real-life currency to purchase equipment not widely available in-game. Special items can also help in the development of the characters such as Approval Stamps, Protection Jellies, and Dragon Eggs. Player can also buy pets, costumes, cosmetics to personalise their character. In Dragon Nest NA, the Cash Shop is known as the "Dragon Vault". Storyline The Goddess Althea, creator of the land of Alteria (Altea in the NA version, Lagendia in the SEA version), is poisoned by her evil sister Vestinel. The poison can only be cured using an antidote made using the source of the poison itself, Vestinel's magic grail, which has disappeared somewhere within Alteria. The players as heroes of Alteria must comb the land fighting evil dragons in order to find power stones that enable them to communicate with the sleeping goddess in order to find the grail, wake her and save the world. Releases East Asian release In November 2007, Nexon Korea Corporation secured rights to Dragon Nest and was officially released in Korea in March 2010. In December 2007, Shanda, game publisher in China, published the Chinese version of Dragon Nest. The Chinese closed beta began on 25 March 2010 with an official release later that year. NHN Japan published Dragon Nest in Japan on their Hangame JP portal in 2008. In 2010, GACKT became the artist for the "Black Version" of the theme song of the game titled "EVER". NHN Japan subsequently began Dragon Nest Japan'''s closed beta. North American release In 2009, Nexon America acquired the publishing rights of Dragon Nest for distribution in North America. Originally, Dragon Nest was scheduled for a mid-2010 release, but was delayed to Summer of 2011. Closed beta testing period was June 15-20. Dragon Nest open beta testing opened on July 26. The game was slated to go live on August 11, but this date was pushed back. The North American version was level-capped at 32 with the Saints Haven release on September 28. Characters, items and skill from the open beta test were not cleared, so players kept the progress they made in the OBT. In mid-December, the North American version has extended its level-cap to 40, giving the player the ability to learn their 2nd sub-class's final skill. The Tinkerer class was added in the June 2012 patch. The first Dragon class nest, Sea Dragon Nest, has been released on 24 July. On 24 October, the