He had once been a Dao Lord’s agent—how could he disregard his image like this?

After pondering for a moment, Brian Clark came up with a solution. Since this world had a Western setting, he would become a mage.

He had read the information: in this world, the existence of mages was legal, and there were even mage academies.

Spells were readily available as well.

In the real world, many accomplished players liked to found their own sects and publish some of the game plug-ins they had developed.

These plug-ins allowed people to quickly gain immense power in the game world, so they were extremely popular.

Over time, various schools formed in the virtual network, such as vampire clans, werewolf brotherhoods, mage guilds, the Church of God, the Church of Science, and countless others.

Although there were many virtual worlds, the core technology was the same, so any plug-in, as long as it was developed based on the world’s core rules, could be used in all worlds. Because it involved core data, the game company couldn’t completely prevent the existence of these plug-ins; they could only modify parameters at the time of creation to weaken them.

Because of this, buying plug-ins on the virtual network became a gray area—not legal, but everyone tacitly accepted their existence. As long as you didn’t use them to cause destruction, no one would pursue it.

Brian Clark was a peerless grandmaster who had mastered all schools of magic. He was thoroughly familiar with the skills of every faction, and he knew all the flashy spells of the mage guild. With just a few moves, he could easily kill this beast.

As for the consequences of recklessly using magic, Brian Clark didn’t even consider them. He believed the central AI would clean up after him.

Brian Clark was still lying on the ground, quietly preparing his spell.

He now had legal Level 1 Order-keeping authority, so the resources he could mobilize were limited, and he could only meet the requirements for Level 1 spells at most.

So he prepared a Level 1 spell: Frost Rune.

When casting the spell, Brian Clark let out a long sigh.

In the virtual world, first-rate people played with authority, second-rate people played with skill, and third-rate people played with plug-in tricks.

Now that he was an Order-keeper, he definitely couldn’t play with first-rate authority. Third-rate plug-ins weren’t something he could use at will either; you had to buy them with credit points on the virtual network, and they were outrageously expensive—he definitely couldn’t afford them.

From now on, he could only rely on skill.

Life, really, just keeps going backward.

While Brian Clark was preparing to fight the beast, elsewhere in the Dragon World, many trainee Order-keepers had also entered the world by seizing bodies, ready to face their trials.

The “almighty” boss Shirley Clark was observing the performance of these Order-keepers from his “divine palace.”

Because time in the game flowed much faster than in reality, to command in real time, Shirley Clark’s divine palace was also built in the game world, located several kilometers underground.

Given the initial technological level of the Dragon World, unless an ordinary player was brainless, there was absolutely no way they would dig a several-kilometer-deep hole for no reason. So there was no worry about the divine palace being discovered.

The divine palace was filled with ultra-modern equipment. In the control hall, people bustled about, and floating display screens were everywhere, closely monitoring each trainee Order-keeper.

In the center of the hall stood a middle-aged man, dressed in a sharp suit, with a full beard and exuding masculine charm.

His name was John Brooks, the game management director of the Dragon Era, and the highest authority among everyone present.

To ordinary players, he was the embodiment of the supreme god Shirley Clark (the Shirley Clark virtual company was quite flamboyant, defining Shirley Clark as the supreme deity in the Dragon World).

The “supreme god” stood in the center of the hall, listening intently to the reports from the monitoring staff.

“The Order-keepers have begun entering the game, a total of three hundred and fifty-nine.”

“The trial begins!”

...

“Number one has died and is out.”

“Number two has died and is out.”

“Number three has died and is out.”

...

In just five minutes, a large number of rookie Order-keepers were eliminated.

They died in all sorts of ways: some fell off horses, some were trampled by horses, some failed to find cover on the battlefield and were shot by stray arrows, and some overestimated themselves and tried to challenge a dragon—only to be crushed by powerful wild monsters before even finding one.

John Brooks was used to these results. Being an Order-keeper was no easy job. He said calmly, “Continue.”

Chapter 8: Frost Mage

In the forest, Brian Clark spent ten seconds quietly drawing a triggered Frost Rune trap on the ground beside him. Then he opened his eyes and slowly got up from the ground.

As soon as his body started to move, the tiger crouched opposite him also sprang up, its growl turning sharp, fur bristling, eyes flashing with ferocity, ready to attack.

For a moment, the entire forest seemed to fall silent, subdued by the tiger’s menace.

Brian Clark, however, was completely unfazed. He sat up unhurriedly, casually brushing aside the hair on his forehead that blocked his view, utterly ignoring the beast before him, which was as big as a calf.

This scene was captured in detail by the surveillance in the divine palace and seen clearly by the game director John Brooks. He became interested and pointed at Brian Clark: “Focus on this one!”