Just as Orion and Athos were about to enter the grand finale of their duel, a young woman was also fighting to the best of her ability in the county of Serendine, around a day's journey away from the shores of Oakenlight.

  She was standing on a ledge, with her silver longsword drawn as the Orc Marauder's body hit the earth with a satisfying thud, its massive frame dissolving into motes of light as the system processed its death.

  Alice wiped the sweat from her brow and released her long, blonde hair from the bun she'd made before fighting the Elite.

  Four kills today. The Elite was a pain to solo, but at level 17, she had the stats and the skill to manage it without burning through her potion supply.

  She picked up the gold and the potions the savage orc had dropped, but then her eyes caught a glimpse of something far more valuable.

  Alice collected the loot, then went ahead to check her inventory with a satisfied smile.

  Alice stared at the item description for a long moment.

  The Orc Marauder's breastplate drop was very much sought after among tanks in Serendine; supposedly there was a less than 1% chance for it to drop, and it was considered the best in slot heavy armor for tanks at this point.

  She'd heard rumors of groups farming the Elite for days without seeing it.

  And here it sat in her inventory.

  She was still admiring the find when three players appeared at the edge of her vision.

  Alice didn't move. She'd been expecting company eventually. Solo players grinding valuable Elites always attracted attention.

  The trio emerged from the treeline moments later. A Rogue with dual daggers, an Arcanist with the level 15 uncommon Ash Staff, and a Guardian whose shield was way underleveled for him by the looks of it.

  Alice suppressed a sigh. Of course.

  "Well, well," the Rogue said, circling to her left with the practiced ease of someone who'd done this many times before. "Looks like someone got lucky."

  The Arcanist hung back, already channeling mana. The blue energy of an Arcane Bolt coiled around her fingertips. "We saw what you got. That breastplate."

  "Hand it over," the Guardian said, planting his shield in the dirt. He was the shortest of the three, but he carried himself like he thought he was eight feet tall. "You can't even equip it. It's for Guardians, or for cocksucker Paladins only. Don't make this harder than it needs to be."

  Alice turned to face them properly, her expression neutral. "And if I don't?"

  The Rogue laughed. "Then we kill you. You drop something; maybe the breastplate, maybe something else you care about. Either way, we win." He twirled one of his daggers. "You're good, I'll give you that. Soloing a Marauder takes skill. But three on one? Come on. Be smart about this."

  "Just give it to Xtra," the Arcanist added, nodding toward the Guardian. "It's perfect for him. You'd just sell it anyway."

  "The armor you're wearing already looks like heavy armor," the Rogue said. "Even though it's medium, right? You're a Swordsman, after all. What, you're roleplaying as a knight or some shit?"

  Alice looked at each of them in turn.

  The Rogue was positioned to cut off her escape route to the west. The Arcanist had line of sight for any spell she wanted to throw. The Guardian stood ready to intercept if Alice tried to engage the backline.

  It was a decent formation. They'd clearly done this before.

  "You're right," Alice said.

  The Guardian—Xtra, they'd called him—smiled and stepped forward, hand outstretched. "Smart choice. No hard feelings, yeah? It's just business."

  "Although," the Swordswoman continued, "Who says I can't equip it?"

  Then she opened her equipment menu and dragged the Ironguard Breastplate into her armor slot.

  The system accepted it without complaint.

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  Heavy iron plates materialized across her torso, interlocking with a satisfying click.

  The armor was heavier than her previous gear, but she barely felt the difference. Her movement speed didn't drop. Her attack speed remained unchanged.

  The three gankers stared in confusion.

  "What the—" the Rogue started.

  "That's impossible," the Arcanist breathed. "Swordsmen can't—"

  Alice didn't give them time to finish.

  "Lightning Steps."

  The world blurred.

  Electricity crackled through her legs as she crossed the distance between herself and the Rogue in the span of a heartbeat, passing through his guard before he could even raise his daggers.

  She pivoted, momentum carrying her toward the Arcanist, whose half-formed spell shattered as Alice's presence disrupted her concentration. Another step, another blur of motion, and she was behind the Guardian, who had only just begun to turn.

  She drew her sword.

  "Lightning Blade."

  The skill activated as she drew an arc with her blade, crackling energy following the motion.

  The horizontal slash caught all three of them in a single devastating sweep.

  The Rogue's leather armor was no challenge, the Arcanist's robes even less so, and even the Guardian's raised shield couldn't fully absorb the full power of Alice's attack.

  Their health bars plummeted and the party of gankers scrambled to recover.

  The Rogue activated Vanish, fading into shadows, and the Arcanist began casting something defensive.

  The Guardian raised his shield and used Bulwark Stance, the aura of the damage reduction ability shimmering around him.

  Too slow. All of it, too slow.

  Alice planted her feet and raised her sword above her head. Energy gathered along the blade's edge, crackling and building, the air itself beginning to ionize around her.

  "Thunderstorm Blade."

  The skill erupted outward in a massive dome of devastation. Lightning arced from her blade to the ground to the sky and back again, striking everything within ten meters.

  The Rogue's stealth shattered as the electricity found him anyway. The Arcanist's defensive spell crumbled under the assault. The Guardian's Bulwark Stance absorbed some of the damage, but not nearly enough.

  Three bodies hit the ground simultaneously.

  The death notifications scrolled past.

  Alice watched the light fade from their forms as they were teleported back to their respawn points, leaving behind all their accumulated experience and some of their equipment.

  Two items materialized on the ground where the Rogue and Arcanist had fallen.

  Alice collected them without hurry. A pair of uncommon daggers from the Rogue. A ring with mana regeneration from the Arcanist.

  Neither was exceptional, but they'd sell for a few silver coins, maybe even a gold coin.

  She straightened and brushed dust from her new breastplate, then opened her status menu, navigating to the passive section.

  It had been a gamble, taking the skill when she'd gotten it from an Elite Chest three days after launch.

  Epic passive skills were still unheard of, but this one came with a significant cost.

  Losing access to Light and Medium armor was not that bad, but losing her primary movement ability as a swordsman would have been nerve-wracking had she not found the rune for Lightning Steps.

  Even without access to Lightning Steps at the time, Alice still learned the passive instantly. She had done the math.

  Heavy armor had the highest base defense in the game. Tanks wore it specifically because they needed that protection. The penalty was the speed reduction; slower attacks, slower movement, easier to kite, easier to outmaneuver.

  Armored Stance removed that penalty entirely. And then it gave her a bonus on top of it.

  She was a Swordswoman with Guardian-level defense and Rogue-level speed.

  Not to mention her lightning-based skills gave her damage output comparable to Berserkers.

  Three level 15 gankers never stood a chance.

  Alice equipped her old armor.

  It was actually much more suited to her; it was also a level 15 Rare breastplate that only gave 58 defense, but it gave 5 Agility and had a 5% chance to double her movement speed for 2 seconds after using a skill.

  Ordinarily, that kind of chance-based bonus was not great, however all her lightning-based skills scaled with AGI as well as her movement speed.

  If she used Thunderstorm Blade during the time her speed was doubled, it would turn into a devastating attack.

  The reason she had equipped the Ironguard was simple: she just wanted to see the shock on her enemy's face when she did.

  Alice checked her surroundings. No other players were in the vicinity. The Orc Marauder wouldn't respawn for another two hours.

  Time to move on.

  As she walked toward the next grinding spot, she got a message from her soon-to-be guild leader.

  Phantom: How's life in Serendine?

  Alice smiled and sent back a quick response.

  Alice: Just met some gankers.

  Phantom: Trouble?

  Alice: Not anymore.

  She closed the interface and continued on her way, the weight of her armor giving her a sense of comfort as she walked.

  Serendine was her territory. And she intended to keep it that way.