Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 18: The Quest Is Completed!

[Ding! Congratulations! You finished the serialised Quest – part 1 successfully!]

[Ding! Quest overall assessment: Exceptional!]

[Ding! You gained 2+ at all stats!]

[Ding! Your MP cap increased by 30 points!]

[Ding! You gained MP Absorption Ability!]

[Ding! You gained Wireframe Sight Ability!]

[Ding! You gained 5% increase in system sync!]

[Ding! Bonus Reward: You gained +1 MP regeneration to your current regeneration rate!]

John froze, standing motionless in the centre of the dimly lit corridor, the moment the notifications flared to life. A surge of adrenaline—the sweet, sharp high of completion—washed over him, yet it was immediately followed by a nagging sense of incompletion. He stared at the golden interface, his brow furrowed in confusion.

’I didn’t finish the mission, not the way I intended to,’ he thought, his mind racing to reconcile the data he’d gathered with the success screen. ’So why is the system handing out the rewards?’

He paused, leaning against the cold wall of Tara’s office as he weighed the possibilities. ’There are only two options. Either something in that hollow profile—some scrap of data I overlooked—holds immense value... Or the system has grown empathetic toward me. And I don’t buy that the system has a kind heart.’

Shaking off the stillness, John decided to end his hacking adventure here and resume his patrol. He walked with the stride of a true night guard, his eyes scanning the corridors for trouble while his consciousness remained anchored in the quest completion dilemma. His thoughts circled back to the only anomaly in the sea of fabricated history.

’The only thing that looked truly alien was that word: PAREI.’ He mentally replayed every line of Ricky’s file, visualising the white text of the hack.

That one acronym felt like a hole in a smooth, polished lie. ’I don’t know what it means, and I have a feeling the system won’t explain it for me, but let’s play the game. Tell me, my digital genie... What does PAREI mean?’

[Ding! Your system synchronisation level is too low to access information regarding this query!]

[Ding! 1 Mental Point has been deducted for the inquiry!]

"Just as I expected," John muttered, a thin smile playing on his lips. He wasn’t disappointed in the least. In its own cryptic way, the system had provided the most valuable answer possible.

If it required a higher synchronisation level just to define the word, it meant that whatever PAREI was, it held more secrets, far more dangerous for his current system synchronisation level.

With that mystery filed away for future investigation, John felt the tension leave his shoulders. The nagging doubt that had clouded his "victory" vanished. ’Time to check the spoils.’

Per his habit, he started with the most vital metric: his Mental Points.

[Mental Point (MP): 41/66]

"Now that is what I’m talking about!"

He bit back the urge to let out a triumphant laugh that would surely echo through the vacant building. Having struggled for so long under the suffocating weight of a low MP pool, seeing his capacity jump so significantly felt like finally being able to breathe after being underwater. The sheer utility of sixty-six points opened doors that had previously been bolted shut.

’If I wanted to, I could go on a hacking spree right now,’ he mused, glancing at the office doors he passed. ’But I don’t have a quest to fulfil, and I’m not in the mood for aimless curiosity.’

He briefly considered turning his sights on Cissel’s file, but he quickly dismissed the idea. If Ricky’s data was a fabricated story, Cissel’s Academy file was likely just as sanitised. He had already learned more about her powers by trading blows with her than any paperwork could ever tell him.

He scrolled down to the system status.

[The Hacker System: V.0.7]

[System Synchronisation: 7%]

’Finally, some real movement on these parameters.’ John slowed his pace, eyeing the progress bar. ’Seven percent. Will I be able to hit Version 1.0 before next week? If I can land one or two more quests, the system should be ready for a full-scale upgrade.’

Then, his eyes landed on the final reward—the one that promised to change how he interacted with the physical world.

[New Ability: Wireframe Sight (Basic)]

[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.]

[Cost: 1 Mental Point per activation.]

[Duration: 10 Minutes.]

[Requirement: Intelligence (Int) = 12.]

’Wow,’ John breathed. ’This is a massive step up from Frame Recognition.’

Frame Recognition was like looking at a photo; this sounded like having the blueprints of reality itself. He looked down the long, dark corridor ahead of him, the shadows hiding a dozen potential pitfalls.

’Let’s see what you can really do. Wireframe Sight!’

John didn’t hesitate. He instantly activated the ability.

The world shifted like his [Frame Recognition] ability, yet the glaring differences became immediately apparent. If [Frame Recognition] was a magnifying glass, this was a high-powered radar.

The first and most vital difference was the sheer range of the green coding structure he could see clearly. While his previous ability struggled to maintain clarity over distance—and was practically useless when faced with thick walls or heavy structural foundations—[Wireframe Sight] pierced through the physical world with terrifying ease.

He could see the pulsing, glowing coding structure clearly for at least forty meters in every direction. At this moment, every locked office, every hidden crawlspace, and every structural secret within this wing of the building was at the mercy of his gaze. He felt like a god looking down at a blueprint.

’It has a big range,’ John noted, turning his head slowly to track the flow of code lines through a distant wall. ’But there’s a trade-off...’ He tried to look down at his own hands, but the closer he pulled his focus, the more the world began to blur.

When he attempted to inspect the code signatures within a few meters of his own body, his eyes strained painfully. It felt as though he were trying to look under his feet through a telescope designed for the stars.

’I see. One for distant targets and structural scouting, and the other for close-quarters direct combat. I like this duo!’ The glaring weakness of his [Frame Recognition]—the inability to see the bigger picture—had been perfectly countered. He now possessed a dual-layered tactical vision that covered all bases for him, for now.

’Now, that leaves us with the big baby,’ he thought, his excitement reaching a fever pitch.

He moved his attention to the second ability he had gained from the mission reward. A gut feeling told him the system had specifically tailored this one for him after his gruelling encounter with Cissel.

’Does this mean every time I clash with someone possessing special powers, the system will hack and copy their abilities for me?’

The thought sent a shiver of anticipation down his spine. His eyes gleamed with a fierce light.

For the first time, he found himself genuinely looking forward to a confrontation with Ricky—and perhaps, if he grew bold enough, even testing his luck against the teachers one day. He took a steadying breath, reining in his thrill, and opened the description for his final acquisition.

[MP Absorption Ability: Basic]

[Description: Actively absorbs Mental Power during combat, or extracts it from defeated or deceased foes, converting it into usable Mental Points for the user.]

[Cost: 1 Mental Point per activation.]

[Conditions: Requires physical contact with the target. The rate of absorption is directly proportional to the duration of the contact.]

[Duration: 1 Minute.]

[Requirements: Intelligence = 11, Strength = 9, Defense = 7.]

John’s breath hitched as he read the specs. At first glance, a one-minute limitation might look like a deal-breaker, but John knew better. In the heat of high-intensity combat—the kind of lightning-fast exchanges he’d had with Cissel and Alfred—one minute was more than enough.

’This is a counter-weapon, plain and simple,’ he realised. ’It’s the answer to Cissel’s unique brand of terror.’ He vividly recalled the chilling moment she had drained five of his Mental Points with a single touch.

That moment of helplessness had forced him to forfeit the fight early out of pure survival instinct. Now, the playing field was level. With this ability in his arsenal, he wouldn’t have to run. He could meet her touch with his own, exchanging blow for blow, suction for suction.

"Time to put this night guard shift to better use," John whispered.

He shifted his gaze toward the three main campus buildings. Using his new [Wireframe Sight], he began to move, systematically mapping the structure of these three buildings.