Since I have written a guide for moths, I believe that writing a short guide on how to be an experienced "butterfly" is in order. However, what I have written here may not be accurate to what everyone believes a veteran should be.
As Sky progresses, the line between a "moth" and a "butterfly" blurs. The longer you stay in Sky, the more you are acquainted with the world, its creatures, and the seasons. However, you may be the type that finished all the realms and decided to take a break before coming to every new season to play again. So, it is difficult to define a "butterfly"/veteran/expert precisely.
There are, after all, many types of butterflies.
So, I will write a general gist of a veteran. Perhaps, I may go in-depth on the different types of veterans in a separate entry.
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I think to be considered a veteran or an expert in Sky. You need to:
· Know the general candle farming route for all the realms
This is a must if you want to be considered a veteran, especially when buying stuff. I'm not sure if there's anyone who stayed in this world long enough not to know where to get candles and lights. Maybe they might get an Uber or get dragged around by their friends...
· Know the currency system used in Sky; the differences between a regular white candle, an ascended Eden candle, and a season candle, plus the heart trading system that involves gifting presents or lighting candles
If there's a veteran who does not know much, then there's not much to say... Anyway, I have written up a portion dedicated to the currency system in Sky Log 22: A Moth's Guide Part 2
· Understand how to use the creatures and plants around you, such as the manta, butterflies, glowing mushrooms, etc
· Know how to subdue crabs and avoid krills
For the above 2 points about the creatures in Sky, I have dedicated a whole section about the type of animals in the world of Sky in Sky Log 22: A Moth's Guide Part 2. I heard some spoilers that we may get to see some underwater creatures in the upcoming Season of Abyss. Wonder if our favourite zoologist, Chester Abbott (one of my friend's, David's original character), will make any new findings? He made a short film about manta's life cycle on Sanctuary Island. Highly informative.
· Know where all the winged lights are
This should be a piece of cake for veterans. I lost count of how many winged bois I have total, but I know I have more than enough for 11 wedges.
· Get ten wedges for your cape
This may take a while because the maximum winged bois in the realms are just enough for 7 wedges. The rest of the winged bois must be collected from unlocking the ascended branch in traveling spirits' constellation trees.
· Know how to travel through Eden safely
My requirement is to travel until the Point of No Return without losing any wing bois. So, that means you need to avoid stuff like the flying rocks, the krills, and some shiny but dangerous-looking gems. Then, after the Point of No Return, it's good luck to you because we all know what happens next.
I was actually thinking of a requirement like knowing the shortcut to get through Eden quickly, but not everyone knows that. So, I left it as it is.
· Know how to guide a moth or another child safely through a realm
I like to think that a veteran has done this at least once for a moth. It could be on impulse or a one-time thing. Maybe it happened for a short time because your moth decided to get stuck during their journey.
· Experience at least a season from start to end
I remember that I wrote on Sky Log #22: A Moth's Guide Part 2 that veterans stayed for at least 3 seasons. I think that's a high bar to reach, so I decided a kid can be considered a veteran when they experienced an entire season.
· Know the types of spirits and elders in Sky such as the ordinary constellation spirits, seasonal spirits, traveling spirits, quest guide, and elders
I'm not talking about the names of all the spirits because that would be too much. It's the same as differentiating the candle types, but it's the type of spirits this time. I have written about them under the section "Seasons and Events" in Sky Log 21: A Moth's Guide Part 1.
· Know at least 2 Out-Of-Bounds (OOB) spots and how to get to them
One of veterans' defining features would be the knowledge of Out-of-Bound (OOB) spots. It's what sets veterans apart from moths.
One of the problems of staying in Sky is the longer you stay, the more familiar you are with the places. Things can get boring after a while. It's why some people choose to sleep and wake up when it's a new season. Or... they can get so bored, they start finding out the limits of this world.
There are some known ones, but OOB experts find a new OOB every day. When a new place is opened up, new OOB spots will be discovered.
· Completed at least two normal constellations at 100%
My previous idea was to complete about 50% of all normal constellations. I wasn't sure if there was too easy, but I wanted to give people a bit of a challenge at this point. Or it would be too easy, and everyone might end up calling themselves a veteran. That may get too dangerous since we do have dangerous creatures which are light-threatening (life-threatening, but this concerns our wing bois, get it? Lol.)
But I settled for the requirement as you see above. It might prove a challenge for some kids who have financial problems and do not have the habit of saving.
Not all the kids are as diligent in saving and farming candles. They may find farming secondary to playing and hanging out with their friends. Or they just don't come to Sky every single day. Maybe they don't have a conscious habit of saving candles when buying things in Sky. They see something they like, buy it immediately, and cry about their empty wallets when a new traveling spirit comes by.
Here's a tip for saving candles.
Normal constellations will always be there, so you can slowly buy the cosmetics over time. It's not a rush to finish theirs. Traveling spirits, however, come at most yearly. If you missed them, you might need to wait for a year at most because they come at random. So, the priority is traveling spirits. Now, let's do simple math.
Every 2 weeks, a traveling spirit comes.
You need at least 200 candles and 20 hearts to finish their tree. Now, if you are the type who gathers 15 candles every day plus daily missions, you will get 20 candles in total for a day. So, in two weeks, you will get a total of 280 candles. That means 80 candles extra. You can use them to heart trade with your friends. So, you can trade hearts with 2 friends for 13 days. In total, you can get 26 hearts because the math gives you 2 leftover candles.
Of course, this is an example. You can play around with the numbers and realize that 2 weeks is good enough for you to get most items from a traveling spirit.
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These are the general things needed to qualify as a veteran in Sky. If you got most of them, congratulations! You are a veteran.
Maybe you have a few slips up here and there during your journey through Sky. That's okay. I do too.
There are times when the krills are having a field day eating me because I was having difficulty deploying out the Home trick. Or like you didn't expect that you are so popular among them that there's 3 looking at you, and you only prepared for 1 krill to attack. It happens sometimes. Then, you can chalk it up to the krills having that time of their day or were being particularly angry and hungry. I call that hangry.
I know that there is an existence of lone veterans, so I didn't put any requirements of being part of a friend group or being part of a community. Having friends is the goal of TGC, but I know that some choose to be alone because they like to be alone or haven't found the right people to click with.
A/N: 16 Jan 2022
I may need to pause this story soon because I wanted to dedicate an entry or two for the new Season of Abyss which has an entirely new area. It's on 17 January 2022, which is tomorrow! I'm looking forward to getting some new inspirations from the season.
Are you peeps excited for the new Season? Let me know in the comments! XD