Athanasia: My Hacker System

"You need to know that neither the Headmaster nor the teachers believed most of what you said!"

Nikolas’s voice was low and serious as he led them toward another hidden building, one that John had never spotted before.

This fueled John’s resolve to conduct a thorough, inch-by-inch search of the entire campus later. The Military Department was far more layered than it appeared on the surface.

The building they approached was four stories high, much grander and wider than the Headmaster’s modest quarters. Upon entering through the heavy front doors, they were greeted by a sprawling hall that branched off into various corridors. The hall had a very high ceiling, one that extended towards the third floor. The corridors led to private dormitories reserved for the academy’s high-profile guests.

The initial impression was clear: the academy spared no expense for its visitors. The furniture was plush, the decorations were carved from rare woods and marble, and the entire aesthetic screamed upper-class luxury. There was even a fully stocked bar in one corner and a dancing stage in another.

Yet, John ignored the opulence. The moment his boots hit the carpet, he activated his Frame Recognition ability. Immediately, several red pulses appeared, hidden monitors. They were expertly placed to record every whisper and movement within the guest house.

’As expected,’ John thought, an inward smirk touching his mind. He knew the Headmaster wouldn’t grant them such a luxurious vacation without a hidden motive.

Instead of responding to Nikolas’s provocation, he made a sharp, subtle gesture to his friends. The team instantly fell silent, their faces becoming masks of indifference.

Nikolas was visibly taken aback when no answer came. His surprise deepened into genuine shock when John drew a sword. Without a word of explanation, John began walking through the hall at high speed.

John used the tip of his blade to cut a small wound on his palm, then painted a small, bloody handprint over every spot where a hidden monitor was tucked away.

Nikolas knew these monitors existed; as a senior teacher, he was part of the security protocol. However, seeing his favourite student pinpoint every single one, no matter how small or well-concealed, was terrifying. John didn’t miss a single device.

Stunned into silence, Nikolas watched as John moved through the corridors and eventually the private dorms. In his early days, John had tried to hack these academy monitors and failed, receiving a stern warning from his system about the advanced encryption.

But that was the John of the past. After the crucible of the New World and the challenges he overcame at the pocket trial world, he had the confidence to handle these primitive devices.

His hacking was a total success. He didn’t even have to expend many Mental Points. As he hacked the monitors, he made sure to manipulate their feedback, not just turning them off.

Once the monitors were looped into a static feed of an empty room, John was finally ready to deal with Nikolas.

This was the second most important step of the grand plan.

"Teacher," John said calmly, returning to the centre of the hall where a stupefied and suspicious Nikolas waited. "How about I show you a magic trick?"

"It depends," Nikolas growled, his voice like that of a cornered beast. Even so, he knew he was a far stronger predator than the cubs in front of him.

He didn’t like the atmosphere, the localised silencing of the room, or the eerie confidence radiating from his students. Yet, curiosity won out. He decided to play along, believing he was about to unveil a piece of mystery about what happened to them.

He was mistaken, gravely mistaken. His confidence in his superior strength was based on a version of these students who had died over two years ago.

"You know you were one of the very few who treated me well since I first came here, right?" John asked. He offered a smile, though to Nikolas, it looked more like the baring of teeth. The teacher stood his ground, waiting for whatever the cub was going to attempt.

What happened next was completely outside Nikolas’s realm of possibility.

John didn’t reach for a weapon. Instead, he opened his interface. He selected a specific coordinate, this hall, establishing a link between this guest hall and his zone in the New World.

FWOOSH!

The next instant, the air in the middle of the hall buckled. A shimmering blue portal appeared. It was dwarfed in size compared to the massive gate they had used to return to Athanasia, but its presence was no less world-shaking.

The sudden appearance of the portal out of nowhere resurfaced the unbelievable words John and others had uttered minutes ago in the Headmaster’s building.

Nikolas narrowed his eyes, the pupils constricting as he tried to peer beyond the shimmering blue veil to find the truth. Before his mind could link a single logical dot, something physical and massive passed through the portal.

It was a towering giant. The creature was so large that it was forced to immediately crouch upon entry to avoid crushing the guest building.

Even though the hall was grand, stretching for more than ten meters to the ceiling, it was still insufficient to accommodate the sheer scale of the being that emerged.

Nikolas’s mind froze. He looked at the creature’s terrifying build, the bulging, corded muscles that seemed carved from stone, the shimmering gem embedded in the centre of its chest, and the massive golden glaive that hummed with a lethal energy.

It was Lanmar. And the moment he appeared, he executed John’s orders down to the letter.

"Sit down," John said calmly, his voice slicing through the thick tension and preventing a disaster that would have brought the entire roof down.

Lanmar instantly obeyed. He sat on the floor, his head still nearly touching the chandeliers, and looked at John and the others with an expression that bordered on reverence. Then, he slowly turned his eyes toward the trembling Nikolas.

"Lord, is this the enemy you wanted me to kill? Is this why you summoned me to this small world?"

Lanmar’s voice was like grinding tectonic plates. He radiated a dangerous, suffocating aura, pointing the tip of his glaive toward Nikolas. His eyes were cold and vacant, perfectly selling the act of a mindless, loyal executioner.