Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 178: Super John - Part 1

"Dammit! I’m not John anymore, I’m Super John!"

John stood motionless for several minutes, his eyes glazed over and his breath hitching as he stared at the profile interface hovering before him. He was dazed, his focus entirely consumed by the long list of upgraded abilities displayed in his profile.

When he had first started ingesting the activated yellow cores, he’d harboured certain expectations about the outcome, all of which were based on the visible transformations his friends had undergone.

He had expected a linear progression in some areas, perhaps a few abilities gaining a boost in duration, a slight increase in effect, or a cost reduction. But what he discovered after hitting the two hundred core threshold made his brain freeze and his body go numb. The qualitative leap was far beyond anything he expected; it was an evolution.

"Are you ok?!"

Seeing him stand motionless for minutes like a statue, only to suddenly burst out with such a strange exclamation, drove deep worry into his friends’ hearts rather than excitement. Cissel slowly approached him, her face speaking volumes about her concern. She looked as if she were approaching a ticking bomb that might go off at any moment.

"Ah, it’s... Nothing!" John scratched the back of his head, attempting to pull on the most normal, innocent mask he had ever donned. However, he was a terrible liar to those who knew him best, and his friends saw right through his front.

"Let’s leave him alone for a few minutes," Cissel suddenly said, her voice soft but commanding. She turned and moved away without even waiting for John to offer an excuse, giving the rest of the group a meaningful glance. Understanding her silent signal, Luke, Elena, and Ricky followed, then the Bulltors. Soon enough, the area was emptied, leaving John in solitary silence.

"It seems they know me way better than I thought," John cracked a wide smile, a mixture of guilt and appreciation warming his chest. He quickly turned his focus back to his profile and abilities. "I didn’t know these cores would perform this kind of magic! If the others knew the difference between the dormant and activated versions..."

He shook his head, focusing on the first ability that had undergone a radical enhancement: the Shell ability.

[Shell Ability: (Average – Active)]

[Description: Opens a coding window for John with an attached storage program with a capacity of 100 GB!]

[Consumes: 50 Mental Points per use.]

[Duration: 30 minutes (Increases with level).]

[Basic Requirement: Intelligence = 270.]

John’s eyes lingered on the most significant change: the grade. He had always assumed the basic grade next to all his abilities, except for the Hacker Mind, was a default state, one that’d need a grand quest to increase one by one. Now, he realised that these could be upgraded by special items, like the cores.

"Aside from the increased duration and cost, that storage program is a total game-changer for me," he whispered, his voice hissing with excitement. He recalled the agonising time spent rewriting his hacking programs every time he wanted to breach a new target.

Just the process of hacking the cannons had forced him to manually rewrite the same code lines of his hacking program thousands of times!

Even if he used a simple hacking program to do that, it still grew numb and boring after the first hundredth attempt!

"Still... Is this storage limited only to the programs I write, or can it hold anything I successfully hack?" He turned his head toward the thin air, addressing the system directly. 𝙛𝒓𝓮𝙚𝔀𝒆𝒃𝓷𝒐𝓿𝙚𝓵.𝙘𝒐𝒎

[Ding! 10 Mental Points have been deducted!]

[Ding! You can store anything you want as long as it can be represented and visualised at the coding interface of your ability!]

"Hey, hey! Why the sudden increase in your fee?!!" John was taken aback, his brow furrowing as he spotted the sharp increase in the system’s consultation cost.

[Ding! That’s because my ability to provide detailed answers to questions has been upgraded as well!]

The system’s snarky answer actually made logical sense, though John blinked twice in disbelief. He couldn’t help but feel like the system was simply using this opportunity to take a larger slice of his significantly increased Mental Point pie.

"Anyway, I’m in a great mood to let you bring me down," he shrugged, dismissively dropping the matter. His eyes gleamed with excitement as he scrolled to the next abilities. "It seems I’ll need to redo every single one of my battle plans and strategies from this moment forward!"

The next ability he checked was the one that had become his bread and butter since arriving in this world: Frame Recognition.

[Frame Recognition Ability: (Average – Active)]

[Description: Allows the user to see the world in grid frames and visualise trajectories. It’ll highlight the most effective evasive route of incoming attacks. It’ll highlight the weak spot in the enemies around!]

[Range: 100 metres!]

[Consumes: 5 Mental Points per activation.]

[Duration: 30 minutes (Increases with level).]

[Basic Requirement: Intelligence = 220.]

"I need to test it in a real battle to see how it works, but from now on, I won’t fear fighting against any opponent!"

John’s voice was a low growl of newfound confidence. His mind drifted immediately towards his primary objective: the Hivemind race. Despite his growth, he remained largely oblivious to the true extent of their strength or the speed at which they were evolving in their own territory of the pocket trial.

Previously, that uncertainty had been a source of constant caution that gave him a headache. But now, with his upgraded abilities, he felt a sense of reassurance that bordered on the invincible.

"Hmm, the Wireframe Sight will be far more useful while checking the map," he murmured, scrolling to the next ability that had undergone a metamorphosis. A wide smile stretched across his face as he read the updated parameters.

[Wireframe Sight (Average - Active)]

[Description: Allows the user to perceive the environment as a digital grid. Effectively exposes hidden enemies, identifies traps, and provides a structural analysis of buildings and complex layouts. It can now be applied over the map section, allowing the user to perceive hidden traps and enemies clearly while checking the map!]

[Range: 500 metres!]

[Cost: 5 Mental Points per activation.]

[Duration: 30 Minutes.]

[Requirement: Intelligence (Int) = 155]