Chapter 8

In the forest, Sun Ran spent ten seconds quietly drawing a trigger-activated frost rune trap on the ground beside him, then opened his eyes and slowly got up from the ground.

As his body began to move, the tiger crouching opposite him suddenly stood up, its throat emitting a low growl that turned urgent, its back hair bristling, and its eyes glowing with fierce light, ready to attack.

For a moment, the entire forest seemed to fall silent, intimidated by the tiger's ferocity.

However, Sun Ran was completely unaffected. He still sat up slowly, casually brushing the hair that obscured his vision, completely ignoring the large beast in front of him.

This scene was meticulously recorded by the surveillance in the shrine and was seen by the game director, Chen Hansheng. He became interested and pointed at Sun Ran, "Focus on him!"

Someone who could remain so calm in the face of danger was either a fool or an expert. He hoped it was an expert.

Following his order, the image immediately zoomed in and moved closer.

Sun Ran calmly stood up from the ground and took a step back.

This action was immediately interpreted by the tiger as a sign of cowardice and retreat. Almost as soon as Sun Ran stepped back, the tiger roared and, amidst a gust of foul wind, pounced at Sun Ran, who was five meters away.

To the tiger, this distance could be crossed in one leap, almost instantaneously.

Sun Ran remained calm, continuing to step back a few more steps, then stopped. He began to tidy up his clothes, which were torn into strips, seemingly forgetting the sharp claws and fangs rapidly approaching him.

The surveillance operator was speechless at this scene, turning to look at the director. The look in his eyes was clear: this guy is too cocky, can he really do it?

Chen Hansheng remained silent with a stern face. He didn't understand why this kid could be so calm, making him want to beat him. If he were the tiger, he would have ripped him apart and torn him to shreds.

In fact, the tiger was doing just that. It had been thoroughly enraged by Sun Ran's disregard, its eyes red like lanterns.

It was a dominant force in the forest, and this prey's reaction was a huge embarrassment to it.

The answer was soon revealed.

Half a second later, the tiger pounced at the spot where Sun Ran had been lying. At the same moment, a crisp 'snap' sounded from the ground, like the shattering of a glass bottle. A flash of white light appeared, and a large amount of misty cold air burst out. Immediately, seven or eight ice spikes, as thick as arms, exploded from the ground at lightning speed, forming a blooming ice flower.

Level 1 spell: Frost Rune!

The tiger was an ordinary creature, its body stronger than Sun Ran's, but fundamentally, they were both mortal beings.

The virtual world and the real world were hard to distinguish in appearance, but they were not the same. Here, everything had a permission level, and higher levels had an overwhelming advantage over lower levels, which could only avoid and not confront directly.

Mortal beings meant a data structure of level 0.

When the tiger's level 0 data structure met the level 1 Frost Rune spell, the result was obvious: the level 0 was completely destroyed.

The tiger was unprepared. In its limited life, it had never seen a spell. Its abdomen, the softest and least defended part of its body, was pierced by the ice spikes, which easily penetrated its body, blood gushing out like an open faucet. Halfway through the bleeding, the cold air froze the blood into ice flowers.

This was not all. The cold air quickly climbed up the ice spikes, invading the tiger's body, freezing its screams in its throat.

A moment later, this fierce beast became a harmless ice sculpture.

Sun Ran didn't even look up, still tidying his clothes. After finishing, he picked up the hunting knife and bow from the ground, put them on his back, and turned to leave.

Throughout the entire process, he never glanced at the tiger, as if everything was within his expectations.

After watching, Chen Hansheng nodded and said, "He used the Frost Rune, so he should be from the Mage Guild. Check his background."

The Frost Rune was only a level 1 spell, far from advanced. Any peripheral member of the Mage Guild could use it, but this person's use was so smooth. Most importantly, his combat psychology was qualified.

Sun Ran had reported real information, so his background was easy to check.

After a while, the investigator reported to Chen Hansheng, "His name is Sun Ran, from District 55, a new member of the Black Iron Order's Thorn Rose team. He has purchased spells from the Mage Guild."

"Which spells?"

"Two. Level 1 spell: Frost Rune. Level 0 spell: Ice Spike."

The central AI was quick to clean up, second to none in this aspect. No one in the entire Solar Federation would dare to claim first place.

With a name and a clear background, and legal means, Chen Hansheng was very satisfied and nodded, "Very good, he is accepted."

At this time, the tests in other areas were also nearing the end. Nearly 400 junior maintainers were almost all eliminated.

Two more outstanding maintainers were discovered.

One was a muscular man, as strong as a bull, who possessed the body of a warrior who had fallen in battle, hit his head on his own sword hilt, and fainted.

As soon as the muscular man woke up, a knight charged at him. He reacted quickly, immediately rolling to the side, grabbing the sword on the ground, and slashing the horse's leg. Then he quickly beheaded the knight on the horse. His actions were clean and efficient, clearly well-trained.

He followed the warrior path, with excellent combat skills. After checking, it was confirmed that he was from the Warrior Guild and had a wolf transformation spell purchased from the Werewolf Brotherhood, which was quite good. He was naturally accepted.

The last qualified maintainer was a woman. Her possession was tragic, a female player who had fallen into the hands of bandits, feared being raped, and tried to commit suicide but failed, fainting from fear.

This maintainer had also purchased spells from the Mage Guild. She used a level 1 illusion spell to create an identical illusion of herself, and a level 0 invisibility spell to make herself invisible. She quietly left the bandit's lair and even stole the gold coins the bandit leader had accumulated.

The entire process was smooth and easy.

Illusionists had strong auxiliary abilities and could play a significant role in critical moments. She was naturally selected.

Other maintainers, although some survived, did not have outstanding performances and were eliminated by Chen Hansheng.

Among the 400 junior maintainers, almost everyone had purchased external aids, but buying them was one thing; they had to know how to use them and use them well!

Being a maintainer was not easy.

In this round of tests, only three people stood out and became hero guards.

Chen Hansheng issued the order, "Distribute the specific tasks, and have them quickly join the hero. Also, contact Charlie and tell him the followers will arrive soon."

"Yes, Director." The staff skillfully locked onto the coordinates of the three and began sending data.

In the forest, Sun Ran, who was moving forward, felt a slight tremor in his mind, and some information appeared in his head.

The hero's name was Charlie, who had entered the Dragon World earlier than the junior maintainers and had been there for half a year.

Currently, he had earned a baron title under the Lord of White Cloud City. The task for the junior maintainers was to immediately go to White Cloud City, join Charlie, become his followers, and follow his commands.

Along with the information, Charlie's image and a detailed map of the Dragon World were also sent.

The Dragon World was a small world, with a radius of only about 1,000 kilometers. The borders were either unscalable mountains, endless seas, or dangerous black forests.

There were fierce beasts in the mountains and giant creatures in the sea, all of which hindered the exploration of ordinary players.

"Damn." Sun Ran, who was looking at the map, suddenly cursed.

This Shu尔 virtual company was still too inexperienced, using data links to contact maintainers directly.

This data link was indeed quite secure, able to prevent most attackers, but this time, there was an expert among the attackers.

When the data link was established, there was a slight, almost imperceptible vibration, a sign of being monitored.

To be able to monitor a data link of this security level, the attacker's skill was at least on par with the Bronze Maintainer Charlie.

Sun Ran was certain that the attackers had obtained a lot of information about the maintainers, at least their exact locations, as locating through a data link was the simplest thing.

Since the incident had already happened, the only thing to do was to try to mitigate the damage.

As soon as he received the information, Sun Ran decisively cut off the data link with the game company, quickly moved several kilometers away from the original location, and found a clearing in the forest to write large letters on the ground with the Ice Spike spell.

He had to warn the big boss of Shu尔 not to use the data link to harm people.

Now, the hero Charlie was definitely under close attention by the attackers. If he were to be killed, not only would it be a laughingstock, but the maintenance mission would be delayed, losing many advantages.

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**Note:** The name "Shu尔" in the original text is a transliteration and does not have a direct English equivalent. It has been left as is in the translation.