Some of you have noticed it already, and now it's official: all the science and Horsemen areas now have the keep inventory flag attached to them! While this means that you won't lose your inventory or experience levels upon dying, the latter areas still have a high difficulty level, so make sure you're prepared! To keep the challenge level in specific areas and bosses, keep inventory does NOT apply. These will be marked before you enter them.

Likewise, a few areas don't allow you to use the flight perk gained by using Merit Points; these are also labelled before entering. If you've got an active flight perk, it'll be automatically disabled and will not be given back to you once you exit.

Many of you have been enjoying the current building contest at the endpoint towns, but creating 8 builds within a month has proven to be a bit much. After consulting with Sora, and to give you a chance at really populating all these new towns, we're granting you an extension until 15 March. Happy building!

Here are a few updates on what's new for February!

First of all, the Race Away challenge has wrapped up in Kenorland. Here are the final list of runners and their best positions!

Doctacosa: 30111
Kagato: 27573
axe_y: 10659
BoxBuilder45: 8798
NICKW6499: 5264
MineshaftBob: 4450
CruelNate: 3443
Sepahbod: 2908
Lunaar_Dust: 2484
Twixxi_: 2460
Mlhrj5: 2440
GingeKoda: 2329
butterbum: 2272
Connovan: 2211
Coneva: 2211
xedre: 2155
xLordItachix: 1549
Pteryx: 868
Manly_Whiskers: 858
groovybanana: 600
x AlexTheTrain: 546
chunil756: 492
Bnice2max: 483
Primagen: 453
Saffronflyer396: 424
EnchantedKing: 116
ADeshantis: 116
Sxnflxxwer: 106
MonsterEats: 56
Darth_Roxas456: 52
DexTAD: 42
Venemousspyro10: 36
Raegal: 13
GoomyGoma: 2

All have earned Merit Points based on their position. That is, Doctacosa (hi!) got 34 points, followed by Kagato with 33, all the way down to GoomyGoma with 1.

Next up, a new challenge! You've been punching blocks for days, months or even years, without consequences. However, the blocks have grown tired of that behavior, and they've decided to fight back! Do you have what it takes to tame them and still be create a build that you'll proud of?

There's no set target for this month's challenge, except enjoying yourself at trying out something new. Everyone who attempts it will be given 5 Merit Points by the end of the month.

At the Hunter's Lodge, the new raid boss is Jack Torrence and Red Rum. If you'd rather fight someone else, remember that you can now use Merit Vouchers to gain access to a special room where you can select any boss of your choosing at any time!

As it was mentioned in passing with the announcement of the new building contest, Events Nights are getting extended to both Rodinia and Gondwana! They've both gained a new TARDIS near their spawn locations, which allows you to head directly to the four endpoint towns of each world. The opposite is also true, of course.

Additionally, keep inventory will now be in effect in Rodinia's overworld and Nether during Events Nights, just like in Laurasia. In keeping with Gondwana's hard mode challenge, this will NOT apply over there!

This slightly different formula isn't a direct competition against other builders, but more of a score attack event: you can build up to eight entries, one per town, and you get points for the quality of each build. Then, your final rank is determined by adding up each entry's score. This means that everyone can win prizes if they apply themselves enough!

You can easily reach any of the building sites using the main rails that have recently been completed on each world.

Here's Sora with the full details!

It's contest time again!

This time, we're looking towards two worlds that don't get much attention these days, Rodinia and Gondwana!

Unlike Laurasia, these two worlds have never had cities or towns in their farthest four directions; that's where you come in! The objective will be to build up these 8 cities into something substantial, each city having its own theme based on its location.

Each city is at the end of the mainline rails of the world's four cardinal directions; or for simpler reference, endpoint cities.

Event date: Feb. 1st -> Feb. 29th

Gondwana
Boreas: Underground mining town
Notus: Underwater City
Euros: Desert City
Zephyrus: Mountainous NPC Village

Rodinia
Xanthi: Coastal Savannah City
Troezen: Mountainous City
Heraklion: Floating City
Miletus: Mesa City

Judging Criteria

1. Attention to Theme
2. Use of terrain
3. Creativity of Design

One plot per person per town, for a max of 8 separate entries per person - no joining with a main account and an alt! Each entry is judged out of 10 points per criteria, and perfect score is 30 points per entry.

In addition to the contest, event night is being brought to Rodinia and Gondwana, with their own TARDIS network linked to the endpoint contest cities. Cities will be accessible for free-build after the end of the contest.

Restrictions:
Boreas - Builds can go deeper, but not touch the glass ceiling
Notus - Builds should not pass the water's surface
Heraklion - Builds should not go below the water's surface more than 1 block

Reward Tiers:

• 3rd Place Between 50 and 130 Points
• 2nd Place Between 131 and 210 Points
• 1st Place Between 211 and 240 Points
• Highest scoring person earns an extra reward - S rank mystery science item

Prizes:

• First Place: 50 Merit Points. 5 Merit Vouchers. A rank mystery science bundle*
• Second Place: 30 Merit Points. 4 Merit Vouchers. B rank mystery science bundle*
• Third Place: 10 Merit Points. 3 Merit Voucher. C rank mystery science bundle*
• Judges: 5 Merit Points. 1 Merit Voucher. (Volunteers welcome! Three positions open)

* Science bundles will contain both combat and non-combat items, everyone will benefit!