Content:
Key Takeaways
- Two kinds of Kinah: bound Kinah pays for in-game costs but never reaches the Market; only unbound Kinah buys from other players and Kina Chests.
- Steadiest free income: Duty Missions from level 45, 50,000 Kina (Bound) each, five a day.
- Selling needs two things: Special Quai Membership and level 45; NC says that without Membership items cannot be listed and purchase is unavailable; guides add level 45.
- Income claims differ a lot: games.gg (5 Oct) puts 21 cubes at about 2.1 million; the same 21 cubes at SPACE4GAMES’ 10 Oct window values would be over 6 million, so treat every figure as a dated claim.
- Rules keep moving: the gathering cap, Hard-mode payouts and listing limits all changed in October, and the 3 Nov maintenance notes were not published when this was checked.
- Buying Kinah: NC says buying it from unauthorized parties can end in account termination; this guide has no shortcut for that.
Everything below is as of 3 Nov 2026. Where a number comes from a player guide instead of NC, the text says whose it is and when it was written.
Kinah, Kina and bound Kinah: what you are actually earning
NC’s English client and notices write the currency as Kina, while its 4 Oct warning writes Kinah. It is one currency, split across three wallets. MetaBot quotes the in-game descriptions, and the table follows them.
| Wallet | In-game description (via MetaBot) | What it means for you |
|---|---|---|
| Kina (Bound) | Used throughout Atreia, but unavailable in certain content | Pays for most in-game costs; never usable on the Market or for Kina Chests |
| Kina | Used in the Market and Kina Chest (Substance Morph) | The only wallet that buys from other players |
| Kina (All) | Bound and unbound together; bound is spent first | The total shown when a cost accepts both |
Several pages agree on the practical part: when a price accepts both wallets the game takes the bound one first, and the bound wallet stays on the character that earned it. Unbound Kinah can be moved to your other characters. SPACE4GAMES (12 Oct, describing the state on 10 Oct) adds that the top bar shows Kina (All) next to plain Kina, and that chat tags bound income with a (Bound) suffix, so read the chat line before you plan around a payout.
Server transfers follow the same split. NC’s notice says Kina in the inventory and in Character Storage travels with the character, while Kina in Server Storage does not. Transfers resumed on 26 Oct and now need level 45.
Tip: decide first whether your goal is gear and consumables or the Market. A week of purely bound income can leave you with a lot of Kinah and nothing to spend on the Market.
Your situation: which Kinah source fits
Most guides hand you a ranked list. The better question is what you can already do. This table starts from your state and names a source, what it costs you, and what to leave alone for now.
| Situation | Best Kinah source | What it costs you | Skip for now |
|---|---|---|---|
| New character below level 45 | Quests, which pay bound Kinah once per character, and sealed dungeons (MetaBot lists 15,000 Kina (Bound) per clear) | Time; sealed dungeons are listed for levels 10 to 45 | Market plans, Duty Missions (locked below 45), gathering (level 45 since 28 Oct) |
| Level 45, no Membership | Five Duty Missions a day, then Expedition cubes with your Odyle Energy | Odyle Energy; one Odyle injection per cube (Membership allows two) | The Market: NC says items cannot be listed without Membership |
| Level 45 with Membership | Conquest cubes, which allthings.how lists as unbound (check the (Bound) tag), plus tradable drops; gathered materials only if the listing check lets you | Membership (14.99 USD for 30 days, per server), a listing fee, Odyle Energy | Making gathered materials your whole plan: NC restricts listing based on gameplay history |
| Casual, 30 minutes a day | Spend Odyle Energy before it caps (it refills 15 every 3 hours), then the Duty Missions | Little time, no extra gold | Long open-world hunts: allthings.how puts a kill at only 200 to 400 Kina |
| Alt owner | Duty Missions are counted per server, not per character (MetaBot), so alts do not multiply them; unbound Kinah can be pooled | Each alt’s bound Kinah stays on that alt | Expecting five Duties per alt |
| Crafter or gatherer | Selling processed goods that are actually tradable: 24 of 128 normal Blacksmithing and Armorsmithing recipes make freely tradable items (MetaBot) | Materials, Membership for listing | The 190 upgrade recipes: their output cannot be listed on the Market |
| Group player | Hard-mode Expeditions, where NC says rewards are higher than Normal | Item level 2600 or 2700, three revives per player, a four-minute boss frenzy timer | Counting on a fixed Hard payout: NC gives no Kinah figure |
If you are still short of 45, that level gates the Duties, the Market and gathering, so getting there is the real first step. The AION 2 leveling guide covers the route, and powerleveling is there for players who want help with it. The daily and weekly checklist shows how the Duties fit into a routine.
Odyle Energy and Expedition cubes
Expedition reward cubes are where Odyle Energy turns into Kinah. The pool refills by 15 every 3 hours, which is 120 a day and 840 regenerated over a week (not the Membership cap). It holds 560, or 840 with Membership; NC confirms only that Membership raises the cap and says the numbers will be announced later.
NC’s Membership notice says that without Membership you can inject Odyle Energy into one Expedition (Exploration or Conquest), Transcendence or Sanctuary reward cube once, and with Membership twice. SPACE4GAMES (10 Oct) listed Krao Cave Exploration at 20 Odyle and Urugugu Canyon Conquest at 40 (it also lists a Vakron Exploration cube at 40).
That gives a worked week, labelled as arithmetic and not as a promise: 840 Odyle regenerated over a week, at 40 per cube, is 21 cubes. What each cube pays is the contested part, covered in the next section.
Hard modes and the weekly reduction
NC’s patch notes say Hard difficulty pays more Kina than Normal. Krao Cave and Draupnir Hard arrived on 21 Oct, and Urugugu Canyon and Vakron Sky Island Hard followed on 28 Oct. No Kinah number was published, so any Hard figure you see elsewhere is somebody’s reading.
SPACE4GAMES also read on 10 Oct (not re-checked since) a Weekly Cumulative Play Reward Adjustment in the Expedition window: for Urugugu Conquest, runs 84 to 104 in a week paid 80%, and from the 147th run the payout was 20%. It saw the same mechanism for Krao Cave Exploration. The reduction is per content and per server, and you can check your own thresholds in game.
If you would rather not run them yourself, an Expeditions boost exists, but your own Odyle Energy still decides how many cubes are worth opening.
Where sources disagree: cubes, tax and weekly totals
No NC page publishes a Kinah value for a cube, a Market tax rate or a weekly total. Everything below comes from player guides written at different dates, so the numbers disagree. Read your own Expedition window and Market window before trusting any of them.
| Question | One side | The other side | How to read it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kinah per cube | SPACE4GAMES, 10 Oct, read in the in-game Expedition window: 75,000 for Krao Cave Exploration, 150,000 for Vakron Exploration, 300,000 for Urugugu Conquest, doubled with double infusion | games.gg, 5 Oct, Conquest, “Guaranteed Kina”: 100,000 for each of Urugugu and Vakron. Krao Cave Conquest: 70,000 | Both pages predate the Hard modes of 21 and 28 Oct; the in-game window beats either |
| Market tax | SPACE4GAMES (12 Oct) and Tpose Gaming (13 Oct) each measured a 10% cut in a test sale | allthings.how, 10 Oct, says about 8% | NC publishes no rate; GamesFuze says it is shown in the Market window |
| Weekly income | games.gg, 5 Oct: Duties plus Conquest cubes roughly 3 to 4 million a week | allthings.how, 5 Oct: around two million, although the numbers it lists add up to about 1.1 million | Arithmetic on 21 cubes gives 2.1 million at 100,000 each and over 6 million at 300,000 each |
| Daily field cap | games.gg and allthings.how, both 5 Oct, report a cap near 1,000,000 Kina per character per day; a Steam forum poster repeats it | NC’s patch notes never mention one | Reported by players, not official; do not plan around it |
| Bound or unbound cubes | SPACE4GAMES measured bound Kina from an Exploration cube | allthings.how lists Conquest cubes, Transcendence and Sanctuary as unbound sources | Each source covers one half; check the (Bound) tag in chat |
| Direct trading | NC, 19 Sep: direct player-to-player trades are disabled, the Market is the hub | NC’s Membership notice lists Personal Trade five times a day | NC contradicts itself; plan on the Market |
The weekly-total row is the one to remember. The spread is about threefold between sources, and the 2.1 million to over 6 million range above is nothing but the Kinah-per-cube dispute multiplied by 21. It is a range of what pages claim, not what you will earn.
Free Kinah that never touches the Market
These sources need no Membership and no buyer, which is why they are the dependable base.
- Duty Missions: unlock at level 45. NC’s notice and MetaBot agree on the level; MetaBot, games.gg and SPACE4GAMES agree that each pays 50,000 Kina (Bound) plus 1,000 Abyss Points, five per day. SPACE4GAMES saw 50,000 to 150,000 on 10 Oct, so the amount can vary. Duty Commands pay Abyss Points, not Kinah.
- Sealed dungeons: MetaBot counts 161 of them, each listing 15,000 Kina (Bound), with 81 entrances per faction. A full faction sweep adds up to about 1.2 million bound.
- Quests: paid once per character in bound Kinah. MetaBot lists 1,400 to 72,000 for Hero quests and 10,000 to 140,000 for District quests.
- Vendors: NPC sales pay bound Kinah too; MetaBot reads vendor value as rising steeply with material grade.
- Ludra Check-In: from 4 Nov to 17 Nov (PST), Day 1 gives 500,000 and Day 6 gives 1,000,000 Bound Kina, so 1.5 million in all. Ludra itself returns on 4 Nov at item level 2,800 (Normal) and 3,000 (Hard).
A small steady plan is five Duty Missions, then a cube or two, plus the Check-In while it runs. The daily dungeons boost can cover the Missions if your evenings are short, and the dungeons guide explains the runs behind them.
Small payers
Abyss field trips are small: SPACE4GAMES reported about 46,000 Kina in a 15-minute trip on 10 Oct, of which about 28,000 was tradable.
What does not pay Kinah
Arena and Battlefield pay Abyss Points, not Kinah, and NC publishes no Abyss Point to Kinah rate. Atreia’s Call (28 Oct to 2 Dec), the Ludra Twitch Drops and the Halloween event paid no Kinah either.
Selling: Membership, level 45, listing limits
NC’s Membership notice lists the Market, the Kina to Quna exchange and Personal Trade as Special Quai Membership benefits. Without it, the notice says items cannot be listed for sale and purchase is unavailable. Membership costs 14.99 USD for 30 days on the server where you buy it, with at most three purchases per server per month. Three guide pages also agree the Market needs level 45 regardless of Membership.
Tpose Gaming (13 Oct) paid a listing fee of 1,435 Kina on a 71,775 listing, found it is not refunded when you cancel or relist, and notes a ceiling of 10 active listings. That is one test on one server, so check your own fee before you price anything.
Gathered materials are the shaky part
The client treats every gathered material as tradable, but NC’s 14 Oct patch added a restriction on listing them based on gameplay history. The 21 Oct patch adjusted it so some previously restricted players could trade again while others stay restricted. Then on 28 Oct NC capped gathering at 1,000 times per server per day, raised the minimum level from 10 to 45, and wrote that the limit may be adjusted in the future. A Steam poster says the 1,000 counts items, not nodes; NC says times.
Kina Chests
Chests are made from unbound Kinah in Substance Morph and sold for Quna on the Exchange. SPACE4GAMES (10 Oct) found a chest costs 10% more than it holds: 400,000 becomes 440,000. Check what a chest costs today before assuming that margin still holds.
Where Kinah goes
Income is only half of it. These are the costs that NC or the client data confirm, so you can set aside Kinah before they appear.
| Sink | Cost | Limit or note |
|---|---|---|
| Instant Clear Ticket: Daily Dungeon and Nightmare (Bound) | 30,000 Kina each | 14 per server per week, so up to 420,000 per ticket type |
| Resurrection Spiritstone | 25,000 Kina each | 10 per server per week at Wind Breeze, until the 15 Dec maintenance |
| Rise to the Challenge | Step 1 25,000, Step 2 50,000 Kina | 21 Oct until 15 or 16 Dec; read NC’s table for quantities |
| Duty redraws | Rising ladder; MetaBot lists Commands from 1,000 and Missions up to 1,500,000 | Up to 10 redraws; the sixth Mission redraw costs 85,000, more than a Mission pays |
| Market listing | 1,435 on a 71,775 listing (one Tpose Gaming test, 13 Oct) | Not refunded on cancel or relist, per Tpose Gaming |
| Gear enhancement | Climbs steeply per step (MetaBot) | Do this on gear you keep |
The Conquerors of the Abyss stone event, which sold the Abyss Rift Stone for 50,000 Kina, ended on 28 Oct. Crafting fees and repair costs are not in this table on purpose: MetaBot’s client data shows no Kinah fee on any recipe, and no source gives a repair price.
What changed since launch: dated rule changes
The economy has been patched almost weekly. This list is built from NC’s own notices, newest first, and shows only the changes that touch Kinah.
| Date | Change | Why it matters for Kinah |
|---|---|---|
| 15 and 16 Dec (scheduled) | Spiritstone sales and Rise to the Challenge end; Season 1 bound Halloween-shop items are deleted | Spend or plan before then |
| 3 Nov | NC announced maintenance for 3 Nov 22:30 PST (4 Nov 07:30 CET), three hours; patch details to follow later | No notes were out when this was checked; re-read them before changing any plan |
| 4 Nov (scheduled) | Ludra returns with a Check-In event; Halloween event and coin shop end | Bound Kinah at Day 1 and Day 6 of the Check-In; Halloween paid none |
| 28 Oct | Gathering capped at 1,000 per server per day and level 45; Instant Clear Ticket at 30,000 Kina; Urugugu and Vakron Hard added; idle kick cut from 3 hours to 30 minutes; deletion wait raised from 1 to 7 days | Gathering gets weaker as a primary plan; a new Kinah sink appears |
| 26 Oct | Server transfers resumed, level 45 required | Transfer carries Kinah in inventory and Character Storage |
| 21 Oct | Krao Cave and Draupnir Hard; gathered-material listing restriction adjusted; Rise to the Challenge begins | Hard pays more Kinah; some restricted players trade again |
| 14 Oct | Listing restriction on gathered materials based on gameplay history; Abyss Rift Stone event begins | Gatherers cannot rely on listing everything |
| 7 Oct | Resurrection Spiritstone added at 25,000 Kina | A new weekly Kinah sink |
| 4 Oct | NC warns against buying Kinah or Quna from unauthorized parties | See the next section |
| 19 Sep | Direct player-to-player trades disabled as an anti-bot measure | The Market becomes the way to trade |
NC also says the gathering limit may change, and the 3 Nov maintenance notes were not yet published at the time of writing, so treat the 28 Oct values as the latest confirmed ones.
Bots, bans and buying Kinah
Part of the October economy work is an anti-bot campaign, and it is why the rules above feel strict. NC reported restricting 9,422 accounts on 14 Oct and 4,651 on 28 Oct; the six notices from 14 to 28 Oct add up to 60,298 accounts. Its notices name organized play patterns consistent with gold farming or real-money trading as reasons.
NC’s 4 Oct statement calls buying Kinah or Quna from unauthorized parties “strictly against our Terms of Service” and promises swift consequences up to and including termination of access. We do not suggest buying Kinah from any third party, and nothing here should be read as saying it is safe.
NC’s 28 Oct notice says normal play, including long grinding sessions, is not affected. If you see a bot, SPACE4GAMES says you can report it from the target-frame menu with the reason Macro.
Mistakes that waste Kinah
- Farming bound sources for a Market goal: Duties, quests and sealed dungeons all pay bound Kinah, which the Market cannot use.
- Letting Odyle Energy sit at the cap: the pool refills by 15 every 3 hours, so a full one stops earning until you spend it.
- Rerolling a Duty past the fifth redraw: MetaBot lists the sixth Mission redraw at 85,000, which is more than the 50,000 the Mission pays.
- Building a plan on gathered materials: listing can be restricted, gathering is capped at 1,000 a day per server, and level 45 is needed.
- Running one dungeon far past the weekly thresholds: SPACE4GAMES read payouts falling to 20% from the 147th Urugugu Conquest run.
- Enhancing gear you will replace: MetaBot’s cost table climbs sharply with each step, so levelling gear is the wrong place to spend.
- Copying someone else’s weekly total: figures from other regional services or from before the October patches do not describe Global today.
For a bigger picture of what to build and gear first, see the gear score guide and the crafting guide.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is some of my Kinah marked as bound?
Quests, Duty Missions and sealed dungeons pay Kina (Bound). It spends first when a cost takes either wallet and cannot go to the Market or Kina Chests. Chat shows a (Bound) suffix on bound income.
Can I earn Kinah without Membership?
Yes: Duties, quests, sealed dungeons, cubes and field kills all pay without it. What you lose is the Market: NC’s notice says that without Membership items cannot be listed and purchase is unavailable.
What is the best Kinah source at level 45?
There is no single answer. Duty Missions are the steady base, Odyle Energy goes into cubes next, and Membership holders add selling. No income figure from any guide is guaranteed.
Why can’t I list my gathered materials?
NC’s 14 Oct patch restricts listing them based on gameplay history, and the 21 Oct patch loosened it for some players only. Gathering is also capped at 1,000 a day per server and needs level 45.
How much do I keep after Market tax?
Two player tests measured a 10% cut, one guide says about 8%, and NC has not published a rate. Read the figure shown in the Market window.
Is it safe to buy Kinah from a website?
NC’s 4 Oct warning says buying it from unauthorized parties is against its Terms of Service and can end in termination. We do not recommend it.
Are alts worth it for Kinah?
Partly. MetaBot reads the five-a-day Duty limit as server-wide, so alts do not add Duties, and each alt keeps its own bound Kinah. Unbound Kinah can be moved between your characters.