Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 180: Super John - Part 3
John realised he had no clue about the grading system of his abilities. He tried to query the system, but it didn’t provide any useful answer, simply stating that he needed to keep growing and exploring to uncover the potential himself. It was the typical cryptic response he expected, but he was too high on his own power-up to care.
The biggest advantage was undoubtedly the ability to remotely place the bombs. Before the upgrade, he had to force himself into a dangerous, close-quarter type of fight just to plant a single bomb. It was high-risk, high-reward.
But now, he could easily throw his bombs anywhere, at any target, as long as they were within the scope of his Frame Recognition ability. He could effectively turn a whole battlefield into a minefield from a distance.
In addition to that, the shockwave secondary effect was a brilliant touch. Before the upgrade, it was just a limited, normal blow that dealt little damage to nearby enemies.
Now, each shockwave would cover a massive area, inflicting considerable damage on all targets inside it and, more importantly, clearing a space of one hundred metres around the bomb! It was the second AOE ability after the sword’s special effect, Lightning Dance.
"The duration got increased to five minutes, so I can plan a grand detonation attack properly. Of course, the additional effect of the Object Lockdown is just scary!"
He tried to calculate the total combined damage given by the remote and direct trigger now, and he couldn’t believe there would be any target in the current pocket trial that could withstand a single explosion of his enhanced ability.
"As for the scary 150 Mental Points cost, I have a solution for this!"
If he had read such a high cost before, he would have instantly ditched the idea of using this ability frequently, reserving it only as a last resort for life-or-death situations. Even with over four thousand Mental Points, he couldn’t use this ability more than fifteen or sixteen times before running dry, a very risky state to be in during a protracted war.
Yet, there was one ability that had been upgraded, which perfectly solved the crisis for him: the MP Absorption ability!
[MP Absorption Ability: (Average – Active)]
[Description: Actively sucks 50% of the Mental Points of a target during combat, or extracts it from defeated or deceased foes, converting it into usable Mental Points for the user.]
[Cost: 10 Mental Points per activation.]
[Conditions: Requires physical contact with the target that lasts for at least five seconds. Less duration will suck only 25% of the target’s Mental Points.]
[Duration: 5 Minutes.]
[Requirements: Intelligence = 145, Strength = 113, Defense = 123]
"I can absorb half any target’s Mental Points if I place my hand on him for just five seconds?!"
John stared at the description of the ability, his pulse quickening. He shifted his gaze toward the direction where his friends and the Bulltors had vanished into the distant fog.
While he still didn’t know the exact Mental Points values for each of them, he could feel the potential humming in the air. In a large-scale battle, the kind he had just witnessed against the monster tides or the inevitable upcoming clash against the Hivemind race, this ability would always recharge his Mental Points, compensating for the scary consumption of other abilities.
"I need to give it a try over the Wrathers to tell for sure," he muttered, a glint in his eyes. He knew that if his guess was correct, the staggering one hundred and fifty Mental Points cost ceased to be a hurdle. He could activate it whenever he liked, as many times as he wanted, so long as he had a steady supply of enemies to recharge from.
"But first I’ll need to try it and decide after," he said, forcing his excitement into a corner of his mind. He shifted his focus toward an ability he had practically ignored until now. In fact, he had never even placed it in his active roster before.
When he first acquired it, it seemed formidable, but the circumstances of his adventure had never forced him into a situation where he needed it. The only two targets he had once been truly wary of, and this ability was the perfect nemesis for them, had long since become his closest allies.
However, as he checked the upgrade this dormant ability had undergone, he realised it had leapt in utility. He immediately placed it right next to the Logic Bomb in his mental list of the most transformed abilities in his arsenal.
[Encrypted Skin Ability: (Average – Active)]
[Description: Covers the user’s body with a thin layer of special, encrypted coded skin that protects him from any attack and any special ability.]
[Cost: 50 Mental Points per activation.]
[Conditions: Requires DEF stat to be higher than the enemy’s.]
[Conditions: If STR stat is higher than the enemy’s, 50% backlash will be triggered!]
[Duration: 30 seconds.]
[Requirements: Intelligence = 300, Strength = 257, Defense = 285]
"This ability upgrade... It’s quite surprising!" John cracked a wide smile. With this ability active, he could walk through a dense gathering of enemies, ignoring their blades and attacks as if they were mere rain, without fearing a single thing. It had transitioned from the most useless ability to a cornerstone of his new combat strategy.
"I can’t imagine the look on their faces once they see me walking through tons of enemies without any care or worry," he laughed amusingly. He could already picture the stunned silence of the Bulltors and the dropped jaws of his friends. "Speaking of them, I believe this ability will be very helpful to augment their fighting powers, especially for Cissel and Elena!"
He moved his eyes to the next ability on the list, and he knew for a fact that Cissel and Elena would benefit from his presence more than ever before.
[Speed Lock Ability: (Average – Active)]
[Description: Covers an area of 500 metres radius around the user, affecting the Speed of himself and his allies by +100% and his enemies by -200%.]
[Cost: 50 Mental Points per activation.]
[Duration: 300 seconds.]
[Requirements: Intelligence = 355, Speed = 275]
The Speed Lock ability had been a minor utility before, offering a meagre twenty percent bonus. Now, it had evolved into a real game-changer. A one hundred percent increase for allies coupled with a two hundred percent decrease for enemies wasn’t just a buff; it was a death sentence for the opposition.
"In other words," John calculated rapidly, "this ability effectively augments our relative Speed by triple!" 𝑓𝑟𝑒𝘦𝓌𝑒𝑏𝑛𝑜𝘷𝑒𝘭.𝒸𝘰𝑚
He could hardly wait to see Cissel and Elena in action under the effect of this ability. They were already fast, moving like blurs on the battlefield, but with this, they would essentially become invisible to the naked eye of their foes.
The increased range, a five-hundred-meter radius, meant he could influence the entire front line without needing to stick directly to their shoulders. It gave him the tactical flexibility he had been sorely lacking.
Then, he reached the final ability, the one that had served as their ultimate "get out of jail free" card in the past: the Sandbox ability.
[Sandbox Ability: (Average – Active)]
[Description: Covers an area of 100 metres radius around the user, creating an illusion that is shaped according to the user’s will. It can cover an area of 50 metres radius at a distant point, not exceeding 1000 metres away, and create an illusion there. Maximum number of remote illusion zones: 5]
[Cost: 50 Mental Points per activation for the area around the user – 40 Mental Points per activation for the area away from the user.]
[Duration: 10 minutes for the area around the user – 5 minutes for the distant area.]
[Requirements: Intelligence = 350, Strength = 320.]
John knew that mastering this version of the ability would be easy. The increased area around himself was a massive boon; he could now cloak an entire forward operating base, hiding walls, towers and cannons from sight as he deployed them. He could infiltrate the Hivemind territory, lay down a seed of destruction, and vanish before they even realised he was there.
"Simply by using this ability, I can create enough chaos and damage to the Hivemind folks to break their spirit," he whispered. "But the scariest part is the remote usage..."
The ability to create five separate illusion zones up to a kilometre away was the ultimate tool for a strategist. He could create phantom armies to draw the enemy’s main force away, or mask a secondary flank, or even trick an enemy commander into walking into a kill zone of his own design.
John took a deep breath. He felt a sense of clarity he hadn’t experienced since entering this pocket trial. He could tell he wouldn’t fully grasp the terrifying potential of these combined upgrades until he tested them in the crucible moments of battles. With the second wave of Wrathers looming in the distance, he was about to get exactly what he wanted.
