Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 48: Familiarity Level: Hostile – Cautious

For the next three hours, Nikolas kept pushing them relentlessly from one physical training circuit to another. John didn’t notice it at first, but he was showing an abnormal level of enthusiasm and dedication to the training—something he had severely lacked before!

Since last night’s harrowing experience, John had learnt firsthand the vital importance of having a strong and athletic body. Unconsciously, he was doing his best to train rigorously, performing every rep with a dedication that eventually attracted Nikolas’ attention. The teacher made a silent mental note of the boy’s sudden shift in attitude, totally mistaking the reasons behind it.

’Time to see if it’ll work or not,’ John decided.

As the physical session wound down, the group was given a half-hour break. John wiped the sweat from his forehead, his heart racing.

"What do you want?"

Just before he could reach Ricky, Alfred stepped up and blocked his path. The lackey puffed out his chest, glaring. "Can’t you see we are resting? Back off."

"First of all," John said, his voice cold. He didn’t feel the fatigue as much as the others, but the over-exertion of the body was starting to make his headache flare up again. "When you talk to me, you call me ’Boss’!"

He wasn’t in the mood to chit-chat with someone he had beaten once before when he was way weaker than he was now. He had no patience for Alfred’s posturing.

"What did you say..." Alfred started, his face turning a deep shade of red.

"Hey," just before Alfred could say anything rude or throw a punch, Ricky intercepted and stopped him with a sharp gesture. "What do you want from me?" Ricky asked, taking a single step that put him directly in front of John, shielding his impulsive man behind his own presence.

"We need to talk," John didn’t even bother to look again at Alfred, keeping his eyes locked on Ricky’s. "We need to discuss the sparring rules together. I want to hear your thoughts about it."

"Together?!" Ricky was surprised for a brief moment, his eyes widening slightly. Then, his face regained its cold, aristocratic facade. "Give me a minute to cool down, and I’ll follow you!"

[Ding! Your Familiarity has slightly increased with Ricky!]

[Ding! Ricky Familiarity level: Hostile – Cautious]

’Oh, it’s just like I thought,’ John paused for a moment when the notifications arrived, a sense of satisfaction bubbling up inside him. He continued walking normally toward the other side of the gym. ’Still hostile, but it seems this ’Cautious’ thing is a definite improvement. Now... To the next target.’

He turned his gaze toward Cissel, who was alone, sharpening her focus.

"Not interested!" Cissel shoved his suggestion aside with her usual coldness, her eyes fixed on the distant wall. She didn’t even bother to look at him, her posture radiating a "don’t waste my time" vibe.

Yet, John had spent enough time around her to know exactly which buttons to push. He used the ace he had prepared specifically for her competitive nature. "Fine, then I’ll just discuss this with Ricky, and together we’ll dictate how the sparring will go for everyone..."

"I’m interested!" Even before he could finish his sentence, Cissel’s head snapped toward him, her attitude shifting instantly. The thought of Rick’s involvement was enough to entice her and force her to join.

"Follow me then," John said, leading her toward a quiet corner of the hall. Then Ricky shortly followed. Watching the two made John satisfied, to some extent, with how he had lured both to his side.

Yet, unlike with Ricky, he didn’t get any notification at all about Cissel’s familiarity the moment she joined, making him feel even more at a loss about how to handle her complex personality.

"So it’s settled," John said once they had gathered and talked for enough time. He stepped back and let the two of them discuss the matter among themselves, watching the clash of their two distinct philosophies.

Ricky was aggressive. He wanted the three of them—the strongest in the class—to fight against the rest of the students on a daily basis. In his mind, being crushed by superior power would give the others the necessary experience to survive the higher-grade students in the competition. It was a sink-or-swim mentality.

Cissel, however, saw the flaw in that logic. She argued that such a lopsided power dynamic would utterly devastate their morale. She suggested that the normal students should fight against each other to build confidence, while the three of them fought among themselves to sharpen their own edges.

After watching the two debate for almost ten minutes, John’s headache flared up, pulsing behind his eyes. It forced him to interfere and bring the discussion to a close.

"I’ll take your suggestions and mix them," he said, his voice firm. He paused, looking directly at Ricky. "The students do need to fight against us, as we are the closest match they have to the strongest students in the upper class. Still..." 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

He then turned to Cissel, nodding in acknowledgement. "Your point hit the right mark. We need to seriously consider their morale if we want to train a strong team, not a team of broken losers. Fighting against us every single day will only lead to a constant series of losses, which won’t help their growth at all."

"Thanks," Cissel whispered.

Just when John was ready to detail his final plan, he was startled. Hearing that alien word come from her mouth was shocking enough, but then he noticed her fingers moving in a nervous, almost shy way as she ran them through her hair. It was a flicker of humanity he hadn’t seen before.

[Ding! Your Familiarity has slightly increased with Cissel!]

[Ding! Cissel Familiarity level: Hostile – Cautious]

’Oh, is that so?’ John couldn’t help but take a mental note of her sudden change in attitude before returning to the plan. "We’ll let them fight against each other on a daily basis.

Then, the three of us will fight them once every two days. On the last training day before the competition, we’ll give them the chance to pick which one of us they want to challenge. I’ll decide on the final competition roster based on the last round of battles. Like this..."

"We’ll train their mentality and also get them prepared for what’s coming in the competition," Ricky finished the thought, nodding in genuine agreement. Cissel, meanwhile, returned to her usual cold self, simply nodding once without saying another word.

John informed Nikolas about the routine they had decided on. The teacher listened, a small, knowing smile on his face, and nodded in agreement. The first session ended with the three of them watching the other students fight amongst themselves.

As the class dismissed, John felt the weight of the day crashing down on him. He needed to return to his room and sleep, but his mind was already fast-forwarding to the night.

It was time to stalk Ricky and see what he would do when he found his precious dungeon gone, ’would he find another Bug Dungeon for me to crash later?’ John mused to himself, very excited for the night.