Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 168: The Dormant, the Activated, and the Enhanced Fog Wrather Core

"The cores... Damn! I totally forgot about them!!"

Far from the base, John was on the verge of crossing the river at the new underwater bridge he had found. He had been so preoccupied with what happened to the old den and the nightmare of the doubling waves that he had completely overlooked the simple yet crucial point of cores.

He came to a dead stop, his boots skidding on the slick, submerged stones, when he noticed the dramatic shift in his friends’ performance.

He slapped his forehead when he realised what had happened. It was a massive oversight, yet it was a very grave mistake on his side.

His only excuse was that he didn’t have time to dig for the cores, and was pretty much occupied by the successive threats that kept coming at his path. He turned around, his mind racing to locate the closest place to harvest those cores from his current spot.

He knew the closest source of the Fog Wrather cores wasn’t at the base, but the trail of carnage he had left behind at the primary sound traps he had set in the fog earlier.

"Delaying a few more hours is better than missing this chance," he muttered to himself. He didn’t hesitate much longer. He pivoted on his heel and ran with newfound excitement back toward the fog-shrouded killing spot.

After the long detour he had taken to reach the underwater bridge, he was only about thirty minutes away from the location where his first gathering of towers had slaughtered hundreds of Fog Wrathers.

As he ran, he kept his map open, watching in awe as Ricky, Cissel, Elena, and Luke underwent a ground-shaking transformation. They were no longer just holding the line; they were fighting with brutality and strength that made the elite Bulltors look like amateurs.

Coupled with the suddenly unsealed and enhanced double abilities of Cissel and Ricky, the battlefield around the base walls had turned into a literal one-sided massacre.

"Now, let’s see what these cores are really all about..."

John finally arrived at the first trap site. The kill zone was filled with lots of Fog Wrathers severed and burnt body pieces, covering a huge area around. He didn’t waste a second. He leaned over the nearest massive, skinless remains of a Fog Wrather and plunged his hand into the chest cavity, digging out a large, deeply red core.

The moment his fingers closed around the pulsating stone and pulled it free, a cascade of events triggered in rapid succession!

The first was a literal rain of system notifications that flooded his vision.

[Ding! You have acquired 1x Dormant Fog Wrather Core!]

[Dormant Fog Wrather Core: Normal Grade]

[Description: An inert essence harvested from a Fog Wrather. While dormant, it holds little power. Upon ingestion, it provides 1 random Stat point or 1 Mental Point cap to the user (Maximum: 400 Dormant Fog Wrather Cores). Can be used to absorb the Fog, recharging it into an Active Fog Wrather Core, with a bonus if it’s done during the ongoing Black Sky phenomenon.]

Just as he was reading through the initial descriptions, the core in his hand began to react to the environment. It suddenly shone with a brilliant, aggressive light, shifting from its deep crimson hue into a vibrant, pale purple.

The thick, suffocating fog for tens of meters around him was violently pushed away, as if an invisible shockwave erupted from the core. Another series of notifications popped up, overlapping the previous ones.

[Active Fog Wrather Core: Normal Grade]

[Usage 1: Can be used to generate energy (Requires two Active Fog Wrather Cores).]

[Usage 2: Can be ingested to add 1 point to all Stats or 10 Mental Point cap to the user (Maximum: 400 Active Fog Wrather Cores).]

[Usage 3: Can be fed to weapons and gear to add 1 point to all Stats or a random bonus effect (Success chance of adding bonus effect is medium – Maximum: 40 Active Fog Wrather Cores)]

[Bonus effect: If it got activated during an ongoing Black Sky phenomenon, then the core ingestion will have enhanced effects!]

[Enhanced Usage 1: Can be used to generate huge lightning energy (Requires two Active Fog Wrather Cores – Will form a bomb that will explode after 30 seconds).]

[Enhanced Usage 2: Can be ingested to add 1 point to all Stats + 10 Mental Point cap to the user (Maximum: 400 Active Fog Wrather Cores).]

[Enhanced Usage 3: Can be fed to weapons and gear to add 1 point to all Stats + a random bonus effect (Success chance of adding bonus effect is medium – If the bonus effect failed, it’ll double the stat points added – Higher chance to increase the existing special effect by 1 – Maximum: 40 Active Fog Wrather Cores)]

John’s vision was momentarily blinded by the sheer number of successive notifications, but his brain processed the enhanced sections with lightning speed.

However, his excitement was short-lived. The moment he had extracted the core, and it pushed the fog away, the world around him had changed. He hadn’t realised that by clearing the fog, the core acted like a beacon. A soft, high-pitched whistle cut through the air, followed immediately by an immense, crushing sense of threat that prickled the back of his neck.

Every survival instinct John possessed screamed at once. He didn’t stop a single moment to think; he dropped the glowing purple core and leapt away with every ounce of his strength.

Then the world rumbled!

*Rumble!*

In front of his eyes, a thick tongue of lightning had just landed out of nowhere, slamming down and bathing the area where he was standing just a heartbeat ago in a blinding glare! Luckily, he had trusted his gut and acted based on his instincts, or else he’d have been roasted and died right on the spot!

"This core... It’s super dangerous!!" John panted heavily, his lungs burning as he watched the lightning continue to hit fiercely against the faint purple core. It struck dozens of times in a rapid-fire staccato of energy! It felt like there was an old death feud between the black clouds and the activated core.