Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 21: I Challenge You, Ricky!

Through the lens of his Frame Recognition ability, the world of the sparring arena dissolved into a chaotic sea of code lines. John’s pupils dilated as he locked onto Ricky’s silhouette.

The number of special codes within Ricky’s body hadn’t just grown—they had tripled.

During their last encounter, John had counted fewer than five of these distinct, high-intensity codes. Now, he could clearly identify more than thirteen. They pulsed with a rhythmic, aggressive frequency that made the air around the boy seem to ripple with power.

And that wasn’t the most disturbing part.

’I remember the white light emitting from them was way dimmer last week,’ John thought, squinting against the digital glare. ’It’s like he’s undergone months of evolution in a single week. How is that possible?’

For a moment, John’s confidence wavered. He had spent the last seven days pushing himself into the agonising depths of the Burnout State just to scrape together a few dozen extra Mental Points.

He had assumed he was the only one with a golden spoon—the only one with a system that allowed for rapid, unnatural growth. Looking at Ricky now, he realised he might have been dangerously arrogant, greatly mistaken.

He grew more curious than ever to decipher the mysteries behind Ricky’s surge of power. He noticed at least three specific codes that moved independently from the rest. Before, there had only been one.

’I’m growing itchy to see what you’re hiding from me,’ John thought, his gaze fixed on the centre of the ring.

The fight between Ricky and Luke unfolded exactly as John had predicted, but the efficiency of it was terrifying. Luke had charged in with everything he had. Ricky hadn’t even looked worried. In less than three blows, the fight was over. It happened so fast that John could barely keep up, let alone extract any data on Ricky’s powers.

However, when the dust settled, the sight was far more gruesome than the speed of the fight suggested. Luke didn’t just look defeated; he looked like he had been put through a meat grinder. His body was a tapestry of jagged lacerations and deep, purple bruising. In his special vision, John could see Luke’s structural codes shattered in multiple places, flickering like a failing lightbulb.

Luke wasn’t just a bloody mess; he looked as though he had fought a master swordsman with nothing but his bare fists.

He was on the verge of slipping into unconsciousness, his eyes rolling back in his head. A few students rushed forward, their faces pale with shock, and carefully hoisted Luke onto a floated stretcher to whisk him away to the infirmary. 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Before the darkness claimed him, Luke’s eyes met John’s for a fleeting second. In that gaze, John saw a silent, desperate plea for retribution.

"Anyone else?" Nikolas asked.

The teacher had stood by and watched the entire one-sided slaughter without moving a muscle. To the other students, it might have looked like negligence.

For a seasoned master like Nikolas, a Class President needed to be more than talented; they needed to be forged of iron—perhaps even with a streak of cruelty. He had deliberately delayed his intervention to let the useless students feel the cold weight of fear.

As Nikolas’s voice rang out, clear and challenging, a series of urgent windows exploded into John’s field of vision.

[Ding! You grow curious about Ricky’s true powers. You know he is hiding something!]

[Ding! You triggered the second part of the Serialised Quest!]

[Ding! Dig Deeper Quest!]

[Ding! You know little about Ricky’s true powers. Use any possible means to know more about his powers!]

[Quest time limit: 1 hour!]

[Ding! Rewards will be assessed through your performance!]

’One hour?’ John’s jaw tightened. ’Why don’t you just rename it to ’Go and Challenge Ricky for the Class President Seat’ Quest?’

He fought back a surge of adrenaline, trying to keep his heart rate steady. He had wanted to test himself against Ricky for a long time. But doing it over the competition for the Class President seat looked more like a setup by the system for him. Yet, the itch of curiosity—and the heat of the system’s Quest—was too strong to ignore.

"Anyone?" Nikolas repeated, his eyes drifting specifically toward two students in the crowd.

As a master of combat, Nikolas could sniff out the anomalies; he could sniff the specials. He knew three students in this room had truly unlocked their potential. One was already standing in the ring, bathed in the glow of a fresh victory. It would be a wasted afternoon if not for at least one of the other two to step forward to challenge the status quo.

At the third call, John finally made his move.

"I’ll fight him," John said, raising his hand. He stepped out from the crowd, his movements calm and deliberate. "He went too far with my friend. It’s only natural that I step up and teach him a lesson. I challenge you, Ricky."

It was a convenient excuse—a friend’s revenge—and it served its purpose. In reality, he didn’t need a reason. Nikolas was practically vibrating with the desire to see this matchup, and Ricky’s eyes narrowed with a predatory interest. Ricky had been wondering what made John special since the first competition; now, he was going to find out.

On the far side of the arena, Cissel perked up. The moment John stepped into the light, she seemed to wake from a trance, her focus snapping to the centre of the hall with a sudden, sharp intensity. Like the rest of the class, she held her breath, waiting for the collision.

"The zero-score student against the top-tier prodigy? Give me a break!" Bernard barked from the sidelines, unable to contain his derision. "Can’t we just skip the formalities and hand Ricky the badge? This is going to be a slaughter."

"Silence!" Nikolas’s glare was a scary force, effectively gagging Bernard and anyone else brave enough to speak. He turned to the two combatants. "Get ready. The same rules apply. You may begin whenever you are both prepared."

John took his stance opposite Ricky. The air between them felt thick, charged with the weight of two very different types of power. John didn’t blink.

He kept his Frame Recognition active, staring deep into the shimmering white core of Ricky’s body. He wasn’t looking at the boy’s fists or his eyes; he was looking at the code. He was waiting for the first flicker of movement.

"Show me," John whispered, his voice lost in the sudden silence of the arena. ’Show me what you really are.’