Athanasia: My Hacker System

John had to wait for five minutes before his map got updated.

He realised he might have overdone it this time, but he wanted to see as much as he could from the new world he had just arrived in. So he patiently waited until the system finished expanding the map.

When the map finally got updated, John was momentarily breathless. The map didn’t just show a big area around the zone; it underwent a total transformation. The map expanded from a solitary, lonely dot representing their landing site to a grand map on which their zone was just a speck of green in the middle of it.

The first change was by expanding his zone to show its full geography, then it pushed further, peeling back the darkness to reveal a vast, sprawling landscape of the surrounding territories, ending up with zooming out gradually until his zone became a green drop in a big, white sea.

The first thing that struck him was the sheer scale of his zone. When he zoomed in and compared it to the twelve combined territories in the pocket trial, it was like comparing a small village to a metropolis.

This new zone was at least fifty times larger, perhaps even more. Beyond his borders, he could see other zones peppered throughout the landscape, but they all appeared significantly smaller and less developed than his own.

’That must be the hidden benefit of the Red Badge,’ he realised. The badge hadn’t just secured their ascension; it had secured their status as a regional superpower from day one.

As he zoomed into the borders of his territory, he saw a grand defensive structure that surprised him. It was exactly as Goven had predicted.

During the final stages of the trial, John and everyone on his side had laid out an absurd amount of defences, filling the territories to the brim with walls, towers, cannons, and mobile fortresses. In his paranoia, John had even deployed several of his recently evolved items.

The ascension to the Source Code World had catalysed these defences, merging and amplifying them into something alien and formidable. When he examined the outer perimeter, he saw a defensive wall that looked less like a fence and more like a mountain range made of steel.

It was composed of fifty reinforced sections layered one behind the other, reaching a staggering height of five hundred meters. They weren’t just walls; they were grand, interconnected megaliths.

Mounted atop these heights were evolved versions of his artillery. The various cannons he had scattered throughout the pocket trial had undergone a grand metamorphosis, merging together over massive cylindrical shafts. They looked more like high-tech spires than traditional cannons, their barrels clustered like the petals of a lethal flower.

The towers had evolved as well. They now boasted three distinct levels, each bristling with menacing muzzles that looked quite deadly. At the very peak of each tower, five different gems floated in a slow, rotating motion on themselves, as if they were dancing, acting as the magical batteries for the structure’s long-range capabilities.

Even the mobile fortresses had transcended their best designs. These fierce behemoths were no longer tethered to the mud; they now hovered dozens of meters off the ground, held aloft by anti-gravity pulses. They appeared faster and more agile, their top decks expanded to accommodate entire platoons.

The defensive network was more than satisfying; it was overwhelming. And yet, John remained cautious. He knew nothing of the strengths of the different races that lived in this new world or the scale of the terrifying challenges that might exist beyond his borders. He refused to celebrate until he knew exactly what those walls were meant to keep out.

"So... How does it look?"

Cissel was the first to approach as he finally stopped his frantic cycling of metal scraps and stood silently for half an hour straight without moving a muscle.

She wore a wide, knowing smile, her eyes searching his face for a sign of what he’d discovered. She knew that look, the usual look of John when seeing something grand and mind-blowing.

As she approached him, others finally dared to follow suit. Soon enough, John was surrounded by everyone, waiting for his next words.

"The zone we have is massive, way bigger than anything we saw in the pocket trial," John said, his voice carrying across the quieted crowd. As he spoke, everyone stopped their soft whispers to listen with rapt attention.

"We have a defensive perimeter that lines the entire zone. It’s powerful and quite domineering, but we need to explore it properly and plan wisely before we get comfortable."

A wave of visible relief washed through the crowd. The knowledge that they weren’t just standing in an open field, but were inside a fortress-state, provided a much-needed sense of security.

However, his friends were already looking past the immediate walls and defences. They asked the question that had been burning in their minds since they ascended here: How do we get back?

"I’ll deploy the return portal once we’ve finished our initial sweep of the zone and areas beyond," John answered. "We need to make sure this side is secure before we open a door to the other side."

Hearing him confirm the ability to return home at any given moment caused a collective, deep sigh of relief to ripple through his friends and the human survivors as well.

"So it’s finally over," Elena whispered, looking around at the horizon as if she still expected a wave of monsters to emerge from the distance. "The nightmare we were dropped into... It’s actually over."

"We deserve a few days of proper rest first," Ricky suggested, rubbing the back of his neck. "I don’t even know how long we’ve been gone from Athanasia, but it’s been months. It must have been hectic back there. There’s a high chance they’ve already listed us as dead."

"That’s mostly true," Cissel sighed, her expression turning sombre as she thought of the world they’d left behind.

"We need to be mentally prepared for anything, even for seeing five graves for us back there. I’m not sure how everyone back there will handle us suddenly reappearing with alien technology. We must agree on a common story to tell, a version of the truth that keeps our secrets safe, and make them believe us."

The group began to discuss the story they should tell the academy teachers once they returned, walking alongside John as he started his first tour of the new zone. They weren’t the only ones moving; everyone began to tour the zone.

Even the Krogers, who had initially remained silent and indifferent, began to move with a newfound excitement and curiosity once Goven whispered to them about the true nature of the Red Badge John carried.