Last updated: July 22, 2026

On this page: 97d, 99i & Season 1 · The First Event · Warehouse · Lost Tower & Balrog · Atlans · Wings & Chaos Machine · Magic Gladiator · Elf Summons · Tarkan & Excellent Options · The 380 Legendaries · Fruits · FAQ

MU Online 97d, 99i & Season 1 – The Original MU

Before seasons had numbers, MU Online was built update by update between its Korean launch in November 2001 and the Kundun's Counterattack campaign that closed the era. This guide rebuilds that entire history from the original patch notes — the first event, the first boss, the birth of wings, the Chaos Machine, excellent options and the 380 legendaries. If you play a 97d server today, this is your game's biography.

What 97d, 99i and Season 1 Actually Mean

Version	Era	Defining content
0.97d	~2003	DK/DW/Elf + Magic Gladiator, original wings, Chaos Machine, Lost Tower, Atlans, Tarkan, Devil Square — the purist classic
0.99i / 1.0M	~2004–05	Blood Castle era, Icarus, Kalima and Dark Lord arriving at the edges
Season 1	2005–06	Kundun's Counterattack: the 380 legendaries, fruits formalized — the bridge to Season 2 – Kanturu

Private servers use these labels loosely — a "97d" server is a promise of the old feel: no masters, no sockets, wings that mean something.

December 2001 – the First Event Ever

Weeks after commercial launch, Webzen's graphics director suggested dropping a dragon into the game "for spectacle" — and on December 18, 2001 the Dragon Raid began: Beast Dragons and Golden Budge Dragons spawning randomly across the continent, dropping Jewels of Bless, zen and Lucky Boxes. Planned to end January 20; player love made it permanent. Twenty-five years later it is still here — today's Golden Invasion is this event, unbroken since 2001. The later Red Dragon Raid escalated it with lore: the Verge Dragon — mocked by scholars as "a chicken that learned magic" — mutating into the Golden Verge Dragon as Kundun's resurrection disturbed the mana order.

The Red Dragon — original render	Players swarming a Beast Dragon, 2001	"Say cheese with the Beast Dragon!" — the heart-formation photo from Webzen's own contest

Red Dragons descend on the continent	The Beast Dragon up close

January 2002 – the Warehouse

Yes, MU launched without a bank. The warehouse update added the 8×15 account-shared vault (120 slots, 10M zen per deposit, 100M cap) at an NPC in every town — Lorencia's at coordinates 147, 145, where he still stands. One vault per account per server, shared across characters — the rule that made mule characters and the trade economy possible.

Official warehouse art, 2002	The original 8×15 vault UI	The vault keeper at Lorencia 147, 145

Lost Tower – the First Boss

MU's first raid target: Balrog, Kundun's right hand, "so violent even dragons dared not face him", sealed underground with his tower after turning on his master. The Lost Tower opened with 8 floors of monsters stronger than Gorgon, Balrog waiting at the bottom. Every server's first guild war was fought over a Balrog spawn.

Fighting through the tower floors	Balrog waiting on the final floor

Atlans – the New World

The underwater kingdom entered through the Secret Spring in Noria: party-only at level 60+, walking only in safe zones — everywhere else you swim. Kundun sent the traitor Hydra to crush the Atlanteans hunting for a sealing stone; survivors fled to the surface or to the underground city of Kanturu (a name that would matter four years later). Monsters: Hydra (boss), Lizard King, Valkyrie, Befar, Behamud. Its loot line included the Crystal Sword, Aqua Gold Crossbow and Blue Wing Crossbow and the Staff of Resurrection.

Hydra — Kundun's most ferocious servant	Lizard King, leader of the Lizardmen	Valkyrie — Atlans mercenary	Befar, the storm-raising mermaid	Behamud, empowered by the Hydra

Crystal Sword — scales of the deep sea	Aqua Gold Crossbow — water-pressure power	Blue Wing Crossbow — the cold of water	Staff of Resurrection — the Lizard tribe's secret

Facing the Hydra's beams	Swimming the underwater world	The coral fields of Atlans

Wings & the Chaos Machine

The update that defined MU forever. Three wings arrived, crafted in the brand-new Chaos Machine:

Wing	Class	Original formula
Fairy Wings	Elf	DEF 10+3/lvl · DMG ±12+2%/lvl · options: HP recovery, luck
Satan's Wings	Dark Knight	DEF 20+3/lvl · DMG ±12+2%/lvl · options: +ATK, luck
Wings of the Sky	Dark Wizard	DEF 20+3/lvl · DMG ±12+2%/lvl · equip: level 180 + 4×wing level

Fairy Wings	Satan's Wings	Wings of the Sky

Two details modern players won't believe: wings had durability — about one month of wear — and vanished at zero (upgradeable to +9 with Bless and Soul, with no color change). The same patch added the Chaos weapons — Chaos Dragon Axe, Chaos Lightning Staff and Chaos Nature Bow. The full modern system: Chaos Machine guide and 1st wings guide.

Chaos Dragon Axe	Chaos Lightning Staff	Chaos Nature Bow	First wings over Devias snow	Showing off in 2002

The 4th Character – Magic Gladiator

MU's first unlockable class: get any character past level 220 and the hidden Magic Swordsman appears on the creation screen. His original spec sheet: wears all DK and DW gear except helmets, casts everything but Teleport, 7 stat points per level, runs without boots, and moves worlds at 2/3 the level requirement. Every "special class" since — Dark Lord through Alchemist — follows the template MG created.

The Magic Swordsman — original reveal art	First MG screenshots	Sword and sorcery in one character

Elf Summons & Transformation Rings

Summon	Energy	Mana
Goblin	30	40
Stone Golem	60	70
Assassin	90	110
Yeti (Snowman)	130	160
Dark Knight	170	200
Bali	210	250

One summon at a time, gone if you die or it runs dry — and if it lands a PK kill, you take the murderer status. The same era added Transformation Rings (the wear-durability mechanic wings inherited) and the Knight's early skill scrolls. The energy Elf's support identity — heal, ATK up, DEF up over a pet army — starts here.

One of the new summoned creatures from the original announcement

Tarkan – the Underworld Update

The Desert of Death linking Kanturu's underground empire to Atlans, populated by its biological rejects: Bloody Wolves grown in laboratories, Mutants rolling like bone wheels, the mechanical Iron Wheel knights, Tantallos rebuilt into a machine body, Beam Knights guarding their sleeping master Zaikan — and Death Beam Knights, burning hatred "more dangerous than Zaikan himself".

Bloody Wolf — the lab-grown hunter	Mutant — rolls on bone scales	Iron Wheel — Kanturu's machine knight	Tantalos — rebuilt into a machine body

Beam Knight — Zaikan's guardian	Zaikan — the desert spirit and his magic sword	Death Beam Knight — hatred given form	Inferno — the new black magic

Sword of Destruction	Staff of Destruction	Saint Crossbow — the last light of the underworld	Jewel of Life — the 4th sealing stone	Hunting the Desert of Death

	Addition	Why it mattered
	Black Dragon set	The DK armor above Dragon — dark energy in Black Dragon bone
	Sword of Destruction	One-handed, forged in eternal fire — the era's dream sword
	Jewel of Life	The "4th sealing stone" — raises item add-options to +16, Tarkan-only drop. Still the JoL in your jewel stash
	+Excellent options	The option naming that became MU's entire gear language debuted in this patch
	Inferno & Blast	New black magic above Hellfire; Saint Crossbow and Staff of Destruction for the other classes

Kundun's Counterattack – the 380 Legendaries

Season 1's finale broke MU's oldest rule — that stats alone decide what you wear. The first level-restricted items (380+), one weapon and armor per class, each bound to a guardian of MU lore:

	Weapon		Armor	Class
	Bone Blade		Dragon Knight set	Blade Knight
	Grand Viper Staff		Venom Mist set	Soul Master
	Sylph Wind Bow		Sylpid Ray set	Muse Elf
	Explosion Blade		Volcano set	Magic Gladiator
	Soleil Scepter		Sunlight set	Dark Lord

Item pair	Original lore
Bone Blade & Dragon Knight	Bones of the Black Dragon Lutra; the pommel gem is the dragon's crystallized spirit
Grand Viper & Venom Mist	Power of Bergen, the sacred serpent of infinite wisdom — only a wizard at the pinnacle survives wearing it
Sylph Wind & Sylpid Ray	Gifts of Nornen, guardian of fairy souls who appears as a silver fox — hence the fox face on the chest
Explosion Blade & Volcano	The sword of Letos, gargoyle king, with the mana-storing Bloody Ruby in its pommel
Soleil & Sunlight	Blessed by Lugard, god of light — refined seven days and nights, engraved with the Garuda guardians

Bone Blade & Dragon Knight in game	Grand Viper & Venom Mist	Sylph Wind & Sylpid Ray	Explosion Blade & Volcano	Soleil & Sunlight

The Fruit System

Fruits (mixed in the Chaos Machine) permanently add or remove base stat points — and this patch fixed the rules servers still use:

Rule	Value
On success	Create: +1 to +3 points · Decrease: −1 to −9; the base 10-point creation is 100%
On failure	No change, fruit destroyed
Limit	You cannot reduce below your class minimums

Class	STR	AGI	VIT	ENE	CMD
Dark Knight	28	20	25	10	—
Dark Wizard	18	18	15	30	—
Fairy Elf	22	25	20	15	—
Magic Gladiator	26	26	26	26	—
Dark Lord	26	20	20	15	25

Points already invested	Success rate
Up to 10%	70%
11 – 30%	60%
31 – 50%	50%
51 – 80%	40%

The falling curve is why veterans fruit their stats early — the fuller a stat, the more fruits burn.

Continue Reading

Guide	Why it helps
Season 2 guide	Where the story goes next: Kanturu surfaces.
1st wings guide	The modern recipes for the original three wings.
Chaos Machine	The machine this era invented.
Excellent options	Born in the Tarkan patch, explained in full.
Invasions	The 2001 Dragon Raid, 25 years later.
Classes overview	From these four to today's fifteen.

FAQ

Where can I play this era?
Browse 97d and Season 1 private servers — the labels promise the old game: no master trees, no sockets, wings that cost everything.

Did wings really disappear?
In the original patch, yes — roughly a month of worn durability, then gone. Servers removed wing durability in later versions, but transformation rings kept the mechanic.

Where do the 380 legendaries drop?
Kundun, deep Kalima and the top maps of the era; later versions fold them into the high drop tables.

Is 99i actually a real version?
It is a client build number like 97d — the community adopted both as era names. Webzen itself only started counting "Seasons" retroactively when Season 2 launched.