Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 16: The Night Guard!

[Mental Points (MP): 21/36]

’It’s a relief Cissel didn’t cut off my Mental Points cap,’ John thought, while enjoying the refreshing evening air. ’Wait... Could she actually do that one day if she evolved enough? Damn. That girl is a terrifying Mental Points Vampire.’

John read through his status window, double-checking his Mental Points as he made his way toward the start of his night guard shift. He had managed to squeeze in seven hours of deep sleep, successfully recharging his Mental Points to a decent level. He felt ready—or at least as ready as he could be—to tackle the hacking task planned for the night.

As he traversed the walkway overlooking the central garden, a movement below caught his eye. Someone was standing at the base of the staircase leading to the dormitory building.

"Is that the teacher?"

John froze. His heart did a quick skip before he forced himself to descend the stairs to meet the man. He racked his brain for a reason why the teacher would be lurking there, waiting for him in the shadows. If this was some sort of setup to offer him a way out of his punishment, John had already decided his answer: he would strictly refuse.

"I knew you’d spot me," the teacher said, nodding with a glimpse of satisfaction as John approached. "Good. Tomorrow, you have an official leave from your classes. Consider it a little reward for your task tonight."

The teacher reached into his coat and extended a folded, oversized document. "Also, I wanted to give you this."

John was startled, and even hesitated at first. He had a very bad history with folded documents. Yet he took the gift eventually when he recognised what it was. The paper felt heavy and crisp in his hands. It was simply a map.

"I was just about to start my rounds," John said, his eyes darting around the area. The night was bleeding into a deeper black ink, but the garden was far from empty. Several students and a few lingering teachers were still drifting through the greenery. "Is this garden also on my checklist for the night?"

"The garden?" The teacher didn’t even turn his head to look at the sprawling flora. He simply offered a thin, enigmatic smile. "No. That falls under someone else’s duties."

John felt a prickle of unease. He couldn’t quite put his finger on why, but that casual dismissal felt wrong. It was too rehearsed. The way the teacher spoke didn’t sound like a man giving a simple answer; it sounded like a man covering up something.

’A man like him doesn’t get surprised easily, John thought, tightening his grip on the map. There’s a reason he’s keeping me out of the garden.’

"Take care, kid," the teacher said.

Originally, the man had planned to shadow John for the first few hours, acting as a guide to familiarise him with the nuances of the night guard mission. Now, he seemed to have changed his mind. He pulled an old-fashioned hat low over his brow and walked away into the distant darkness, without a single backward glance.

’I don’t know what’s going on yet,’ John thought, watching the teacher’s silhouette fade. ’But one day, I will’. He paused, suddenly pointing a sharp finger at the empty air in front of him, addressing the invisible interface of his system. ’And don’t even think about it! I haven’t even finished the first quest yet! Don’t you dare add more to my plate.’

Turning back to his original objective, John made his way to the third floor. From there, he took a direct path toward the administrative building, walking with a purposeful, unwavering stride. However, the moment he crossed the threshold and activated his [Frame Recognition] ability, the world transformed.

’Oh? Now, what do we have here?’

He forced his expression to remain neutral, fighting the urge to look down at the map in his hands. In his vision, the map was no longer just normal green codes; it was glowing. Within the normal lines of code, he could see a dense, intricate cluster of code, shining brighter than anything else around.

It was the unmistakable signature of a monitoring device. Before he could even process the reason behind it, the system’s voice chimed in his mind.

[Ding! Caution! A monitoring device has been detected!]

[Initial Analysis: The device tracks your real-time coordinates and reports them to a remote secondary location.]

[Attempt to Hack: System synchronisation level is too low for Spoofing it.]

[Warning! Do not attempt to tamper with or touch the device, or you will face serious repercussions!]

’A GPS tracker?’ John’s mind raced, though he kept his face a mask of calm. He maintained his steady pace, refusing to let his eyes linger on the map. ’He’s tracking my location, I need to change the plan. Immediately.’

He opened the map, pretending to study it for directions. It was incredibly detailed. It labelled every room, every class, and every office by name and purpose.

His initial plan had been simple: use the map to locate the target office and begin the hack. That was why he had come straight to the administrative building, to start the search right away. But with a live tracker on his person, a direct line to his target would be a grave mistake.

’I’ll play the part of the diligent guard first,’ John decided. ’I’ll make him think I’m just performing a fast patrol to start the night with.’

He knew how the teacher’s mind worked—the man would be looking for deviations in his route. To counter this, John stayed on the move. He transitioned from building to building, walking at a fast pace. He didn’t take shortcuts; he didn’t linger in corners.

He completed a full circuit of the three main buildings in less than thirty minutes. Once he finished this "fake" tour, he returned to his starting point: The Administrative Building. He took a seat on a wooden bench, breathing slightly harder to sell the act.

’It’s still too early to make the real move,’ he thought.

He spread the map out on his lap, his eyes scanning the labels of the administrative wing. One name stopped him cold.

’Mrs. Tara, Student Affairs.’ A muffled grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. ’That’s the one.’

He checked the time. It was 11:00 P.M. Only one hour had passed since the start of his shift. The school was still too "alive" for the kind of work he needed to do.

"I won’t move yet," he whispered to himself.

He stood up and wandered toward a balcony that overlooked the garden. Below, the activity had died down by a notch, but a few stragglers—students returning late and teachers finishing prep work—were still visible.

’I’ll wait until the world goes silent, he mused. Besides, I’ll get one more Mental Point this way.’

For the next two hours, John remained a ghost in the halls. He patrolled the other two buildings with great care, peering into dark corners as if searching for a master thief. He was building a narrative of a bored, over-eager guard.

Finally, the clock neared 1:00 A.M.

"It’s time."

John was on a bench close to the Administrative building. With a normal-looking clumsiness, he set the map down and stood up, walking away as if he had simply forgotten it there in his haste to continue his rounds.

He had spent the last two hours memorizing every turn, every hallway, and where exactly Mrs Tara’s office was. He didn’t need the map anymore.

He took a final look at the garden. It was empty. Without a backward glance, he turned and headed straight toward his target.