floats above Cultivator Island.

The peak is composed of stone identical to the Starting Island’s basement rock, and can be mined with an Iron or Steel pick. Within are open areas of slippery blue Ice tiles, which you will slide across when you walk on them until you reach a wall or a non-ice open tile. Be careful of this if the Icers follow you, as they can skate across the ice in any direction they choose; you, on the other hand, cannot change course, attack, or shield until you are on firm ground again.

If you land a regular Jet on the eastern plateau, you can access the peak by mining through it, or by following a horizontal sandy tunnel which links to the central shaft. A jet with the Jet Engine Upgrade, an Elder Dragon, or a Mecha Dragon can land directly on the peak; so can any later high-flying equipment, flying mechs, or spaceships.

Treasure

### Enemies

 Notes
 Notes

### Mining

The Obsidian from the peak extends below ground.

## Water Maze

Below the island is an underwater maze, walled by bedrock.
You can find Titanium and High-Tech Parts in the water. While single units of Titanium will respawn endlessly, the larger pieces of wreckage do not. There are several caverns where you can replenish your  oxygen levels, including each side of the island. A pair are at the very bottom of the maze, where the lowest tunnel forms a T-junction. The maze can be explored with a Submarine, or with equipment with a high oxygen capacity.

There are 8 power core debris pieces to retrieve from the caves (bottom right, bottom left, and sometimes far left), which can be crafted into Power Cores at an Advanced Lab to power the Fighter Escort.

Treasure

### Enemies

In the water maze are aquatic enemies, including Snaptopus, Clams, Skyfish, and Wall Traps.

### Mining

The Bedrock walls of the maze contain Titanium and Uranium ore, but is very hard to mine.