Before I begin, this in indeed my first post on the CO Forums. However, Ive been a frequent visitor for about 3 months now. Since day one, I'm glad to be a part of the CO comminuty!

I have completed this quest now approximately 40 some times, and have always been satisfied with the prize earned. To begin, heres a quick overview of the prizes:

Rewards:

20,000 silver
50,000 silver
1 meteor
2 meteors
5 meteors
6 meteors
9 meteors
10 meteors

Steps Involved:

1. *Purchase (or mine) a normal Dragon Gem, Phoenix Gem, Kylin Gem, or Rainbow Gem in exchange for a Silver Needle.
*Purchase (or mine) a normal Fury Gem, Moon Gem or Violet Gem in exchange for a Gold Needle.

2. Head over to the NPC (Old Miner) outside of Phoenix City mines, located just above the NPC which is used to enter the mines. Speak to the Old Miner, and exchange your gem for a silver/gold needle, accordingly.

3. With needle in inventory, search the sub-floors of the mines for a Blue Mouse, and once found, successfully catch him to claim your prize.

4. Head over to Twin City and speak to General Judd, whom is located at the extreme top left of the Twin City map, to claim your prize!

Detailed Explanation:

Step 1: The first and utmost important step is to purchase the gem(s) according to whichever needle is desired. In purchasing the gem(s), keep in mind that the end result should "earn" you something. I've personally found that there are only 3 gems worth purchasing/using. For the silver needle, purchase/use either a normal Phoenix or Kylin gem. For the gold needle, purchase/use only the Moon gem.

The needles do in fact make all the difference. The silver needle, although providing less chance of success in catching the mouse, may drop 1 or 2 items, at most. The gold needle on the other hand will always drop the 1 item, which is obtained only through the gold needle. In addition to this item, the gold needle may also drop any one of the first two items, or even all 3 by chance!

There are 4 possibilities in all for the items dropped:

-AsterNecklace
-PinetumPicture
-RoyalSword (The 1 item obtained only through a gold needle)
-SecretCommand ( Good luck obtaining this one!)

From what I have observed both through the forums and through personal experience, here are the list of prizes:

-Asternecklace: 1 Met
-PinetumPicture: 1 Met <--- Posted on a previous thread.
-RoyalSword: 5 Mets

-Aster & Pinetum: 2 Mets
-Royal & Pinetum: 6 Mets
-Royal, Atre & Pinetum: 9 Mets
-SecretCommand: 10 Mets

Sep 2: Pretty self-explanatory, although make sure you read the Old Miner's message at leact once. Also, you may only obtain one of each needle at one time. In other words, you cannot obtain multiple gold and silver, and will need to re-visit the Old Miner whenever you wish to obtain another needle. You can however bring along with you as many gems as you wish to, and simply keep re-visiting the Old Miner upon completing the quest once.

Step 3: This is where the frustration begins. Once understood, finding the mouse becomes the easiest step involved in the quest. The toughest obstacle of course, is successfully catching it! I've tested this over and over again, and have come to the following conclusions...

First off, I would like to thank "Nabster" for his excellent contribution in posting all possible spawn points, to a great level of accuracy! Thank you my friend, you saved me a great deal of time. The image can be found through the following link:

http://bbs.conqueronline.com/attachm...postid=3125789

* There is a split between two halfs of the map, and it can be spotted by an arrow like figure on each sub floor of the mine. Ive posted an image as a follow-up:



Begin from this halfway split on the map, and search only to the left of this point. You are more than likely to spot the mouse atleast once at any one or more of the indicated spawn points. There may also be as many as three mouses spotted at the same time, in different spawn points.

* As soon as you spot the mouse, jump as close to it as possible, and immediately click over it. I have found that the greater the delay in clicking the mouse, the lower the chance of success in catching it. Therefore, dont waste ANY time at all once the mouse has been spotted, and immediately jump close to and click over the mouse. I've also tested and found that the quicker your response, the better the odds of getting more than 1 item dropped. This is almost always the case when I am searching for the mouse with the gold needle, and am able to click the mouse almost immediately upon jumping directly beside it.

* Ive also come to find that if the mouse isn't found on one of the sub-floors, then continue to search all the remaining floors. In addition, if you fail to catch the mouse, remember that its very likely he will spawn on the same floor again, at a different spawn. Therefore, search to the left of the arrow point again and make sure you dont miss a second or third spawn.

Step 4: Congrats on catching the little pest, and head on over to Twin City to claim your pirze. There is however a very important note I should point out: Do not claim your prize unless you are completely fullfilled with the items dropped. If for instance you used a silver needle, and obtained only an AsterNecklace, remember that you can store that item in your inventory and restart the quest with another gem to obtain the other items. I have done this numerous times myself, seeing as how if the silver needle gives me both the AsterNecklace and PinetumPicture, all I need remaining is the RoyalSword (gauranteed through just 1 gold needle) in order to claim 9 meteors! Completely worth it in my opinion!

- There is also the case of receiving a DB from the quest, and although I have not seen a valid screenshot proof of it, I am not a disbeliever, nor a convinced believer. I leave that entirely up to the myth busters, until of course I obtain one myself, and post a screenie for everyone.

In conclusion, I would like to add that the prices of gems vary on every server. The price of a normal Kylin or Phoenix gem is around 100k-250k (On my current server, Neptune). I am almost always able to obtain one of each for just 100k. The price of a Moon is anywhere from 500-650k, as apposed to the Violet which is anywhere from 700-900k. Therefore, I personally tend to favor the MoonGem when aquiring the gold needle. All other gems are too costly or should serve another useful purpose. Remember, the key is to "gain" something as an end result. Meteors are still sold each day over Neptune for 150k without any trouble. Therefore a 500k MoonGem can still earn you the price of 5 mets, wich of course comes to be 5 x 150,000 = 750,000 (750k).

If your as fortunate as I occasionally am, you will receive all 3 items from the gold needle, rewarding you 9 mets, which in turn comes to 1,350,000 (1.35kk). That's a hell of a gain!

I wish you all the best of luck, and if there is anything I happened to have overlooked, do share it with the rest of us!

WORD OF WARNING: Do not, under any circumstance, drop the needle. Otherwise it will dissapear... as in simply cease to exist! In other words, you just lost a gem! The exact same goes for the items. Nor the needle(s) or item(s) can be dropped, traded, or stashed in a warehouse. The needle/item is only meant to be stored in your personal inventory!