Athanasia: My Hacker System-Chapter 204: Setting Out for the Hiveminds Territory
"Are you sure this is all you need?"
The question hung in the air, thick with a doubt and worry that even John’s previous miracles couldn’t quite dispel. Two days had passed since the intense negotiation with the Bulltors, and John was finally standing at the edge of the base’s cleared zone, ready to set out.
According to the valuable information Lanmar and Reody had provided, the Holy Bloodlines challenge was anything but trivial. It was a relic of a more brutal era, a trial designed to break the soul as much as the body.
The Bulltors had spent forty-eight hours narrating scary stories from their history, tales of challengers who were crushed, skewered, or erased from existence by the Bloodline leaders.
In this challenge, the twelve descendants held every advantage. They were permitted to use the home advantage to its maximum potential, incorporating pre-built walls, hidden traps, and even defensive towers into their combat strategy. John, by contrast, was bound by the rule of one. He could pick exactly one item to carry into the fray.
Despite their fervent, almost desperate attempts to dissuade him, John remained unshaken. He hadn’t spent the last two days just listening to their stories; he had been a whirlwind of activity. He had collected lots of cores from the battlefield, organised his inventory, and, most importantly, spent a long time checking his map.
He had become obsessed with the Hiveminds’ movements, or lack thereof.
During these two days, the Hiveminds had remained unnervingly confined within their own borders. Seeing them make no move to invade the weakened Bulltor territory made John’s instincts scream "trap."
He had already witnessed enough events to confirm his early revelations about their unique, totally hidden from other races, ability. And he could tell they were in utmost need to collect the dead Bulltors’ bodies on the adjacent territory.
And yet, they didn’t move a claw or a wing.
The lack of action suggested a hidden scheme, something he couldn’t see through the map. He had scoured every inch of their territory, looking for a clue, yet he had found nothing. In the end, he decided he couldn’t wait for them to make the first move.
Now, his friends and the eleven Bulltors stood in a sombre line to say their goodbyes.
"I have enough to wage a war and win it twice over," John joked, trying to lighten the heavy atmosphere of Cissel’s concern. He looked into her eyes, seeing the unspoken fear there. "Don’t worry, I’ll go and do the job right. I’m not planning on dying in some dusty arena."
He shifted his gaze, looking at the group as a whole. "As for you, your job is very important. You have to keep collecting the cores, keep pushing the fog back, and above all, stay vigilant. Keep your eyes on the south."
"Don’t worry about a thing!" Elena shouted, her excitement practically radiating off her in waves. She waved a fist in the air, as if she were throwing something. "I’ll make sure to gather every single one of those golden grenades myself, even if nobody else wants to help, and will make those mechanical pets cry for coming here!"
"Hey! We agreed we’d divide the loot equally!" Cissel snapped, spinning toward her. Sparks of competitive fire practically emitted from the space between their eyes.
John could only offer an empathetic sigh and a meaningful glance towards Ricky. Ricky would be the one stuck playing referee between the two girls while John was away. Ever since John had demonstrated the violent potential of the yellow cores, Cissel and Elena had been overly obsessed. They were like two dragons competing over a hoard of golden embers.
Last night, John had watched them on the map; the two of them had stayed out for hours in the dead of night, scavenging cores while the rest of the camp slept. If John hadn’t been awake to monitor the map per habit, he never would have caught them sneaking around behind everyone’s backs.
"Anyway, just keep your guards up," John said, cutting through their bickering. "Kill anything that breathes and doesn’t have a human or Bulltor face if it steps into our territory."
With that, he turned and walked directly into the wall of purple fog.
After two days of work, they had cleared enough space to reach the old boundary of the magical core. John was confident that by the time he returned, the entire territory would be clear and clean.
During these days, he made sure to collect the loot he left behind at the northern den. He had gone back for the Sorolith Core. He had been tempted to let his magical core consume it to see what kind of new monsters it would yield, but the memory of the sheer scale of the Wrathers waves gave him pause.
Aside from the Sorolith core, he gained more than one thousand special cores from the elite Wrathers he killed around the big boss.
[Active Elite Fog Wrather Core: Normal Grade]
[Usage 1: Can be used to generate explosive energy (Requires two Active Fog Wrather Cores).]
[Usage 2: Can be ingested to add 1 point to all Stats or a 10 Mental Point cap to the user (Maximum: 500 Active Elite Fog Wrather Cores).]
[Usage 3: Can be fed to weapons and gear to add 1 point to all Stats or a random bonus effect (Success chance of adding bonus effect is high – Maximum: 50 Active Elite Fog Wrather Cores)]
John watched the description with initial interest, but after a moment of thought, he decided to set them aside for the time being. In his current state, his Mental Points were sufficient, and his stats were high enough to crush the different dangers of the pocket trial. However, he wasn’t sure what it would look like after exiting this pocket trial and returning to Athanasia.
"I’ll need to keep these for the future," he whispered to the wind. "Not only for myself, but for the team. When I first dropped into this trial, I lost ninety percent of my stats and powers. I need to safeguard against the slim chance it might again when we eventually return."
