Whose tank is this?

Blue Thunder Elf Talents:

[Stealth]: A stealth skill. Transform into shadow and slip into darkness, entering a state of deep concealment. Any attack received or any offensive action will break the stealth effect. During a team boss fight, if you hold the highest threat, your aggro will be restored after stealth ends; otherwise, threat is reset to zero when stealth ends. Cooldown: 2 minutes. Cost: none.

[Thunder Empowerment]: An enhancement skill. Your Cleave, Heroic Strike, and Thunderclap are respectively transformed into “Thunder Cleave,” “Violent Thunder Strike,” and “Thunder Stomp.” Damage from other skills is converted to thunder damage, and these skills gain an additional 10% to 30% damage bonus. Effects can only be triggered while in Blue Thunder Elf form. (Special: skills fused with Thunder Rune gain extra effects.)

The main racial talent of elves is Stealth, which Morning Wind had previously enhanced once. This time, the enhancement wasn’t significant, merely increasing the stealth effect; the skill has already reached its peak, and further enhancements won’t make much difference. The distinctive talent of the Blue Thunder Elf is Thunder Empowerment, which modifies the three showcased basic skills, adding thunder power to their attacks. At the same time, all other attack skills deal thunder damage, greatly boosting Morning Wind’s future offensive capabilities—he only needs to focus on strengthening thunder damage.

Thunder Empowerment can only be activated in Blue Thunder Elf form. If Morning Wind transforms into a Blood Dragon, it has no effect at all. Morning Wind used to worry that racial enhancements might expose his identity as a Blood Dragon, but now he realized there was no need to fear.

A special effect was triggered, much to Morning Wind’s surprise. As a Blood Thunder Warrior, he possesses one Thunder Rune and one Blood Rune. As long as Morning Wind activates Thunder Power and Blood Power, he can use both runes. The Thunder Rune guarantees a 2.5x critical hit, with a 10-second cooldown. The Blood Rune temporarily grants 100% of maximum health for 12 seconds, with a 10-minute cooldown. The Thunder Rune is a standard critical skill, excellent when combined with Furious Slash, while the Blood Rune is reserved for emergencies.

Thunder Empowerment can be combined with the Thunder Rune, which can be fused into a skill—Morning Wind was eager to see the result. Both Morning Wind and Shadow’s Back wanted to try out their new racial forms, so they headed to the arena, drawing much attention as they walked through the city’s main street. Clearly, their appearances were not crafted in a barbershop; those only alter initial looks, and an elf with Morning Wind’s robust physique and pale blue long hair was exceedingly rare—he was likely the only one in the entire city.

“Two Brotherhood Swords? That’s Duan Morning Wind, the world’s first-kill player.” Someone recognized him—he was the only player with two Brotherhood Swords, making him easy to identify. Morning Wind hadn’t expected someone to recognize the swords, even if they didn’t remember his face!

“Did Shadow’s Back and Duan Morning Wind gain their racial upgrades from the world first kill? They look different from ordinary elves.” Morning Wind and Shadow’s Back had just been on TV and now appeared in new forms, quickly arousing suspicion.

“Shadow’s Back, well done! You’ve brought glory to the China region!” With the world’s first kill going to China, many credited the Microdust Team, though few knew that Morning Wind was the team’s tank.

...

In a top-tier European game club voice channel, several wealthy players were discussing the recent world first kill. One, with the game ID “Stan,” shared a run-through video: “This is a recording a friend from a Chinese studio sent me. It shows the Microdust Team clearing the Troll’s Wrath dungeon. Take a look, everyone.”

Twenty minutes later, everyone had finished watching. They all had one question: Who is that tank?

The Angel Game Club was well-acquainted with China’s teams and collaborated with several studios there, yet none of their records mentioned anyone named Morning Wind. He wasn’t a pro player or even a recognized elite—was he just a pure amateur?

“I’ve seen warriors with both Berserker and Shield Mastery specs, but no one plays this dual-spec class better. No, he’s definitely the best Berserker I’ve ever seen, though as for Shield Mastery, I still can’t figure out what kind of tank he really is!” Stan had found Morning Wind’s performance in the video quite hard to pin down. In his view, Morning Wind was a phenomenal Berserker, but not a proper Shield Mastery tank.

“His parry technique is excellent, but his movement and dodging seem amateurish, and his tanking style is unusual—almost aggressive,” remarked Pukin, another player, who noticed Morning Wind’s unorthodox boss-tanking approach. “He’s undeniably a great Berserker, but as a Shield tank, he falls short.”

“Using a Berserker’s approach to tanking seems impossible, yet he actually did it!” Spartacus, whose game ID was Spartak, focused on the final boss fight. “I checked, and in China’s version, the Troll’s Wrath boss completes a summoning ritual after two minutes, bringing forth a war beast and making the fight hardest at that point. Yet this Berserker solo-tanked the boss’s burst, dealing 2.5 million damage in two minutes—insane! I have no idea how he both survived and output so much damage…”

Stan had already noted Morning Wind’s output during the final battle. “Based on the numbers, his damage only ramped up after entering the black mist at the altar. There was a 12-second period of extreme burst, then an eight-second damage spike—I suspect he used the Berserker’s ultimate. But even with all cooldowns popped, his output shouldn’t be that high. Something’s definitely hidden here. When the boss dropped below 30% HP, his damage spiked again—I can’t figure out why.”

The recording included player damage calculations, which Stan had already analyzed. Morning Wind’s output showed two major jumps: once upon entering the altar’s black mist, and once when the boss’s HP fell below 30%. They had no idea he wielded the Arcanite Axe, or that he had Furious Slash. Furious Slash was far stronger than Execute: Execute could only be used when the boss was below 20% HP and required rage, while Furious Slash could be spammed without limit, only waiting on a 1.5-second global cooldown.

Morning Wind’s damage was a mystery, as was his method of surviving the boss’s onslaught for two minutes. No one knew how he withstood the boss—an elemental shaman who also summoned flame creatures.

“The Magic Ring! The biggest change was that he put on the Magic Ring before the boss fight. He must have upgraded it. The Blood Magic Ring already grants great survivability, and if he fused it with two rings, he might just tank it. In my opinion, only the Magic Ring could have such broken power.” Spartak, a top player from France and a wealthy man, owned the Magic Ring on his server and knew its hidden strength.

“The Magic Ring might explain the burst when the boss hit 30% health, but what about the spike after entering the black mist? I think he swapped to a more powerful weapon there,” Stan considered the ring’s effect, but felt weapon damage was directly linked to the sudden burst, especially for Berserkers. The Magic Ring could explain the later damage, but not the earlier surge.

Stan and the others didn’t realize Morning Wind had merged Furious Slash and Execute into a new, ultra-powerful Execute. They attributed the surges to the Magic Ring. As for the first burst, Stan assumed he swapped weapons.

“A weapon more powerful than the Brotherhood Sword could only be an epic two-handed sword. I think he has two stronger epic two-handers,” Pukin agreed, linking the damage increase directly to weapon swaps. In his view, Morning Wind must have switched to two powerful purple greatswords.

“In the black mist, his burst started—I think he’s carrying a weapon he can’t show in public. He might be the Blood Dragon, using the Arcanite Axe!” Spartak suddenly suspected Morning Wind was the legendary Blood Dragon. If he used the Arcanite Axe in the mist, things almost made sense, though where the extra 30% damage came from was still unclear—maybe the Magic Ring.

“We can’t be sure he’s the Blood Dragon. Two epic two-handers could generate similar numbers,” Stan replied. He couldn’t see the exact values, only the damage changes after each attack. Furious Slash hit with both weapons simultaneously, and the numbers were calculated together, not separately. The Arcanite Axe’s burst was strong, but the Brotherhood Sword’s damage was much lower. Two epic two-handers could produce similar output, “And the later damage spike might be tied to the Execute skill—we still need to study that. We can’t draw firm conclusions yet.”

“No matter if he’s the Blood Dragon or not, or whether he wields the Arcanite Axe, we should avoid making an enemy of him for now. We want the Magic Ring, but with our current strength, we’d have to join forces to take him on,” Pukin concluded, feeling that Morning Wind was an opponent worthy of respect—someone who stood on equal footing with them. He was eager to meet such a master. Once the world map opens, they could cross paths, but based on the data, he knew none of the three could beat Morning Wind right now—Morning Wind’s advantage was too great.

“I’d love to challenge him! But Pukin is right: for now, we should avoid his edge, focus on devouring other Magic Rings, and only confront him when our stats are on par.” Spartak was eager to face Morning Wind—not just for the Magic Ring, but to see how powerful Morning Wind truly was.

Western players tended to focus on data analysis. Many watched the run-through video, but few analyzed it as deeply as these three. Hardly anyone paid attention to the tiny, ant-like numbers or tried to deduce the unknowns. Most just sighed in admiration after watching.

Stan, a pro player with a keen sense for numbers, paid close attention to data and could quickly draw conclusions from it. The data analysis chart he produced was something almost no other player could replicate. Spartak was a precise analyst, whose guesses were highly credible. Pukin, not as skilled as the other two, was calm and could make quick judgments. Each had their own strengths in the Angel Game Club, and they soon became friends, routinely analyzing major gaming events. Their analyses were kept private, only shared among themselves.

Morning Wind never expected that this dungeon run would lead people to suspect he was the Blood Dragon. Had he known, he wouldn’t have unleashed such a burst! In the virtual world filled with intersecting data, it was already impressive that Morning Wind had managed to keep his Blood Dragon identity hidden. At least for now, even Stan and his friends couldn’t be sure he was the Blood Dragon.

After a duel with Shadow’s Back in the arena, Morning Wind was completely unaware that the run-through video had already spread far and wide. He had no time to care anyway—he had just encountered military zone players!