Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 49: The Competition Day!

A week passed in a flash, and it was finally the competition day!

John had kept his daily routine fixed. During the day, he would train his body until his muscles screamed, watching the other students clash and learn from their mistakes.

Every two days, he would step into the ring alongside Cissel and Ricky to face the rest of the class. It wasn’t just training; it was a demonstration of the gap that existed between them and the rest, a preparation for the opponents they were going to fight in the competition.

As for the night, he would wander the shadows, a silent stalker looking for any sign of Ricky’s activities. Yet, during this entire period, Ricky hadn’t gone on a night adventure again.

John couldn’t tell if he had somehow learnt about the collapse of his Bug Dungeon, or if he had simply gathered enough resources for the time being and didn’t want to risk further fatigue.

Out of boredom, John had started developing a habit of hacking the academy library at night. The first and second floors fell to him relatively easily. However, the third floor—the restricted area for teachers—was a different story. It was protected by defensive measures so high for his current synchronisation.

He was met with a significant problem: the library was home to tons of books. Hacking a structure of knowledge meant sifting through a shitload of code lines—a number so vast he couldn’t even fathom it. 𝒻𝑟𝘦𝘦𝘸ℯ𝒷𝑛𝘰𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝘤𝘰𝘮

His search engine wasn’t as helpful as he had hoped; even filtering for "Unlocking Attributes" or "Special Abilities" resulted in a scrolling waterfall of code that would take lifetimes to read manually.

Not to mention the scary cost he paid to keep his hacking running and search engine working for hours!

John realised he was missing a critical piece of the puzzle: a digital storage ability. He needed something like his Inventory, but specifically designed for the code lines he extracted. Until then, he spent his nights randomly reading through the books’ code. It was tedious, but he had managed to learn a few valuable things.

The most valuable insight he gained concerned dual ability users. In the world of Athanasia, they were incredibly rare, especially among the young. The common path to unlocking a second ability usually involved consuming a great number of Miraculous Potions and praying that your body had the latent talent to host two powers simultaneously.

Manifesting two abilities at a young age was a mark of true nobility, limited only to the most powerful, ancient bloodlines in the world. This discovery left John even more curious about the true identities of Cissel and Ricky.

As for the competition team, John had finally settled on the roster. For the team squad matches, he had selected himself, Ricky, and Cissel. They were the undisputed heavy hitters. For the individual matches, he had picked two additional, Luke and Elena.

Elena had been a genuine surprise. She reminded him of Cissel in her sheer, blinding speed and astonishing reflexes. However, through his Frame Recognition ability, John could see that she hadn’t actually unlocked her attributes yet.

She was simply a result of brutal, elite training. Her family served as the frontline vanguard for a Paragon force, meaning she had been raised in the dirt and blood of hand-to-hand combat. Even Nikolas, who rarely handed out compliments, praised her fighting style from time to time.

Regarding his quest, John continued playing the right strings with his two volatile teammates. Ricky was easy to manage once you understood his ego; he loved being shown respect and having his face upheld in front of others.

Cissel was more subtle, but she responded well when John supported her opinions, showing her that he actually listened and valued her words over his own ego.

[Quest Progress: Gain Friendly Familiarity with either Cissel or Ricky:

Current Status: Slightly Offensive]

After one week of meticulously planned interactions, the status had moved from "Hostile" to "Slightly Offensive." It was progress, but it wasn’t enough. Today was the deadline. He had to find a way to raise at least one of them to "Friendly" to complete the quest and claim his reward after winning the competition.

He knew that small talk and agreements wouldn’t get him there. He needed a big event. Without a suitable chance, he was destined to fail the quest by sundown.

"I don’t know what to do to make them like me, but I’ll wait for a window," he whispered, a helpless sigh escaping his lips. He shrugged, then looked out at the grand arena stretching before him.

To his surprise, in the last two days, the department had constructed a vast arena just next to the garden. It had been erected like a massive tent, with sprawling rows of seats and a central stage that was reinforced to sustain the brutal battles. When he looked at the arena now, John was genuinely taken aback by the large number of people attending this competition!

It was far from a quiet, internal affair. It looked like a well-known event for the academy! He even saw dozens of adults who didn’t look like teachers or faculty members at all—wealthy sponsors, scouts from mercenary guilds, and representatives from the Paragon forces.

"What’s wrong with you?"

As he walked towards the designated spot for his team’s tent, he was surprised to see the pale, ghost-white face of Luke. The boy wasn’t wearing his typical excited expression; if anything, he looked physically ill.

"I... I need to go to the bathroom at once," Luke stammered, looking as if he was about to puke on his own boots. "Don’t give me the first match, John. I can’t... I need to go, now!"

He didn’t even wait to finish his sentence. Luke slapped a palm over his mouth and ran outside like a cat with its tail tucked between its legs.

"Tsk!" Watching this made John shake his head in silent disappointment. ’It seems it was the best decision to delay giving him the potion until after the competition,’ he thought. If Luke couldn’t handle the pre-match jitters, he was destined to lose no matter what.

Moments after Luke vanished into the crowd, the rest of the team arrived. Cissel acted exactly like herself, claiming the farthest corner of the tent. She crossed her arms over her chest, leaning against a support pillar and watching in vigilance and disdain. As for Ricky, he was still feeling a little disgruntled after John’s decision yesterday.

Ricky had tried to pressure John into adding one of his henchmen—Bernard or Alfred—to the team, a move John had flatly refused. John had witnessed Luke dismantle all four members of Ricky’s gang during the past few days’ sparring sessions. Even with his nerves, Luke was objectively the better fighter.

Luckily, this refusal hadn’t worsened his Familiarity with Ricky yet, but John knew he had exhausted his good luck with the dude. He would have to be extra careful with him from now on; one more slight and the bridge would burn.

"Ten minutes to the first battle!" someone shouted from outside the tent flap, the voice amplified by a megaphone.