Capable of both defense and offense!

The game's dungeon difficulties are divided into Normal, Hard, and Heroic modes, with Heroic being the most challenging. For instance, the level 15 Defiant Withered Treant dungeon so far has only had its Hard mode conquered for the first time by the Gale Team, while no team has yet cleared the Heroic mode. This is partly because the new game has introduced the “Tank” class—a profession dedicated to drawing enemy aggro—and many professional players have yet to adapt. Additionally, skill books are generally scarce at this stage; even pro players have only learned a handful of skills, let alone regular players.

One can imagine—Morning Breeze alone has looted over 2,000 skill books, filling his entire storage. If he could amass that many, just think how many other players might have found.

“Looking for a high-end tank! Must know how to parry and block—no clueless positioning, please! Four waiting for one, begging for help!”

“Strong weapon warrior seeking dungeon run—just need to clear Normal mode!”

“Elite team guarantees Hard mode clear, looking for a top-tier tank to pull aggro—no griefers!”

...

Morning Breeze arrived near the entrance to the Defiant Withered Treant dungeon, only to find the area already crowded with players. Seventy percent of the teams there were short a tank—there were simply too few players who chose the tank specialization. Not only does the tank have to endure pain, their damage output is also underwhelming, making the role quite unappealing. Some players who picked tank out of curiosity soon deleted their characters and started over.

Following the coordinates, Morning Breeze waited beneath a tree at the edge of the clearing for his companions to arrive. The first to show up was the voluptuous rogue beauty, Kaori Miyazaki. Her leather armor made her the instant center of attention; many tried to recruit her into their teams. But Kaori ignored them all, walking straight over to sit beside Morning Breeze without so much as a word to White Bear.

Soon after, Frost in her blue mage’s robe arrived as well. Despite the stares from onlookers, she too sat down beside Morning Breeze. He traded her two mage skill books, claiming he’d looted them while leveling with friends. Morning Breeze had made it a habit to hand Frost a skill book nearly every day, and with these two, she had now learned all her available skills. Of everyone in the studio, only Frost paid him any mind, so he reserved his skill books for her—the rest had to fend for themselves.

The somewhat wild-looking Discipline Priest, Lin Shanshan, arrived together with the pro Beastmaster Hunter, Zhang Xinting. Their appearance once again drew the eyes of the crowd, and seeing both head straight toward Morning Breeze made it clear to everyone that they were a party.

“Isn’t Frost and Snow Guild female-only? How did that guy manage to tag along with four beauties?” one player muttered after noticing the guild tags under the women’s IDs. He couldn’t help but wish he could kick Morning Breeze out and take his place as the lone man amidst such a party.

“That pervert has hidden his ID and guild info, but I doubt he’s even in Frost and Snow. Most likely, they just hired him to carry them through the dungeon!” a nearby dwarf guessed correctly—Morning Breeze hadn’t joined any guild. After all, who would want to recruit someone bold enough to publicly tell the leader of GodWar Guild to watch his step outside the main city? Besides, Frost and Snow Guild didn’t accept troublesome players.

Lin Shanshan ignored the stares. She was used to basking in the limelight. Staring at Morning Breeze seated beneath the tree, she asked, “Duan Morning Breeze, can you tank Heroic mode?”

Heroic mode? Even Zhang Xinting, a pro from the former Skycleave Team, glanced over in surprise. Her own team had failed to clear the Defiant Withered Treant dungeon on Heroic, and now Lin Shanshan wanted Morning Breeze to tank the highest difficulty? Was she trying to get them all killed? Three deaths in the dungeon meant forced logout.

Once again, she’s making things difficult for me, Morning Breeze thought. This petite beauty always seemed to push his limits. Normally, she’d have him pull six mobs at once; now that they’d reached level 15, she wanted him to tank the toughest dungeon. Plainly, she was determined to drive him out of the studio.

“If you’re willing to go, I’m willing to tank!” In games two years from now, Morning Breeze was always the one getting carried; he’d seen the Defiant Withered Treant dungeon before, but had only ever sat on the sidelines soaking up XP, never paying attention to the boss mechanics. Now, tasked with tanking it, he wasn’t certain he’d be up to the job.

“Shanshan, stop! Heroic dungeons aren’t a joke. If we die three times, we’ll be forced offline,” Frost interjected, always siding with Morning Breeze. She had no idea why Lin Shanshan seemed so antagonistic toward him, always coming up with new ways to make things difficult.

“If he can pull six mobs, why can’t he tank a boss? Isn’t it three deaths before forced logout? We’ll just quit after two,” Lin Shanshan insisted.

“Let’s go! I want to see if I can tank Heroic!” Morning Breeze had already started toward the dungeon entrance.

Zhang Xinting said nothing, following with her panther close behind. She was eager to see what this man was really capable of. Last time, he’d effortlessly killed two Scourge patrols. When leveling, he’d pull six mobs at once, leveling at breakneck speed. But could he really tank Heroic mode?

After everyone entered the dungeon, Morning Breeze suddenly remembered something and asked Lin Shanshan, “You have Purification, right? The skill that removes negative magic effects?”

“No! That’s a rare Discipline Priest skill—I’ve never seen it at auction or in the market,” Lin Shanshan replied. Most of her skill books had been gifted by others, but rare Discipline Priest skills were another matter entirely, only available to professional players in top teams.

“Learn it now.” Fortunately, Morning Breeze had done his homework before coming. The first boss in Defiant Withered Treant had a corrosive debuff—not much of a problem on Normal, but on Heroic, it was tripled, making it impossible for ordinary priests to keep up with healing. So, he had brought a Purification skill book just for Lin Shanshan.

Everyone was stunned—no one expected Morning Breeze to have such a rare skill book. Zhang Xinting sized up his gear—he was decked out in green, high-quality equipment. Most players struggled to piece together even a set of Black Iron, but Morning Breeze had easily acquired a full set of superior gear, and his right-hand sword was a level 15 blue exquisite weapon.

Charge!

After trading her the skill book, Morning Breeze didn’t even bother equipping his shield. He charged straight in, pulling the corrupted treants at both ends of the stone bridge. These were level 18 elite monsters, and Morning Breeze, at level 16 and shieldless, simply barreled in.

Bloodthirst!

Whirlwind Strike!

Whirlwind Strike!

Whirlwind Strike!

Morning Breeze had a hunch that his first Bloodthirst would trigger a free Whirlwind Strike, so he went all in, dual-wielding rather than equipping a shield. The treants moved slowly, so even after his burst, he only took two hits, dropping his HP by 30%. He leaped back, switched to shield, dashed forward, and unleashed Shield Bash, followed by Devastate with his right hand.

Guard!

“Heal, DPS! What are you standing around for?” After a round of burst attacks, Morning Breeze saw everyone still gawking and immediately guarded back to Lin Shanshan’s side, reminding them the fight had started.

Frost Nova!

At his command, Frost immediately cast a frost spell, freezing both treants in place. While Lin Shanshan channeled her healing, Morning Breeze—at half-health—pulled out a spear, activated Heroic Throw, then leaped acrobatically over the treants’ heads, bombing them from behind.

Bloodthirst!

Again, he triggered another free Whirlwind Strike; without hesitation, Morning Breeze switched his off-hand shield to a one-handed sword and went all out. Three quick Whirlwind Strikes, then a sidestep to dodge the treant’s attack—Lin Shanshan’s fast heal landed on him, topping him off.

As soon as the others started attacking, they noticed Morning Breeze was always moving, constantly dodging the treant boss’s attacks. If his health was above 80%, he’d tank hits directly to build rage for more bursts.

“Let’s go!”

Once both treants fell, Morning Breeze didn’t even pause to recover—he charged onward. For a berserker like him, wasting rage meant wasting damage; he couldn’t afford to drop out of combat, or his rage would quickly drain away.

“He really is a master—tanking and dealing damage!” Zhang Xinting glanced at the damage chart—Morning Breeze alone accounted for 50% of the total, all while handling the tank’s aggro duties.

Pulling four treants, Morning Breeze once again charged in, immediately using Thunderclap for AoE and to reduce enemy movement and attack speed, then followed up with Bloodthirst. If Bloodthirst triggered a free Whirlwind Strike, he’d unleash it; if not, he’d simply cleave through the group.

Guard!

After each burst, Morning Breeze inevitably took some hits, so he’d immediately guard back to Lin Shanshan for a heal, throw another Heroic Throw, then leap-bomb his way back into the fray. By now, he’d switched to shield, using Shield Bash and Devastate, skillfully kiting the monsters.

All the way through, Morning Breeze mowed down enemies with astonishing speed; aside from Zhang Xinting, the others couldn’t keep up. Just yesterday, Zhang Xinting had run a Hard mode dungeon with a pro tank from Skycleave, and even then, the pace wasn’t this fast. When they finally reached the first boss, Morning Breeze stopped.

“Everyone, take a seat and rest. Once your mana is back, we’ll take on the boss!” It wasn’t that Morning Breeze couldn’t tank the boss, but after all that, Lin Shanshan and Frost’s mana was running low; letting them recover would ensure a faster kill.

“Looks like Heroic mode isn’t that hard after all,” Lin Shanshan remarked, sipping water while seated—she’d just leveled up and hadn’t run a dungeon before.

“It really isn’t,” Morning Breeze replied, finding Heroic mode easier than expected.

Such naivete! Zhang Xinting was speechless. Lin Shanshan could be forgiven for never having run a dungeon, but Morning Breeze—how could he say that too? She couldn’t fathom what he was thinking.

“Think we can get the world-first Heroic clear? As far as I know, no one’s done it yet,” Zhang Xinting asked, seeing Morning Breeze so confident, curious to gauge his strength against the all-star pros.

“Barring any surprises, it shouldn’t be a problem!”