033 Bear Tank Gone Wild!

Charge!

After Morning Breeze cast a Rejuvenation spell on himself in human form, he immediately shifted into his giant bear form and charged forward, drawing the aggro of all the monsters onto himself. He tore into them for continued damage, and swept his massive claws for area attacks. Because a bear fights with its own claws rather than weapons, and Morning Breeze had received special training in this role, his skill execution rate exceeded 90%.

A tank needs to block, parry, and dodge attacks. Usually, their basic attack completion rate is low, producing little damage, but they maintain high threat in tank stance. Morning Breeze was a completely different kind of bear tank: his skill completion was excellent, and though he lacked a warrior’s block and parry, the bear tank could dodge more attacks.

Everyone saw it clearly—Morning Breeze not only dealt 50% more damage than the Monk, but also maneuvered so nimbly that he made the six Bloodthirsty Lycan Guards line up in two rows, dodging left and right to avoid every attack.

Drunken Mist!

Once Morning Breeze had locked down the monsters’ attention, the Monk hurled out a barrel of brew, filling the area with a fragrant mist. All the Bloodthirsty Lycan Guards seemed a bit intoxicated; their movements slowed, their attacks grew feeble, making it even easier for Morning Breeze to dodge. Seizing this opportunity, Morning Breeze slipped behind them for quick attacks, pulling the aggro of the three rear guards.

“You can start attacking now! With the Monk’s mist, focus fire on the three at the back first. If your threat gets too high, we’ll switch targets. This will be faster!” If the Monk could slow the mob, all the better; Morning Breeze could now circle around, constantly changing position to pull aggro. He’d start with three on one side, letting the others focus on the three in the rear. When their threat neared the limit, Morning Breeze would leap to the back and draw their aggro, while Wu Kuang and the others switched to the ones Morning Breeze had just been tanking. This way, threat never overflowed, making the fight smooth and efficient.

+76

The Monk’s healing was truly underwhelming—not a single heal exceeded 100 points. Such was the tragedy of casting heals without a healing specialization: not only was the healing output low, but the cast time was long and mana cost doubled. Fortunately, Morning Breeze’s dodging skills meant he needed little healing. Had it been an average tank, they would have fallen long ago with such poor healing.

“Monk, I can tank six guards and you barely manage three. Even your heals can’t compare to mine—how embarrassing!” Morning Breeze jeered while collecting the loot.

“My main role is damage, not tanking or healing!” The Monk tried to excuse himself, then quickly changed the subject. “What dropped?”

“Bloodthirsty Lycan Gauntlets—nice, and they’re part of a set!” Morning Breeze announced, showing off the leather gauntlets.

[Bloodthirsty Lycan Gauntlets]
Exquisite, Gauntlets, Set
Requires Level: 25
Defense: 47
+13 Stamina
Effect: Dodge speed increased by 1%
Set Bonuses: (3/5) Dodge speed +2%
(4/5) Health +10%
(5/5) Damage +60
Description: An excellent drop from the Bloodthirsty Lycan.

“A set for both survivability and damage, perfect for the arena!” The Monk was immediately tempted. He was only wearing level 18 gear—if he could collect the whole set, not only would his survivability increase, but his damage output would as well. Sixty extra damage at level 25 was significant.

“I’m the tank. I’ll take them,” Morning Breeze said naturally, tossing them into his pack. The Monk clearly wanted them, but set pieces were rare drops from guards, and as the tank, Morning Breeze had a higher need for gear.

Yin and Wu Kuang had no objections. After all, the Monk was currently healing, and the set didn’t boost healing. It would be wasted on him. The Monk regretted not taking the tank role himself, but his tanking skills were abysmal. Seeing Morning Breeze collect another set piece, he decided to let him continue tanking and just enjoy the experience and loot.

The experience from the Horde Guards was generous. The party of five spent two hours clearing all the Bloodthirsty Lycan Guards on the first floor, each gaining a level. Wu Kuang reached 22, the rest 21. The Monk began to complain that they should recruit a dedicated healer so he could unleash his full damage potential, and no one objected—finding someone, however, would be troublesome.

Morning Breeze now had three set pieces in his pack: leather armor, gauntlets, and shorts. He only needed the leather cap and shoes to complete the set. With the first floor cleared, they could only proceed to the second.

The monsters on the second floor were stronger—level 26 Bloodthirsty Lycan Warriors, but only three stood together at a time, half as many as the previous floor’s patrols. From a distance, these warriors were clearly more formidable than the ordinary Lycans. Morning Breeze suspected they possessed warrior skills, which would make them much more challenging to defeat.

However, for Morning Breeze the bear tank, facing Lycan Warriors seemed even easier. After he established threat, the Monk would toss another barrel of brew, making dodging attacks even simpler. The warriors had Heroic Strike, Devastate, and Cleave, but Morning Breeze’s dodging was faster. Since he didn’t have to constantly switch positions, the monsters went down even quicker.

On the second floor, the group needed only an hour to clear all the Lycan Warriors, and Morning Breeze obtained the two missing pieces for his leather set, plus an extra pair of shoes, which went to the Monk.

When they tried to access the third floor, they found the door locked. Morning Breeze took out a key from his pack and, to everyone’s relief, it opened the way. The team followed him cautiously inside; the Monk, bringing up the rear, closed and locked the door behind them, wary of anyone following.

The third floor of the Lycan Lair was devoid of guards. At its center stood a black teleportation array, unmistakably a Horde teleport pad—clearly, this was one of their strongholds.

“A treasure chest! There’s a chest!” The Monk quickly spotted five dark-gold treasure chests at one end of the hall and cried out in excitement. Only when he saw everyone turn did he regret his outburst—why tell them?

Chests were common in the wild, but usually battered and containing nothing special. Only rare, high-level chests might yield excellent or exquisite gear. But dark-gold chests—no one had seen one since the game launched. Now, five of them stood before their eyes—a small fortune.

Clearly, this was a reward for the first team to reach the third floor of the Lycan Lair. Horde patrols dropped keys, but probably more than one per patrol. The keys were meant to guide players here. Morning Breeze considered themselves lucky to have such a strong party clear the guards quickly and unlock the third floor.

“Everyone open one chest! If you get junk, you can open another.” With only four party members, how to split the extra chest? Whoever got the worst loot could open another. Of course, with five dark-gold chests on the line, there was always a chance for drama—particularly from the Monk.

System: Your teammate “Wu Kuang” possesses “Ashbringer” and has obtained a special hidden class scroll [Scion of Fire] from the dark-gold chest.

System: Your teammate “Yin” has obtained a dark-gold item [Heavenly Veil Staff].

System: Your teammate “Kun Kun Gets Healthier” has obtained a rare material [Bloodthirsty Fang].

System: You have obtained a dark-gold item [Crushing Hammer].

“At last, the hidden class scroll!” Wu Kuang roared with excitement upon receiving the scroll. Clearly, Ashbringer unlocked a special hidden class, only obtainable from a dark-gold chest.

Yin received a perfect dark-gold staff, and was thoroughly satisfied. As for the Monk, after opening a dark-gold chest and pulling out a rare material, he looked ready to smash the chest in frustration.

Morning Breeze got a dark-gold two-handed hammer and immediately equipped it, swapping it for his previous dark-gold claws.

[Crushing Claws]
Dark Gold, Bound, Claws
Requires Level: 25
Damage: 238–309
+40 Stamina
Effect: Melee damage +25%, Bleed damage +40%
Effect: Melee attacks have a 30% chance to cripple the enemy, reducing movement speed by 40% for 6 seconds. If the effect is reapplied, the enemy is stunned for 2 seconds.
Description: Tears through flesh and shatters all before you.

This was an excellent weapon. At level 25, these claws were equivalent to a level 35 exquisite blue weapon. Morning Breeze could use them up to level 35 without switching. Leveling was still manageable for now, but after 30, experience requirements would multiply on the world map. Plus, in Horde territory, monsters were tougher and harder to kill—a good weapon was a huge advantage.

“Yin, Wu Kuang, you two probably don’t want to open another, right?” Morning Breeze checked with them, acting as the party leader since taking on the tank role. No one minded; after all, with Morning Breeze’s skill at both tanking and dealing damage, where else could they find such a tank?

Even professional players rarely pulled six Horde Guards five levels above themselves, let alone tanking them all. Yet Morning Breeze, a relatively unknown player in other games, did so with ease and looked like he’d done it countless times.

“No, we’re good.” Both had gotten usable items and had no need for more.

Morning Breeze turned to the Monk. “Monk, hand over your Bloodthirsty Fang and you can open another dark-gold chest. From now on, we’ll pool rare materials and share them as needed.”

“Deal!” The Monk tossed over the fang and opened another chest. Among such skilled players, bosses would surely drop more rare materials, so pooling them would make upgrading or crafting gear more convenient in the future.

After getting a set of leather gauntlets, the Monk was satisfied. The group checked the time—it was nearly dinner—so they returned to town and logged off. Afterward, Morning Breeze logged onto his warrior character, added Wu Kuang as a friend, and arranged a duel in the arena at 8:00 that evening.