Once you hit Lith Harbor at the start of your journey through Maple World, you’ll be able to tick off two Exploration Goals for the area. These being talking to Teo and looking through the area’s binoculars.

You can’t ride a taxi from Lith Harbor until you unlock one elsewhere and come back just to leave again – but this can be done quickly. The next two take a little more time.

You have to be able to fish to catch an Octopirate. At around Level 13, you’ll get a quest under the Maple Guide menu to get your fishing pole and learn how to fish.

And of course, the final Exploration Goal for Lith Harbor that trips everyone up when they first log in: Performing on the street.

How to perform on the street

In order to perform on the street anywhere in Maple World, you need a musical instrument. Musical instruments are a little difficult to come by and, if you’re not paying attention, can seem like they are only available for Blue Merets. That is luckily not the case.

If you don’t have the Blue Merets to spend on a musical instrument of your choice in the Meret Market, you can choose to take the patient route and wait until around Level 20 or cough up Mesos to a music vendor for one (for 70k to 250k Mesos each).

At around Level 20, a new Maple Guide quest grants you a free Practice Digital Piano and teaches you how to play music. It also comes with the MapleStory 2 OST #2 music sheet, so you can take a taxi right down to Lith Harbor and get this first set of Exploration Goals taken care of as soon as you’re done with the quest.

(I say “around Level 20” because I noticed it at Level 22, but hadn’t looked since around Level 17. So I’m really not sure of the exact level, but it’s in that range somewhere.)

If you skip the quest and just buy one, double click on the instrument in your inventory to get started playing – and make sure you have a music sheet on-hand for tunes.

You can get further music sheets from Music Academy Heads (and perhaps vendors with other titles) found in some towns. Look for this icon:

And with that, you’ve learned how to perform on the street and play music in MapleStory 2. Just one of many small and strange things you must learn to do to progress in-game. There are many more surprises to come!

I’m working on a few guides, but my first up is one close to my Maple-soaked heart: an OX Quiz answer guide for MapleStory 2. It’s a work in progress, but may be a help next time you choose OX Quiz.