Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 63: Checking His Source Code World Trial Profile

*Clang!* *Clang!* *Clang!*

"The sound of swords clashing against each other!!" Elena’s voice landed with a sharp edge of panic. "It’s the monsters! They are coming!"

"Hurry, tell us! Any information that a member of your family said about these monsters?" Ricky turned to Elena, shouting in urgency. His voice acted like a splash of cold water, waking her from her momentary shock and fear.

"No, he said nothing," she shook her head, her eyes darting toward the impenetrable wall of black fog.

John took charge at this moment. He knew these monsters were Fog Seekers, and they would keep attacking them relentlessly for the next twenty-four hours. He knew that they didn’t have any time to waste on asking about anything. "It’s pointless now. Let’s get ready for a brutal fight... What the hell? Where did all these come from?!"

He said it just as he spotted something unbelievable. In front of him, Ricky, Cissel, and Elena reached for various ornaments—rings, necklaces, and bracelets—and weapons and gear materialised out of thin air!

Ricky now gripped an oval shield that covered half of his body, standing like a bulwark, while holding a short sword in his other hand. Cissel’s hands blurred as she drew a pair of wicked-looking daggers, her torso now protected by a sturdy-looking set of dark body armour.

As for Elena, she stood braced with a pair of small sledgehammers, wearing an elegant armour set that stopped just above her belly, designed for maximum mobility and elegant style.

"Don’t look this surprised," Luke sighed, stepping up to stand by John’s side. He looked at their teammates with a mixture of longing and bitterness. "I truly envy rich families! They all have storage devices packed with pricey weapons and armours."

"How about you?" John raised an eyebrow, his eyes never leaving the perimeter of their small area, acting as if a deadly threat were poised to strike at any moment.

"I... my father took everything I had in my storage device..." Luke’s voice dropped along with his head. The memory of the tense, humiliating meeting with his father after his embarrassing loss in the competition clearly still stung.

"What special ability did you unlock, by the way?" John asked casually. While his mouth moved, his mind was racing through his new profile, checking the terrifyingly low stats and Mental Point.

"I unlocked my Strength attribute." Luke’s face, tone, and attitude shifted instantly. A spark of pride returned to his eyes. "I wanted to show it to you, but... You know, we ended up coming here..."

"Okay, then this will suit you better," John recalled how the others had touched their ornaments. He mimicked the gesture, touching his wrist. The next second, he pulled a massive, heavy wooden club out of thin air. "Take it!"

"This..."

Seeing that even John—the commoner from a nameless family—possessed a storage device and a spare weapon made Luke feel a brief moment of inadequacy. But the moment his fingers wrapped around the grip of the club, he felt the sheer weight and balance of it. He didn’t just like it; he fell in love with it. It was a weapon that demanded the very strength he had just unlocked.

At the same time, this slight action from John drew the silent attention of Ricky and Cissel for a brief moment. They were clearly re-evaluating John since they stepped into this foggy world. Before anyone could comment, a faint, gravelly roar erupted from the world around them, vibrating through the ground.

"Get ready!" Ricky shouted, bracing his shield. "That roar is close by! It means the monsters are about to attack!"

John didn’t mind what Ricky said; he shifted his attention fully back to his profile.

’Tsk! It’s going to be a bit tricky this time...’ he inwardly sighed.

[The Hacker System: V.0.99

User: John Mirage (ID: Unit-774)

Type: Half human – Half machine - Anomaly

Age: 17 Years

Status: UNAUTHORIZED (Hidden via Spoofing) – Undergoing Evolution Trial

Connection: Local Neural Link (Air-Gapped from Mainnet)

Security Status: Stable

Detection Risk: Low (5%)

Primary stats:

INT: 7.3

HP: 6.4

Strength: 6.2

Defense: 6.6

Speed: 6.9

Secondary Stats (Athanasia Stats – Sealed!):

INT: 73

HP: 64

Strength: 62

Defense: 66

Speed: 69

[Redacted]

Resource Monitor:

Mental Point (MP): 53.2/53.2

Coding Weapons Proficiency : 19

Coding Potions Proficiency : 10

Titles:

Fresh Year class president 𝘧𝓇𝑒𝑒𝑤ℯ𝑏𝓃𝘰𝑣ℯ𝘭.𝘤ℴ𝘮

[Redacted]

[Redacted]

[Redacted]

[Redacted]

[Redacted

Abilities:

Passive:

Hacker Mind

Spoofing Ability

MP Enforcement Ability

HP Regeneration Ability

Active:

Shell ability

Frame Recognition ability

Object Lockdown ability

Wireframe Sight ability

MP Absorption ability

Code Destruction Ability

Encrypted Skin Ability

Speed Lock ability

Logic Bomb

Synchronization:

System synchronization: 10 %

Cyborg Synchronisation: 1%

[Redacted]

Security Deadlines:

Athanasia System Checkup Deadline: Unknown!

Cyborg Checkup Date: 60 days!

[Redacted]

]

The first thing John noticed at his interface was the duality of his stats. His stats now displayed two distinct versions: the original locked stats he had painstakingly built in the game world, and a new set of active stats that was a mere 10% of what he initially possessed!

’Even my abilities’ requirements and consumption got decreased to 10%,’ he inwardly sighed, trying to find a silver lining. Luckily, the fundamental effects and durations of his skills hadn’t changed. However, because his base stats had decreased so dramatically, the actual effect and impact of his battle abilities were severely crippled.

’Even my sword’s stats got decreased as well...’ He reached into his Inventory and pulled out his blade, but his heart sank. The weapon’s stats were way lower than before, its damage output slashed to 10% as well. ’It seems nothing escaped the transition. Even the gear in my Inventory is being affected by the Source Code World’s limitations!’

Watching him take out not just one weapon for Luke, but a second one for himself, startled the others. But for the upcoming deadly fight, it was a much-needed boost. Luke held the heavy club as if it were a new toy, waving it with deceptive ease to the left and right.

"Bring it on, bastards! Let’s get rid of these things and find a way back home!" Luke’s shout crystallised the fragmented thoughts in everyone’s minds.

The atmosphere shifted instantly; the fear in their eyes was replaced by a unified determination. They all shared the same desperate goal: they would crush whatever emerged from the fog, find the exit, and reclaim their lives in Athanasia.

’Even if my Mental Points got reduced, with the abilities’ consumption reduced as well, then it doesn’t matter...’ John ignored the chatter and focused on his internal math. He checked his abilities and made some quick calculations. ’It seems the base consumption for my skills is now 1 Mental Point, which isn’t bad, yet...’

He realised he needed to know the most important factor for a long-term trial: The Mental Points recovery rate. He posed the question to the system.

[Ding! You cannot regenerate Mental Points at all!] The notification gave John a momentary heart attack, his pulse spiking in his chest. But before he could spiral into panic, the system added:

[Ding! Yet you can still absorb Mental Points using one of your abilities!]

[Ding! 1 Mental Point is deducted for this inquiry!]

’Tsk! Now I need to be more careful with my Mental Points,’ John inwardly felt the literal pain of paying that single point. Only a few hours ago, he wouldn’t have minded paying tens of points for the use of many abilities in succession. Now, every single point felt like a drop of his own blood.

*Roar!* *Roar!* *Roar!*

The pondering was cut short as a series of low, guttural growls echoed from different directions.

"They are coming from all around us!" Luke shouted, his voice betraying more fear than his earlier bravado. The darkness of the fog seemed to press inward, the black fog swirling as if disturbed by large bodies moving within it.

"We need to rearrange ourselves," John said, his voice cutting through the rising panic. As the monsters closed in for the attack, he shifted his eyes around, trying to spot anything, but failed. "Cissel and Elena, you two are the fastest. Stay in the centre."

John stepped forward, pointing his sword at the perimeter and barking out orders with the authority of a field commander. "Luke and Ricky, you are our strongest. You two take the front and back. Make sure to hit the monsters hard—wound them, but don’t exhaust yourselves aiming for a kill immediately. Leave this task to the ladies."

"What about you?" Luke asked, his grip tightening on the wooden club as he watched John continue to walk toward the edge of the light, straight into the path of the incoming growls.

"I’ll delay their initial charge and toy with them a little," John replied. He paused just a few metres away from the boundary where their limited piece of land met the black fog. He inwardly muttered the command for his most basic battle ability: ’Frame Recognition!’

Then the world changed in a way he had never seen before.