He pondered for a moment, then spoke: “Each of my sage disciples possesses extraordinary talent and is extremely cunning. In order not to alert them, from now on I will act as an Order Keeper, using normal means to advance to the Gold level, enter Earth’s Order, and then look for opportunities. During this process, you must cooperate with me.”

Brian Clark’s temperament is such that, once he’s made up his mind, there’s no more talk—if he’s going to do something, he’ll do it to the best.

By pretending to be an ordinary Order Keeper and hiding among the many Order Keepers entering Earth, if he plays it well, his disciples will never connect him to his former identity, making a surprise attack possible.

The Brain nodded. “I will.”

With that, he vanished, and the temporary blank virtual world disappeared as well. Brian Clark smoothly entered the Dragon World.

That millisecond of delay went completely unnoticed.

Chapter 7: The Age of Dragons

As soon as he entered the Dragon World, Brian Clark first felt a surrounding darkness, with The Brain’s voice constantly coming through.

“Verifying entrant’s identity… Identity acquired, identity is valid.”

“Brian Clark, trainee Order Keeper, currently employed, granted World Level 1 Order Keeper permissions.” Permissions are the most important concept in virtual games, representing control over game data.

“Trainee Order Keeper Brian Clark, please recite the three major Order Keeper principles.”

This is a rite of passage for all trainee Order Keepers. Brian Clark began silently reciting in his mind.

“Respect the rights of ordinary players; respect the laws of power in the virtual world; respect the native culture and narrative of the world.” Destroyers use all kinds of cheats, and their power is usually immense. To fight them, Order Keepers can only use similar means—an eye for an eye—a helpless compromise. The difference is, Destroyers have no taboos and no restraints. Order Keepers must abide by the three major principles, and with every mission, must minimize their impact on themselves and the virtual world.

In fact, the three major principles not only protect the virtual world, but also protect the Order Keepers themselves.

If someone wielding a Gatling gun appeared in an ancient world, people would first be terrified, then the entire world would become hostile, making every step difficult. Even a Destroyer would, to some extent, follow these game rules.

So The Brain spoke: “Trainee Order Keeper Brian Clark, please remember the three major principles. You are now permitted to enter the Dragon World.”

With the end of the voice, all abnormal interference vanished. Brian Clark felt his body relax, the stiffness and numbness disappeared, and a flood of sensory information rushed in.

He immediately felt burning pain all over his body, wave after wave like a tide.

He also smelled a strong scent of blood in his nose, and heard the panting of a wild beast by his ear.

Brian Clark quietly opened a slit of his eye and saw that his clothes had been torn into strips, covered in bloody wounds, especially on his legs and arms, some so deep the bone was visible. Fortunately, none were fatal.

Opposite him, a beast that looked exactly like a tiger crouched on the ground, breathing low, its golden eyes narrowed, staring intently at him.

Damn, so it’s this kind of situation! Brian Clark cursed inwardly.

His current state was a common method for Order Keepers to quickly enter a virtual world: possession.

Simply put, the game company finds a player whose game time is about to run out, arranges some accident to kick the player out, and then the Order Keeper takes over the body.

This body was young and strong, with several rabbits and pheasants hanging from the waist, a bow gripped tightly in one hand, a few scattered arrows nearby, and a hunting knife in the other hand—clearly a hunter in life.

Arranging an accident for this hunter was the simplest thing: just have a beast like a tiger suddenly leap out of the forest while he’s out hunting.

The process is reasonable, and ordinary players with blocked memories in the game would only lament the unlucky hunter’s fate, never suspecting there’s a “game company” pulling the strings behind the scenes.

Now the problem was, the tiger neither left nor attacked, just crouched five or six meters away, watching him with a leisurely air, making Brian Clark afraid to make any rash moves.

After a moment’s thought, he realized this must be the will of the Dragon World’s big boss, Shuer—a test of his abilities.

He was only a trainee Order Keeper, not even ranked. If he didn’t show some skill, the big boss would probably have the big cat finish him off, kicking him out and declaring his mission a failure.

Ordinary trainee Order Keepers rely on real combat skills to maintain order, with cold weapon skills as the top choice.

So, the big boss thoughtfully prepared weapons for Brian Clark: a hunting bow, several arrows, and a hunting knife. Whether he could use these to fight the fierce big cat depended on his own skill.

But Brian Clark didn’t plan to use these crude weapons. Because of his heart condition, he never learned any martial arts, only practiced a few health exercises.

He didn’t like using cold weapons either—wielding spears and clubs, ending up covered in blood, was work for roughnecks.