Anyone who can remain so calm in the face of danger is either a fool or an expert—he hoped it was the latter.

With his command, the image immediately zoomed in and pulled closer.

Brian Clark calmly stood up from the ground and took a step back.

This movement was instantly interpreted by the tiger as a sign of cowardly retreat. Almost at the same moment Brian Clark stepped back, it let out a roar and, with a gust of bloody wind, lunged ferociously at Brian Clark from five meters away.

For the tiger, this short distance could be covered in a single leap—it would reach its target in the blink of an eye.

Brian Clark still remained unhurried, taking a few more steps back before stopping. He then began to tidy up his clothes, which had been torn into strips, as if he had forgotten about the rapidly approaching claws and fangs.

The monitor watching this scene was speechless. He turned to look at the director, his eyes clearly saying, “This guy is such a show-off—can he really handle it?”

John Brooks kept a straight face and said nothing. He also didn’t understand why this kid was so calm that it made people want to punch him. If he were that tiger, being provoked like this, he would definitely gut him and tear him to pieces before stopping.

In fact, that’s exactly what the tiger did. It had been completely enraged by Brian Clark’s attitude of indifference, its eyes red as lanterns.

After all, it was the king of the forest, and this prey’s reaction was a complete loss of face.

The answer was revealed very soon.

Half a second later, the tiger landed exactly where Brian Clark had just been lying. At that very moment, there was a crisp “crack” from the ground, like the sound of a glass bottle shattering. A flash of white light burst forth, and a massive amount of misty cold air erupted. Immediately after, seven or eight ice spikes as thick as an arm exploded from the ground at lightning speed, blooming like an icy flower.

Level 1 Spell: Frost Rune!

The tiger was an ordinary creature—its body was stronger than Brian Clark’s, but in essence, it was still just flesh and blood.

The virtual world and the real world are hard to distinguish on the surface, but ultimately, it’s not reality.

Here, everything has levels. The high-level overwhelmingly dominates the low-level; the low-level can only dodge, never confront head-on. The level of matter ultimately depends on permissions. For example, a piece of ordinary iron is a level-1 structure; tofu, that’s definitely level-0. If an iron block strikes tofu, the tofu is utterly defeated! Of course, this is just a metaphor. Since the virtual world can simulate reality, its grading is extremely detailed—far more complex than this.

“Flesh and blood” means the data structure is level-0.

A level-0 data structure like the tiger’s, when faced with a level-1 Frost Rune spell, the result is obvious: the level-0 is completely destroyed.

The tiger was completely unprepared. In its limited tiger life, it had never seen magic before. Its abdomen, the softest and least protected part of its body, was pierced through by all the ice spikes, easily puncturing its body. Blood gushed out as if it cost nothing, and halfway through, it was frozen into icy flowers by the lingering cold.

And that wasn’t all—the cold quickly climbed up the ice spikes, invading the tiger’s body and freezing its dying roar in its throat.

Moments later, this fierce beast had become a harmless ice sculpture.

Brian Clark didn’t even look up, still tidying his clothes. Once finished, he picked up the hunting knife and bow and arrows from the ground, slung them over his back, and walked away without a backward glance.

From start to finish, he never once looked at the tiger, as if everything had gone exactly as he expected.

After watching, John Brooks nodded and said, “He used Frost Rune—he should be from the Mage Guild. Check his record.”

Frost Rune was only a level-1 spell, far from advanced. As long as you were an affiliate of the Mage Guild, you could use it. But for someone to use it so smoothly—regardless of anything else, just his composure in battle was enough to pass.

Brian Clark had provided all real information, so his record was easy to check.

After a while, the investigator reported to John Brooks: “His name is Brian Clark, from District 55, a new member of the Black Iron-ranked Order Maintenance Squad ‘Briar Rose.’ He has previously purchased spells from the Mage Guild.”

“What spells?”

“Two. Level-1 spell: Frost Rune. Level-0 spell: Ice Spike.”

The Central AI is quick to clean up loose ends. In this regard, it’s second to none—no one in the entire Solar Federation dares claim first place.

He has a name, a clean record, and legal methods. John Brooks was very satisfied and nodded, “Very good, he’s accepted.”

At this time, the other trials were also nearing their end. Nearly four hundred junior Order Maintainers had almost all been eliminated.

Two more outstanding Order Maintainers were discovered.

One of them was a burly man, as sturdy as a calf. He had possessed the body of a warrior who, in the midst of battle, had stumbled, fallen, and knocked himself out with his own sword hilt.

As soon as the burly man woke up, a knight charged straight at him. He reacted instantly, rolling to the side, grabbing the battle sword from the ground, and slashing at the horse’s leg in one swift motion. Then, with another clean strike, he cut down the knight on horseback. His movements were crisp and efficient, clearly well-trained.

He followed the warrior path and had excellent combat skills. A check revealed that he was indeed from the Warrior Guild, and he also possessed a Wolf Transformation spell purchased from the Brotherhood of Werewolves. Quite impressive—he, too, was naturally accepted.